Stinson Beach neighbors who have opposed the construction of a new house in their backyard filed an appeal of the project late last month with the California Coastal Commission, which has final say-so in the matter. As a result of previous appeals of the project, the county instituted a moratorium that has halted new construction and renovations for over a third of homes in Stinson Beach.
In November, county supervisors approved permits for Mill Valley realtor Heidi Hjorth to build a 1,400-square-foot house with an attached 535-square-foot garage off Calle del Embaracadero, where flooding from Easkoot Creek combined with tidal waves during storms has damaged homes.
Neighbors Kathleen Hurley and Erika Lowry have fought the proposed house on two counts: first, that the home would exacerbate flooding, and second, that county building code prohibits development in 100-year floodplains such as their neighborhood.
Ms. Hurley and Ms. Lowry further argued that county decision-makers were swayed too much by fear that rejecting the project would constitute a regulatory taking of Ms. Hjorth’s property, which could expose the county to litigation.
On Dec. 9, Muir Beach attorney Richard Kohn, who has supported Ms. Hurley and Ms. Lowry, filed a petition to rescind the commission’s longstanding policy on considering the issue of regulatory takings when hearing project appeals.
That consideration, he said, should be left to the courts after a decision on a project has been made and should in no way be a factor in the decision-making process. In his petition, Mr. Kohn cited four legal cases that he argued show the Coastal Commission’s consideration of takings would violate the authority of the California Courts of Appeal and the California Supreme Court.
The commission, however, unanimously struck down his petition, following staff’s opinion that the commission considers takings on a case-by-case basis only and, as such, does not have any uniform policy on takings matters.
“I think that the question…is worth further consideration,” said Steve Kinsey, who chairs the commission and is West Marin’s supervisor. “But as far as eliminating our authority over [regulatory takings] under the Coastal Act, I’m not ready to support that.”