Closely watched case centered on townhouses near Half Moon Bay
The Casa Mira town house complex is seen in this drone view near Miramar Beach near Half Moon Bay, Calif., on Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. The property owners sued the Coastal Commission and won when it wouldn’t let them build a sea wall.
“Numerous studies have shown that continued shoreline armoring will result in massive losses to California’s iconic beaches as sea levels rise, cutting off public access to the coast,” she added. “This ruling will help ensure that coastal landowners and governments prioritize less harmful approaches.”Private property rights groups called the ruling a setback, and predicted it will be appealed to the State Supreme Court.
In 2016, a severe storm caused 20 feet of bluffs to collapse into the ocean in front of Casa Mira, a complex of 10 townhouses on Mirada Road 2 miles north of Half Moon Bay. Worried their homes were in imminent danger, the owners obtained an emergency permit from the Coastal Commission to place boulders, called riprap, along the crumbling shoreline to block the waves from causing more damage.
But state lawmakers never clearly defined the term. Property owners have argued “existing structures” means any building present when the permit application is filed. But the Coastal Commission’s attorneys have argued in recent years that “existing structures” only means those built before Jan. 1, 1977, when the Coastal Act took effect.
But on the broader question, the justices showed how state lawmakers 48 years ago narrowed broad language in earlier drafts of the Coastal Act to allow sea walls only for “existing structures.” Researchers have shown that sea walls and other shoreline armoring can speed the loss of public beaches. Emergency boulders cover the sand. Also, bluffs naturally erode, providing more sand to beaches. But when they are covered with concrete sea walls, that stops. Lastly, shorelines naturally move back after being pounded by waves, but if a wall prevents that inland shift, rising seas eventually can submerge the beach.
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