Homeowners, state agency at odds over seawall as legal briefs filed in California Supreme Court
ENCINITAS — With a potentially precedent-setting legal battle over an Encinitas seawall in the hands of the state’s highest court, the San Diego County Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation used the sand-colored structure as a backdrop Monday to announce it’s joining the fight.
Two Encinitas families have sued the California Coastal Commission, challenging the agency’s power to institute a 20-year time limit on seawall permits. The outcome of the case could affect sea walls all along the California coast.
The case highlights the clash between property owners, who argue seawalls are necessary to fend off erosion and protect homes, and others — including the commission — who say the structures harm public resources by preventing the wear and tear on bluffs critical to sustaining healthy beaches.
The Surfrider Foundation held a news conference at the Encinitas seawall on Monday as the Coastal Commission filed its opening brief in the lawsuit with the California Supreme Court. Surfrider’s legal director, Angela Howe, said the group will file a friend-of-the-court brief with the high court by the end of July. She said Surfrider backs the commission’s ability to regulate permits and require periodic reviews, such as the 20-year term that is part of the battle in Encinitas.
“We really want to stress that this (sand) is not an infinite resource,” said Tom Cook, who chairs the chapter’s beach preservation committee.
A handful of people, including area homeowners, showed up Monday to challenge the group’s assertions. Many argued that amount of beach sand created by bluff erosion is negligible, and that property owners should have the right to protect their homes. One said he fears he will be handed a 20-year permit should he need to replace or fortify sea walls.
“We need harmony between the homeowners and the Coastal Commission,” said Mark Francois, who bought a home with a sea wall in the 1990s.
The Encinitas fight centers on a seawall and staircase that were destroyed when heavy rains led to a bluff collapse in late 2010. The city gave two Neptune Avenue homeowners — the Frick and Lynch families — permission to rebuild both structures.
But the permit is only good for 20 years. When it expires, the homeowners will have to reapply to keep it in place; if no extension is granted, the wall will have to come down.
With the limited permit in hand, the homeowners elected to rebuild the wall to protect their blufftop homes. But they also sued the state commission over the expiration date.
The families are represented by Pacific Legal Foundation, which promotes property rights and limited government. The nonprofit firm often takes on the California Coastal Commission.
Foundation attorney J. David Breemer said Monday that the Encinitas site had a seawall in place for decades before this battle, and that it should not be “the poster child for seawall activism.”
Tom Frick said Monday he was confident the court will “see the injustice. We have been wrongly treated over these years.”
Sarah Christie, a spokeswoman for the California Coastal Commission, also sounded confident.
“While seawalls protect private property, the evidence is clear that they also lead to the demise of public beaches,” she said.
Given rising sea levels, Christie said, the permit limits make sense because they allow the commission to review the realities of what is happening on the ground and in the water.
In court documents, the commission argued that the 20-year time frame will allow the commission to review the impacts of the seawall, “which may be far different from they are now, particularly given the uncertainties related to sea level rise.”
In April 2013, a San Diego Superior Court trial judge sided with the families, calling the agency’s time limit “a power grab.” In September, a split appeals court in San Diego reversed the trial court, affirming the Coastal Commission’s ability to set time limits. The high court agreed to take the case last year. No date for arguments has been set.
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