Coastal Panel Approves Controversial Mini-Mall : Development: The scaled-back project still faces a lawsuit by area residents, who claim it was improperly approved by the city.

The developer won.

Stephen Blanchard was granted approval to build a mini-mall on Ocean Front Walk in North Venice on a 12-0 vote by the California Coastal Commission Thursday.

It’s five feet shorter than planned and has shrunk roughly 30%, but the proposed mall still irritates the neighbors who have fought it for years and went down swinging at a hearing in San Diego.

“We got railroaded by the city, and we got railroaded here,” Venice resident John Stein said after the vote.

Blanchard plans a two-story project with a fast-food court, offices and retail shops on three lots at the sand in Venice.

At the Coastal Commission hearing, the developer had a powerful ally to speak on his behalf--Venice-area Councilwoman Ruth Galanter. Galanter fell back on her oft-repeated portrayal of residents of the seaside community as contrary.

“You’ll never get a (project) in Venice where everybody comes to an agreement,” Galanter said. “It’s time to get out of the saddle. The horse is pretty much dead.”

Actually, the protesting residents, who banded together as the North Venice Beach Coalition, do have one last gasp--a pending lawsuit claiming the project was improperly approved by the city.

The project’s history can only be described as Byzantine. It was the first project in Los Angeles planning history to be granted permits under a little-used state law, the Permit Streamlining Act. Under that law, a city must automatically approve a project if the city takes too much time to approve it, even if, as with this project, it has not received state-mandated environmental clearance. The Planning Department did that under orders from the city attorney.

Then another arm of city government, the Board of Zoning Appeals, ruled just the opposite, leaving the developer between a rock, a hard place and a bunch of angry residents.

Blanchard sued the city--a lawsuit that was later settled--with the developer getting his permits as part of the deal.

The developer’s troubles with the city hurt him in earlier attempts to gain Coastal Commission approval. Normally, the state commission charged with guarding the coastline won’t rule unless the city has signed off on the project.

Two months after the Coastal Commission rejected the project in May, Blanchard settled his lawsuit with the city and began the process of going before the commission again.

The only stumbling block left was the commission staff’s earlier recommendation to nix the project as too massive. After Blanchard made some changes, the staff changed its recommendations, leading to Thursday’s commission vote.