A plan to save the bluffs

Mathis Winkler

CORONA DEL MAR -- What good is a policy if there’s no way to enforce

it?

That’s a question Edward Selich, the chair of the city’s planning

commission, raised last September when he and his colleagues reviewed

plans for two new homes on the bluffs in Corona del Mar.

The Breakers Drive residents wanted to build their houses taller than

allowed and had to get permission from the commissioners.

Jay Cowan, who proposed a new 6,800-square-foot residence, eventually

succeeded with his plan after making some changes. The other applicant’s

12,299-square-foot home didn’t make the cut.

Alarmed that the proposed mansion would not have required their

approval if the applicant had remained within height limits,

commissioners began looking for a way to protect the city’s bluffs from

vanishing under such large, new homes.

After all, a council policy that’s been on the books at least since

1988 states that new buildings “shall be controlled and regulated to

insure, to the extent practical, the preservation of public views, the

preservation of unique and natural resources and to minimize the

alteration of natural land forms along bluffs and cliffs.”

“We have a policy . . . but we have no teeth,” said Commissioner

Michael Kranzley, adding that “people are building bigger and bigger

houses” as a result of the economic boom of the last few years.

“We either eliminate the policy or provide some basis for us to have

some oversight,” he said. “Right now, we got nothing. It’s kind of

scary.”

At their April 5 meeting, commissioners unanimously recommended that

council members adopt a process that would require a so-called site plan

review for all projects on the village’s coastal bluffs.

Properties affected would stretch from just north of Avocado Avenue to

just south of Poppy Avenue. Council members will have to hold two public

hearings before they can make a decision. At the earliest, the new rule

could become effective June 7.

While some applauded the commission’s proposal, several residents,

including Cowan, adamantly opposed the idea at the April 5 hearing.

“I believe that preventing us, as private property owners, [from

building homes that follow city regulations] is a taking of private

property for public use,” said Cowan, who is also the president of the

Breakers Drive Assn. “We believe taking private property for public use

is illegal.”

Others told commissioners that the proposal would jeopardize their

projects and result in the loss of money they’d already spent.

“We have invested over $150,000 [in design plans],” said Daniel

Leonard, whose property would be affected. “We’re not asking for a

variance. We only ask that our building permit be issued as everybody

else’s.”

Lawrence Tabak, who had bought his Ocean Boulevard home with the plan

to build a new house two years ago, agreed.

“It’s extremely unfair that we’re working with the building department

in good faith, only to be told at the last minute that this was coming

down the pipe,” he said.

But commissioners rejected the notion that the proposed review was

illegal and made it impossible for property owners to build on their

land.

“This ordinance doesn’t prevent development,” Selich said. “It just

brings projects before the commission.”

Mayor Gary Adams said Friday that he’d not looked carefully at the

issue and added that his “natural tendency has been to resist” reviews

such as the one proposed.

But “I kind of softened on that,” he said. “There may be some areas

where it’s appropriate and [Corona del Mar] might be one area.”

Council members are expected to discuss the proposal at their April 24

meeting.