Lawsuit may move forward against Coastal Commission

An appeals court has ruled that a lawsuit against the California

Coastal Commission filed by the developer and owner of the Bolsa Chica

mesa may proceed.

Developer Hearthside Homes and landowner Signal Landmark claim in the

suit that the commission essentially took the property from them by

restricting what could be built to the point where the development is no

longer economically feasible.

Hearthside Homes planned to build homes on 183 acres of the mesa and

was limited to 65 by the California Coastal Commission in November 2000.

In August, a San Diego Superior Court Judge dismissed segments of a

lawsuit that alleged the Coastal Commission had unlawfully taken property

from Hearthside and Signal by allowing construction on only 65 acres of

the more than 200-acre property.

That lawsuit may now go forward.

The Bolsa Chica mesa consists of about 200 acres along Warner Avenue,

near Pacific Coast Highway and state-protected wetlands. Bolsa Chica,

itself, which lies between Warner and Seapoint avenues, is on the Pacific

Flyway, offering a pit-stop to migrating birds.