Bayside Timber Co. v. Board of Supervisors

This appeal is prosecuted by the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission from a judgment against them in favor of Bayside Timber Company, Inc., directing the issuance of a peremptory writ of mandate.

By ordinance, San Mateo County purports to regulate logging operations within the county by “use permit.” The county also by ordinance, “to protect the natural beauty of the County and protect property owners from unnecessary loss from erosion and flooding from grading operations,” regulates excavation and grading for road purposes.

Respondent Bayside Timber Company, Inc., was the owner of redwood timber land in San Mateo County. It had, under the State Forest Practice Act (Pub. Resources Code, §§ 4521-4618; sometimes herein called the Act), obtained a timber operations permit to log the land. The State Division of Highways had given the company an “encroachment permit” which authorized connection of logging roads with a state highway. Application was then made to the county by the company for a logging use permit and a grading permit for the logging roads which would become necessary to its operations. The applications were opposed by many residents,…