Beach Colony II v. California Coastal Commission

Today we hold owners of dry lands, which border on environmentally sensitive bodies of water (or wetlands) within the California Coast al Zone, may restore their property to its original contours after its lands have been violently torn or washed away. Further, that encroaching waters, which overflow and cover that previously dry land solely because of the physical damage caused by the violent event, do not automatically transform the lands encroached upon into a protected marine resource, “wetland,” as defined in the California Coastal Act of 1976.

In reaching this result we determine the common law rights of property owners to reclaim lands eroded through avulsion has not been preempted by statute, and is not inconsistent with the policies underlying the act, although reclamation activities which adversely impact protected environmentally sensitive areas are subject to reasonable mitigating conditions which may be imposed by the California Coastal Commission (Commission).

Thus, we affirm an order of the trial court striking a special condition imposed on a reclaiming property owner because it is unreasonably premised on the commission’s unsupported finding that there…