Paoli

The California Coastal Commission (State Commission) appeals from a judgment granting respondent Marv Paoli a peremptory writ of administrative mandamus ordering the State Commission to issue a coastal development permit free of all open-space easement conditions. We conclude the trial court erred in issuing the writ.

In 1980 respondent filed an application with the North Coast Regional Coastal Commission (Regional Commission) for permission to construct a 10-unit inn, single family residence, dining room, and 16-space parking lot on 19.8 acres of unimproved land on Navarro Head, located approximately 20 miles south of Fort Bragg at the junction of State Highways 1 and 128 in Mendocino County. Navarro Head is described as a “critical view corridor” in Mendocino County’s land use plan. Respondent also sought permission to build an access road leading to the proposed inn along the path of an existing unimproved dirt road off Highway 1.

Permission was granted subject to nine conditions, only two of which are pertinent to the controversy herein. The Regional Commission staff determined that the proposed access road would “not be consistent with the Coastal Act’s visual…