Serra Canyon Co. v. California Coastal Commission

A landowner seeks to avoid the effect of an irrevocable offer to dedicate land for public use. The dedication was made by a prior owner of the land in 1983, in return for a development permit. We conclude that the current landowner’s inverse condemnation claim arrives 20 years too late. All challenges to a condition placed on a development permit had to be asserted at the time the final permit decision was made and the condition was imposed. The challenge in this case was waived by the prior owner’s failure to pursue its judicial remedies for an unjust taking of private property. The present landowner is bound by that waiver. We affirm the judgment in favor of the state.

ALLEGATIONS

Serra Canyon Company, Ltd. (Serra) acquired unimproved oceanfront property in Malibu (the Property) as part of lawsuit settlement in 1992. The prior owner of the Property was The Adamson Companies (Adamson).

More than a decade before Serra acquired the Property, Adamson applied to the California Coastal Commission (the Commission) for a permit to expand a mobilehome park Adamson owns on Point Dume. In 1981, the Commission approved Adamson’s application, on condition that Adamson record an…