Security National Guaranty, Inc. v. California Coastal Commission

The principal question that we must resolve in this appeal is whether the California Coastal Act of 1976, Public Resources Code section 30000 et seq. (the Coastal Act), empowers the California Coastal Commission (the Commission) to declare that property is an “environmentally sensitive habitat area” (ESHA) (§ 30240) during an administrative appeal from a local government’s grant of a coastal development permit (CDP). Appellant Security National Guaranty, Inc. (SNG), challenges three orders of the superior court: the denial of SNG’s petition for writ of administrative mandamus, the denial of SNG’s motion to remand the matter to the Commission for further proceedings, and the grant of summary adjudication to the Commission.

We conclude that the Coastal Act grants the Commission no power to declare property an ESHA during a CDP appeal. Accordingly, we reverse the superior court’s denial of SNG’s petition for administrative mandamus. We affirm the superior court’s grant of summary adjudication.

Factual and Procedural Background

The SNG Site

Appellant SNG owns, and seeks to develop, a 39-acre oceanfront site located west of State Highway 1 on Monterey Bay in Sand City.…