Douda

This appeal raises two challenges to the jurisdiction of the California Coastal Commission (Commission) to regulate, namely: (1) Does the Commission have the power to unilaterally designate environmentally sensitive habitat areas and thereby prevent development? (2) Does the Commission have the power to prevent development on land four and a half miles from the ocean on the grounds that the development will impair scenic and visual resources of a coastal zone that extends five miles inland into the Santa Monica Mountains? Below, the Commission denied the application filed by appellants Milos Douda and Trisha Douda (collectively the Doudas) for a coastal development permit to build a home, finding that their property contains an environmentally sensitive habitat area that had not been designated in the Los Angeles County land use plan, and that the proposed development would impair scenic and visual resources. The Doudas filed a petition for writ of administrative mandate to challenge the denial of their application. The trial court upheld the Commission’s action, and the Doudas now appeal. After reviewing the record, we conclude that the trial court properly denied…