Big Creek Lumber Co. v. County of Santa Cruz

We must decide whether two county zoning ordinances relating to the permissible locations for timber operations are preempted by state forestry statutes. Concluding they are not, we reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeal.

Background

In 1999, the Board of Supervisors of the County of Santa Cruz (County) adopted several ordinances that would have affected timber harvesting operations in the County. As pertinent here, County’s ordinances restricted timber harvesting to specified zone districts within the County (Santa Cruz County Res. No. 493-99 & Santa Cruz County Ord. No. 4577 (1999); hereafter the zone district ordinance), barred timber harvesting operations in certain areas adjacent to streams and residences (Santa Cruz County Ord. No. 4571 (1999); hereafter the stream ordinance), and limited the parcels on which helicopter operations associated with such harvesting could occur (Santa Cruz County Ord. No. 4572 (1999); hereafter the helicopter ordinance). County also requested and obtained from the California Coastal Commission a ruling certifying the zone district ordinance as an amendment to County’s local coastal program.

Plaintiffs Big Creek Lumber Co. and…

I respectfully dissent. The majority pulls an interpretive rabbit out of a statutory hat by construing Public Resources Code section 4516.5, subdivision (d), 1 part of the Z’berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973 (§4511 et seq.) (FPA), as preempting only county-imposed limitations on how timber operations occur, and not local restrictions on where these activities take place. This interpretation cannot be reconciled with the language and purpose of section 4516.5, subdivision (d); with the FPA generally; or with common sense. The distinction that the majority draws between county resolutions, rules, and ordinances regulating how logging transpires, and measures controlling where it takes place, breaks down upon passing scrutiny and provides a roadmap for those who would use technical artifices to evade the letter and spirit of the FPA. The Court of Appeal below properly rejected this delusive distinction and concluded that state law preempts the resolutions and ordinances that are at issue here. I agree with the Court of Appeal, and would affirm.

The disputed resolutions and ordinances were adopted by Santa Cruz County (County) in 1999. Of the measures presently before us, two…

We must decide whether two county zoning ordinances relating to the permissible locations for timber operations are preempted by state forestry statutes. Concluding they are not, we reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeal.

In 1999, the Board of Supervisors of the County of Santa Cruz (County) adopted several ordinances that would have affected timber harvesting operations in the County. As pertinent here, County's ordinances restricted timber harvesting to specified zone districts within the County (Santa Cruz County Res. No. 493-99 & Santa Cruz County Ord. No. 4577 (1999); hereafter the zone district ordinance), barred timber harvesting operations in certain areas adjacent to streams and residences (Santa Cruz County Ord. No. 4571 (1999); hereafter the stream ordinance), and limited the parcels on which helicopter operations associated with such harvesting could occur (Santa Cruz County Ord. No. 4572 (1999); hereafter the helicopter ordinance). County also requested and obtained from the California Coastal Commission a ruling certifying the zone district ordinance as an amendment to County's local coastal program.

Plaintiffs Big Creek Lumber Co. and Homer T.…