Fudge

*549 *196 I. INTRODUCTION

We venture once again into the brambled thicket of the California Environmental Quality Act - an area of the law largely governed by the unfortunate fact that complicated problems often require complicated solutions. This case is rendered more recondite by the involvement of the California Coastal Commission's rules and procedures, effectively overlaying the enigmatic with the abstruse.

We resist the temptation to declare the dispute moot and walk away because this issue involves our environment and people's homes, and involves questions likely to re-occur. Environmental issues require light - either ours or someone else's - so we publish the opinion.

Hany Dimitry obtained from the City of Laguna Beach (the City) a coastal development permit (CDP) to demolish his Laguna Beach house. Mark Fudge challenged the permit in two fora: He appealed to the California Coastal Commission (the Commission) and he filed this action in state court attacking the merits of the City's decision to grant Dimitry a CDP. Then the Commission accepted Fudge's appeal, which meant it would hear that appeal "de novo." (See Pub. Resources Code, § 30621, subd. (a). 1 ) Because the…