Broad Beach Geologic Hazard etc. v. 31506 Victoria Point LLC

INTRODUCTION

The City of Malibu formed appellant, the Broad Beach Geologic Hazard Abatement District (the District), to protect the homes on the city’s Broad Beach, threatened by longstanding shoreline erosion. The District developed a plan to import sand and maintain a revetment on portions of the beach, in order to fortify the shoreline. To fund this project, it proposed a special assessment on parcels within its boundaries, and homeowners approved the assessment. 1 Litigation ensued, in which the District filed an action seeking to validate the assessment, and the homeowners opposing the assessment claimed it violated the requirements of Proposition 218 (Prop. 218; also known as the Right to Vote on Taxes Act), which added article XIII D to the California Constitution, limiting local government’s

“[A] special assessment is ‘levied against real property particularly and directly benefited by a local improvement in order to pay the cost of that improvement.’” (Silicon Valley Taxpayers’ Assn., Inc. v. Santa Clara County Open Space Authority (2008) 44 Cal.4th 431, 442 (Silicon Valley).)

3 ability to impose assessments.2 (Apartment Assn. of Los Angeles County, Inc. v. City…