Posted on 11/29/2005 9:13:54 AM PST by NormsRevenge
NEWPORT BEACH – Moving a pile of sand could cost several homeowners here an even bigger pile of cash.
The California Coastal Commission on Monday accused five residents with beachfront property of flattening protected sand dunes to improve their ocean views. The commission is ordering the dunes rebuilt – a process that could reach into the six-figure range.
Considered important habitat for threatened birds, the dunes were allegedly seen as an obstruction by residents whose ocean vistas were blocked by the 3- to 6-foot-tall dunes.
"Sand dunes are loved and hated," Newport Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff said. "The residents will hate them if they're right up against their homes, harming their views, yet they do have those habitat values."
An employee of a contractor dredging the adjacent Santa Ana River was paid to bulldoze the dunes, which blocked the first-floor patios of houses on West Ocean Front Drive, said Aaron McClendon, a Coastal Commission enforcement analyst.
That furtive flattening, which apparently occurred around midnight on April 17, followed several futile attempts to do away with the dunes, Kiff said. Residents had asked city workers to level the wind-formed mounds, only to be rebuffed. Another time, hired day laborers were caught carting sand away one load at a time.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
The California Coastal Commission . . . bad idea from the start, IMO.
It was a rougue wave came in during the night and took 'em out..............
Wonder if these residents are all liberals and consider themselves to be "concerned about the environment." Maybe there should be some oil rigs or windmills offshore. Then they'd want the dunes.
Clearly, the Coastal Commission is attempting to eliminate jobs for the downtrodden.
Such storms are virtually non-existent, EXCEPT in years with strong El Ninos.
There hasn't been a strong El Nino since 1997. I assure you when the next one hits and these homeowners lose their houses to waves, they'll sue the State for not building up the dunes in front of their houses to protect them.
A furtive act in the middle of the night.
They should have consulted with Mayor Daley of Chicago's Meigs Field destruction fame. They would have gotten away with it with only the possibility of a fine.
Since they hired this guy to remove the dunes in the middle of the night, it's clear they knew they weren't supposed to do that.
Dunes are good. They help keep storm waves from damaging your home. These were small, and the houses are close to the beach, apparently, if you can't see over them from the ground-floor deck.
These same cretins would be suing the city or calling FEMA if waves damaged their homes in a storm. The heck with them!
Protect crows, they kill snowy plovers.
Newport hardly ever sees violent storms, much less destructive ones. It ain't called the "Pacific" for nothing.
The construction of Newport's rock jetties also promoted beach-building over the decades. As a result, Newport is now about fifty feet closer to Catalina Island than it used to be!
(Tidbit: Newport's jetties can be seen in the title sequence of Gilligan's Island-- the Minnow passes along them at the beginning of its "three hour tour".)
The California Coastal Commission is a disaster. Several years ago, they forced some neighbors to completely remove decks (patios) that extended as little as one foot over their property lines and go though the expense (over $100K) of environmental studies etc. before they could be rebuilt even though they owned the land.
The company that bulldoze the dunes without authority should be included with the residence in recovering the cost of replacing. Then the bulldoze company should loose their license. You just don't do things like that without a permit.
I suspect you could destroy the entire beach front from LA to San Diego, and the migrating birds would find a place to rest.
This is about control. Who is going to control private property, the owner (taxpayer) or a government agency?
We all know the answer to that one.
Very few liberals in Newport Beach but it only took one to complain,
An oil well platform is clearly visible from these homes now, about 2 miles north and a 1/2 mile off shore.
Carting away sand Americans won't..
They new it was against the law and they don't own the beach.
Shades of David Geffen.
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