Office Still Open but Cuts Force Meetings North : Coastal Panel’s S.D. Hearings Washed Out

The California Coastal Commission, a state agency that has long prided itself on its accessibility, will no longer hold meetings in San Diego County, and the number of meetings held throughout the state will be reduced from 24 to 12 next year.

The commission’s San Diego office will continue to process coastal land use permits, but commissioners say that because of budget cuts by the Deukmejian Administration, future permit hearings will be held in Los Angeles or San Francisco.

The elimination of San Diego commission meetings will have the greatest impact on private citizens, who now will have to travel considerable distances to attend permit hearings, said Melvin L. Nutter, Coastal Commission director. The commission, formed by state referendum in 1976 to preserve coastal resources and ensure public access to coastal areas, has been meeting in San Diego about four times a year.

The last San Diego commission meetings were held last week and were well-attended. Officials said high attendence at commission meetings was a reflection of San Diego’s long coastline and busy development schedule.

Nutter said as many as 500 residents have attended permit hearings to voice concerns about controversial construction projects.

Local conservationists fear that the commission will grant permits more freely without direct public input. Some local environmentalists say this could result in coastline deterioration.

“The best information the commission often gets is just from a citizen who has lived in an area and monitored the area for a number of years,” said Joan Jackson, who heads the Sierra Club’s conservation commission.

Furthermore, conservationists and Coastal Commission members alike say they don’t expect San Diego County residents to continue to attend Coastal Commission meetings when they are held elsewhere.

“I feel terrible about it because the hallmark of our success as a public agency has been the unusually high public participation,” said Marshall Grossman, a commission member.

“We have afforded a voice to the little people in the planning process. With the severe budget cuts of the past couple of years, our doors are closing.”

Coastal officials say the elimination of San Diego commission meetings was mainly a function of cost.

“The governor’s budget deleted so much money from the agency’s budget that we simply had to cut back on meetings somewhere,” said Mary Hudson, an attorney for the agency.

Agency officials were reluctant to eliminate hearings in San Francisco, which would close public access in Northern California. Officials also said they preferred to continue holding meetings in Los Angeles since, along with neighboring Orange County, the area has the greatest permit load.

“We were stuck. San Diego was the natural choice once we looked at permit loads and figured in the cost of air travel,” Hudson said.

Coastal commissioners, who reside in different areas of the state, commute to each meeting no matter where it is held. Hudson said the commission will hold more meetings in Los Angeles because of inexpensive air fares in and out of that city.

San Diego was not the only city affected by the recent budget cuts. The Eureka office was closed, and the Santa Cruz staff was cut by nearly one-third.

Nutter said he doubts that the San Diego staff will be cut, but suspects that, without local meetings and public input, the commission will not be as attuned to San Diego County issues.

Times staff writer Adam Z. Horvath contributed to this story.