Judge to Reject Coastal Zone Challenge

In a move that will continue development curbs on hundreds of tracts in the Santa Monica Mountains, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge has announced her intention to dismiss a legal challenge to the state coastal zone boundary.

The tentative ruling involves a lawsuit by landowners, who accuse the state Coastal Commission of drawing the coastal zone farther inland than lawmakers intended. A successful challenge to the boundary could strip the commission’s authority over land use in a vast area of the mountains.

But Judge Miriam Vogel, siding with lawyers for the Coastal Commission, said Wednesday it is up to the Legislature and not the courts to adjust the coastal zone.

“I think it’s a very important decision. . ., given the kind of development Los Angeles County is permitting outside the coastal zone,” said David Brown, president of the Las Virgenes Homeowners Federation, which intervened in the case on the side of the state.

Drive Through Area

The area in dispute “is the heart of the Santa Monica Mountains,” Brown said. “It’s the thousands who drive through this area on the way to the beach and who visit the parks who will really be the beneficiaries.”

But Joseph Gughemetti, a lawyer for the landowners who filed the suit, said he is not disappointed because Vogel agreed to support a request for an expedited hearing before the state Court of Appeal. Since an appeal by the loser is automatic, Gughemetti said he is “elated” by the prospect of a speedy legal process.

At issue is language in the 1976 Coastal Act that defined the coastal zone as “that land and water area” delineated by Coastal Commission maps and went on to describe how the maps should be drawn. In environmentally sensitive areas such as the Santa Monica Mountains, according to the law, the zone was to extend inland “to the first major ridgeline parallel to the sea, or five miles from the mean high-tide line of the sea, whichever is less.”

The lawsuit, filed last fall by Rossco Holdings Inc. and Michel T. Ghosn, argues that property they own near the junction of Mulholland Highway and Las Virgenes Road is at least 2 miles inland--beyond the first major ridge and well beyond the boundary lawmakers intended.

According to the suit, the commission staff essentially hoodwinked lawmakers, who never saw final versions of the maps before approving the Coastal Act. As a result, plaintiffs said, it is “preposterous” to argue that the maps, rather than the descriptive language, establish the coastal zone.

Drainage Area

But lawyers for the commission contend that the first major ridge is the one that creates a watershed or drainage area, not the first topographic elevation. In any case, they said, lawmakers have not seen fit to alter the maps, although the purported error was brought to their attention.

In 1977 and again the next year, former state Sen. Lou Cusanovich introduced legislation to move the boundaries seaward, but the bills were unsuccessful.

Tom Crandall, commission deputy director, said the plaintiffs’ “argument . . . never made very much sense to me, since the boundary was drawn by the Legislature, and the mechanism for changing it in any significant way would be through legislative action, not through something the commission could do,”

Vogel said she would rule later this month on other aspects of the complex lawsuit, which also seeks to overturn conditions imposed by the Coastal Commission in 1985 and 1986 on developments proposed by Rossco and Ghosn. Rossco, owner of the 272-acre Quaker tract east of Malibu Creek State Park, had sought commission approval to develop 47 house lots but was allowed 34. Rossco had sought 23 lots on its 102-acre Piuma tract and was granted 22.

Other Restrictions

Ghosn had sought approval to build 51 homes on his 160-acre tract but was permitted 23. Each approval was subject to other restrictions involving trail easements and preservation of open space. According to the lawsuit, these restrictions amount to “an unconstitutional taking” of the land.

The National Park Service had long wanted to buy the Quaker property for inclusion in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. But last summer, Park Service officials informed Rossco head Leonard M. Ross that the state could not afford the scenic tract.