Crackdown on Illegal Coast Development Vetoed

In a move that disappointed environmentalists, Gov. George Deukmejian on Friday vetoed legislation that would have given the state Coastal Commission power to crack down faster on illegal road-building and other unpermitted development.

The governor said in a veto message that he scuttled the bill, authored by state Sen. Ed Davis (R-Valencia), because the commission should not have “sole authority” to impose on builders immediate stop-work orders backed by fines.

Davis’ legislation sought to give coastal officials authority to issue cease and desist orders against developers who violate coastal preservation laws. The legislation also provided for fines up to $6,000 per day against builders who ignore such orders.

Coastal officials said the bill was needed to combat rising incidents of illegal road construction, landscaping and stream-filling in coastal regions. They said years of Deukmejian budget cuts have left the commission with a backlog of more than 600 cases of alleged violations statewide, more than half of them in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

Illegal road grading and landscaping have become serious problems in the Santa Monica Mountains and the Malibu area, where the enticement of huge profits to be made from building expensive homes far exceeds the threat of state fines as far as many developers are concerned, officials say.

Under Davis’ bill, coastal officials would have been able to issue stop-work orders in a single day. Under current law, they must ask the state attorney general’s office to persuade a judge to sign a temporary restraining order, a process which often takes a week.