Writ Seeks to Force Review of Pierside Village Project

A legal action seeking to force the state California Coastal Commission to review the controversial Pierside Village project was filed in Orange County Superior Court on Friday. The writ of mandate was filed on behalf of Debbie Cook, spokeswoman for Save Our Parks.

The writ seeks to force the state commission to hear new arguments against Pierside Village--something the state agency declined to do in a 5-4 vote last July.

Pierside Village is a proposed complex of restaurants that would be built immediately south of the city’s pier, on the ocean side of Pacific Coast Highway. Environmental groups, including Save Our Parks, have for years fought to halt construction of the project. Opponents claim the development would ruin the city’s beach and view of the ocean.

At a meeting July 17 in Huntington Beach, the Coastal Commission stunned those in the audience by refusing to hear any new testimony on the development. By its vote, the commission ruled that no “new substantial issues” had been raised about Pierside Village and a new hearing need not be held.

“This writ of mandate will seek to force the Coastal Commission to hear our new issues,” Cook said Friday.

Scott Hanssler, a Santa Ana attorney who filed the writ for Cook, said the legal action lists several reasons why the Coastal Commission should review the village project. Among those arguments, he said, is the contention that the restaurant project would violate a public easement, or right of way, on the land facing the ocean.

The Coastal Commission gave approval to the Pierside Village plan in 1986. Critics have said that in 1986 the state agency did not know that the proposed land has a public right of way that prohibits development.

Hanssler said the Coastal Commission must respond to the writ within the next 30 days. After that, he said, the matter will be assigned to a court for a hearing.