State Agency Lets Stand City Beach Curfews : Crime: Coastal Commission, while praising efforts to fight crime, will instead draft guidelines to protect rights.

A top administrator of the California Coastal Commission told representatives of six Orange County cities Friday that the state will not challenge the curfews the cities recently imposed to curb late-night crime on their beaches.

Instead, the commission will draft a set of guidelines to be used in determining when and how curfews may be enacted without violating state laws and ensuring the public’s right to beach access, said Peter Douglas, the commission’s executive director.

“Our purpose is not to get into a debate, but to look at the issue and find sensible solutions,” Douglas said at a meeting at Huntington Beach City Hall. “This is a very emotional issue, and I’m trying to get it down to a rational level.”

The gathering was the first in a series of scheduled meetings between state and local officials to iron out their differences over the curfews. The argument was sparked last October after Douglas issued warnings to 73 cities and counties along the state’s 1,100-mile coastline that beach curfews are illegal without state approval.

The cities--including four in Orange County--had recently imposed curfews to curb late-night crime. But Douglas’ letter characterized the actions as violations of the state Coastal Act, which assures public access to California beaches, and suggested that state approval of such actions would not be forthcoming.

A chorus of outrage ensued from city and county officials who argued, among other things, that local governments could no longer afford the extra police patrols necessary to assure peace at their beaches after dark.

“I’m concerned about the imposition of regulatory control,” Orange County Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder told Douglas at Friday’s meeting, which was chaired by state Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach). “That translates into dollars to the taxpayer. It almost implies that you know better than we do, that we are not to be trusted. I feel that our jurisdictions need to be trusted without needing Big Brother to be validated.”

Those sentiments were echoed by other local officials.

“We are closest to the problem and know what our problems are,” said Huntington Beach Mayor Linda Moulton-Patterson.

After imposing curfews, Moulton-Patterson said, her city experienced a dramatic reduction in crimes on the beach. “I think you have to give us some credit,” she said.

Ann Christoph, the mayor of Laguna Beach, said that while her city had not yet enacted beach curfews, it may want to do so in the future. “It’s not a simple issue,” she said. “At some point, the city may have to do something, and we want the authority to do it.”

Douglas mentioned several issues that he suggested could be addressed in the Coastal Commission’s curfew guidelines. Among other things, he said, the guidelines could help cities determine when beach closures are really necessary, under what circumstances crime could be reduced by limiting hours to such areas as parking lots and fire rings, and how to ensure the right of law-abiding citizens to engage in such harmless activities as fishing and strolling on wet sand.

“You are in the front line in the struggle against crime and violence,” he told the local officials, “but I think we can outline an approach that can be a model for other jurisdictions.”

Douglas said he would meet with coastal commissioners on Feb. 16 to draft the new curfew guidelines. Then, he said, the guidelines would be made available to local officials at another meeting in Huntington Beach later the same month.