McCaw’s Challenge to Coastal Commission

* Re Daniel Duane’s misguided defense of the California Coastal Commission (“California’s Beaches Aren’t Just for the Rich and Powerful,” Commentary, Dec. 17):

My case is not about taking away public beaches. It’s about whether the commission can add new beaches without paying private owners for them. The commission’s scheme is to refuse to issue building permits to coastal property owners unless they agree to give up their beachfront to the public. Thirteen years ago, the Supreme Court condemned this as an unconstitutional plan of “extortion.” And for good reason. Any city could use the Coastal Commission’s logic to refuse to give you a permit to, say, put in a new deck unless you gave the city your front yard. That’s an abuse of government power.

The commission has stifled similar lawsuits by threatening property owners with fines of $15,000 per day if they did not drop their cases. Most have. I have not. As a result, the commission is suing me for millions of dollars simply for refusing to drop my case. That, too, is an appalling abuse of power.

Duane ignores my strong environmental record. Most recently, I provided the lead gift for the South Coast Watershed Resource Center, an educational center located on the beach, open to the public and dedicated to coastal preservation. Duane never stops to ask why an environmental advocate would challenge the Coastal Commission. But the Constitution, no less than the coast, is something we all should treasure and preserve.

WENDY McCAW

Santa Barbara