Our Priceless Coastal Hills

A 250-acre site in San Clemente once considered for the Nixon Library has become an emblem of the battle to protect dwindling coastline canyons, wildlife and vegetation.

In virtually forcing a developer back to the drawing board Monday, the California Coastal Commission signaled how valuable for the public are the remaining coastal hills in south Orange County. The city of San Clemente, which was anticipating new revenues from the development, will need to scale back its expectations.

The commission was clearly headed toward rejecting the Marblehead development of 412 homes, an outlet mall and a retail center when the Lusk Co. abruptly withdrew the proposal. A commission staff report late last year was unsparing in its criticism that the project as proposed would radically alter the landscape. Among the staff concerns were that the slopes of two canyons would be filled in to make way for houses, that wetland buffers would be destroyed by grading and that native vegetation would fall to the bulldozer.

The city, meanwhile, had made its own calculation that the project was essential to its financial health. It was counting on substantial revenue to help with the construction of a senior center, a library expansion and improvements downtown.

The city still might get something down the road if a new and smaller project emerges. However, its experience is instructive in the attempts of municipalities to make up shortfalls in revenue by courting development.

Because it found itself in a fiscal bind, San Clemente ended up looking for money from a proposal that the Coastal Commission eventually found inappropriate in its scale and impact. It had sought to make up a revenue shortfall resulting from passage of a statewide initiative four years ago that had limited its ability to continue property tax levies. It later wasn’t able to sell voters on an increase in their utility tax to make up the difference and ended up having to slash city staff and cut sports programs.

Cities like San Clemente with beautiful coastlines should reconsider the price of getting what they need. If residents want new services, they may have to vote to tax themselves more rather than having their coastal canyons filled in and lost for future generations.

In this case and several others recently, the Coastal Commission has sent an important and emphatic signal along the Orange County coastline that it will not simply sign off on any proposal.