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Landmark land deals settled--Beachwood loses its development case in appelate court
What becomes of the star-crossed Beachwood subdivision - and the $1.75 million developers have already paid for infrastructure in anticipation of building - is now anyone's guess. Justice Maria Rivera, writing for the First District of the California Court of Appeals, Wednesday overturned a lower court's writ of mandate allowing Joyce Yamagiwa and her partners the right to build 83 homes on 24 acres north of Terrace Avenue and east of Highway 1. Yamagiwa partnered with Keenan Land Company of Palo Alto in an effort to complete the project. Almost predictably on the San Mateo County coast, the issue boiled down to defining wetlands. Fifteen years ago, the city found the project met with existing land use regulations and granted a "vesting tentative map." Such designations generally mean that development can proceed in accordance with regulations that exist at the time of application. But in 1991 the project stalled when the city issued a moratorium on construction that required new sewer permits. Seven years later, when the moratorium was lifted, Beachwood owners asked the city for a Coastal Development Permit and the city balked. The city maintained the definition of wetlands had changed. Specific soil content was no longer required and destruction of wetlands could no longer be mitigated by man-made wetlands elsewhere. It cited definitions from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the California code, and the court agreed. Half Moon Bay Mayor Jim Grady was pleased with the verdict and the fact that the court understood that the definition of wetlands has changed over time. "The Beachwood project didn't meet the terms of the (Local Coastal Program,)" he said. Rivera did express sympathy for Beachwood owners, who argued it wasn't fair to change the definition between granting conditional approval and a building permit. In particular, Beachwood attorneys argued the developers had already paid $550,000 for drainage improvements, $900,000 in sewer fees and $300,000 to widen Highway 1. Rivera noted the developers could seek to recover those costs. "From a fairness standpoint, Beachwood's argument is appealing," Rivera wrote. "It would be difficult to find another development proposal of this modest size with a more tortuous and costly history." But Rivera wrote that the Legislature's declaration that protecting the coastal zone is necessary to public health, safety and welfare, trumped other considerations. She continued that Beachwood developers had to have known that an initial vesting did not indicate a right to a CDP. She also dismissed the developer's claim that the city itself created the wetlands by borrowing some of the dirt on the site for fill. The project dates to the 1970s, when the Keenan Land Company first proposed 85 homes on the property. Efforts to reach company president Charles Keenan were unsuccessful. The Half Moon Bay City Council unanimously denied Beachwood a CDP in May 2000, concluding that the project violated the city's LCP. The decision centered on the council's assessment that 17 areas on the property met the LCP's definition of protected wetlands. Keenan sued over the decision, and San Mateo Superior Court Judge Rosemary Pfeiffer backed the company, ruling that the disputed wetlands areas on the development site were not, in fact, wetlands. Pfeiffer also concluded that the city had made Keenan wait too long following the 1990 map, and ordered the council to issue a CDP. The council disagreed with the decision and felt the judge misread the city's LCP. Despite its disagreement with the decision, the council voted in March 2001 to abide by the court order and it issued the CDP pending the outcome of last week's appeal. "This feels really good," Grady said. "We were trying to find some satisfactory outcome without completely caving." Copyright © 2005Half Moon Bay Review and Pescadero Pebble. http://www.hmbreview.com/articles/2005/08/03/news/local_news/story02.txt
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