Citations
- 38 Cal. App. 4th 523
Full opinion text
Opinion
KLINE, P. J.
Introduction
In November 1986, San Mateo County voters enacted Measure A, “The Coastal Protection Initiative,” amending the county’s local coastal program, making further amendments to the local coastal program essentially conditional upon voter approval (with limited exceptions) and providing that the county board of supervisors, by a four-fifths majority, may submit proposed amendments to the voters.
Appellant coastal landowners and nonprofit organizations representing coastal landowners, farmers, and others allege Measure A is subject to numerous constitutional and statutory defects. However, at the core of their challenge are the dual contentions that Measure A (1) deals with a matter of statewide concern and therefore may not properly be the subject of a local initiative, and (2) conflicts with the California Coastal Act of 1976 in that it frustrates a legislatively designed regulatory scheme of public hearings, public participation, and consultation between local agencies and the California Coastal Commission (Commission). The recent California Supreme Court opinion in DeVita v. County of Napa (1995) 9 Cal.4th 763 [38 Cal.Rptr.2d 699, 889 P.2d 1019] and Yost v. Thomas (1984) 36 Cal.3d 561 [205 Cal.Rptr. 801, 685 P.2d 1152] undermine both contentions. We shall reject these and the other challenges to Measure A raised by appellants and shall affirm the judgment of the trial court, denying appellants’ petition for writ of mandate. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1085.)
Facts
San Mateo County voters adopted Measure A on November 4, 1986. The initiative amended the San Mateo County Local Coastal Program (LCP), which had originally been adopted in 1980 under authority of the California Coastal Act of 1976 (Coastal Act). (Pub. Resources Code, § 30000 et seq.) With limited exceptions, Measure A did not alter the substance of the 1980 LCP. Rather, Measure A identified 37 existing LCP land-use policies and provided they could not be weakened (that is no increase in nonagricultural development, density or use would be permitted) by amendment, absent a vote of the people. Section 10 of Measure A provides that it “may be repealed or amended only by a majority of the voters of San Mateo County voting in a valid election. The Board of Supervisors may, by four-fifths vote, after consideration by the County Planning Commission, submit proposed amendments to the voters.” (Measure A, § 10, subd. (a).) On December 10, 1987, the Commission approved, subject to modifications, four of the amendments submitted as part of the Measure A package and approved the remaining forty-nine amendments as submitted. The board of supervisors accepted two of the modifications and resubmitted the remaining two. The Commission certified these two Measure A amendments as being consistent with the Coastal Act on March 22, 1988.
Statement of the Case
On March 20, 1987 San Mateo County Coastal Landowners’ Association, a California nonprofit mutual benefit corporation, San Mateo County Farm Bureau, a California nonprofit corporation, and Citizens for Responsible Planning, a California nonprofit mutual benefit corporation (hereafter collectively appellants), filed a petition for writ of ordinary mandamus (Code Civ. Proc., § 1085) and complaint for declaratory relief against respondent County of San Mateo seeking a declaratory judgment that Measure A was invalid and a writ of mandate and prohibition commanding the County to cease enforcing it. (Super. Ct. No. 316851.)
The county answered and Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., Save Our Coast Committee, Committee for Green Foothills, League for Coastal Protection and Robert Cevasco (hereafter collectively Interveners) intervened to join with the county in opposing appellants’ claims.
Subsequently, appellants, joined by plaintiff John L. De Benedetti, Jr., a coastal zone landowner, filed a second action seeking a writ of mandamus and declaratory relief against the county and the Commission. (Super. Ct. No. 329349.) On January 9, 1990, appellants filed an amended petition and complaint in that action.
On March 23, 1990, both actions (Nos. 316851 and 329349) were consolidated for trial. Interveners intervened in the consolidated action. The county, the Commission, and Interveners filed answers.
In May 1991, the county and the Commission filed motions for summary adjudication and Interveners moved for judgment on the pleadings.
On July 26, 1991, the trial court granted in part and denied in part the motions of the county and Commission for summary adjudication of issues.
The remaining causes of action were tried to the court and its judgment was entered on July 16, 1992.
This timely appeal followed.
I.
Measure A Neither Conflicts With Nor Is Preempted
by the Coastal Act
A. The Coastal Act.
In Yost v. Thomas, supra, 36 Cal.3d 561, 565-567 (Yost), our Supreme Court described in some detail the Coastal Act and the respective roles of local government and the Commission in the preparation and certification of the LCP:
“The Coastal Act of 1976 (Pub. Resources Code, § 30000 et seq.)[] was enacted by the Legislature as a comprehensive scheme to govern land use planning for the entire coastal zone of California. The Legislature found that ‘the California coastal zone is a distinct and valuable natural resource of vital and enduring interest to all the people’; that ‘the permanent protection of the state’s natural and scenic resources is a paramount concern’; that ‘it is necessary to protect the ecological balance of the coastal zone’ and that ‘existing developed uses, and future developments that are carefully planned and developed consistent with the policies of this division, are essential to the economic and social well-being of the people of this state . . . .’ (§ 30001, subds. (a) and (d)). ‘[T]he basic goals of the state for the coastal zone’ are to: ‘(a) Protect, maintain, and, where feasible, enhance and restore the overall quality of the coastal zone environment and its natural and manmade resources. [