Sea walls at center of fight between Half Moon Bay homeowners, California

Cities and towns throughout the Bay Area are preparing for the unavoidable effects of rising sea levels brought on by climate change. However, the state rejected one group of landowners’ attempt to defend their property from rising water in Half Moon Bay.

A court’s recent decision may have an impact on hundreds of beachfront properties from San Diego to the Oregon border.

About 20 feet of bluff along Mirada Road in Half Moon Bay collapsed after a hurricane in 2016. Large rocks were brought in by the homeowners to stem the erosion after the storm. They then submitted an application to the California Coastal Commission to construct a concrete seawall that would be 257 feet long and permanent.

The commission must provide permits for permanent seawalls in accordance with the 1977 Coastal Act in order to safeguard “existing structures.” However, the language of that law is currently being reinterpreted, according to Jeremy Talcott, a property rights lawyer with the Pacific Legal Foundation.

“For decades, it was consistently interpreted that “existing structures” meant existing at the time of the application,” he stated. The commission has since reversed that view, stating that it now means existing as of January 1, 1977, the day the Coastal Act became operative. In essence, that would deprive hundreds or even thousands of coastal properties of their statutory protection.

The commission declined to issue the permit since the houses on Mirada Road were constructed in the 1980s. The homeowners prevailed in their lawsuit, but a San Francisco appeals court has already stated that it intends to reverse the decision, siding with the commission and, in Talcott’s view, leaving thousands of families who constructed homes along the coast over the previous 47 years helpless against the ocean’s advance.

“Those homeowners used to be aware that they had the right to take precautions to safeguard their investment. He answered, “They might not be able to now.”

Seawalls have the drawback of preventing the beach’s natural inward movement. The water just sweeps over and covers the sand since it has nowhere else to go. And Dr. Charles Lester at the UC Santa Barbara Ocean and Coastal Policy Center said there is a growing understanding that, as the oceans rise, beaches are disappearing in areas that have solid seawalls.

“We see this in a lot of places already where we’ve built seawalls,” he stated. “We’ve noticed a decrease in beach area. The beach will eventually disappear in front of that seawall. So, cumulatively, if we end up building a long row of seawalls, eventually that beach will disappear.”

Lester is contributing to the development of a statewide beach conservation plan for California. A U.S. Geological Survey study is predicting that as much as 2/3 of Southern California beaches could be lost as the sea approaches land that is already heavily developed.

“Most people recognize how important that is to California,” said Lester. “It’s really part of our culture, our way of life, the ability to go and enjoy the natural shoreline, the sandy beach. If the choice we make is to build seawalls everywhere then we stand to lose that.”

Ironically, the homeowners in Half Moon Bay are benefiting from this conflict between private and public rights. Because there is a shoreline pedestrian trail between their houses and the beach, they will be allowed to build their seawall, after all, to protect that public infrastructure. But for those who are not so lucky, attorney Talcott said the tide may be turning against their right to protect their homes.

“It does reflect a policy of sacrificing of private landowners,” he said.

So far, the court has only released a tentative opinion agreeing with commission. One more hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 11, after which a final ruling will be issued.

Talcott said, because of its wide-ranging impact on private property rights, it’s a policy that will likely be challenged to the Supreme Court.

John Ramos accidentally launched a lifelong career in journalism when he began drawing editorial cartoons and writing smart-alecky satire pieces for the Bakersfield High School newspaper.

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