Tag: Andre Hurst Encinitas

ENCINITAS, Calif., July 19, 2019 (Newswire.com)
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On March 7, 2019, Coastal Commission Staff denied Andre Hurst permit to rebuild his 70-year-old home. In the denial of Andre Hurst for his coastal permit for reconstruction of his home, the Coastal Commission staff asserts that the new home will be unsafe.

The most important statement in the Staff Report is buried on page 33 is: “The Commission staff geologist and senior coastal engineer have reviewed the site geology and the submitted analysis and determined that with the existing shore and bluff protection, the site is stable for purposes of constructing the proposed home from a geologist’s perspective.” 

The City’s geotechnical engineer (James Knowlton, E.G. 1045); the applicant’s geotechnical engineer (Walter Crampton, GE 245, CE 23792); the engineer who designed the shoreline protection (John Niven, PE 57917); the wave impact engineer (David Skelley, RCE 47857); and the Commission’s own experts, Joseph Street and Leslie Ewing, are all in agreement that the proposed home is sited in a stable location with a 40 foot setback from the bluff edge due to the existing shoreline protection permitted by the Commission.

Despite the universal expert opinion that the site is stable, the Staff recommends denial alleging that the Encinitas LCP prohibits relying on lawful shoreline devices into account when determining stability. “The City’s certified LCP does not allow for new development to rely on existing shoreline armoring. (LUP Policy 16(e) [armoring solely for existing structures]” Staff Report p. 17. The past decisions of this Commission, along with numerous other reasons, show Staff’s statement is untrue, according to Andre Hurst’s attorney. There is a long history of homes approved on Encinitas bluffs. In addition, at the hearing for Mr. Hurst’s application, Chairperson Donna Bochco asserted that the “I also don’t think it even makes sense for us to say that the seawall cannot be counted towards the setback for disallowing … or protecting from erosion because it’s there and we can’t take it out and we can’t make them do that for many reasons.”

Despite these facts in the report, Coastal Commission still denied Mr. Hurst’s application to rebuild his home. 

Press Release
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updated: Jul 18, 2019

ENCINITAS, Calif., July 18, 2019 (Newswire.com)
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ENCINITAS, Calif., July 18, 2019 (Newswire) -On March 7, 2019, Coastal Commission Staff denied Andre Hurst permit to rebuild his 70-year-old home. In analyzing the staff report the coastal commission staff asserts that the Encinitas LCP prohibits relying on shoreline protection and that this view is consistent with past city and commission actions.

Reliance on existing shoreline protective structures is consistent with past city and commission actions. Only four (4) homes in Encinitas relying on existing shoreline protection have been proposed. Each was approved by the City or the Commission.

a.    CDP Nos. 01-196 (Contino) and 01-197 (Quattro) Were Approved and Not Appealed for 566 and 560 Neptune Avenue. The property at 560 Neptune and 566 Neptune is protected by a previously approved shoreline protective structure for an existing home. The shoreline protective structures were approved on June 10, 1999 in Coastal CDP 6-99-041 and on December 19, 2002 in City CDP 09-078. City CDP No. 01-196 (Contino) and City CDP 01-197 (Quattro) approved on December 16, 2004, authorized the demolition of the existing house and the construction of two new homes. Each of these homes (1) has a basement; (2) is set back 40 feet; and (3) was analyzed by the City for stability taking into account the approved shoreline protection, without which stability could not be established. No appeal of the City permits was initiated by the Commission Staff. If the Commission Staff believed that the LCP required that existing shoreline protective structures could not be relied upon, there would have been an appeal. 

b. The Coastal Commission Rejected a Staff Recommendation to Ignore Shoreline Protection for 820 and 828 Neptune (A-6-ENC-09-40/A-6-ENC-09-41) (Okun). The property at 820 Neptune and 828 Neptune is protected by approved shoreline protective structures. (CDP 6-05-030) , The Okun property is 50 feet away from the Hurst property at 808 Neptune. The City approved the demolition of the existing Okun home which spanned two lots and the construction of a new home on each of the two lots. (City CDP 07-155, City CDP 08-073). Each new home has a basement. Each lot is 50 feet wide, the exact dimension of the Hurst property. The City relied upon the stability provided by lawfully erected shoreline protective structures. The Commission appealed the City decision for Okun. The Commission Staff took the new position that the Encinitas LCP prohibited using existing lawful shoreline protective structures to establish stability. The Commission rejected the Staff Recommendation for Okun and approved both homes with setbacks of 40 feet and basements exactly as approved by the City. 

c. The Commission Has Approved Seawalls for More Than 40 Properties in Encinitas​ Without Limiting What Uses the Seawalls may Serve. Between 1995 and 2004, in more than 20 separate CDPs, the Commission approved seawalls along the Encinitas bluff. There were more than 20 staff reports and more than 20 public hearings. In no case did the Commission impose a condition prohibiting reliance on the seawall for redevelopment of any property. In no case did the Commission make findings that the Encinitas LCP would prohibit the future on development of any property to rely on the approved seawall. 

In Andre Hurst attorney’s opinion, if the Encinitas LCP prohibited reliance on existing approved seawalls at some point in this 10 year period, the Commission or the Commission Staff would have stated it. But the Commission record is consistently silent about the application of the Encinitas LCP urged by the Staff Report for Hurst.

Source: Andre Hurst