Comments by Francis Drouillard

Another bill to exempt developer from the law submitted to Assembly

Scott_Boyd,

You’re wasting your time with the Energizer Bunny of ideologues. He never changes his tune no matter what facts are presented. Ever.

Another bill to exempt developer from the law submitted to Assembly

Steven Hyman,

Why do you call the Coastal Commission liars? Because they’re calling AB 1991 for what it is, namely a vehicle for developers to skirt environmental laws?

How many similar efforts up and down the coast do you have to see before YOU recognize what AB 1991 does?

And while you’re at it, when are you going to answer the simple question—what environmental laws do you support? You’ve been skirting that one long enough now.

HMB releases financial analysis of Beachwood settlement

HMB’s analysis shows they lose money under any scenario for building on Beachwood alone, including the 83-home version the developer claims was previously approved.

Why does building 83 homes on Beachwood become profitable only when AB 1991 passes?

HMB mayor, attorney say Coastal Commission staff is lying to legislature

All—You can call me “Frank.”

I’d also like to address a point raised regarding my knowledge of the Beachwood parcel.

Frankly, I don’t care about the Beachwood parcel, its developer, HMB or anyone living in HMB.

What I do care about is the adverse effect that AB 1991 will have on my coastal community, and I intend to stop it.

If the good citizens of HMB would address those concerns rather than challenge their validity, they might get a little more sympathy for their plight.

HMB mayor, attorney say Coastal Commission staff is lying to legislature

Makes you wonder what Mr. Mullin had to give up in exchange for those votes, doesn’t it?

On the plus side, I see that 3 Republicans did the right thing (Berryhill, Blakeslee and Spitzer). Too bad they couldn’t talk more sense into the other members of their caucus.

HMB mayor, attorney say Coastal Commission staff is lying to legislature

Brain, George and Steven,

Despicable how you fall for Lanny Davis’s lies, blame the Coastal Commission for HMB’s self-created problems, then call Sarah Christie a liar. She has a far better command of the facts than any of you.

McClung and Davis base much of their argument on the fact that HMB approved the subdivision in 1991. The problems is that HMB did not yet have the authority to approved development. Their LCP had not yet been certified by the Coastal Commission.

McClung and Davis also imply that you’re not supposed to build on parcels with wetlands. Not true—you can develop those parcels, just not those parts that have wetlands.

I’ll take the word of Sarah Christie over that of HMB’s mayor or professional spinmeisters any day.

Local Government Committee passes AB1991—next stop: Appropriations Committee

Steven,

Honestly, the more you write the less sense you make.

What’s so horrible about maintaining the integrity of the Coastal Act and HMB recovering most or all of the $18 million with development that conforms to the Coastal Act?

Local Government Committee passes AB1991—next stop: Appropriations Committee

Steven,

Beachwood may not be worth the fuss and the money, but the rest of the California coast is worth protecting from overdevelopment on the Beachwood and Glencree parcels.

Local Government Committee passes AB1991—next stop: Appropriations Committee

Steven,

Those weren’t concessions. They were alternatives that would have been evaluated as part of the normal review process that would have occurred without the need for the special interest legislation or the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent by HMB in legal fees.

Ken,

I’m a conservative Republican, and I do not ‘admire’ the predictability of their Assembly Caucus. There used to be a day when Republicans deplored such legislation. Now, California Republicans are so beholden to developers they’ve abandoned their core beliefs in a vain attempt to retain what little influence they have. They’ve foolishly adopted an environment-vs-property rights stance that will steer them towards further irrelevance in California politics. You can see that with AB 1295 (Ducheney) and 1991 (Mullin). Developers will have to abandon Republicans and start manipulating Democrats as that is where the power resides in California.

Local Government Committee passes AB1991—next stop: Appropriations Committee

Steven,

Please re-read what Mr. Lansing reported—the $41 million settlement was uncollectable and the City Council knew it.

That fact should have some effect on your opinion in the matter.

Editorial: My fax to the Assembly Appropriations Committee on AB1991

I wrote the Leno for Senate Campaign to register my opposition to AB 1991 and seek Mr. Leno’s position on the bill. The response from a staffer was “Mr.Leno opposes the bill as written. Thank you for your inquiry.”

However, some believe that Mark will respond to public pressure and do the right thing.

There’s still time to fax him at 916-319-2113.

Local Government Committee passes AB1991—next stop: Appropriations Committee

Steven,

I don’t know how well it works in the real estate business, but “wishing things to the cornfield” doesn’t work very well with essential environmental laws like the Coastal Act.

If you, a citizen of HMB, can’t find out from your City Council how much has been spent on this case, or how they derived the $18 million settlement amount, why should the rest of us Californians trust their AB 1991 scheme?

Local Government Committee passes AB1991—next stop: Appropriations Committee

Steven,

Your selfishness and capacity to cherry-pick facts shows no bounds.

HMB is no better at crafting “one-off” legislation than they are at administering an LCP.

HMB picked this “silly fight.” Their legacy is and will remain contemptuous and incompetent coastal government undeserving of assistance from other Californians.

Hopefully, the side that demands fair and uniform enforcement of state law will prevail over selfish special interests that benefit a few incompetent politicians.

I do agree that this battle should never have been waged. HMB created their own mess and they should clean it up without jeopardizing our state’s environmental laws.

Local Government Committee passes AB1991—next stop: Appropriations Committee

Steven,

There’s nothing so special about HMB that the rest of the state has to give up its environmental laws to save HMB $18 million.

The issue can be resolved once and for all without AB 1991. HMB will own the Beachwood parcel for $18 million. With its foresight and infinite wisdom, your City Council already negotiated those terms.

Now, if you want to keep lawyers engaged in the issue, consider what will happen if AB 1991 passes. I think a strong case can be made that AB 1991 is unconstitutional because it uses legislation to undo Proposition 20.

Local Government Committee passes AB1991—next stop: Appropriations Committee

I would encourage Kevin, Ray and Steven to learn more about the Coastal Act and to attend a Coastal Commission hearing the next time they’re held nearby.

After doing so they will become far more effective at arguing against Coastal Act policies.

Information about the Coastal Act and the Commission’s public meetings are available at their website.

Local Government Committee passes AB1991—next stop: Appropriations Committee

Ray,

http://tinyurl.com/5nksdf has the definition of wetlands. As you can see it is codified into state and federal law. The California Coastal Commission is charged with enforcing those laws within California’s Coastal Zone.

The Beachwood property could be developed in a manner fully consistent with the Coastal Act, but not with as many homes as you or the developer would like.

Preventing development that is 4 times what the Coastal Act allows can hardly be described as anti-development. It’s simply stopping excessive development, which is one of many legitimate purposes of the Coastal Act.

Local Government Committee passes AB1991—next stop: Appropriations Committee

Ray,

HMB is in its current financial predicament because of its own actions. It is not the fault of the Coastal Commission or other Californians. It’s the actions of YOUR city council that caused the problem, not any state agency enforcing environmental laws.

Fix the mess you made for yourselves without adversely impacting other coastal communities. If you want the help of other Californians, try a little humility and stop dictating to us how we should help.

Local Government Committee passes AB1991—next stop: Appropriations Committee

No, AB 1991(Mullin) is not “about having a quality of life that you would expect in this period of our country.”

It’s about suspending state and local environmental laws in exchange for cash and the bad statewide precedent it would set.

And no, I don’t have any real estate interests in HMB. I could care less about the effect its failure to pass would have on HMB.

I’m more concerned about how AB 1991 will be used as a roadmap to circumvent environmental laws in Mendocino County, where I do have real estate interests.

Local Government Committee passes AB1991—next stop: Appropriations Committee

Steven,

The length of time it takes to review a project within the Coastal Zone is a legitimate complaint. (It takes upwards of 18 months in Sonoma County and maybe a little less in Mendocino County.) But there are better ways to address that problem than eliminating environmental laws or the review process altogether.

For one, review agencies need to be adequately staffed. In my opinion, staff shortages are a real problem in Mendocino County and at the Coastal Commission. Maintaining adequate staff would greatly help the review process.

Timely submittal of items requested by the review agencies would also help. But most developers, especially small developers, are reluctant to pay all the consulting fees needed to obtain the requested information, especially if the costs are unforeseen.

I think more could be done to inform small developers what to expect when they apply for a Coastal Development Permit. Unfortunately, the Coastal Commission and administrators of local coastal plans don’t have the resources to develop and maintain that information.

Say, that leaves an opportunity for someone to write a book ...

Opinion: Review’s coverage of AB 1991 is biased and incomplete

Kevin,

I was hoping you would answer Ken’s question by providing specific examples of biased and incomplete stories at Coastsider.

You may not realize it, but your response pretty much made Ken’s point.

I’d also be interested to know why you personally are so hostile towards environmental laws.

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