Coastal Commission’s fate goes to the state Supreme Court

The state Supreme Court will decide the fate of the California Coastal Commission, beginning to hear the case today.

The Commission is appealing an appeals court decision that says it is illegally constituted. The original case was brought by the Marine Forests Society, which the Commission ordered to stop building an artificial reef outside Newport Beach Harbor., according to an AP story in the Mercury News.

In the 1990s, it blocked plans to build a seaside resort proposed by the Hearst Corp. in San Luis Obispo County, as well as a major residential development in the Bolsa Chica wetlands in Orange County. In the 1980s, it forced property owners to create easements allowing public access to the beaches - a practice later condemned by the U.S. Supreme Court as "extortion."