Speaker’s authority to appoint alternates to Coastal Commission disputed

On the eve of a vote on one of the most contentious issues to confront the Coastal Commission, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez appointed four alternates to the commission.  At least one commissioner and the Sierra Club dispute his authority to do so, according to an AP story in the Mercury News. One of the alternates, a commercial and securities attorney from Orange County, is likely to vote on the Pebble Beach project.

The appointments came days before the coastal commission was scheduled to cast a final vote on a multimillion golf project in Pebble Beach, a high profile development backed by actor Clint Eastwood, former Major League Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth and retired golfer Arnold Palmer.

The Pebble Beach Co. - which hosts the annual fundraiser for the Democratic Party - is pushing a plan to build an 18-hole course, a driving range, an equestrian center, 160 new hotel units, a conference center and underground parking.

Coastal commission staff in March described the project as "highly problematic" because developers would cut sensitive pine trees in the Del Monte Forest and pave wetlands.

That’s 10,000 pines and 36,000 Yadon piperia, an endangered plant under federal protection, according to a much more detailed staff-written report at the Monterey County Herald. The Herald describes the plan as, "a new driving range, 160 new hotel units at the Pebble Beach Lodge and Spanish Bay, 33 new home lots, 60 employee housing units, a relocated equestrian center and various roadway changes."

On June 2, Governor Schwarzenegger appointed Katcho Achadjian, San Luis Obispo County supervisor and gas station owner, to the commission, and Santa Barbara City Councilmember Dan Secord as an alternate.  Secord received a lower conservation score than all but two of eleven commissioners when he served on the commission in 2005.