CARLSBAD — The owner of a Carlsbad property along the Buena Vista Lagoon has filed a lawsuit against the California Coastal Commission, challenging $1.4 million in fines issued for alleged violations, including blocking coastal public access.
Homeowner John Levy filed the petition for writ of mandate in San Diego County Superior Court on Nov. 19, arguing that there was no basis for the commission’s decision, that the fines were excessive, and that he was denied due process afforded to him under the U.S. Constitution.
The lawsuit argues that the commission denied Levy a fair hearing, saying staff did not give him adequate time to review over 1,200 pages of staff reports related to his case before his hearing, and that staff also denied his request for a continuance.
Levy also claimed that the Coastal Commission handles “informal administrative proceedings” and lacks the legal authority to determine property rights or impose “quasi-criminal penalties,” such as major fines.
“Americans have a constitutional right to significant due process protections when the government seeks to impose punitive financial penalties on them or their property,” said Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Jeremy Talcott. “By failing to provide procedural safeguards during its investigations or before imposing fines, the Coastal Commission is violating the Fourteenth Amendment rights of Californians like John Levy.”
The Coastal Commission ruled in October that Levy had repeatedly refused to address violations on his property near the Carlsbad-Oceanside border, including an unpermitted chain link fence along the lagoon, parking area, and pickleball court, and two locked gates illegally blocking public access to the beach and lagoon.
Commissioners also claimed Levy has not met several conditions of his 1998 coastal development permit (CDP) for his home. This includes failing to restore lagoon habitat and maintain wetland buffers, they said.
In addition to ordering Levy to pay $1.4 million within 60 days of the ruling, the commission ordered Levy to open the two locked gates — a vehicle gate along Mountain View Drive leading down to his property and the lagoon, and a “dawn-to-dusk” gate to a short stretch of lagoon trail at the north end of the central North Beach trail area.
Levy argued that the commission lacked the legal authority or sufficient evidence to support many of its findings, including that the two locked gates were unpermitted, unlawful, or blocked public access.
For years, Levy has had a code-locked gate at Mountain View Drive, accessible to Levy and city of Carlsbad personnel, who occasionally use it for North Beach Trail maintenance and emergency beach access.
The commission ordered Levy to open the Mountain View Drive gate to restore vehicle and pedestrian access to the lagoon and larger North Beach area. Commission staff said the road where the gate is located has a public beach access easement that the city of Carlsbad accepted in 2005, requiring the gate to be opened to the public so they can access the natural area below.
Levy argued that although he installed the gate, it is not technically his property. He said it sits on land (Lot 3) owned by The Beach Homeowners Association, which operates the nearby housing complex adjacent to his home.
“The only ones with lawful access into Lot 3 off of Mountain View Drive are: (1) the Beach HOA, which owns Lot 3 and the Vehicle Gate, (2) the City, which holds easements over Lots 2 and 3, and (3) Petitioners and their guests, who have a private driveway easement across Lot 3 and into the Levy Property,” Levy said in the lawsuit. “Second, because the Beach HOA is the owner of the underlying land and Vehicle Gate, only it can open the gate to persons or entities other than the ones listed above.”
The commission threatened over $1 million in additional fines if Levy did not open the vehicle gate as required. However, Levy confirmed he opened the gate “under protest” soon after the ruling.
As for the lagoon trail gate, Levy argues that he is not required to open it either. When the commission approved Levy’s CDP in 1998, he was required to implement a 300-foot public lagoon trail that would be accessible from dawn to dusk, and to make an offer of dedication to the city of Carlsbad for the trail.
Carlsbad officials state that the city has never accepted the dedication, leaving no one in charge of maintaining and overseeing the trail if it were to be open. The gate has remained locked and closed to the public, and the vegetation behind it has become overgrown due to a lack of maintenance.
“Because the City has not accepted the offer to dedicate the Lagoon Access easement, there is no legal public access into the Levy Property at that location, and therefore the Pedestrian Gate has remained lawfully locked to protect Petitioners’ private property against trespass. In the unlikely event the City accepts the Lagoon Access Easement, Petitioners are prepared to implement the time-lock on the gate, so that the public has dawn-to-dusk access,” the lawsuit states.
At the October hearing, Coastal Commission staff said they have attempted to resolve violations with Levy for several years but have been unable to obtain compliance, leading to the fines.
The Coastal Commission spokesperson, Joshua Smith, issued a statement on behalf of the agency regarding the lawsuit.
“The Coastal Commission seeks to maximize public access to the beach for all Californians, regardless of whether they can afford oceanfront property. The agency takes every public access violation very seriously, especially where a gate is blocking access for disabled persons,” the commission’s statement said.
The $1.5 million fine issued by the commission is far below the maximum they could impose, staff claimed. The state allows penalties of more than $11,000 per day for each violation that goes unaddressed, which they said would amount to tens of millions of dollars in Levy’s case.
Carlsbad officials have also disagreed with some of the commission’s arguments about alleged violations at the Levy property.
In the summer before the commission hearing, Carlsbad officials issued a letter stating that they do not believe the gates are required to be opened and that Levy appears to have met nearly all of the requirements for his CDP.
Coastal Commission staff have also argued that the city has, in fact, accepted the dedication for the lagoon trail.
The lawsuit also names John Kelly, who oversees a land trust for the property with Levy, as a petitioner, and names the city of Carlsbad and The Beach HOA as real parties of interest.
No hearing dates have been set at this time.
