Malibu resident Sara Wan’s fifteen-year tenure on the California Coastal Commission is over, according to a report from Sacramento newspaper Capitol Weekly, which is owned by The Malibu Times publisher Arnold York. Wan is expected to be replaced by Dayna Bochco, a Democrat from Santa Monica. Bochco is an entertainment industry executive and a board member of Heal the Bay. Her husband is the well-known Hollywood producer Steven Bochco.
Wan has served on the commission since 1996, and was voted chair by her fellow commissioners in December. The vote, however, set off “a bruising political fight,” according to the report. Former state Senate Leader John Burton sent Wan a strongly worded letter accusing her of double-crossing Commissioner Mary Shallenberger for the chairmanship. The appointments for Wan’s coastal commission seat are made by Senate pro Tem Darrell Steinberg.
Wan and her husband, Larry, have lived in Malibu for 25 years. Larry Wan was voted a member of the inaugural Malibu City Council in 1990.
Wan has a reputation as a staunch environmentalist and advocate for public access to beaches along the California coast. It’s a position that sometimes has caused friction with local officials over coastal preservation in Malibu, not the least of which was a run-in with local authorities seven years ago.
The Sheriff’s Department was called during a 2003 incident when Wan refused to leave a section of Broad Beach that homeowners there had claimed to be private beach land. Authorities were summoned after Wan ignored a private security guard on an ATV, who had ordered Wan to move.
Also, she sits on a commission that has made controversial decisions regarding land use in Malibu, including its recent approval of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy parks plan that includes overnight camping in Malibu that is hotly contested by residents and the city.