The lawsuits allege the California Coastal Commission acted unconstitutionally when it denied four applications by U2 rocker The Edge, and his family and friends to build several mansions in the Sweetwater Mesa area.
By Knowles Adkisson / The Malibu Times
U2 guitarist The Edge and his associates filed four lawsuits Friday against the California Coastal Commission after it rejected in June their proposal to build several mansions in the Sweetwater Mesa area just outside the Malibu city limits. The lawsuits, filed in state Superior Court, ask the court to overrule the commission’s decision on the basis that it was unconstitutional and illegally deprived them of the use of their property without fair compensation.
The property owners had sought coastal development permits to build four houses as large as 10,000 square feet on adjacent parcels in an environmentally sensitive habitat area (ESHA) overlooking Serra Canyon. The commission denied the four applications on June 16 in an 8-4 vote, citing environmental and view disruptions caused by the construction. A fifth application was pulled shortly before the commission voted and is not involved in the recent lawsuits.
Peter Douglas, the Coastal Commission’s outgoing executive director, told the Los Angeles Times after the vote the proposal was “one of the three worst projects that I’ve seen in terms of environmental devastation.”
Fiona Hutton, the PR agent hired by the property owners, called the statement hyperbole and said the commission’s vote was politically motivated. Hutton said Friday in a press release that 60 projects of similar size in ESHA areas had been approved in recent years.
“When we buy property zoned for residential use, we expect to be able to build a home. But in this case, after years of working cooperatively with the Coastal Commission and planning the most environmentally sensitive homes possible, government changed the rules and is now denying these families the right to use their land,” Hutton said.
Prior to its June rejection, the project was scheduled several times in prior years to go before the commission for approval, but was withdrawn each time. It has received both local and international media attention, due to the celebrity of The Edge, whose real name is David Evans, and also because the commission has branded the project a “coordinated development scheme,” i.e., one owner (Evans) with the intent to build the homes and sell them at a profit.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Evans bought the property in 2006 for $9 million with his wife. The listed owners of the properties are all either friends, family or business associates of Evans. All are originally from Ireland, and it is not clear how many of them live in the United States. Hutton has maintained the property owners want to build the homes to live in them, not sell them for a profit.
The project attracted further controversy in April when the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy voted to drop its opposition to the project in exchange for $1 million in donations, consulting work and a slew of conservations and development restrictions around the homes that would allow for the construction of a trail through the property in the future.
Critics of the deal say the owners of the project had effectively bought off the SMMC, while SMMC head Joe Edmiston countered that the donations would be valuable and beneficial for future users of the trail. However, the deal was contingent upon the project receiving approval from the Coastal Commission and has been voided.
Local Malibu residents opposed to the project have expressed concerns over possible landslides resulting from the grading, while environmental activists say the construction would harm the property’s fragile ecosystem.
Evans has gone to extensive lengths to justify the project. He created a Web site, “Leaves in the Wind,” touting the cutting-edge green technology that would be employed to preserve the sensitive habitat of the land.
But Douglas said after the project was rejected by the commission that Evans was trying to have it both ways.
“It’s a contradiction in terms-you can’t be serious about being an environmentalist and pick this location given the effects on habitat, land formation, scenic views and water quality,” Douglas said.