Back in June, the California Coastal Commission rejected a plan by U2 guitarist The Edge and four adjacent property owners to build homes on a ridge in the Sweetwater Mesa area in Malibu in unincorporated LA County. The development, called Leaves in the Wind, was beset by questions regarding environmental impact and questionable ownership arrangements--the owners of the adjacent parcels were revealed to be close associates and family of The Edge. Peter Douglas, the chair of the California Coastal Commission, memorably said of the project, "In my 38 years, I have never seen a project as environmentally devastating as this one."
Today the LA Times reports that The Edge and three of the adjacent property owners still haven't found what they're looking for, filing separate lawsuits alleging that the CCC's June 16 denial "represented an unconstitutional taking of property without just compensation." (The owners say in a statement that the CCC's June ruling denied "any economically viable use of their properties and will establish a sweeping new basis for denying other landowners the ability to use their properties in California.") The lawsuits also claim that the Commission's staff erroneously considered the properties as a single project, but that they actually are all separately-owned. Perhaps the properties are connected by streets with no name?
· U2 Guitarist's 5 Malibu Houses Denied, Called "Devastating" [Curbed LA]
· U2's the Edge, 3 others sue coastal panel over Malibu properties [LA Times]
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