Lagunita Seawall Must Fall, Coastal Commision, State Court Says

LAGUNA BEACH, CA — The oceanfront home at 11 Lagunita Drive is returning to the mercy of the Pacific Ocean. The home, once owned by has lost all legal efforts and must remove the sea wall designed to keep the waves at bay.

The sea wall, designed with a faux rock exterior in 2005, has been the source of much controversy since the Katz family erected the structure they stated was necessary. In 2018, neighbors alerted the California Coastal Commission to extensive remodeling at the historic property, work large enough to be construed as new construction. The case of the Katz sea wall went to court and earned a $1 million fine which they battled into 2019. In December of 2020, that fine was reimposed by the appellate court. The Katz family has since purchased a home next door to the property in question, now considered an "investment home."

Now, attorneys for the homeowners have said that legal aspects have been exhausted.

“The lawsuit is over,” Steven Kaufmann, the lawyer who represents the owners cited by the Coastal Commission. Kaufmann expressed that the seawall will be removed, but the exact timing is not yet known, according to reports.

Commission attorney Alex Helperin told the OC Register that the Katz's and the new owner, Stanley Luvanita, will submit plans for the wall's removal sometime by May.

“The owners need to submit a plan for the removal of the wall,” Helperin said. “The wall should be out by the middle of May.”

The California Coastal Commission opposes the edifices that protect homes from erosion. Without the sea wall, the home will be in jeopardy of the winter waves.

The Coastal Commission considers the work done on the Katz home as "new development," though homeowners lobby the 1952 Victoria Beach residence received a substantial remodel to bring the home up to present standards.

Typically, walls constructed before 1976 are grandfathered in. Still, the Coastal Commission determined the sea wall at 11 Lagunita Drive was part of a "colossal remodel that added square footage and dramatically raised the home's value," the Coastal Commission said.

Seawalls prevent sand from reaching the beach, damaging the beaches and causing them to shrink to the point of disappearing, Commissioner Donne Brownsey, the Coastal Commission explained in a previous Patch report.