Del Norte County Municipal Code § 21.52.20 Basis Of Appeals

An appellant shall be deemed to have exhausted local appeals for purposes of this section and shall be qualified as an aggrieved person where the appellant has pursued his or her appeal to the local appellate body as required by Chapter 21.51 except that exhaustion of all local appeals shall not be required if any of the following occur:

1. The county requires an appellant to appeal to more local appellate bodies than have been certified as appellant bodies for permits in the coastal zone, in the implementation section of the Local Coastal Program.

2. An appellant was denied the right of the initial local appeal by county ordinance which restricts the class of persons who may appeal a local decision.

3. An appellant was denied the right of local appeal because county notice and hearing procedures for the development did not comply with the provisions of the adopted Local Coastal Program procedures.

4. The county charges an appeal fee for the filing or processing of appeals.

Where a project is appealed by any two members of the Coastal Commission, there shall be no requirement of exhaustion of local appeals. Provided, however, that the county may provide, by ordinance, that notice of Coastal Commission appeals may be transmitted to the county appellate body (which considers appeals from the local body that rendered the final decision) and the appeal to the Coastal Commission may be suspended pending a decision of the appellate body modifies or reverses the previous decision, the Coastal Commissioners shall be required to file a new appeal from that decision. Adoption of such an ordinance would be subject to Coastal Commission certification as in amendment to the Local Coastal Program.

Action taken by the county on a coastal development permit (or entitlement serving as a coastal development permit) may be appealed to the California Coastal Commission for only the following types of development:

1. Developments approved by the county between the sea and the first public road paralleling the sea or within three hundred feet of the inland extent of any beach or of the mean high tide line of the sea where there is no beach, whichever is the greater distance as designated on the Local Program permit appeal maps.

2. Developments approved by the county not included within subsection A(1) of this section that are located on tidelands, submerged lands, public trust lands, within one hundred feet of any wetland, estuary, stream, or within three hundred feet of the top of the seaward face of any coastal bluff as designated on the Local Coastal Program permit appeals maps.

3. Any development approved by the county that is not designated as the principal permitted use in Title 21.

4. Any development which constitutes a major public works project of a major energy facility.

The grounds for an appeal pursuant to subsection A(1) of this section shall be limited to one or more of the following allegations:

1. The development fails to provide adequate physical access or public or private commercial use or interferes with such uses.

2. The development fails to protect public views from any public road or from a recreational area to, and along, the coast.

3. The development is not compatible with the established physical scale of the area.

4. The development may significantly alter existing natural landforms.

5. The development does not comply with shoreline erosion and geologic setback requirements.

The grounds for an appeal pursuant to subsection A(1), (3) or (4) of this section shall be limited to an allegation that the development does not conform to the certified local program.

Any action described in subsection A of this section shall become final after the tenth working day, unless an appeal is filed within that time.