Planning commission overturns director's incompleteness finding, advances CNLM coastal permit for Headlands trail hours

The Dana Point Planning Commission on Feb. 24 granted an appeal by the Center for Natural Lands Management (CNLM) and overturned the community development director's December 18, 2024, determination that CNLM's coastal development permit application (CDP24-0022) to set trail hours on the Headlands Preserve was incomplete. The commission voted 5-0 to consider the application complete as of the commission's action and to allow the permit process to move forward.

City staff described the item as procedural: the commission was being asked to decide only whether the director's incompleteness determination should stand, not to rule on the underlying merits of CNLM's proposed hours. The CNLM application, originally submitted Oct. 1, 2024, would establish restricted public access hours on the portion of the Headlands Preserve managed by CNLM; CNLM said those hours are intended to protect sensitive resources, including the endangered Pacific pocket mouse.

Sarah Mueller, representing CNLM, urged the commission to find the application complete as of Oct. 31, 2024, or no later than Nov. 19, 2024. Mueller said…