Mendocino County coastal permit administrator approves three permits, continues Navarro River project

The Mendocino County Coastal Permit Administrator approved three coastal development permits on March 26 and continued a fourth timed item to give the California Coastal Commission time to review new applicant materials.

Staff recommended approval of CVP 2022‑0017 after reporting that seven trees were removed near a bluff‑top parcel in Gowalla and that the property owner erected a new, six‑foot view‑obscuring fence. Planner Rob Fitzsimmons told the administrator that staff incorporated comments from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and the Coastal Commission and recommended conditions requiring remediation of the fence within 90 days, a 1:1 replacement of removed trees with native, locally appropriate species, and a five‑year monitoring plan with a performance standard (either 100% tree survival in five years or 75% survival if an understory of shrubs is included). "Staff recommend approval of this project with the revised conditions of approval," Fitzsimmons said.

Property owner Steve Regan, who said he and co‑owner Vicky Sanderson bought the parcel after a prior owner had accrued the code violation, objected to parts of the revised conditions. Regan called the species requirement "punitive" and said forcing specific species — for example a…