Aaron McLendon

Several calls seeking comment from the Coastal Commission's Deputy Director Jack Ainsworth, District Manager Gary Timm, and Aaron McLendon, the commission's statewide enforcement analyst, were unreturned.

Aaron McLendon, the Coastal Commission's statewide enforcement analyst, said the actions of the homeowners association are considered a violation of the Coastal Act because the work was done without a coastal development permit.

"From viewing the photos, they were clearly removing beach area state tide lands, taking that public beach and putting it onto private property to create a large berm," McLendon said from his San Francisco-based office.

McLendon added that the timing of the sand removal was very bad from an environmental perspective.

"They couldn't have picked a worse time to do this," he said.

Aaron McLendon, a Coastal Commission enforcement officer, is quoted in the association's formal defense as telling residents the state will press forward in August seeking a new cease-and-desist order against Broad Beach residents.
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"The damage that was done was extensive," McLendon said."It adversely affected public access-you couldn't walk up and down the beach," he said.

"You cannot get away with what they've done, and these sorts of violations are seriously taken," he added.

Last month,s bulldozing destroyed incubating eggs from at least three grunion runs, state officials charge. ,The damage that was done was extensive,, said Aaron McLendon, a Coastal Commission enforcement officer, in a telephone interview.

,It adversely affected public access - you couldn,t walk up and down the beach,, he said. ,You cannot get away with what they,ve done, and these sorts of violations are seriously taken.
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McLendon said human beachgoers had a similar experience, and were forced to contend with waves that crashed into and then washed back down the steep berm on what had always been a broad beach, adding that while the grading was bad, the state must punish people who flout regulations and fundamentally change the biology of the shoreline and physical character of the beach.
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McLendon said that beachfront home owners are well aware that they are in a Coastal Zone in which even the smallest emergency alterations need coastal development permits.

And he is quoted in TPOA,s formal defense as telling residents that the state will press forward in August, seeking a new cease and desist order against Broad Beach residents.

The state contends residents have in years past put ,No Trespassing, signs and chains across the wet sand beach far past the apparent high tide line, and hired aggressive private security guards on motorized vehicles to ask the public to leave dry sand that, in some cases, is open to beachgoers.

Last spring, homeowners and the state began negotiations to set a common public beach property line above the high tide line across the hodgepodge of differing easements and property lines.But while McLendon is quoted as praising the TPOA for trying to solve the issue, he noted the voluntary association cannot speak for all 108 landowners.