Coastal Land Use

Alston & Bird’s Coastal Land Use team has significant experience handling complex matters along the California coastal zone—the most densely populated and heavily regulated region in the United States. The California Coastal Commission along with the Bay Conservation and Development Commission are the primary state permitting agencies tasked with enforcing coastal land use laws dictating whether, how and under what conditions property along the coast can be developed. 

Our attorneys provide unparalleled experience and knowledge in assisting project applicants needing to obtain or defend a permit for development in the coastal zone, or if necessary, provide litigation counsel to challenge an aspect of that permit in court. They have consulted on, and litigated, numerous matters along the coast with great success. Members of the team recently argued and won landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases involving the rights of project applicants. 

The team recognizes the vital importance of our clients’ long-term business objectives and takes the time to fully understand those objectives and formulate multifaceted negotiation and litigation strategies with those specific objectives in mind. 

Alston & Bird’s land use attorneys are unique in their deep and abiding belief in project applicants’ fundamental and constitutional right to make reasonable use of their properties. This belief is anchored by two team members who worked for years at a national nonprofit foundation where they litigated cases pro bono on behalf of project applicants and their private property rights. This fundamental experience also included co-leading the foundation’s Coastal Land Rights Project, which focused on coastal permitting, exactions and local coastal program issues.