State agency could reel in man-made reef

Alex Coolman

The California Coastal Commission is expected today to decide if it will

force a Newport Beach organization to dismantle an artificial marine

habitat in the waters off Balboa Pier.

The commission, which is holding its monthly meeting in Santa Rosa, could

issue a cease-and-desist order against the Marine Forests Society, which

maintains the artificial reef.

If issued, the order would mean that Newport Beach resident Rodolphe

Streichenberger, the director of the Marine Forests Society, would be

required to disassemble the habitat, which is constructed from hundreds

of tires, plastic jugs and pieces of PVC pipe.

But no matter what the commission decides, Streichenberger said he has no

intention of taking apart the creation that has been sitting in the ocean

about 300 yards off the Newport Coast since 1988.

“We will go to the judge immediately” to seek an injunction against the

order if it gets passed, the feisty French economist said Monday.

Today’s events are merely the latest episode in what has been a

protracted struggle between Streichenberger and the Coastal Commission.

Streichenberger has been trying since 1997 to get the commission to grant

him after-the-fact permission to maintain the undersea structure, which

uses innovative methods and materials to cultivate kelp and mussels.

But the commission has never smiled on the project, which it simply calls

a “reef.”

Where Streichenberger talks about the project in terms of its research

value and its importance as a prototype for aquaculture developments, the

commission has emphasized several points in the structure’s design it

considers dangerous or flawed.

The undersea environment has raised the commission’s concerns about the

potential for broken pieces damaging boats or injuring fish, as well as

the possibility that it could attract marine life into polluted waters,

said Lisa Trankley, a deputy attorney general who has represented the

commission in some of its legal negotiations.

For his part, Streichenberger contends that the real design flaws are in

the structure of the Coastal Commission. He filed a complaint in

California Superior Court against the agency earlier this year, alleging,

among other things, that its institutional structure is unconstitutional

and that it exceeds its own jurisdiction.

Representatives of the Coastal Commission, who were meeting Monday, could

not be reached for comment.

So far, Streichenberger has been on the losing side of the legal battles.

In April, a Superior Court judge overturned his initial request for an

injunction to stop today’s hearing. But Streichenberger said he thinks

his case against the structure of the Coastal Commission is persuasive.

And even if he loses the decision today, he said he expects his lawsuit

-- elements of which may come before the courts as soon as next month --

to send shock waves through the institution.

“Our lawsuit is to save the marine forest, but it has started something

much bigger,” he said. “This is just the beginning of the game.”