The Sierra Club has given the California Department of Parks and Recreation a notice of intent to sue the agency for allowing vehicles to drive across a parcel of county-owned land in the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area.

“We are acting on behalf of our coastal dunes, one of the rarest and most fragile ecosystems in the world, of greater ecological value than Yosemite Valley,” said Karen Merriam, chairwoman of the Sierra Club's Santa Lucia Chapter in San Luis Obispo, in a written statement.

The parcel in question - the 584-acre La Grande Tract owned by San Luis Obispo County - lies inside the state's Oceano Dunes off-road area near the mouth of Arroyo Grande Creek and must be crossed to access the off-highway park's camping and open riding areas.

State Parks has leased the parcel from the county for the past 25 years and approached the agency last year about buying the land and still wants to buy the property, according to agency officials.

The Sierra Club believes that the county's Local Coastal Program prohibits cars from driving on the La Grande Tract, which the organization also believes is a buffer zone.

During an appeal last January on the proposed sale, Andrew Christie, Santa Lucia chapter director, produced an old county map that shows the tract as a natural buffer zone.

“For 25 years, State Parks has ignored its responsibility to operate the (Oceano Dunes SVRA) in a manner consistent with the Local Coastal Plan,” Merriam said. “We are asking the court to compel the county and state to abide by the Local Coastal Plan.”

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The county Planning Commission upheld the appeal based on its belief that the proposed sale would violate the General Plan because the map shown by Christie designated the tract as a buffer zone.

“We simply pointed to the provisions of the Local Coastal Plan as certified by the Coastal Commission in 1983,” Christie said in a

statement. “... The county land in the Ocean Dunes SVRA was repeatedly designated as ‘buffer' between the dunes preserve and the riding area. Twenty-five years later, the ORVs are still riding in the buffer area.”

However, in a subsequent hearing, the county Board of Supervisors denied the appeal, in part because county planning staff said the map's designation of the tract as a buffer zone was in error.

In a letter recently sent to State Parks, the Sierra Club threatens to file a lawsuit against the agency if it doesn't commit to preventing cars from driving across the La Grande Tract.

State Parks Deputy Director of Communications Roy Stearns hadn't seen a copy of the Sierra Club letter as of Friday and said he couldn't comment on what the agency plans to do.

“What I can is that we have a strong interest in owning and operating that property,” Stearns said. “There's been 33 years of historical use (of cars on the beach). Our position is that we be able to continue to operate it as a SVRA.”

The Sierra Club sued State Parks in 2001 over its management of the habitat of threatened and endangered species at the Oceano Dunes SVRA.

The county hasn't decided whether to sell the La Grande Tract to State Parks and has been meeting in closed sessions for almost a year to discuss the proposal.

“State Parks wants to buy the land to secure insofar as possible a claimed right to run vehicles across that property forever,” Merriam said. “If it takes a judge to enforce the terms that were laid down

25 years ago, so be it. It's time to remove the off-road vehicles from this land.”

Stearns said that State Parks hopes the issue is resolved soon so the agency can purchase the property. The state's lease with the county expires at the end of June.

The Oceano Dunes off-road park is the only place in the state where vehicles can legally be driven on the beach.

February 23, 2008