Toes Beach Cease and Desist Order

In 2019, Legado Properties bulldozed native dunes at Toes Beach in Playa del Rey. Despite community concern and a rare Executive Director Cease and Desist Order, the destruction went forth, flattening sensitive southern foredune habitat. Since the incident, Legado has worked cooperatively to remedy the situation, though it has taken several years due to the critical staffing needs at the Coastal Commission. The Commission approved the Cease and Desist Orders with robust mitigation for this violation, including: 

• Restoring the dune habitat that was impacted and monitoring the site for at least five years to ensure restoration success.
• Creating vegetated dune habitat in a 6.2-acre portion of Dockweiler State Beach.
• Public Access improvements to Dockweiler State Beach and educational interpretive signs.
• Payment of $600,000 to the Violation Remediation Account, held by the State Coastal Conservancy, to fund and support other beneficial projects, such as restoration and public access and recreation projects and educational programs. 

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This violation involved destruction of sensitive dune habitat, which not only is home to rare and sensitive plants and animals, it also provides a natural buffer between the sea and the built environment - critically important in light of sea level rise. This work also impacted public access to the area while the work was occurring.