Gov. Gavin Newsom is pushing for an eleventh-hour legislative proposal that would give an environmental carve-out to a Santa Monica developer who is a Newsom appointee to state commissions and longtime donor.The draft proposal, obtained by CalMatters, would effectively exempt a mixed-use project on Santa Monica’s oceanfront, designed by the late architect Frank Gehry, from the state’s environmental regulations of coastal developments, unless the city adopts its own land use policies by Jan. 1, 2028.The project belongs to Jeff Worthe, who, along with his wife Kristin Worthe, has donated more than $274,000 to Newsom’s campaigns and inaugural fund between 2018 and 2022, according to state campaign finance records. Newsom appointed Worthe to the California Privacy Protection Agency Board in 2023, and then to the California High-Speed Rail Authority last year.The Santa Monica City Council and the California Coastal Commission both approved the $350 million project a few years ago after Worthe agreed to pay millions of dollars toward low-cost housing and city infrastructure. But the approvals lapsed, and the project never broke ground despite Worth’s promise to start building in early 2025.The new last-minute proposal shocked and angered a coalition of environmental advocates, who for months have urged state leaders to reject any backdoor deal to exempt any project from the California Coastal Act, a 50-year-old law that set the environmental standard for coastal development.Keep Reading
