Private Property Rights are Expensive in California

The story here  http://allenakin.com/405lincoln.html  will really sadden or anger you if you hold private property rights dear.

California's 1970 landmark legislation affectionately known as CEQA ("see-quah") was a backlash by citizens against brazen land-grabs and redevelopments that completely changed the quality of their surrounding areas.  Growing up in quiet La Jolla, California, I remember the hue and cry, and outrage, when two 'modern' high-rise apartment buildings (widely held to be nothing more than giant, ugly, boxlike concretions) shot up out of the ground in the 1960s, creating permanent skyline change and ruining the expensive views of their neighbors.  OK, if your development is in effect a re-zoning (e.g. low density to high density, residential to commercial, etc.), it's understandable that you may impact the Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness of others, sometimes many others.  Bring on the EIR(s).  Bring on CEQA...

But what about homeowners rights to the "quiet enjoyment" of their property?  Homeowners were supposed to have an automatic exemption from CEQA and the tedious, expensive EIR process for building or rebuilding a single family residence with any attendant outbuildings.  Unless the home is more than 50 years old.... if it is deemed a historic resource, then making changes can become tortuous.   The story linked here is of a Palo Alto couple that bought a house with the upfront understanding from the City that they'd be able to demolish and rebuild it to meet their needs.  What ensued was a change of mind by the City, and three+ years of torture that cost the couple more the $500,000 in legal, architectural, consulting and other fees.  Just recently, the Palo Alto City Council voted 8-1 to override the City's "Historical Preservation" department and permit demolition and rebuilding.

When is too far too far?  Why has common sense disappeared in cases like this?  CEQA is a vague set of guidelines, administered by multiple government groups with different agendas.  Private property rights are being trampled in the name of historic preservation.  I'm not a big fan of California's Proposition politics, but fixing CEQA might just be a worthwhile application.