It was after a beachside housewarming party in Southern California that the neighborhood snitch was unmasked. Residents of the cliff-top community had gathered to eat lobster and indulge in a favorite local pastime: grumbling about coastal-protection rules that stop them from reinforcing the eroding bluffs beneath their homes under the theory that any hardening of the shore will exacerbate beach erosion.
“A new neighbor had moved in and done this beautiful remodeling job on a house that was in a huge state of disrepair,” recalls one guest and longtime resident. “And he had this incredible party [with] music playing, and everyone had the most wonderful afternoon. Later we found out that one neighbor turned him in to the city because he found out he'd built a home office,” which the tattletale suspected contravened the area's strict environmental regulations.
The party guests were appalled when they saw the neighbor's name on the official com-plaint. “We said, ‘OK, this Mr. Nosy Pants is in there, you know, having his lobster tail and his shrimp cocktail and meanwhile taking notes furiously,’” says the resident, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Soon after, others in the community realized the same person was also ratting on them to the authorities for unpermit-ted home repairs.
“He ended up in litigation with several neighbors,” says the resident, who hired an attorney herself after receiving an inspection notice from the city during what she describes as a simple bathroom-retiling project. In a yet-to-be-resolved case, she's suing the neighbor for harassment, trespassing and false claims. “This is how coastal homeowners live.”
If the drama has a weird whiff of Stasi tactics, such is the level of conflict in beachside com-munities over efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change on that ultimate prized possession: a waterfront home. Nothing is more aspirational right now, as is evident from exponential price growth along America's most desirable shorelines. Yet nothing is more ephemeral. The increasing frequency and severity of storms and coastal erosion mean that seaside homes are, to varying
