Spanning 400 acres within the Newport Beach city limits, the Banning Ranch is one of the last remaining undeveloped coastal areas in Orange County. Previously the site of oil wells, it's been slated to becoming a housing development since the 1990s, but activists have fought with the city and the Banning Ranch's owners for years, arguing it should be left untouched. Last week, the California Coastal Commission staff recommended that the commission deny the developer proposal — this coming on the heels of a California Court of Appeals decision upholding Newport Beach's approval of the development in 2012. Will the project ever move forward?
KCRW
