He’s been making decisions about California’s coastal development since the first Harry Potter book was published in 1997. Now that J.K. Rowling’s series has drawn to a close, so has Dave Potter’s tenure on the Coastal Commission.

On Aug. 21, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass replaced Potter, a Monterey County supervisor who also sits on the local water board, with Santa Cruz County Supervisor Mark Stone.

Stone’s appointment as the Central Coast commissioner – three months after Potter’s term expired – ends nearly 40 years of Monterey County representation on the powerful agency. It also heralds a win for environmental groups that have long criticized Potter for what they view as an anti-conservation voting record.

Potter’s ticked.

“I can certainly understand they want fresh blood or something, but I’ve been reappointed five times before. Every single one of those appointers sat me down and asked me what my issues were,” he says. “That never happened with this process. I never spoke with [Bass].”

Potter acknowledges he did meet with Bass’s staff several months ago, but complains he didn’t receive a call about the appointment or a thank-you for his 12 years of service.

“It would have been nice to get some kinds of politician-to-politician respect,” he says. “Courtesy appears to have gone out the window along with process.”

He’s also concerned that Stone – whom he describes as an “outsider” with no prior Coastal Commission involvement – lacks the experience to understand complex coastal development issues, particularly as the commission reviews the Local Coastal Plan updates for unincorporated Monterey County.

“The Coastal Commission tends to want all of Big Sur to be considered [environmentally sensitive habitat], which to the Big Sur community would be quite an overreach,” he says. “It would really restrict your ability to do things on your own property.”

He says he hopes the commission will be sympathetic to desalination as an alternate water source for the Peninsula, and skeptical of the proposed “ecoresort” in Sand City.

Neither Stone nor Bass were available for comment.

Rita Dalessio, Sierra Club’s Ventana chapter chair, cheers Bass’s decision.

“It’s not a reprimand or vindictive; it’s based on the biodiversity in the Coastal Zone. Denials of permits to development are based on science,” she says. “We don’t feel Dave has put that kind of work into it, and his voting record is one of the lowest for conservation on the Coastal Commission. Mark Stone will be great.”

The Sierra Club and other eco groups have been lobbying Bass to replace low-scoring commissioners, including Potter, with greener candidates. Although he’s often been the lone eco vote on the county board of supervisors, environmentalists have long criticized his support for the proposed Pebble Beach expansion, which would have removed thousands of Monterey pine trees in Del Monte Forest, among other votes.

Bass also appointed Oceanside City Councilwoman Esther Sanchez to the 12-member commission.