Western Salt Co. v. City of Newport Beach

For several years plaintiff has operated a salt plant in the upper end of Newport Bay in Newport Beach. The facility is devoted to the production of salt from ocean water by a process of solar evaporation. In the salt producing process, ocean water is deposited in holding ponds, eventually transferred from the holding ponds into saturators as the salt concentration increases, and the concentrated ocean water [brine] is then transferred into crystallizers where salt is precipitated out of solution. The process for producing a crop of salt takes approximately one year.

Plaintiff leased the salt…