SANTA ROSA, Calif. -- A high-profile golf project backed by Hollywood star Clint Eastwood and golf legend Arnold Palmer has hit a hazard.

The California Coastal Commission this week voted 8-4 against the plan, which would have allowed the construction of an 18-hole golf course, a driving range and rental cottages on California's Central Coast.

The proposed development would affect more than 100 acres of undeveloped land in the Del Monte Forest. Environmentalists said it would devastate the five remaining stands of old-growth Monterey pines left in the world.

"This is the most egregious example of development attempting to circumvent the Coastal Act that I can remember," said Commissioner Sara Wan, who voted against it.

The 1976 Coastal Act prioritized public recreation over private development, created protection for nesting birds and other animals, and gave the commission authority to enforce the law.

Anthony Lombardo, an attorney representing the Pebble Beach Co., which spearheaded the plan, said the project's fate is not clear.

The company, the co-owners of which include Mr. Eastwood, Mr. Palmer and former Major League Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth, already owns four golf courses at Pebble Beach, including the Pebble Beach Golf Links, which hosted the 2000 U.S. Open Championships.

The existing coastal plan in Monterey County allows for a golf course on the land, but Mr. Lombardo said he was not sure Mr. Eastwood and his partners would come back to the commission with a revised plan.

"The company is disappointed that the commission didn't see the benefits of developing 100 acres and offering 1,000 acres in open space for the public," said Mr. Lombardo.

Opponents also said the development would threaten California red-legged frog and the endangered Yadon's piperia, an orchid.

They rejoiced when they heard the vote.

"It's a resounding denial," Mark Massara, director of the Sierra Club's California coastal program. "The massive environmental devastation that would have occurred as a result of this plan left them with no choice."

The current proposal dates to the early 1990s and was much larger in scale. Mr. Eastwood was involved in scaling back the original project when he and other investors bought the Pebble Beach Co. in 1999, Mr. Lombardo said.

Mr. Eastwood, who lives at Pebble Beach for much of the year and was formerly the mayor of nearby Carmel, appeared in local television ads encouraging voters to approve a successful 2000 ballot measure to rezone 600 acres for the development.

Commissioners who voted for the amendment said there would be time to revisit the project but that the subject is not currently on their agenda.