Local Coastal Program

Background

The California State Legislature passed the California Coastal Act of 1976. The goals of this Act are intended to a) protect, maintain, enhance, and restore the overall quality of the coastal environment; b) assure orderly, balanced utilization and conservation of coastal zone resources, taking into account the social and economic needs of the public; c) maximize public access and recreation along the coast while preserving rights of private property owners; d) assure priority for coastal-dependant development over other non-dependant development on the coast; e) encourage State and Local initiatives and cooperation in preparing procedures to implement coordinated planning and development for mutually beneficial uses in the coastal zones.

A key element in the Coastal Act of 1976 is that the bulk of the authority granted to the State and regional commissions by the Act was to be transferred to local governments through adoption and certifications of "Local Coastal Program". The Local Coastal Program (LCP) includes a local government's land use plans, zoning ordinance, zoning district maps, and other implementing actions, which , when taken together, meet the requirements of an implement the provisions and policies of the Coastal Act.

Local History

Sand City adopted, and the Coastal Commission certified, the Local Coastal Program for Sand City in 1985. The Sand City coastal zone includes all that portion of Sand City west of State Highway 1, as measured for the freeways easternmost right-of-way, the railroad-right-of-way corridor along the City's eastern border and a 100-foot boundary west of and along that railroad corridor. The Coastal Commission still maintains discretionary control of the Coastal Zone south of Bay Avenue and west of the Freeway, as this area was not included in the City's certified LCP.

Under increased pressure from local environmentalists, in 1990, the Coastal Commission issued a 129 page report to Sand City recommending major changes to its LCP to reduce the amount of development allowed. This was one of only two such reports ever issued by the Commission. This report came almost simultaneously with a local coastal program amendment recommended by the Regional Parks agency to make public parks and open space the preferred land use along Sand City's coast. Again, this was a rather unique circumstance. Never before in Commission history has one public agency sought to alter the certified LCP of another public agency.

In 1996, the Coastal Commission, with Sand City's permission, amended its LCP to allow public parks and open space over the vast majority of its coastal area. Regional Parks, State Parks and the City also entered into a "Memorandum of Understanding," outlining a few remaining "development envelopes" on the coast where visitor-serving development (a priority use by the Coastal Act) could be permitted. These actions essentially reduced Sand City's development potential along the coast to about one-third of what the 1984 still-certified LCP allows. Regional Parks termed the agreement as the "Coastal Peace Accord" following years of fighting with Sand City.

Now, however, State and Regional Parks has promised to support reasonable development along the coast that does not block views of the Bay, in exchange for an unhampered chance to acquire the majority of Sand City's coast for sensitive habitat reconstruction, public parks, and general open space. With this peaceful coexistence, City leaders feel that they can have the best of both worlds, a revitalized City, east of the Freeway, and a coast with one or two high-quality resorts that financially advances that revitalization effort, and allows future revenues needed to clean-up the beach area and provide for pedestrian and bike paths, coastal parking areas and passive recreational areas to be permanently maintained.