There seems to be much discussion (and disagreement!) about what is and what is not priority use within the Coastal Zone…like who gets first dibs on services such as water and sewer and coastal access (I guess).

Kevin Lansing in his 12/07 5:21PM Coastsider comment claims

the Califoirnia Coastal Act (...) reserves priority water for essential public services (libraries, hospitals, schools, etc.)

On the other hand, I have heard that the Coastal Act looks at visitor serving needs such as hotels, motels and restaurants as being a priority.

Or maybe it’s all of the above?

So, in the interest of finding out for myself I spent a good deal of time online, searching for information that wasn’t just a link back here to something said previously on Coastsider.

Well, the Coastal Commission spells it all out in the California Coastal Act. Yes, it’s there in plain English! Just a click or two away!

We can read about coastal development and inform ourselves rather than rely on hearsay or opinion!

Right here in HMB and the rest of the coastside that’s In the Zone® we find a definition under Section 30255. Coastal-dependent developments shall have priority over other developments on or near the shoreline.  Except as provided elsewhere in this division, coastal-dependent developments shall not be sited in a wetland.  When appropriate, coastal-related developments should be accommodated within reasonable proximity to the coastal-dependent uses they support.

But that’s not all folks! Section 30101.3. says Coastal-related development means any use that is dependent on a coastal-dependent development or use.

So are we clear now? Well, I’m not. I’d really like some examples. Are they spelled out somewhere in a file online, preferably at the Coastal Commission site?

What I would like from any readers who have struggled this far into this post is some sort of link to a list of what the Coastal Act deems “priority” when it comes to sewer/water hookups or construction. There must be someplace it’s spelled out in black and white and I must not be using the right search terms. Maybe someone already knows where the info is or is interested in helping to find it?

Is it a city thing? A county thing? I swear, I put in valuable time searching that I could have spent engaged in repartee in the main Coastsider section.

Help anyone?

The entire California Coastal Act is full of semantic holes. The meaning of many passages depends on who is doing the interpreting.

Generally, “coastal-dependent” means something that needs to be on the coast in order to function. A pier where fisherfolk can sell their catch directly off their boats is obviously coastal-dependent. An indoor retail fish market is obviously not.

Big battles have been fought over what constitutes “dependence.” In the end, it’s in the mind of the beholder or special interest, from there to be transplanted into the minds of the politicians they own.

Carl May

Priority uses are listed in the LCP.  In the San Mateo County LCP it’s scattered throughout Chapter 2.  See Policies 2.8, 2.21, 2.29, and the tables which they refer to.  Download a PDF of the LCP from this page: http://www.co.sanmateo.ca.us/smc/department/esa/home/0,2151,5557771_9420293,00.html

Pescadero has different tables with slightly different lists; for the Midcoast, merging Table 2.7 (Montara sewer), Table 2.8 (Granada sewer), Table 2.17 (water), we have:

<u>Coastal Act Priorities</u>
Marine Related Industrial
Commercial Recreation
Public Recreation
Floriculture
Essential Public Services (2)

<u>Local Coastal Program Priorities</u>
Specific Developments on Designated Sites Containing Affordable Housing
North Moss Beach Site (11 acres)
South Moss Beach Site (12.5 acres)
North El Granada (6 acres)
Consolidated Lots in Miramar
Historic Structures (3) - Johnston House

Note (2):  Essential public services include the following uses: Emergency Facilities, Correctional Facilities, Transportation Facilities (public), Utility Facilities, Hospitals, Skilled Nursing Facilities, Intermediate Care Facilities, Libraries, Community Centers, Elementary and Secondary Schools, Institutional Day Care Facilities for Children (Day Care Centers as defined by State law), Adults and the Elderly, Institutional Full-Time Care Facilities for Children and Adults, and Institutional Shared Housing Facilities for the Elderly. These services must be provided by a public agency or private non-profit or government-funded (partially or fully) purveyor to be considered an essential public service. The reserve capacity allocated to these priority uses may not be shared by any associated, non-priority use and must be forfeited when the priority use is discontinued.

There is some disagreement as to exactly how to interpret the tables.  I believe they are “worksheets” simply showing estimates of how much priority capacity is required for each use, in order to derive a total amount of priority capacity which the infrastructure agencies must reserve.

Thanks a bunch Carl May and Leonard Woren and anyone else who adds to the list later.

Good info to have available where folks can read it!

Mary,

One way to get an idea how flaky interpretation of the Coastal Act can be is to compare LCP’s from various jurisdictions up and down the California coast. All are supposed to fit the requirements of the Coastal Act to their local situation, but they do this somewhat superficially in wildly varying ways depending on differing assumptions and understanding, on what the local politicians wish to finagle, and on what they can get the ever-vascilating Coastal Commission of any given time to approve. Add to this changes made to the Coastal Act by the state legislature over the years and legal decisions on parts of the Act as the result of lawsuits at various times since 1976 and you get a real mish-mash up and down the coastline.

The Coastal Act may be the best thing we have for protecting the coast, but it’s not very good. As a whole, the California coast has continued to decline in natural features, resources, and other values since the Act was first passed, albeit somewhat more slowly than if there were no state law at all governing coastal areas.

Carl May