Coastal Commission deputy defends maritime chaparral policies

The deputy director of the Coastal Commission writes to Capitol Weekly that the commission’s policy of protecting maritime chaparral from clearing and development is not the problem in Big Sur. He says the commission’s critics are trying to focus attention onto the commission’s policies, rather than the problem of building homes in hazardous areas where it is not possible to clear enough brush to create a zone of safety.

He notes that maritime chaparral has evolved a need for periodic fires to compete with other plant communities.

Given its limited distribution, we estimate that less than 0.1 percent of the more than 200,000 acres in the Big Sur Coast area could potentially involve conflicts between this sensitive habitat and developable residential building sites. But protecting this habitat doesn’t prevent us from taking reasonable measures to reduce the risk of fire.

The Coastal Commission does not require permits for necessary brush clearance around existing buildings in Big Sur; nor has it interfered with brush clearance that may be ordered by fire officials. In fact, Commission staff worked closely with Monterey County and Cal Fire on an emergency approval for clearing dead oaks from Big Sur last year to reduce the risk of catastrophic fire.

But no amount of brush management can save rural, inaccessible homes when massive wildfires rage out of control. That is why the Commission is focusing more on approaches that require new development to avoid hazardous areas. Unfortunately, many property owners are reluctant to fully acknowledge the severe dangers of building in high fire risk areas. Rather than locating a new home in a less hazardous place, they attempt to create a defensible space around their new buildings within the hazardous area. In these circumstances, the Commission has requested that applicants record a legal document acknowledging that they are locating their new house within a known hazardous area and that they assume this known risk.