Planning Director says Supervisors should reject Coastal Commission at meeting, Tues

Recommendations to the Board from Jim Eggemeyer, Interim Director of Community Development/Planning:

Accepting the CCC’s changes would not be in the best interest of the County, and would undermine the balanced approach developed by your Board through the local process. As expressed by the Board on April 13, 2010, negative consequences include:

Concerns regarding the lot retirement requirement, including the application of this requirement to Conditional Certificates of Compliance and the potential problems associated with long-term maintenance of retired lots;

Concerns about instituting a temporary prohibition on wells, particularly in light of the progress being made in advancing understanding and management of groundwater resources;

Concerns about applying the modified amendments to permit applications currently in process; and

Concerns regarding exposure to litigation if the County accepts and applies the modified policies.

In light of these concerns, and in the interest of implementing the beneficial changes included in the County approved amendments, staff recommends that the Board of Supervisors adopt the resolution directing staff to develop an amendment resubmittal that replaces the problematic modifications with alternative policies that are acceptable to the County, and to request an extension of the timeframe required to file the resubmittal. A meeting with CCC staff to discuss this approach occurred on April 30, 2010. At the meeting, CCC staff expressed its interest in working with the County through the resubmittal process to develop alternatives to the suggested modifications of concern to the County.

Shared Vision 2025: The resolution to resubmit an updated version of the amendments is consistent with Shared Vision 2025 because the modifications proposed by the CCC will reduce opportunities for infill development that promotes livable, healthy, and prosperous communities the vision supports. Resubmittal of the amendments also provides an opportunity to promote solutions to the issues identified by the CCC, consistent with Shared Vision 2025 objectives for a livable community.

This report was reviewed by County Counsel and determined to be acceptable in form and content.
FISCAL IMPACT
Resubmittal of the amendments will require the use of limited staff resources that will delay progress on other priority projects.

Link to Board of Supervisors meeting agenda: http://www.co.sanmateo.ca.us/bos.dir/BosAgendas/agendas2010/CurrentAgenda/Frame.htm
Read LCP Update agenda items 12, 13 and 14.
The supporting documents: Executive Summery, Memo, Resolution and Ordinance for each agenda item are included at the above link.