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Local Coastal Protection Plan
By Eric Koenigshofer
The coast is different. That is, the California coastline (including Sonoma
County of course) is to be cared for in a special manner as the result of statewide voter action in 1972. The Coastal Initiative, Proposition 20, was approved by California voters on Nov 7th that year. One month from now this turning point in California history will be 43 years in the past, but the reasoning is as important today as it was then.
Prop 20 had a lifespan of 4 years and was followed by the California Coastal Act of 1976 (1976 Act) which was enacted by the legislature and remains the governing law to this day. The lands within the California Coastal Zone, a specifically mapped area stretching from Oregon to Mexico, are subject to different rules than the rest of California because of the fact there are statewide public interest issues which apply to the Coastal Zone. This is true in Sonoma County as it is for all cities and counties along the coast.
The 1976 Act called for each city and county along the coast with lands in the Coastal Zone to prepare a Local Coastal Plan (LCP) implementing the 1976 Act. This work was overseen by six Regional Coastal Commissions subordinate to the State Coastal Commission. This arrangement allowed for local government to add local insight to implementation of the statewide regulations. LCP’s
then and now are subject to state approval. Current discussions in our county regarding land use policies contained in the Local Coastal Plan are set in the context of this important state law.
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I had the honor of serving as 5th District Supervisor and Sonoma County’s representative to the North Central Regional Coastal Commission (chairing that body) which over saw the development of the LCP’s for Sonoma, Marin and San Francisco counties. During that time I also prompted the Board of Supervisors to amend Supervisorial District boundaries to place the entire Sonoma Coast in the 5th District (the coast north of Jenner was in the 4th District until the 1978 election cycle). This change made it possible to unify political representation of the coast and to minimize the potential for political conflict over participation in the Regional Coastal Commission. This change resulted in a better political environment helping the Board to focus on the development of the LCP.
Many of the issues were very difficult to resolve and the effort to create a good LCP was hard work for all involved. Sonoma County remained one of the focal points of statewide conflict during this time over public access to the coast...not in the abstract but in the context of access through The Sea Ranch. (This aspect of implementation was eventually addressed in special legislation called the Bane Bill – another story in itself)
COASTAL PLAN cont’d fon page 17