On Local Government: Coastal Commission killer
by Bob Pinzler
“Don’t condo like Redondo” was one of the battle cries that led to the establishment of the California Coastal Commission in the early 1970s. This landmark Constitutional amendment has protected California from the fate exemplified by Miami Beach, where high-rise hotels and condos blot out views of the ocean. It has provided the people of California with unfettered access to one of our most important public treasures, our coastline.
A drive along Redondo’s Esplanade is an example of what might have been along the Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach Strands had the Coastal Act not been voted into law by the people. The views we now cherish would be gone.
A bill working its way through the California Legislature would gut the protections offered by the Coastal Act, and turn the Commission that enforces it into a rubber stamp for rampant development.
According to a statement by the Coastal Commission, 423, authored by Scott Weiner (D-San Francisco), would allow the Department of General Services to act in place of a local government for the purpose of considering streamlined, ministerial review, and approval of a multi-family housing project on state-owned lands. The bill would also repeal the provision in existing law that precludes the streamlined approval process from applying in the coastal zone.
A multifamily housing project could be “deemed consistent,” and not subject to a coastal development permit if it provides a variable, minimum amount of affordable housing, and meets the applicable objective standards. The bill would also allow development in some wetlands, and listed species habitat if development has been authorized by federal or other state law.
The Commission voted unanimously to oppose this bill. Even so, the Senate has approved the bill and it is working its way through the Assembly, where it is now in committee.
We in Redondo Beach can see what damage enabling real estate developers can do if left unhindered. And, yes, California has an affordable housing problem. But mortgaging such a precious resource as our coastline to try to solve the housing problem is a fool’s errand. Who truly believes housing at the beach will meet the affordability needs of those who now find places to live out of their price range?
This is not to say that all development along the California Coast should be banned. We just need to do it responsibly so that our coastline roads do not become like Miami Beach’s Collins Avenue: a canyon road, with the view being solely glass and steel.
We made the Coastal Act a Constitutional amendment so that a substantive change could only be made by the people. A Senate bill should not be allowed to do that. We should stand with the Commission and oppose this bill. ER