In 1976 the California Legislature passed the California Coastal Act to preserve and protect the natural resources that lie within California’s coastal zone. In recent months developers have successfully used Malibu’s attack on the Coastal Commission as a launch pad to undermine the Coastal Commission’s mandate to enforce the provisions of the Coastal Act. Instead of saving Malibu, our attack on the Coastal Commission may result in a situation where we help to deliver the entire coast along with the natural resources we all cherish to the development community.
Typically, cities write their own Local Coastal Plan (LCP) that is then reviewed and certified by the Coastal Commission. Once the LCP is completed the City takes over and incorporates the guidelines contained in the LCP in its normal administrative activities.
For numerous reasons, some of which we still do not fully understand, the City did not complete their LCP on a timely basis, and in September 2000 the State Legislature unanimously passed AB988 requiring that the Coastal Commission write the LCP for Malibu. Malibu has funded an aggressive lobbying and PR attack (two city lobbyists, a contract with LSA Associates and frequent trips to Sacramento) on the Coastal Commission’s LCP, when in fact the Commission is simply doing the bidding of the State Legislature.
The developers and lobbyists have expanded this attack, alleging that the Coastal Commission is attempting to assert dictatorial control over the entire State Coastal Area. In Sacramento, in Malibu and in other coastal cities they have launched a merciless misinformation campaign against the Coastal Commission in hopes of destroying the Commission’s ability to enforce the Coastal Act.
If you have a problem with the Coastal Commission’s LCP, talk to your elected officials and find out why they did not get their LCP done on time. Or, you can call your legislators and find out why they voted unanimously to have the Coastal Commission write the LCP. We should not allow Malibu to be used as a pawn in a program to dismember the 1976 Coastal Act.
Steve Uhring