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 oastal Commissioner
and City Councilmember Christine Kehoe led the charge at the
February meeting of the California Coastal Commission (CCC) to
protect San Diego's coastline. The Commission, meeting at the
Hotel Del Coronado, reviewed and acted on the coastal portions
of the City of San Diego's Land Development Code, which contains
new regulations for approving construction projects.
 Supporting motions made by
Kehoe, the CCC directed the City of San Diego to make a series
of modifications to the proposed regulations for land development
that would strengthen protections of coastal resources.
"With this recent action,
we essentially increased the protections of coastal wetlands
and sensitive hillsides, and better preserved coastal views,"
said Kehoe. "San Diego's coast is an area that deserves
special protections because of its beauty and accessibility to
the public, and the Coastal Commission has now mandated these
safeguards."
Under the California Coastal
Act, the CCC must review and approve local coastal programs for
local jurisdictions which regulate land development in the coastal
zone. The required modifications will limit the type of uses
permitted in wetlands, ensure an adequate buffer area to protect
wetland areas and to ensure adequate mitigation when wetlands
are lost to unavoidable development. The Commission also required
that the City's regulations for hillside development extend to
all lots within the coastal zone, rejecting the City's proposal
that lots under 15,000 square feet be exempted from controls.
The CCC adopted motions by
Kehoe that will: 1) promote habitat restoration in the Tijuana
River Valley, as part of the region's Multiple Species Conservation
Program; 2) establish tough standards for deviations from any
of the coastal regulations; and 3) require that specific standards
be met for any encroachments into sensitive coastal hillsides.
The Land Development Code
returns to the San Diego City Council for final action to incorporate
the Coastal Commission modifications. The City Council must either
adopt the modifications, simply maintain the present regulations
which have previous Coastal Commission approval, or surrender
the authority to regulate development in the coastal zone to
the Coastal Commission.
"This represents the
final leg of what has been an eight-year review process,"
said Kehoe. "It fulfills the City's goal of streamlining,
simplifying and clarifying its development regulations."
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