California Coast Watch: August Coastal Commission Meeting

Every month, the California Coastal Commission meets over a 3-day period to vote on important issues impacting the California Coast.  And every month, Surfrider is there to stand up for the public and protect our beaches.

Without careful watchdogging and public participation at the Coastal Commission, the California coast would be a much different place than it is today: with curtailed public access, more exclusive, private development, less open space and wildlife habitat along beaches and bluff tops, and persistent, unaddressed inequities in who gets to enjoy and benefit from California’s beaches, bluffs, waves and waters.

The Commission has a legacy of protecting the state’s beaches, bluffs and surf breaks, and the public’s right to access and enjoy them.  However, over the decades, special interests have accrued inordinate influence with Coastal Commission members during certain periods. That’s where we come in. 

Surfrider’s chapter network, along with the ActCoastal coalition, tracks and publicizes each monthly agenda and protects the coast by getting involved with issues impacting their area.

The August 2024 hearing will take place in Calabasas and features several controversial items:

• SpaceX launch proposes to increase rocket launches from 6 to 36 annually at Vandenberg Space Force. Surfrider supports the staff recommendation to “Object” to the increase in launches due to insufficient information about launch impacts. The 6-fold increase is too rapid to ensure impacts to coastal access, marine life and the public are minimal. 
• Authorization for Gladstones restaurant in Pacific Palisades to continue using a public parking lot and public viewing deck through 2027. As mitigation for use of public resources while the restaurant undergoes redevelopment, the Commission is requiring 64 additional parking spaces at Topanga Lagoon. Surfrider supports this mitigation and suggests that additional mitigation including public access improvements at Gladstones be required.
• Coastal Commission review of the designation the Chumash National Marine Sanctuary. Consistency determination by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to designate a new national marine sanctuary, encompassing up to approximately 7,573 square miles of ocean waters and submerged lands thereunder, adjacent to the central California Coast and extending about 78 miles offshore.

The California Coastal Commission is a unique state agency that regulates development in the coastal zone. It was created in the 70s under a ballot initiative, when Californians were alarmed by increasing development and privatization of beaches. Read more of the agency’s history here.

There is a reason California’s coast doesn’t resemble the Jersey Shore, or South Florida with its towering beachside hotels and luxury condos. That reason is the Coastal Commission. It was established to ensure balance in coastal development and to protect public resources.

At its best, the Coastal Commission works with local and regional governments, public stakeholders, developers, scientists and Native American Tribes to ensure that development permits and land use plans align with coastal protection and equitable public access. However, such decisions are never a given, especially when narrow private interests stand to reap windfall profits from coastal development such as luxury hotels and condos, or large industrial facilities.

This month, Surfrider continues our work to protect the California Coast for all people and ensure its legacy of protection continues.