The Coastal Commission is considering two major policy changes that will have a big impact on coastal development in Southern California. The policies, which are part of the Coastal Act, include the application of environmental justice concepts and adaptation to sea level rise and climate change. The new policies are keeping coastal land attorneys busy and developers need to be aware of how this could affect coastal development throughout Southern California. To find out more, we sat down with Stanley Lamport, a partner at law firm Cox, Castle & Nicholson, for and exclusive interview.

GlobeSt.com: What legal and policy issues are affecting coastal development the most in Southern California right now?

Stanley Lamport: There are a number of significant issues under consideration at the Coastal Commission, but from a big picture perspective there are two overarching policy issues that affect coastal development in Southern California right now.

First, the Coastal Commission is incorporating environment justice concepts into its application of the Coastal Act as a result of the enactment of AB 2616 last year. AB 2616 allows the Commission and local agencies issuing coastal development permits to consider “environmental justice, or the equitable distribution of environmental benefits throughout the state.” The bill defines “environmental justice” as “the fair treatment of people of all races, cultures and incomes with respect to the development, adoption, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies.” The Commission is now actively engaged in implementing the new law. The full reach of this policy is still evolving, but its effects so far are seen in the Commission's consideration of public access to beaches as well as overnight lodging and transportation to the coast. Environmental justice and its terminology is going to become an integral part of the coastal parlance and will likely change the demographics of Coastal Commission staffing in the coming years. The Commission will be encouraging cities and counties to incorporate environmental justice into local coastal programs and to carry out those policies in the coastal zone. Developers who do not become conversant on the subject will be at a disadvantage over time.

GlobeSt.com: What is the second change?

Lamport: The second overarching policy issue is adaptation to sea level rise and climate change. The Commission has adopted a sea level rise guidance that emphasizes “planned retreat.” One of the objectives in the guidance is to allow for the mean high tide to move inland over time in order to preserve beaches and public access to the beach. The guidance also calls for the removal of shoreline protection devices to protect private property as existing structures reach the end of their life and are replaced. For the private property owner, this can result in private land becoming State land as the mean high tide – which defines the boundary between State land and private land – moves inland. Replacement structures would be required to move inland on lots along the coast. However, where there is insufficient area to relocate out of the tidal zone, there is a risk that some private property owners could lose their properties over time. Implementing the guidance at the local level has become a tricky process, prompting efforts to develop strategies to preserve the coastline as sea level rises. There is a fair amount of experimentation going on now, largely driven by cities and counties seeking to protect infrastructure along the coast and property owners seeking to preserve their parcels. The lesson here is that coastal property owners need to be proactive on this front and not wait until nature takes it course.

GlobeSt.com: What strategies are being discussed to prepare for sea level rise and other concerns related to global warming?

Lamport: The Commission's sea level rise guidance promotes a planned retreat strategy that over time will pit the private owner and public coastal access against one another. However, there are approaches that would not force this trade off. They generally share the objective of combining shoreline habitat enhancement with shoreline structural protection. One such approach involves beach nourishment, where a revetment is used in connection with the import of sand to restore a beach habitat lost to sea level rise and scour. These programs have proved to be expensive and there is a growing concern that suitable sand supplies are not available. Eliminating historic dams and other structures in drainages that have reduced the sand supply for beaches has been discussed. There is also a discussion about whether offshore artificial reefs can be used to protect existing shorelines. Offshore reefs have been used successfully in Europe, but there are questions about whether it will work in the long term on California's coast. There is also a question regarding whether these measures will work in the long term and whether sea level rise will be so substantial over the next 100 years to completely overwhelm these systems. There is still much work to be done in this area. The discussion regarding what strategies can be successfully employed in the face of sea level rise is still in its early stages.

GlobeSt.com: Which emerging policies and issues stand to affect coastal programs and development?

Lamport: In many respects, environmental justice and sea level rise are emerging policies in terms of their implementation. In addition, there will be an increasing focus on Native America consultation in the coastal zone. There will also be an increasing emphasis on cities and counties providing adequate parking and means of transport to the coast. In this regard, there is potential for tension between some jurisdictions' practice of limiting parking and vehicular access as a means of promoting public transit and a Commission policy to give people the ability to drive to and park at the coast.

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