City Council Approves Local Coastal Program Land Use Plan

SANTA MONICA, CA – The Santa Monica City Council unanimously approved the Local Coastal Program (LCP) Land Use Plan at a Tuesday meeting, which will be the first update to the plan since its adoption in 1992. According to the city press release, the update is an important step toward aligning the LCP with current City policies related to mobility, sustainability and adaptation to sea level rise, as required by Coastal Commission guidelines.

The plan consists of seven policy areas that address State Coastal Act requirements – two of the most important policy areas address access to the beach and sea-level rise, the press release said. The access policies will ensure beach visitors have many options to coastal access, including management of shared parking resources and a comfortable pedestrian/active transportation environment, according to the city. The sea level policies will prepare the city to strategically plan to protect beach infrastructure and coastal assets. Although Santa Monica hasn't yet experienced effects of the sea levels rising, adopting these policies now will make the city one of the first in Southern California to begin this preparation, the city said.

“We have been working for more than two years with Coastal Commission staff to ensure that our updated LCP Land Use Plan will support a coastal development permit process that aligns with our sustainability and mobility goals,” said David Martin, Director of Planning and Community Development. “In addition, our planning process utilized the Coastal Commission’s guidelines and the latest sea level rise science and modeling to develop policies to prepare Santa Monica for the advent of sea level rise. The Land Use Plan outlines policies for hazard zone properties as well as a road map for adaptation to make our City more resilient as measurable sea level rise occurs.”

The LCP Land Use Plan will now move forward to the Coastal Commission for certification for conformance with the Coastal Act, the city said. The next step will be development of an Implementation Plan, including an update of the Low-Cost Lodging Mitigation Fee, the press release said.

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