In 1972, California voters adopted Proposition 20 creating the California Coastal Act and Coastal Commission (Commission). The Commission was given the mandate of implementing Coastal Act policies by preparing a comprehensive plan for the California coastline and reviewing locally-approved projects within a coastal zone along the coastline. In 1976, the Coastal Act was revised with specific provisions that coastal permit processing authority be transferred from the Commission to local governments upon the adoption of local Coastal Land Use and Implementation Plans. The Coastal Land Use Plan must contain planning policies and land use designations relating to the coastal zone and Coastal Act. The Coastal Implementation Plan must contain regulations and programs necessary to carry out the Coastal Land Use Plan. Together the Coastal Land Use Plan and Implementation Plan form the Local Coastal Program (LCP).
Recognizing funding and capacity constraints of local governments in undertaking this work, the Commission's LCP Local Assistance Grant Program provides funds to support local governments in completing or updating LCPs consistent with the California Coastal Act, with special emphasis on planning for sea-level rise and climate change. The Commission is in the process of releasing funds designed to assist local governments in assessing sea level rise and climate change impacts and planning for coastal resiliency. Funding is provided by the Budget Act of 2021 and will provide up to $31 million to support local governments. The outcome of the LCP assistance grant must include adoption of a new or amended LCP.
The City’s LCP was certified by the Coastal Commission in 2004 and includes the following General Plan Elements: Land Use & Community Character Element, Circulation Element, Coastal Access and Recreation Element, and Coastal Resource Management Element. The LCP also includes the Carmel Municipal Code Chapter 17 (Implementation Plan) and the General Plan and Zoning Ordinance appendices.
In August 2022, the City Council adopted the City’s Climate Adaptation Plan and Climate Action Plan. These plans included various projects to implement. One key initial project is the Coastal Engineering Study and Adaptation Planning Project. In November 2022, the City Council approved a Professional Services Agreement with EMC Planning Group/Integral Corporation/Haro Kasunich & Associates in the amount of $175,000 to conduct the first phase of the Coastal Engineering Study and Adaptation Planning Project.
The Coastal Engineering Study and Adaptation Planning Project is designed to be completed in two phases. Phase 1 is fully funded in the prior and current fiscal years’ Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). Key tasks and associated deliverables for Phase 1 are briefly outlined below:
Phase 1 – Coastal Engineering and Hazard Assessment
- Tasks 1 and 2 are also planned to be presented at a future Climate Committee meeting.
- Task 3 – Shoreline and Beach Erosion Exposure Modeling. A technical memo of the methods and maps showing results of the projected existing and future coastal hazard extents is currently underway.
- Task 4 – Coastal Hazard and Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Assessment. The consultants will provide an Executive Summary of results, up to five sector profile summaries (land use, transportation, utilities, etc.).
- Task 5 – Policy Review. The consultants will provide a memo summarizing the City’s existing coastal hazard policies and attend meetings with California Coastal Commission and City staff.
Phase 2 – Local Coastal Plan Coastal Hazards Policy Update
The Phase 2 LCP Coastal Hazards Policy work will build off the technical work completed and in progress in Phase 1 and will update the City’s LCP to address Coastal Hazards. The City’s Fiscal Year 2023/2024 CIP budget established $100,000 to partially fund Phase 2.
The consultants and staff have recently identified a non-competitive California Coastal Commission grant of $500,000 for which this project is eligible to complete all of Phase 2 (Attachment 2). City staff, the consultants, and the Coastal Commission staff met in August 2023 to review the Phase 2 scope of work, estimated costs, and terms of the Grant Agreement (Attachment 3). If the City receives Coastal Commission grant funding of $500,000, staff will ask the City Council to re-appropriate the Fiscal Year 2023/2024 CIP funds of $100,000 at an upcoming meeting.
Once funded by the grant, the Phase 2 scope of work would be focused on the Coastal Hazards section of the LCP, and will address sea level rise hazards, areas of vulnerability, preferred adaptation strategies, potential coastal resiliency projects, and coastal hazards mapping. Specifically, Phase 2 will include: 1) project management, including $50,000 for City staff project management; 2) develop recommendations for policy and project approaches and identify high priority adaptations; 3) public outreach and community engagement; 4) conduct a socio-economic analysis including developing a cost analysis for certain implementation strategies; 5) develop adaptation strategies for the short, medium, and long term projects as well as monitor triggers for steps to move to the next phase of adaptation; and 6) revise hazard policies and additional policy area updates; and 7) prepare the LCP amendment to update coastal hazard policies. This effort would result in an updated LCP that identifies areas of coastal vulnerability in the City, addresses environmental justice needs, and plans for coastal resiliency and climate adaptation projects.
Grant Application Process and Next Steps
We are requesting the City Council to a) adopt the attached Resolution in the form provided by the California Coastal Commission, b) approve the submission of the grant application, and c) accept the funds from the California Coastal Commission Local Coastal Program Local Assistance Grant Program for the Coastal Engineering and Adaptation Planning Project. The Commission expects to award the grant in the Fall 2023.
Work will not be authorized to begin on Phase 2 until the City Council approves an amendment to the Professional Services Agreement with EMC Planning Group/Integral Corporation/Haro Kasunich & Associates for approximately $450,000.