Jan 6, 2023 | Santa Cruz County: Rio del Mar / Aptos
The heaviest damages sustained in Santa Cruz County were in Aptos, Rio Del Mar, and along Beach Dr. Dozens of homes along a roughlymile stretch of road at Beach Drive in Rio Del Mar were badly damaged after rising seas and massive piles of debris tore apart concrete walls and rushed through front yards and living rooms. Five homes have been red- tagged, including one which was pushed off it’s foundation onto Beach Dr. 19 other homes sustained heavy flood damage and were yellow tagged according to the County Building inspector. The sidewalk and railing along the beach front was also damaged. Property owner’s have begun the tedious process of clean-up and repairs. Please help and support these property owner’s with any thing you can.
Jan 6, 2023 | Santa Cruz County: Capitola / Depot Hill
Recent storm damages in Capitola included a lost section of the Capitola Pier, Zelda’s restaurant sustained heavy damages, and minor damages to the other restaurants. The beach sand bar was washed out, but will likely return after the winter storm season is over. No damages were reported along Capitola Creek
Dec 2, 2022 | Meetings, Pajaro Dunes, Santa Cruz County: Opal Cliffs, Santa Cruz County: Pleasure Point / East Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz County: Rio del Mar / Aptos
BOS item 57 (13633) on 12/6/22, to defer and set a Public Hearing for 12/12/2023 on the new proposed amendments to the Amendments to the LCP Safety Element 6.4 (Land Use Plan) for Coastal Beaches and Bluffs, and the Geological Hazards sections (Implementation Plan chapter 16.10). On October 14, 2022 the Coastal Commission denied a portion of the amendments addressing development on coastal bluffs and beaches. The
timeline for these updates is estimated to include most of 2023. Therefore, staff is
recommending this item be deferred to December 12, 2023.
Oct 23, 2022 | Articles - Misc
Dear Supervisors: The Coastal Property Owners Association of Santa Cruz County provided testimony at the 10/14/22 hearing along with Supervisors Manu Koenig, Matt Machado Director of Planning and Public Works, David Carlson County Planner, Smart Coastal, Pajaro Dunes...
Oct 21, 2022 | California Coastal Commision News, Santa Cruz County, Santa Cruz County: Capitola / Depot Hill, Santa Cruz County: Opal Cliffs, Santa Cruz County: Pleasure Point / East Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz County: Rio del Mar / Aptos
The Commissioners voted (9:0) to reject the Santa Cruz County’s proposed LCP Amendments, and sided with the Surfriders, and recommendations on the CCC Staff Report. The CCC Staff report asserted that the LCP Amendments were poorly written, with many internal inconsistencies, were not consistent with the Coastal Act (1977), which generally prohibits any new shoreline armoring, and most existing armoring may need to be removed to allow managed retreat to preserve the public beaches as sea level rises.
Oct 14, 2022 | California Coastal Commision News
Coastal Commissioners accepted staff recommendations and denied the County’s proposed LCP Amendments at the CCC Hearing 0n 10/14/22. Specifically, they found the proposed LCP was not consistent with the Coastal Act, was poorly written, and did not adequately address the impact of sea level rise on public beaches, access to the coastline, surf and waves. There were opposed to modifying their definition of “Existing Structures” as of 1977, the proposed “Shoreline Protection Area”, and wanted a plan to address the effects of SLR on coastal erosion and loss of public beaches, that would require “managed retreat” in urban areas of the County. They also wanted a plan that was area specific, for each neighborhood. The Commissioners do not plan to send any more specifics beyond what was included in the CCC staff report of 9/30/22. They encouraged the County to continue to work with the CCC staff to identify and resolve the major differences and resubmit a revised LCP for reconsideration in 2023.
Oct 12, 2022 | California Coastal Commision News, Santa Cruz County, Santa Cruz County: Opal Cliffs, Santa Cruz County: Pleasure Point / East Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz County: Rio del Mar / Aptos
The County staff is committed to pursuing the clearest and quickest route to getting an LCP amendment certified by the Coastal Commission which is reasonable and feasible for the County to implement to address sea level rise, and to continue to meet with CCC staff and major stakeholders to reach consensus where possible. It is imperative that the LCP amendment effort which has taken over 6 years to get to this point, not be abandoned.
Oct 11, 2022 | California Coastal Commision News
Steve Forer, President of CPOA-SC, will present the following Testimony at the CCC Hearing on 10/14/22
Oct 11, 2022 | Articles - Misc, California Coastal Commision News
We do not believe that the Coastal Commission is faced with an either/or choice when it comes to coastal policy
decisions as we describe in the above section entitled Shoreline Protection A balanced approach was taken by
the Coastal Commission to protect the shoreline and existing structures with the approval of the East Cliff Drive
County Parkway on December 13, 2007, CDP-07-19 & A-3-SCO-07-015 approved with conditions. Property owners are afforded certain rights and those rights are delineated in The Fifth Amendment of the US
Constitution and the Constitution of the State of California Article I – Declaration of Rights – Section 1. Should
the CCC take actions that require a property owner to allow the ocean to consume their structure, effectively
taking it for a public use, it is imperative that there be an established mechanism to pay full market value for the
property that is being sacrificed for the planning goals of preserving the beach and comport with the Takings
reference in the Coastal Act, Section 30010.
Oct 10, 2022 | California Coastal Commision News
The Coastal Commission staff does not support Santa Cruz County’s proposed Local Coastal Program Amendment (LCPA) to protect the shoreline, bluffs and existing development, particularly in the area in which your property is located along the coastal bluffs and will likely be recommending denial to their Commissioners on October 14. We urge you to submit a comment in support of the proposed LCP amendments before 10/12/22. Please click on the attached link to submit your comments directly to the Coastal Commissioners.
