Local Coastal Plan. Issues
ISSUES FOR RESIDENTS/PROPERTY OWNERS ALONG THE SMC COAST
No detailed complete LCP Update currently exists that quantifies the changes from the last 1998 SMC BOS approved LCP OR the last certified CCC LCP to the existing SMC and HMB LCP. Specific properties being impacted are not identified or cited, nor are the impacted residents and property owners so advised OR notified.
Only 30-60 Midcoast folk typically attend meetings on the LCP Update, yet the residents and property owners affected are 12,000 in the Midcoast, and about 10,000 in HMB and another 5,000 in the South Coast. No Government official seems to care that people being impacted by the proposed LCP Changes are NOT being directly notified so that they can participate. County Counsel Casey during the 25 Jan 2005 meeting for the Midcoast LCP Update was mostly concerned with the minimum legal requirements to notify. Notwithstanding minimum legal requirements, impacted people need to be notified. Most Coastsiders will lose property rights without remuneration.
No public agency is directly NOTIFYING affected citizens regarding the specifics of the proposed impacts to property owners and residents, other than by notices in the HMB Review and SMC Times that LCP meetings are occurring.
No common glossary or definitions exist across all of SMC LCP, each enclave of LCP (HMB, Midcoast, and Southcoast) within SMC are pursuing separate, uncoordinated, disjointed, piecemeal approaches with inconsistent terminologies.
What is the Rush to have an LCP Update? There is no legal requirement to do so according to George Bergman, SMC Planning. SMC already has an approved LCP. According to the CA Coastal commission, the effective date of certification of the HMB LCP is 4/10/96 with 10 amendments, and for SMC County it is 4/1/81 with 44 amendments.
What is the SPECIFIC impact of the LCP Update to your property. Is your zoning impacted? Will you have a new height restriction? Will you now be in a viewshed? Why are we even doing the LCP Update? Why is the LCP being done piecemeal? Why are we ALL not part of the review process? Why the rush? Why cannot SMC and HMB Planning provide the complete Updated LCP for our review with a summary of LCP proposed impacts to EACH property owner? For example, SMC knows that for the Midcoast, there are 4960 substandard lots and 66% are already developed, and who those property owners are. Why does SMC Planning or the SMC BOS or HMB NOT notify those property owners and residents of the planned impact to their land use and land value?
Why can’t SMC and HMB Planning provide the COMPLETE current and the complete updated LCP so that we can review details just as we do when we vote on a language change in State law? How will the new LCP hurt our property values? What if we want to add on? Can we do it with the new LCP? How much will the new LCP add to our costs? What new fees will result? What is the fiscal impact to us and our community?