Meeting Overview
The May hearing of the California Coastal Commission, held in Newport Beach, included several notable issues. Most significant were the legislative report, which included discussion of bills to regulate Commission ex partes; the hiring process for the Commission’s new Executive Director; public outcry over the modified Newport Banning Ranch staff report (the project hearing was delayed until September); and an appeal of a Santa Barbara project which resulted in a Commission vote reinforcing the importance of LCPs and water conservation measures mandated at both the state and local levels.
Issues voted on at this meeting:
SB 1190, introduced by Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson and coauthored by Assemblymember Das Williams, would ban ex parte communications with a Commissioner for quasi-judicial (i.e., individual permit applications) and enforcement matters...
This project is a request for an after-the-fact approval of the installation of two 3,500-gallon water storage tanks and one 1,500-gallon water storage tank for landscaping of a residential property, and for proposed water delivery service to fill the tanks up to four times a week...
AB 2002 was introduced by Assemblymembers Toni Atkins, Mark Stone and Marc Levine immediately after the Commission fired former Executive Director Charles Lester. The bill requires any agent that lobbies the Commission to register...
Other Discussions
May 2016 Coastal Commission Hearing
Notable items at the May California Coastal Commission meeting included a majority of Commissioners supporting legislation that would level the playing field between the public and developers, public outcry over the modified Newport Banning Ranch staff report, the hiring process for the Commission’s new Executive Director and a Santa Barbara appeal in which the Commission referred to the city's LCP in order to determine substantial issue existed and reinforcement of water responsibility.