November 2022 Hearing Report

The November Coastal Commission meeting took place in Salinas on November 16-18. The Commission had a fairly busy agenda that resulted in two vote charts - the Capistrano Beach seawall and nature-based adaptation project, and the California American Water desalination facility in Marina.

The Capistrano Beach park project is a double edged sword. It features a nature–based adaptation project for the northern portion of the County park, but retains existing riprap armoring and extends it by an additional 800 ft in the southern portion of the park. See the vote chart here.

The California American Water desalination facility faced stiff opposition from residents, environmental and justice groups along with local water agencies. After several hours of testimony and deliberations, Commissioners ultimately approved the project. See the vote chart for more information.

Also noteworthy was a proposal by North Coast Village HOA, a 550 unit condominium complex in Oceanside, to repair and augment their rock revetment, and secure after-the-fact permitting for previous repairs in 2010. The HOA has committed numerous Coastal Act violations including failure to construct a public accessway promised in 1979, illegal additions to the revetment, illegal fencing and others. They had initially requested that the Commission clear the slate of their longstanding violations, as well. However, Staff recommended approval of the revetment work only, and enforcement action for their long list of violations. Surfrider contended that more should be done to address the outstanding violations, especially given the devastating erosion the complex and seawall have caused to the public beach space.