Tuesday, May 28, 2013

California Coastal Commission's 20-Year Limits on Sea Walls


Atop the ocean bluff are the homes of those fortunate to own a piece of
land overlooking the dramatic California coastline. Down on the beach are the surfers, swimmers and beachcombers lucky for a sliver of sand that skirts caves and coves in this paradise north of San Diego. 

Dividing the two is a crumbling 80-foot cliff that forms a battle line between homeowners who built concrete walls to prevent their houses from sliding into the sea and those who want to put limits on how long they can fend off the waters.

The powerful California Coastal Commission is imposing 20-year caps on permits to build sea walls, setting up a classic debate over public beach access and property rights as sea levels continue to rise and relentless surf threatens to erode a way of life along 1,100 miles of shore.

Since 2010, the agency has set 20-year expiration dates on a private tennis club in Pebble Beach, a 13-unit apartment building in San Diego, two houses in Santa Cruz, a 19-unit apartment building in nearby Capitola, a 260-unit apartment complex in the San Francisco-area town of Pacifica and several homes in Solana Beach and neighboring Encinitas.

Read more...

Posted by Steve Sinai

8 comments:

nyuk nyuk said...

Good thing Holland doesn't have our coastal commission.

Anonymous said...

Think that it's been fairly well researched that installing sea walls and rip rap only deflects the ocean's energy and causes erosion elsewhere.

Theoretically, one man who has the $500k or whatever is needed to protect his property just sends his problem down the coast to create a problem(s) for others who might have not been affected by erosion for years, if at all. Guess that must be American capitalism at it's best; the one with the most money wins.

Anonymous said...

Good thing Rome didn't have our coastal commission also.

It would have never been built in 7 days!

Anonymous said...

You might want to take a look at what the Netherlands is doing these days about erosion, flooding, etc. Ideas evolve in other places besides CA.

Anonymous said...

204 You're correct, the CA Coastal Commission is a waste of space. However, I believe the saying is, Rome wasn't built in just a day.

Maybe you got the 7 from the 7 hills on which Rome was built?

Or, you were thinking about God creating the world in 6 days and resting on the 7th?

Enjoyed your Pacifica-style mangling of the material.

Anonymous said...

Mother Nature will always win. She's got more time.

Anonymous said...

Face it, humans change the earth just cuz they exist.
No gettin around it.
Kill all the people.
Problem solved.

Anonymous said...

Well that might happen. A new virus discovered 2 weeks ago from the Middle East called MERS-CoV is killing half the people who contract it. The World Health Organization doesn't even know where it comes from or how it's spread.