Coastal Development Plans

ms kathryn hahn is repairing the hatch of a sport fishing boat like a lot of people here holmquist is concerned about impending development in the marina with its high rise buildings so we're the ones i'd be so disturbed that sailboats want to just walk into the building is smaller environmentalists are also concerned about plans for a shopping center high rise hotels and other large developments here they're worried not only about more traffic and pollution but also about local wildlife their harbor seals in this marina there are endangered california brown pelicans marcia hanscom is executive director of wetlands action network their great blue herons that are nesting right by the villa venetian apartments that were actually scared away from the adjacent playa vista property by their bulldozers there are now nesting iran an apartment complex that the marina wants to destroy in order to put up a high rise high end apartment complex hanscom says the five

trees by the lebanese shia are one of only three places the hearings nest in los angeles county hanscom joined other environmentalists last weekend up fifty two to announce a consent decree in a lawsuit against the california coastal commission the decree requires the commission to begin reviewing the marinas local coastal plan the commission hadn't conducted a review even though it's required by law to do so in fact the commission has failed to review the vast majority of local postal plans peter douglas as the commission's executive director the single most important challenge facing the coastal commission in doing its work to protect the california coast activists come to every meeting of the coastal commission pleading with the commission to begin periodic reviews and their particular community the commission is supposed to review local plans every five years but it's only reviewed three of them in the twenty five years since the passage of the coastal act douglass says the primary reason is a shortage of money and staff he says the other reason is the commission currently

has no way to enforce its recommendations so for example under the current law if the commission undertaker perich review and recommend changes the local government a local government refused to make those changes all the coastal commission can do is write a letter of complaint next year the state legislature will take up a bill that would give the commission the power to force local governments to change their coastal plans mark massaro of the sierra club says putting more teeth in the coastal act is critical the hallmark of the coastal act is the requirement that every local government both counties and cities establish a local coastal plan that is the bible or the constitution for local development within that jurisdiction what has happened is in los angeles and orange counties over half of those jurisdictions have never completed a local coastal plant and for those counties and cities that do have local coastal plans

many are more than fifteen years old missouri says more money for the coastal commission has also key the legislature recently approved additional funds for the commission to undertake coastal plain reviews but governor gray davis used his line item veto to strike the money from the state's budget stanley young is communications director of the california resources agent see we understand that that is a significant problem and it's also statutory requirement and given the present economic climate the coastal commission at like all the other departments commissions and boards is somehow going to have to find a way to add tighten its belt and redirect personnel to take a look at the coastal commission's peter douglas says the belt is too tight already in the case of marina del rey he says the commission will be hard pressed to conduct the review mandated by the consent decree now with respect to other local program for overdue we simply will not have the resources to do those and i

don't know what we do for early favorite situation again elsewhere for kpcc news i'm gil says that deal in marina del ray