GlobeSt.com: What is the second change?

Lamport: The second overarching policy issue is adaptation to sea level rise and climate change. The Commission has adopted a sea level rise guidance that emphasizes “planned retreat.” One of the objectives in the guidance is to allow for the mean high tide to move inland over time in order to preserve beaches and public access to the beach. The guidance also calls for the removal of shoreline protection devices to protect private property as existing structures reach the end of their life and are replaced. For the private property owner, this can result in private land becoming State land as the mean high tide – which defines the boundary between State land and private land – moves inland. Replacement structures would be required to move inland on lots along the coast. However, where there is insufficient area to relocate out of the tidal zone, there is a risk that some private property owners could lose their properties over time. Implementing the guidance at the local level has become a tricky process, prompting efforts to develop strategies to preserve the coastline as sea level rises. There is a fair amount of experimentation going on now, largely driven by cities and counties seeking to protect infrastructure along the coast and property owners seeking to preserve their parcels. The lesson here is that coastal property owners need to be proactive on this front and not wait until nature takes it course.

GlobeSt.com: What strategies are being discussed to prepare for sea level rise and other concerns related to global warming?

Lamport: The Commission's sea level rise guidance promotes a planned retreat strategy that over time will pit the private owner and public coastal access against one another. However, there are approaches that would not force this trade off. They generally share the objective of combining shoreline habitat enhancement with shoreline structural protection. One such approach involves beach nourishment, where a revetment is used in connection with the import of sand to restore a beach habitat lost to sea level rise and scour. These programs have proved to be expensive and there is a growing concern that suitable sand supplies are not available. Eliminating historic dams and other structures in drainages that have reduced the sand supply for beaches has been discussed. There is also a discussion about whether offshore artificial reefs can be used to protect existing shorelines. Offshore reefs have been used successfully in Europe, but there are questions about whether it will work in the long term on California's coast. There is also a question regarding whether these measures will work in the long term and whether sea level rise will be so substantial over the next 100 years to completely overwhelm these systems. There is still much work to be done in this area. The discussion regarding what strategies can be successfully employed in the face of sea level rise is still in its early stages.

GlobeSt.com: Which emerging policies and issues stand to affect coastal programs and development?

Lamport: In many respects, environmental justice and sea level rise are emerging policies in terms of their implementation. In addition, there will be an increasing focus on Native America consultation in the coastal zone. There will also be an increasing emphasis on cities and counties providing adequate parking and means of transport to the coast. In this regard, there is potential for tension between some jurisdictions' practice of limiting parking and vehicular access as a means of promoting public transit and a Commission policy to give people the ability to drive to and park at the coast.