Implementing the Coastal Plan: A New Test for the Concept of State Control for Areas of Critical State Concern
Southern California Law Review, Vol. 49, pp. 772-783, 1976
12 Pages Posted: 31 Aug 2009
Date Written: 1976
Abstract
The California Coastal Plan by the California Coastal Zone Conservation Commission contains numerous conservationist recommendations and proposes an elaborate structure and method for implementation. The central feature of this implementation scheme is substantial reliance on local governments for production of the necessarily localized regulation and its subsequent enforcement, subject to oversight by an independent state coastal agency. This framework parallels that of the Model Land Development Code, drafted by the American Law Institute and intended to establish a system of land use regulation that will facilitate 'socially and economically desirable' utilization of natural resources. An important feature of the Model Code is the concept of state regulatory control over specific geographical areas which are of 'critical state concern.' The Coastal Plan provides an excellent case example for considering the workability of the Model Code concept of critical areas control which the Coastal Plan embraces. However, the Coastal Plan and the Model Code diverge on the role to be given comprehensive planning. The act which guided the Coastal Commission provides that permanent regulations be imposed only after substantial planning has been completed. The Model Code does not require a comprehensive plan as a prerequisite to regulation, although some planning is implicit in the designation of critical areas. This article considers two important questions which emerge from a recognition of these differences in approach: How much planning, statewide or regional, should precede the implementation of critical area controls; and how much authority should be granted to the state planning agency?
Keywords: Model Land Development Code, land use, natural resources
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