Volume 36, Issue 1: Symposium Edition—California Coastal Act at Forty
Articles
Foreword
This issue of the Stanford Environmental Law Journal commemorates the fortieth year of the California Coastal Act. The Coastal Act protects one of California’s greatest natural resources: its coast. The Coastal Act, passed in 1976, seeks to protect and maintain this precious resource for future generations. Read more about Foreword
- December 2016
- 36 Stan.Envtl.L.J. 1
- Article
A Bug in the Programs: The Need to Create Greater Incentives for Local Coastal Program Updates
Under the California Coastal Act, local governments develop local coastal programs (LCPs) intended to promote Coastal Act policies in a manner that is adapted to the particular needs of each jurisdiction. Once LCPs are certified by the Coastal Commission, they become the key set of policies governing development in the jurisdictions they cover. The certification process ensures that an LCP adequately promotes Coastal Act policies as of the time it is certified. Read more about A Bug in the Programs: The Need to Create Greater Incentives for Local Coastal Program Updates
- December 2016
- 36 Stan.Envtl.L.J. 3
- Article
Managing the Coastal Squeeze: Resilience Planning for Shoreline Residential Development
Climate change now affects almost every facet of California’s natural and built environment, and sea level rise will have widespread adverse consequences for California’s coastal resources as well as residential development. Threats to residential development will also mean that shoreline structures, including seawalls, revetments, and emergency measures will continue to be proposed to protect existing development. Read more about Managing the Coastal Squeeze: Resilience Planning for Shoreline Residential Development
- December 2016
- 36 Stan.Envtl.L.J. 23
- Article
The Forty-Year-Old Statute: Unintended Consequences of the Coastal Act and How They Might Be Redressed
Forty years ago, the California Legislature enacted the Coastal Act to protect the coastline and to fortify changes sought by the voter initiative that established the Coastal Commission. While overwhelmingly successful, the implementation of California’s Coastal Act has produced certain unintended consequences that limit its efficacy. An apparent misapplication of a key term in the Act, abuse of permitting exemptions, and unforeseen climatic changes to the coast have fostered these undesirable outcomes. Read more about The Forty-Year-Old Statute: Unintended Consequences of the Coastal Act and How They Might Be Redressed
- December 2016
- 36 Stan.Envtl.L.J. 63
- Article
Coastal Access Equity and the Implementation of the California Coastal Act
The California Coastal Act, passed in 1976, protects public coastal access for all Californians. In the forty years since the Act’s passage, the state’s population has nearly doubled with much of that growth occurring in the coastal zone, where the beaches and public trust shoreline are an important natural, open space resource. As such, they are beneficial to individual and community well-being. Inequities in access to nature (and other beneficial resources) are increasingly common. Read more about Coastal Access Equity and the Implementation of the California Coastal Act
- December 2016
- 36 Stan.Envtl.L.J. 89
- Article
California Coastal Democracy at Forty: Time for a Tune-up
California fashions itself a laboratory of democracy, often pioneering populist voter reforms, sweeping open-government laws, and experimental agency governance structures. Nowhere is this more true than in the design and passage of the California Coastal Act, first enacted through a statewide ballot initiative in response to alarming developments along the coast and subsequently codified by the state legislature. Read more about California Coastal Democracy at Forty: Time for a Tune-up
- December 2016
- 36 Stan.Envtl.L.J. 109
- Article