Title
a. Receive a report on preparation of amendments to Monterey County's Local Coastal Program to be consistent with the Coastal Act regarding affordable housing; and
b. Provide direction to staff.
(Board Referral #: 2018.28)
Report
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Board of Supervisors:
a. Receive a report on preparation of amendments to Monterey County's Local Coastal Program to be consistent with the Coastal Act regarding affordable housing; and
b. Provide direction to staff.
SUMMARY:
On December 4, 2018, Resource Management Agency was assigned Board referral 2018.28, which was submitted by Supervisor Phillips. The County's Local Coastal Plan (LCP) was adopted with language relative to affordable housing. Subsequently, the Coastal Act was amended, removing authority of the Coastal Commission to impose conditions or requirements for affordable housing. The Housing Element has been updated multiple times in compliance with State law but the LCP has not been amended to keep up. Having a LCP that is out of date with housing policy could be a barrier to affordable housing in the coastal zone. For consistency, affordable housing should be removed from the LCP and rely on the Housing Element for housing policy.
Extracting and deleting housing policy language from the LCP can be relatively simple. Using in-house staff would be the most cost effective. However, it takes time to process any LCP amendment through the Coastal Commission, and RMA has a number of priority projects. Therefore, adding this project to RMA's workload would require adjusting priorities to complete this task sooner rather than later. Alternatively, RMA could contract professional services to complete this task sooner, but that would require allocating funds to complete that project.
DISCUSSION:
The State legislature adopted the Coastal Act in 1976, following voter approval in 1972. In 1982, Monterey County adopted a comprehensive General Plan Update, which included ar...
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