City told to consider rising sea

He said he was “shocked” that the city didn’t already have a policy for flooding considering how receptive it is to tsunamis.

“It’s essential to incorporate some standards for dealing with flooding from sea-level rise and tsunamis,” he said.

The Coastal Commission was established by voter-initiative in 1972 to protect and conserve the California coast and its ocean by regulating use of water and land in the coastal zone. The coastal zone is about 1,000 yards inland from mean high tide.

Challenges to building within the coastal zone

The impetus for these changes is Coasta Norte, a two-story, 37-unit condominium and timeshare project to be built at 2nd and A Streets.

Earlier this year, the City Council approved changing the land use designation and zoning, which had to be certified by the Coastal Commission.

The changes to Crescent City’s plan would get rid of an old medical land-use designation left over from when the A Street Clinic was still in operation. The changes would alter the zoning to allow for both permanent and visiting residents and permit up to 43 housing units.

The Coasta Norte project has been appealed several times and ended up in the hands of the Coastal Commission, which decided that the city’s outdated LCP needed to be changed before the project could be approved.

Staff for the commission determined that new developments must also be able to withstand flooding from a tsunami and be situated one foot above the projected maximum water run-up.

“It could happen this next moment,” Robert Merrill, district manager for the Coastal Commission’s North Coast District Office, said about tsunamis at a commission meeting last Friday. “This is a thing that does happen in Crescent City and up and down the coast. It’s appropriate to take that into account.”

In addition, the city must take into account potential sea-level rise due to polar ice cap melt using the best and most recent information available when considering new developments.

“Projected sea-level rise isn’t uniform,”  Merrill explained, but added that the accepted range is three to six feet in the next 100 years.

Randy Baugh, president of Development Consultants, Inc. the developer for Coasta Norte, told The Triplicate on Wednesday that the project was already designed to withstand tsunamis and the bottom level will be above inundation zones.

However, he said that additional studies will have to be done to make sure any rises in the sea level will not affect the building.

“As far as the project is concerned, it’s not going to change the project much,” Baugh said. “We’ve had those thoughts in mind from beginning.”

Coastal Commission Chairwoman Bonnie Neely of Eureka, who is the representative for the North Coast, said at the meeting that she would like to see Coasta Norte “move forward” because of Baugh’s willingness to mold the project to meet state requirements.

“Here we have an applicant that has  done a great job working with a city  that truly needs economic help,” Neely said.

Unnecessary regulation?

Sea-level rise is not a major concern here, Baugh claims, because the water around Crescent City has actually gone down. But, he said that requiring local governments to consider an assumption of a three- to six-foot rise in sea level could affect residential developments down south.

The Coastal Commission is now addressing sea-level rise, Peter Douglas said, because the “best data” shows it’s happening faster than expected.

“Sea level is rising much more rapidly than projected due to ice melt,” he said.

Commissioner Mary Shallenberger, of San Francisco, said at the meeting that the Coastal Commission should be looking at sea-level rise as mandated by state law, in addition to avoiding tsunami inundation zones.

“Local governments should be avoiding tsunami areas,” she said, “or engineering something that would be safe for tsunamis.”

Commissioner Steven Kram, also of San Francisco, voted against creating new policies on flooding for Crescent City or any other city.

He said that this creates another layer of regulation for local government and would mean more work (and therefore more money) for Coastal Commission staff to make decisions about each individual community.

“Until we know we have the funding, the money should be set aside for better uses,” Kram said about state funding for the Coastal Commission.

Chairwoman Neely said the commission would be out of compliance with state law if it didn’t require coastal communities to consider flooding from tsunamis or sea-level rise for new developments.

“I don’t think the Coastal Commission is extending beyond its reach,” said Commissioner Ross Mirkarimi, of San Francisco.

“I appreciate the fact that the commission is addressing this case for Crescent City and defining and pushing this issue.”

The Coastal Commission also took into account that a majority of the complaints against the Coasta Norte project were from neighboring residents who feared losing their view of the ocean. The commission added a stipulation in Crescent City’s local coastal program that any development at the site must allow for a view corridor at least 20 feet wide at 2nd and A Streets.