In a unanimous vote, the California Coastal Commission agreed Thursday to certify the city of Santa Barbara’s years-in-the-making update to its Coastal Land Use Plan.

“This is a monumental milestone in a six-year work effort for the city,” said City Planner Renee Brooke. “Going into today’s hearing with both the Coastal Commission and city staff supportive of the policies in the Land Use Plan is indicative of our tireless approach to working collaboratively with the commission staff.”

The city sent a contingent of officials to the meeting, which was held in the Oxnard City Council chamber. 

City planners and officials spent years drafting a new plan to overhaul one that was originally approved in 1986.

The 372-page document focuses on protection and the balanced use of coastal resources, along with maximizing public access to the coast.

It also has a focus on sea level rise and the importance of regulating development and maintaining buffers on the coastal bluffs. The city’s coastal zone is about four miles long, and about 65 percent of the city’s shoreline is in public ownership.

“While we have additional work to do to further address the impacts of sea level rise, this policy document is a significant improvement over our 1981 certified land-use plan,” Brooke said. 

Despite certifying the plan, the city must still develop a plan that addresses strategies for sea level rise in the near-, mid- and long-term. The plan will be released for review this summer, and the findings will be submitted as part of a local coastal plan amendment that the City Council will consider in 2020, before resubmitting to the Coastal Commission for approval. 

The approved plan includes documentation of numerous habitat and creek buffers, the first such listing. It also includes development standards for shoreline hazard areas, including the bluff, beach and flood-prone areas of the city.

In addition, the city created a “highly accurate, digitally mapped” coastal bluff map. The document also outlines policies for ensuring protection of public access to the shoreline. 

“The city of Santa Barbara remains one of California’s shining examples of coastal stewardship,” the city wrote in a letter to the Coastal Commission. “Seventy percent of the city’s four mile long shoreline is in public ownership. Parks, such as Arroyo Burro Park, Douglas Family Preserve, Shoreline Park, and the entire Waterfront area, from Leadbetter Beach to East Beach, are easily accessible to the public, including the city’s substantial Latino population.”

“City staff had worked for six years with Coastal Commission staff on this update,” said Mayor Cathy Murillo. “It was thrilling to hear the commissioners making the motion and voting for approval. I’m really proud of staff. We are still working on sea level rise planning, a huge issue.”

— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.