AN INTRODUCTION TO COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT

R eading Beatley’s Introduction to Coastal Zone Management, I straddled the line between hope and despair in our nation’s future ability to achieve the author’s call for future sustainable development in the coastal zone. Beatley and his co-authors begin by providing a valuable recounting of the "why’s" and "therefore’s" of coastal management efforts over the past two-plus decades. On the hopeful side, they remind us of the value of our nation’s coastal resources and why the Stratton Commission was able to nudge federal leadership to take action establishing a Federal Coastal Management authority. The majority of our coastal states have enlisted in the program, creating coastal management agencies whose task it is to set policy and press local governments to implement that policy into workable programs such as improving public access, protecting sensitive coastal resources, identifying hazardous areas, and in a few cases, creating wider building setbacks and withdrawing former "rights" to harden the shore with seawalls and riprap. Beatley and his colleagues remind the reader that the path of CZM has not been clear. The vertical workings or non-workings of layers of uncoordinated governmental efforts have led to curves and cul-de-sacs in policy paths. In some cases, wellintentioned federal programs have created head-on collisions between the cross purposes of coastal development subsidies and preservation. Coastal cities and counties have complained about newly found state agencies that are unaccustomed to the role of land-use policy making and implementation. Superimposed upon the bureaucratic problems have been the "sentries" guarding the Fifth Amendment tower. Successful skirmishes in California (Nollan) and South Carolina (Lucas) have emboldened their guardianship, causing land-use regulators to retreat and evaluate their tactics. Furthermore, the public mood, while sympathetic to environmental concerns, is quick to raise the "takings" flag when the regulators have taken "aim" at their land. Beatley reviews some of the more traditional methods of land use controls, including Euclidean zoning, subdivision ordinances, and growth controls. While these regulatory practices are generally well accepted, the authors call for a mixing and matching of new approaches. Many of these approaches fall into the category of "incentives." Among the more prominent methods are conservation easements, transfer of development rights, and tax relief. These methods are not necessarily new, but they help to take some of the "sting" out of additional regulations that might otherwise prompt property owners to claim a "taking." Property tax rollbacks and other incentives seem to offer the best hope toward achieving some measure of coastal conservation. Recognized open space and farmland preservation programs in Maryland and Michigan have met with success. It seems logical to extend them to the coastal zone, targeting environmentally sensitive, scenic, or hazardous sites. The authors rightfully point out that natural resource management does not lend itself to traditional planning and land management techniques with a patchwork of jurisdictional boundaries. A change in scale is needed, encompassing a region’s "natural" boundaries. This idea is not new; in fact, it was the approach of the Regional Planning Association (RPA) founded in the 1920s. However, Americans have viewed regional planning’s reciprocal-~a loss of local control--with skepticism and have not readily embraced the concept. The authors point out a few notable exceptions, but examples are few and far between. The "watershed" approach offers some hope in this regard by providing a "natural" planning area for resource and land planners. The State of Oregon is one of the few states to couple statewide land-use planning with coastal zone planning under one agency and to extend the boundaries of the coastal zone jurisdiction inland to the crest of the coast range, thus including most watersheds and rivers draining to the coast. The concepts of natural regions and sustainable development are both logical and laudable, but the practicality of administration and program implementation in light of America’s distrust of overlapping governmental authority remains questionable. This is unfortunate, for America’s coasts are clearly impacted from both land and sea. Single actions can lead to multiple or cumulative effects, a result which is the antithesis of sustainable development. In recognition of this problem, the 1990 amendments to the Coastal Zone Management Act provides funding to states to address this issue. The California Coastal Commission recently completed a preliminary report on the Regional Cumulative Assessments Project in the Monterey Bay Region. Perhaps their approach will provide some valuable direction in assessing cumulative impacts in the coastal zone. It is well known that littoral sediments flow along the shore from sediment "sources" to "sinks." These natural sediment flow cells offer another approach toward the planning of coastal sustainability. Single interventions anywhere along the cell can have downstream (sometimes cumulative) impacts. Thus, planning and management within coastal sediment cells may offer another approach somewhat similar to that used with watersheds. The federal government has extraordinary regulatory powers in