In partnership with coastal cities and counties, the California Coastal Commission plans and regulates the use of land and water in the coastal zone.

On land the coastal zone varies in width from several hundred feet in highly urbanized areas up to five miles in certain rural areas. Offshore the coastal zone includes a three-mile-wide band of ocean.

The Coastal Act of 1976 established polices to guide and regulate shoreline public access and recreation, lower cost visitor accommodations, terrestrial and marine habitat protection, visual resources, landform alteration, agricultural lands, commercial fisheries, industrial uses, water quality, offshore oil and gas development, transportation, development design, power plants, ports and public works.

The Coastal Act requires each city and county located in whole or in part in the coastal zone to prepare a local land use program and plan that conform to the Coastal Act's policies. The land use plan may be the relevant portion of the local general plan, including any maps necessary to administer it, and the zoning ordinances, zoning district maps and other legal instruments necessary to implement the land use plan.

The Commission evaluates local land use programs and plans against the policies established in the Coastal Act. Programs and plans become effective only after approval by the Commission. The Commission is required to review each certified program and plan at least once every five years.

After the Commission certifies a local coastal program, coastal development permit authority is delegated to the local government. (The Commission retains original permit jurisdiction over certain specified lands such as tidelands and public trust lands.)

Development activities in the coastal zone— including the construction of buildings, divisions of land, and activities that change the intensity of use of land or public access to coastal waters— generally require a coastal permit from either the Coastal Commission or the local city or county government.

Development within the coastal zone may not commence until a coastal development permit has been issued by either the Commission or a local government that has a Commission-certified local coastal program.

In different locations throughout the state, the Coastal Commission holds monthly public meetings and hearings at which it makes planning and other policy decisions and hears applications for development permits.

Prior to each meeting or hearing, Commission staff collects and analyzes information pertinent to meeting agenda items. Citizens and community groups may communicate their views to Commission staff prior to public hearings and meetings.

Commission staff prepares written reports and recommends Commission action. These staff reports are available from the Commission for public review.

At the meetings and hearings, citizens and community groups have further opportunities to make their views known to the Commissioners and have a voice in the approval of development permits.

In some geographic areas and for certain types of developments, the Commission has appellate authority over developments approved by local governments.

California Coastal Commission

California Coastal Act