DANA POINT SEA LEVEL RISE STUDY AND LOCAL COASTAL PROGRAM AMENDMENT

As part of the Budget Act of 2016 for the State of California, three million dollars was approved for the California Coastal Commission (CCC) to fund updates to local governments Local Coastal Program’s, with special emphasis on addressing the effects of climate change and sea level rise (SLR). On August 12, 2016, the CCC awarded the City $135,000 to complete a SLR Vulnerability Assessment and Local Coastal Program Amendment (LCPA).  The project will include two phases: first, a SLR study (Vulnerability Assessment) that will evaluate and model sea level rise scenarios in conjunction with other coastal flooding factors, including storm waves, tsunamis, upland flooding sources, and inventory infrastructure that could be affected by sea level rise. The second phase will identify appropriate SLR policies for inclusion in the Coastal Land Use Plan (LUP) and standards to be incorporated into the Implementation Plan (Zoning Ordinance) that will make up the LCPA.

The project will aid the City in evaluating future coastal hazard impacts and identifying new and enhanced coastal hazard adaptation strategies to combat SLR. The study will be conducted using the best available information from science and modeling to identify hazards and vulnerabilities. To improve the City’s understanding of SLR impacts, multiple coastal inundation scenarios will be evaluated to project future changes to the shoreline, beaches, bluff erosion, and coastal flooding. The SLR study and findings will be utilized for the LCP Amendment to create policies and standards to address the risks identified in the assessment and modeling portions of the project. Through the process the consultant, City staff, and the California Coastal Commission will work together to develop the final deliverables for the project.

On December 4, the City of Dana Point held a public workshop to share findings from the SLR Vulnerability Assessment conducted by the private coastal engineering firm, Moffet & Nichol. Some of the information discussed included: a review of coastal resources and how these resources may be affected by sea level rise, possible mitigation strategies as well as evaluating the vulnerability across primary coastal reaches.

The presentation is provided as a link below. Interested parties are invited to provide comments on the assessment to John Ciampa, Senior Planner, until December 10, 2019.

The objective of this assessment is to form a basis for future study and policy development, as well as proactively look at ways to mitigate the impact on our community’s coastline. We look forward to the opportunity to inform residents about the results of the study and receive comments and questions regarding the report.

The link to the Dana Point Vulnerability Assessment is provided below.

Dana Point Vulnerability Assessment

Presentation

Interested parties are invited to provide comments on the assessment to John Ciampa, Senior Planner until December 10, 2019.

Questions about the SLR study and LCP Amendment are asked to contact the Senior Planner, John Ciampa by email at jciampa@danapoint.org or by telephone at (949) 248-3591.