Arcadia Planning Commission delays Local Coastal Program update as Coastal Commission review continues

The Arcadia Planning Commission on Oct. 14, 2025 voted to continue its public hearing on a comprehensive update to the city’s Local Coastal Program (LCP) to Feb. 17, 2026, while city staff and California Coastal Commission staff finish negotiating edits.

Community Development Director David Loya told the commission staff “we're gonna need to continue this item 1 more time,” and explained that the city and Coastal Commission are working through a conflict-resolution process over the LCP’s sea-level-rise policies. He said the issues center on how the Coastal Commission interprets the Coastal Act when policies conflict and how those interpretations affect what may be included in Arcadia’s certified LCP.

Why it matters: an LCP, once certified by the Coastal Commission, sets the rules the city uses to regulate land use in the coastal zone. Loya said the city is trying to limit the LCP text to provisions necessary to regulate coastal land use and to move other design and code details into the citywide zoning ordinance to avoid duplication and ongoing maintenance problems.

In the hearing, Loya summarized several substantive points staff has raised with Coastal Commission staff: that the Coastal Commission is reviewing the city’s sea-level-rise policies for consistency with the Coastal Act; that state housing rules for accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and the California Department of Housing and Community Development…