April 10, 2025 — At the start of the Coastal Design Review Committee meeting, Chair Mark Stegmaier provided updates on committee business, saying county staff is finalizing rounds of internal review on revised, objective design standards and expects to bring the standards to the committee for review in June or July.

Stegmaier apologized for recent attendance gaps and summarized the committee’s role: to review project design for compatibility with site and neighborhood character and to provide a forum for community input in the Monterey‑Moss Beach‑El Granada‑Princeton areas. He said sections of the design standards are being revised to make them objective and that those objective standards will come to the committee this summer.

He also said the draft revisions include a proposal to increase the committee stipend (described in the meeting as “doubling it”) and to allow payment more than once per month should there be multiple meetings. The chair noted more sections of the document will be updated and circulated for review.

During the chair’s report there were several informal remarks from members and attendees about planning and building‑department workload and responsiveness; one committee member said plan processing had slowed and that new plan technicians are “coming up to speed,” while others described variability in turnaround times for plan check comments. Those remarks were anecdotal and were not entered as formal findings by staff.

Stegmaier and others discussed recruitment of representatives for geographic areas; the chair said most areas are eligible and encouraged residents from the listed communities to apply, noting Ontario (seat) appeared to be filled and that other areas remained open.

The chair briefly referenced national‑level reports he’d heard about possible changes to the Coastal Commission’s funding but noted only rumors and no local action. He closed the report by inviting members and the public to submit materials for upcoming agendas.