Planning Commission reviews geologic hazards resource to inform Local Coastal Program

Planning Department staff presented a draft geologic hazards resource Dec. 3 intended to inform, not to adopt, policy changes to San Clemente's Local Coastal Program (LCP).

Senior planner Christopher Wright told the commission the document is a resource for engineers and staff and does not itself contain draft policies or regulations. "It's just a resource to the public," he said, describing a GIS portal that shows hazard zones and guidance to help applicants prepare site-specific geologic studies.

At the meeting Mark Maguire, a land-use attorney who represents coastal property interests, urged caution. He said the draft should be coupled with the LCP Implementation Plan (IP) and warned against adopting geologic standards prematurely. "We really shouldn't adopt a geologic hazard report until we couple it with the IP," Maguire said, citing practical difficulties in defining bluff edges where terrain has been modified.

Planning staff clarified the intent: the resource is meant to inform the forthcoming IP and not to add new review steps before the IP is in place. Staff said they will take public and technical feedback, will make the GIS portal more accessible, and will engage geotechnical specialists when the public draft of the IP is posted.

Commissioners asked staff to clarify whether the resource would create additional city review layers for geotechnical analyses; staff and the consultant team indicated the present document is informational and that any regulatory changes would come later, as part of the Implementation Plan and possible changes to zoning and development standards.

Next steps: staff will continue public review (the Coastal Commission review period runs through January as discussed), revise the draft based on feedback, make the portal more accessible, and fold technical comments into the IP drafting process.