Capitola council approves LCP amendments to clear path for Cliff Drive resiliency project

The Capitola City Council voted unanimously to introduce an ordinance and adopt land-use amendments needed for the Cliff Drive resiliency project, a bluff-stabilization and multimodal-improvement effort that extends into the Capitola Village.

City planning staff said the edits update the local coastal program (LCP) and several sections of the Capitola Municipal Code (Title 17) — parks and open space, environmentally sensitive habitat area (ESHA), parking and loading, and geological hazards — and that the package will be submitted to the California Coastal Commission for certification. The Planning Commission reviewed the draft and forwarded it with recommendations; the Coastal Commission requested minor language cleanups that staff incorporated.

Staff noted roughly $10 million in federal funds are available to start planning, and stressed the council action before it is primarily a policy and code update (not the engineering design). Council members asked for a clerical change to implementation language so the land-use plan implementation language matches the updated Cliff Drive policy text.

The council’s action included: introducing, by title only, an ordinance amending Capitola Municipal Code Title 17 (Chapters 17.32, 17.64, 17.76 and 17.68); adopting a resolution amending the Capitola Land Use Plan (Chapter 2 Public Access and Chapter 7 Natural Hazards); authorizing submittal to the California Coastal Commission for certification; and finding the actions exempt from CEQA.

City staff said next steps are completing the detailed planning documents and pursuing Coastal Commission certification and required technical studies.