Key areas of concern

1. Budgetary Ambiguity Over

   • Projected revenue from the proposal,
   • Insight into use patterns and the feasibility of raising the projected revenues,
   • Costs associated with the proposed pay stations,
   • System maintenance costs,
   • How money will be used, and if there will be additional services for the community.

2. Equity Barriers

   • Could create 2-tier access, with low income members of the community having to look for beaches with free access.
   • Sonoma County, compared to Southern California, has significantly less public transportation options to the coast.
   • Adding additional shuttles to the coast could cost more than $300,000 per year. If this option were to be explored, who would pay for it, and how would that factor into the proposal’s revenue goals?
   • Will this fee plan unduly penalize the transportation needs of the disabled?

3. Incongruent Values: Demand Pricing Model

   • It is unnacceptable to charge people more on sunny days, holidays, and other designated peak use periods.
   • Variable charges may have negative effects on tourism, hurting the local economy as a consequence.

4. Environmental Impacts

   • The proposal has not addressed the possibility of direct or indirect environmental impacts.
   • Two different pay station types have already been proposed. What type of pay station is being proposed now? What are the power, size, and maintenance requirements? What will the overall environmental footprint look like?
   • If the proposal increases roadside parking, what will the affect be from environmental erosion and subsequent habitat displacement?

5. Public Safety

   • Does the proposal take into account any possible changes in traffic patterns as a result of people searching for free parking?
   • Does the proposal take into account the increased likelihood of fires from cars parked on the side of the road?
   • Does the proposal consider the possibility of increased accidents between cyclists and motorists search for roadside parking?

 Pro-development Coastal Commission appointees maneuver to terminate Dr. Charles Lester, undermining the power behind what has become a model for other states working to preserve natural beauty. There will be a public hearing in Morro Bay on February 10th.

Please sign this MoveOn petition to express concern about the damage this could have on protecting our California coastline and preserving public access.

Please share this information with your friends and family using social media, to help build public awareness. And remember to include the hashtag #SaveOurCoast

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Press Release: Local Coastal Plan Comments submitted by Conservation Action

(Actual Full Text Comment Letter Here: SCCA Comments_LCP_9.30.2015 )

10/8/2015, Santa Rosa, CA- In a September 30 comment letter to the Sonoma County Planning Department, Sonoma County’s largest environmental organization, Sonoma County Conservation Action (SCCA), expressed concerns regarding Sonoma County Permit and Resource Management Department’s Draft Update for the Sonoma County Local Coastal Plan (LCP). This letter prompted a public comment.

Rather than further enhancing the protection of Sonoma County’s fragile but extraordinarily beautiful and biological rich coastal zone, the draft update would in its present form allow for development that flies in the face of past successful initiatives in Sonoma County to protect the Sonoma coast.

“We’re working to avoid the Napafication of the Coast,” said Dennis Rosatti, Executive Director of Conservation Action. “We’ve got something special in Sonoma County and must work hard to protect our public investment in protected coastal lands, and look out for the existing small businesses that thrive off the coastal experience. The Sonoma Coast is too important for us to risk it being overrun with wineries and event centers.”

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Are you familiar with the Trans-Pacific Partnership? It’s a trade agreement between multiple countries that seeks to lower trade barriers and protect the interests of multinational corporations, often at the expense of consumers, the environment, and local workers. If that’s not enough to give you pause, new negotiations are well underway, and the United States is involved. Furthermore, the industries behind the agreement are looking to fast track the process, which would effectively cut Congress out of the equation by not allowing them the ability to amend the treaty or get approval from their constituents.

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