board—which is the land acquisition board for the state coastal zone. I also chair the Great Redwood Trail Agency, which is about creating a trail from the San Francisco Bay to the Humboldt Bay. It’s been much more intense than I would have thought, it’s really like full-time, plus. For a long time, state agencies and commissions were typically led by men. How is that changing? Well, all I can tell you is, currently on the Coastal Commission, either nine or 10 of the 12 [commissioners] are women. In terms of the California state government, in terms of the resources side, the director of the Coastal Commission is a woman, the director of the Coastal Conservancy is a woman, the director of the Ocean Protection Council is a woman—I mean it’s really crazy. Has it been a concerted effort to level the playing field? I think at least in my field, there is a real openness and a desire for more women to move up—particularly women from more diverse backgrounds. It’s really an emphasis. I would say if you are interested in the environmental field and county or state government, state government, that sort of thing—it’s a really good time. But you have to do the work; you’re not going to get anywhere if you don’t put in the time. I am a big advocate for graduate school. Taking the time; I’ve seen it for so many people make a huge difference in their lives. ..... Hart concedes there is a lack of public awareness about the day-to- day operations of the California Coastal Commission. One common misconception, she points out, is that the commission denies housing along the coast. In reality, says Hart, the commission is trying to
establish more housing—specifically affordable housing. If the agency falls short of housing goals, Hart puts it down to the absence of legislation granting the Coastal Commission any power to mandate affordable housing. This wasn’t always the case. When the Coastal Commission was established as part of the Coastal Act of 1976, there was a requirement that the commission incorporate affordable housing, whenever feasible, into development projects. From 1976 through 1980, nearly 5,000 units of affordable housing were created along the coast, according to Hart. In 1981, however, the state legislature repealed the affordable-housing authority from the commission. “Although the ability to protect and provide affordable housing was stripped from the commission, it still continues to find ways to support and encourage all types of housing consistent with other Coastal Act policies,” CCC officials state on its website. To illustrate the process when projects are presented to the commission for approval, Hart presented a hypothetical: Let’s say somebody in Venice, California proposes to tear down a duplex and build a single-family home with a large deck. The Coastal Commission may deny the proposal because this would reduce density in an area where there should be denser housing. Hart stresses that the idea that the Coastal Commission only ever blocks housing is false—it’s more likely to deny projects that decrease housing. You consider the 1981 repealing of the commission’s housing authority as a turning point for the CCC. What we saw leading up to the Coastal Act was red lining, bigotry and an incredibly biased approach to loans. Removal of families from property they owned on the coast through various eminent domains. The Coastal Act could have—and did during that [1976 to 1981] period—really addressed that. And then that was removed
from us, and we really haven’t been able to do much [about affordable housing] ever since. Marin County recently capped the number of short-term rentals allowed in such coastal communities as Stinson Beach and Tomales Bay. How do vacation rentals fit into the struggle for coastal equity? I can’t comment on that specifically [as it is a decision that will likely come before the CCC at some point], but I will tell you that we just had a public hearing on housing and one of the big presentations was on the impact of short-term rentals. For a long time, commission staff said, “Look, short term rentals are part of access to the coast.” And that’s no longer the thinking? Everyone had a real—it was almost like a shock—because the experts that testified [at the hearing] said that short-term rentals are making it impossible for people to find a place to live near the coast—it’s really a problem. That’s the backdrop now of how we are going to be approaching short-term rentals. There’s becoming a realization, by everyone, that it’s very important to make sure there’s a balance of short-term rentals and housing available for workforce and permanent housing.
26 NorthBaybiz
June 2024
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