What is the California Coastal Commission and will it survive a new member?

The California Coastal Commission (CCC) is hands-down the most influential regulatory agency along the coast of any state in the U.S. The CCC is an independent state agency that regulates development along the Coastal Zone, an area that runs from Oregon border to Mexico, includes nine islands and encompasses approximately 1.5 million acres of land.
The mission statement of the CCC is to “Protect, conserve, restore, and enhance environmental and human-based resources of the California coast and ocean for environmentally sustainable and prudent use by current and future generations.” Basically they try to balance the human activities and environmental resources along the coast but all within the guidelines of the Coastal Act.
The CCC has the ability to approve or deny any construction in the Coastal Zone. It doesn’t approve every structure anybody wants to build, nor does it prevent every development from occurring along the coastline. The CCC uses a law called the Coastal Act to guide their decisions about whether a development is going to be allowed.
You Want Some of This?
There are 12 people sitting on the voting board of the CCC. If you want to take their seat, you would have to be appointed by political big wigs (the Governor, the Senate Rules Committee, and the Speaker of the Assembly). Six of the twelve are picked from people who currently are elected politicians, such as mayors of coastal cities. The other six are picked from the public at large and can, at times, balance out the “politics” of the agency.
Who’s in Whose Pocket?
The balance of members who are from the “elected politicians” side and the “public at large” side determines how the CCC votes on many projects that are to be built along the Coastal Zone. A constant push and pull of interests is behind each member’s votes. The elected politicians have to be careful as not to alienate their supporters or the public of their region. The members who are from the public at large are not tied as directly to political aspects but to those who have elected them and THEIR political influences.
It would be a generalization to assume that every vote is a tug of war between different political influences, but it would be naïve to think that without those loyalties any of these members would have been put in their position at the CCC. As I mentioned earlier, the CCC is very powerful.
Political Web
Most people in the public do not recognize that voting for political officials in their hometowns has a ripple effect on other places. In reality, the web of political connections extends from towns, to cities, to states, and eventually the political decisions you make move their way to a national level. It is difficult to see this web work from the public standpoint and is why most people feel their votes do not matter. Currently, we are seeing how that political web functions in San Diego with the appointment of a new member to the CCC.
The Situation
One of the “elected officials” that sits on the CCC is Chula Vista Mayor Steve Padilla. In the most-recent election, he did not retain his office. Now he has to be replaced on the CCC. This leaves other coastal politicians scratching to be nominated by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez.
The right nomination to one person is the wrong one to another – it all depends where you stand. Depending on who the nominee is, the voting scales on coastal developments could tip in favor of economic interests or in favor of the environment and for the recreating public, such as surfers like you and me.
One positive note in all of this is that back when we voted for the Assembly Speaker for California, a Democrat won, a party that aligns itself with the environment much more than the Republicans do. Hopefully the Speaker will appoint a fellow Democrat who will, based on the party platform, have a much more environmentally friendly voting record than a Republican.
In the Hunt
Of the nominees up for appointment, speculators are saying that San Diego City Councilman Ben Hueso is the most likely person to be appointed. Hueso is a boyhood acquaintance of Fabian Nunez, and as a City of San Diego politician, rather than a smaller coastal town, he is going to have much more at stake in some of the controversial projects in the future in San Diego.
Now More than Ever

The CCC will be revisiting its study of the Navy Broadway Complex and will be making revisions to the growth plans for the Unified Port District of San Diego. In addition, the Chula Vista shoreline will be looking to approve a proposed 560-acre development along the city's bay front, which is slated to include a convention center, resort, wetlands park and condominiums. The biggest decision the new CCC member could face is a potential stadium for the Chargers in National City that could be located on the city's harbor.
You Still Have Power
Although the appointment is in the hands of Fabian Nunez, you and I can still have a direct influence on how he votes. Fabian is a public servant who will listen to the public who put him in the job he has today.
If more people took an active role to drop him a call or email, to appoint the person who will have the environment and public recreation as their highest priority, then we as surfers can feel confident that the balance of the CCC will not be directed toward economic gains but rather for the coast.
Assembly Speaker Favian Nunez:
email: speaker.nunez@assembly.ca.gov
Phone: (916) 319-2046 or (213) 620-4646
Fax: (916) 319-2146
California Coastal Commission Website: http://www.coastal.ca.gov/