Meeting Overview
The Coastal Commission met in Sacramento from November 5 to 7. Notable items included proposed internal amendments to reduce red tape in approving affordable housing projects within the Coastal Zone, a consent enforcement agreement with the Sandbourne Hotel in Santa Monica to address past violations, and adoption of the City of Marina’s visionary LCP amendment, which ensures long-term coastal resilience by making new shoreline armoring almost impossible.
Consideration of federal consistency for the continued operation of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant—arguably the most consequential item on the agenda—was postponed until December after Pacific Gas & Electric (PGE) refused improved mitigation measures put forth in a letter to the Commission by Senator John Laird and endorsed by Commissioners. The item and any additional attempts to create maximum mitigation for the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant’s impacts on marine resources will be heard again in December at the Commission’s meeting in Imperial Beach.
During Wednesday's public comment, the Surfrider Foundation celebrated California's marine protected area network becoming the first globally accepted to the IUCN Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas, which recognizes the world's most successful biodiversity conservation examples. Commissioner Jenn Eckerle attended the award ceremony in Abu Dhabi and shared insights on the MPA network's value to California's coastal protection mandate.
On Thursday, Surfrider presented its annual State of the Beach Report, highlighting nature-based solutions and contrasting case studies: Surfers' Point in Ventura, where hard armoring removal nears completion next month, and San Clemente, a cautionary tale of poor planning and damaging riprap. Surfrider urged Commissioners to embrace nature-based solutions for coastal resilience.
Issues voted on at this meeting:
The Commission approved a creative enforcement settlement with the Sandbourne Hotel in Santa Monica to resolve long-standing permit violations, turning a missed obligation into a model for coastal responsibility. The agreement delivers major community benefits—including free employee transit, EV chargers, plastic-free operations, and funding for accessible beach wheelchairs—while reducing traffic, pollution, and barriers to the coast. It’s a powerful example of how strong enforcement can produce real, lasting wins for both people and the environment.
The Commission approved common-sense regulatory changes to make it easier to build affordable housing along California’s coast. The amendments extend the vesting period for 100% affordable housing projects from two to five years and double the length of permit extensions, giving developers more realistic timelines to secure complex public funding. By streamlining the process while maintaining strong environmental safeguards, the Commission is helping make coastal communities more affordable and accessible to people of all income levels.
Plastic pollution is a major threat to California’s coast, harming wildlife, water quality, and public access to beaches. By adopting this guidance, the Coastal Commission is using its authority to protect our coastal resources—benefiting all Californians. The guidance helps local governments and developers prevent plastic pollution at its source, keeping our beaches cleaner, our waters safer, and marine ecosystems healthier for generations to come.
The Commission approved the City of Marina’s groundbreaking update to its Local Coastal Program—a major win for coastal resilience and public access. The new plan prioritizes keeping Marina’s beaches natural and unarmored, ensuring future development avoids shoreline armoring and accounts for sea level rise
Other Discussions
Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant - inching towards a Pro-Coast vote
California's last nuclear facility, the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, had been slated to close in 2025, but that decision was reversed in 2022 by the California state legislature due to concerns about California's energy grid. The Morro Bay facility now plans to extend its operation until at least 2030. PGE representatives appeared before the Commission on Thursday as part of a combined hearing on the plant’s federal consistency and efforts to mitigate the massive environmental harm perpetuated by its operations.
The staff report regarding the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant’s impacts specifically noted that the proposed mitigation plan cannot achieve consistency with the Coastal Act's marine resource protection policies due to the scale of entrainment impacts, a fact that should have been a starting point for crafting adequate mitigation, not an endpoint for invoking Coastal Act override provisions.
Diablo's cooling system processes approximately 2.5 billion gallons of seawater daily, impacting 14 square miles of nearshore habitat. This causes ongoing loss of larval fish, invertebrates, and plankton—the foundation of ocean food webs. The staff report's own analysis shows that even maximum protection would require decades to offset these biological losses.
Senator John Laird submitted a letter outlining a better plan. The 12,000 acres of Diablo Canyon Lands represent a once-in-a-generation conservation opportunity. Senator Laird’s staff, multiple elected officials, and dozens of community members called for the following:
- Conservation easements across North Ranch and South Ranch
- Protection mechanisms for Wild Cherry Canyon
- Realistic trail funding for perpetual management
- All mitigation tied to the currently authorized 2025-2030 period
After several hours of public comment, Commissioners appeared united in demanding PGE do better. Commissioner Caryl Hart stated that without the inclusion of South Ranch in the mitigation package, no approval could be made, a sentiment echoed by the other commissioners, including Commission Chair Meagan Harmon, who said she agreed with her colleagues that the power plant is critical for the state’s energy portfolio but the “mitigation package as laid out before us is insufficient.” After requesting time to possibly retool the mitigation package, PGE staff ultimately left the meeting unwilling to meet the demands of the community and Commission, causing the item to be delayed until December. (Read full news coverage here.)