The Land Use Plan: Resources and Development Issues and Policies
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
-MENDOCINO COUNTY COASTAL ELEMENT - CHAPTER 3 -- THE LAND USE PLAN: RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT ISSUES AND POLICIES 3.1 HABITATS AND NATURAL RESOURCES Policies Coastal Act Requirements The Coastal Act includes the following policies for protection of land and marine habitats: Section 30230. Marine resources shall be maintained, enhanced, and, where feasible, restored. Special protection shall be given to areas and species of special biological or economic significance. Uses of the marine environment shall be carried out in a manner that will sustain the biological productivity of coastal waters and that will maintain healthy populations of all species of marine organisms adequate for long-term commercial, recreational, scientific, and educational purposes. Section 30231. The biological productivity and the quality of coastal waters, streams, wetlands, estuaries, and lakes appropriate to maintain optimum populations of marine organisms and for the protection of human health shall be maintained and, where feasible, restored through, among other means, minimizing adverse effects of waste water discharges and entrainment, controlling runoff, preventing depletion of ground water supplies and substantial interference with surface water flow, encouraging waste water reclamation, maintaining natural vegetation buffer areas that protect riparian habitats, and minimizing alteration of natural streams. Section 30233. (a) The diking, filling, or dredging of open coastal waters, wetlands, estuaries, and lakes shall be permitted in accordance with other applicable provisions of this division, where there is no feasible less environmentally damaging alternative, and where feasible mitigation measures have been provided to minimize adverse environmental effects, and shall be limited to the following: (1) New or expanded port, energy, and coastal-dependent industrial facilities, including commercial fishing facilities. (2) Maintaining existing, or restoring previously dredged, depths in existing navigational channels, turning basins, vessel berthing and mooring areas and boat launching ramps. (3) In wetland areas only, entrance channels for new or expanded boating facilities; and in a degraded wetland, identified by the Department of Fish and Game pursuant to subdivision (b) of -MENDOCINO COUNTY COASTAL ELEMENT - Section 30411, for boating facilities if, in conjunction with such boating facilities, a substantial portion of the degraded wetland is restored and maintained as a biologically productive wetland; provided, however, that in no event shall the size of the wetland area used for such boating facility, including berthing space, turning basins, necessary navigation channels, and any necessary support service facilities, be greater than 25 percent of the total wetland area to be restored. (4) In open coastal waters, other than wetlands, including streams, estuaries, and lakes, new or expanded boating facilities. (5) Incidental public service purposes, including, but not limited to, burying cables and pipes or inspection of piers and maintenance of existing intake and outfall lines. (6) Mineral extraction, including sand for restoring beaches, except in environmentally sensitive areas. (7) Restoration purposes. (8) Nature study, aquaculture, or similar resource-dependent activities. (b) Dredging and spoils disposal shall be planned and carried out to avoid significant disruption to marine and wildlife habitats and water circulation. Dredge spoils suitable for beach replenishment should be transported for such purposes to appropriate beaches or into suitable longshore current systems. (c) In addition to the other provisions of this section, diking, filling, or dredging in existing estuaries and wetlands shall maintain or enhance the functional capacity of the wetland or estuary. Any alteration of coastal wetlands identified by the Department of Fish and Game, including, but not limited to, the 19 coastal wetlands identified in its report entitled, "Acquisition Priorities for the Coastal Wetlands of California," shall be limited to very minor incidental public facilities, restorative measures, (and) nature study... (d) Erosion control and flood control facilities constructed on watercourses can impede the movement of sediment and nutrients which would otherwise be carried by storm runoff into coastal waters. To facilitate the continued delivery of these sediments to the littoral zone, whenever feasible, the material removed from these facilities may be placed at appropriate points on the shoreline in accordance with other applicable provisions of this division, where feasible mitigation measures have been provided to minimize adverse environmental effects. Aspects that shall be considered before issuing a coastal development permit for such purposes are the method of placement, time of year of placement, and sensitivity of the placement area. -MENDOCINO COUNTY COASTAL ELEMENT - Section 30236. Channelizations, dams, or other substantial alterations of rivers and streams shall incorporate the best mitigation measures feasible, and be limited to (1) necessary water supply projects, (2) flood control projects where no other method for protecting existing structures in the flood plain is feasible and where such protection is necessary for public safety or to protect existing development, or (3) developments where the primary function is the improvement of fish and wildlife habitat. Section 30240. (a) Environmentally sensitive habitat areas shall be protected against any significant disruption of habitat values, and only uses dependent on such resources shall be allowed within such areas. (b) Development in areas adjacent to environmentally sensitive habitat areas and parks and recreation areas shall be sited and designed to prevent impacts which would significantly degrade such areas, and shall be compatible with the continuance of such habitat areas. Section 30607.1. Where any dike and fill development is permitted in wetlands in conformity with this division, mitigation measures shall include, at a minimum either acquisition of equivalent areas of equal or greater biological productivity or opening up equivalent areas to tidal actions; provided, however, that if no appropriate restoration site is available, an in-lieu fee sufficient to provide an area of equivalent productive value or surface areas shall be dedicated to an appropriate public agency, or such replacement site shall be purchased before the dike or fill development may proceed. Such mitigation measures shall not be required for temporary or short-term fill or diking; provided, that a bond or other evidence of financial responsibility is provided to assure that restoration will be accomplished in the shortest feasible time. In addition, the Coastal Commission has issued Statewide Interpretive Guidelines for Wetlands and Other Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Areas (February 4, 1981). These guidelines are intended to promote consistent, statewide interpretation of Coastal Act policies. The Land Use Plan uses them in a discretionary manner consistent with local conditions in Mendocino County as the foundation of its policies for natural habitats and marine resources. Definitions Anadromous Fish Stream. Fresh water stream used as migration corridor or spawning or nursery habitat by fish, such as salmon and steelhead trout, that live most of their adult lives in saltwater. Coastal Marine Ecosystem. That area and its environs containing a delicately balanced environmental system which provides a suitable habitat for local indigenous and migrating species, including all life forms in the tidal zones seaward. The Coastal Marine Ecosystem also is -MENDOCINO COUNTY COASTAL ELEMENT - recognized to contain and provide valuable food resources, economic opportunities, and aesthetic value to shore-side establishments, residents and the public in general. Development. Section 30106, Coastal Act. "On land, in or under water, the placement or erection of any solid material or structure; discharge or disposal of any dredged material or of any gaseous, liquid, solid, or thermal waste; grading, removing, dredging, mining, or extraction of any materials; change in the density or intensity of use of land, including, but not limited to subdivision pursuant to the Subdivision Map Act (commencing with Section 66410 of the Government Code), and any other division of land, including lot splits, except where the land division is brought about in connection with the purchase of such land by a public agency for public recreational use; change in the intensity of use of water, or of access thereto; construction, reconstruction, demolition, or alteration of the size of any structure, including any facility of any private, public, or municipal utility; and the removal or harvesting of major vegetation other than for agricultural purposes, kelp harvesting, and timber operations which are in accordance with a timber harvesting plan submitted pursuant to the provisions of the Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973 (commencing with Section 4511). As used in this section, "structure" includes, but is not limited to, any building, road, pipe, flume, conduit, siphon, aqueduct, telephone line, and electrical power transmission and distribution line." Dunes. Sand formed in hills or ridges by the wind and sometimes stabilized by vegetation. Dunes are distinct ecosystems made up of various community types, ranging from open unvegetated sand hills to stabilized dune forests, that frequently contain rare, endangered,