Del Mar Says No To Rising Ocean Levels – Laguna May Underground Lines
Written by 991KBU on May 24, 2018
In news from down the coast …
the city council in Del Mar has just said “no” to planned retreat.
The concept of moving structures away from the in the ocean was rejected … stripped out of a plan on how to deal with rising sea levels.
This sets up a possible battle with the California Coastal Commission … which has urged Del Mar to “more clearly acknowledge the potential need for planned retreat, and to direct the city to study the issue and begin planning for this potential need.”
The Coastal Commission told Del Mar it could see a rise in ocean levels by 5 feet in the coming decades.
And they wanted Del Mar to start planning for this.
Residents of a low-lying area … the Del Mar Beach Colony … oppose even mentioning planned retreat … as it will hurt property values.
The city council said the high property values in Del Mar make it impractical for the city to acquire private property, there is little available land where residents could be relocated, and that the existing seawalls protect lower-lying public and private property from ocean flooding.
So the question: as goes Del Mar, so goes Malibu?
Stay tuned.
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And in news from not so far down the coast … Laguna Beach voters will soon decide on a tax to pay to put power lines outside town … underground.
The city council this week approved a ballot issue that would add one penny in sales tax to every dollar purchase.
The money would be earmarked to pay for undergrounding power lines outside the city limits … in Laguna Canyon Road … Pacific Coast Highway and other key evacuation routes.
The total sales tax would go to 8.75 percent … according to the Orange County Register.
Laguna Beach wants to come up with 135 million dollars to bury power lines on its evacuation routes …
Those power lines are also a frequent source of brushfires that burn into Laguna Beach.
Sales taxes would pay for part of the project … and most of the tax burden would fall on tourists.
A survey shows that two-thirds of Laguna Beach residents support a one cent sales tax that would contribute a small part of the power line undergrounding effort.
But the Orange County Register reports many people in Laguna Beach are opposed.
Some who have already paid to bury power lines in their neighborhoods questioned having to pay again.
Others wondered what impacts new technology could bring in the next 30 years that would make burying the power lines unnecessary.
