Saturday, October 8, 2011

San Francisco Bay conservation board approves sea level development plan

J.K. Dineen in the San Francisco Business Times: The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission has unanimously adopted new land-use guidelines for development projects in low-lying areas, making the Bay Area the first region in California to lay out a plan for sea level rise.

In a 24-0 vote the BCDC amended its guiding Bay Plan document with new language on climate change in the Bay Area. The new plan requires public agencies or private developers to do a cost-benefit analysis of building in low-lying areas and to submit a plan to cope with sea level rise and other climate change eventualities. While the BCDC has jurisdiction over permitting of development projects within 100 feet of the Bay shoreline, the new Bay Plan amendment guidelines are meant to influence decision-making affecting a much larger area—180,000 acres potentially vulnerable to predicted sea level rise by mid-century.

The final plan came after two years of contentious debate between environmentalist groups fighting to protect wetlands by restricting development in low-lying areas and builders who fought against overly restrictive guidelines that they said would kill much of the region’s transit oriented, infill development. In the end the a plan was reached that was supported by developers, trades unions and environmentalists...

Belvedere around the San Francisco Yacht Club, shot by Mbz1, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

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