Update Marin County's LCP for Sea Level Rise and Coastal Hazards

Marin County has withdrawn and delayed updating the hazards policies in their Local Coastal Program (LCP) three times since 2014.

Marin County launched a Coastal Communities Working Group (CCWG) in early 2020 composed of EAC Marin, Surfrider and others.  This builds on the County’s C-SMART (Collaboration: Sea-level Marin Adaptation Response Team) process that identified vulnerabilities and potential solutions to the County’s coastal climate challenges. 

On August 12th 2021, the Marin County Board of Supervisors voted to finalize their LCP update and retain policies from the 1980s to inform land-use and development for environmental hazards. The Surfrider Marin Chapter raised concerns that Marin County’s multiple delays in updating environmental hazard, including provisions to adapt to sea level rise and wildfire, will set a negative precedent in the state for other jurisdictions to ignore planning for the impacts of the climate crisis.

Further delays to certifying updated hazards policies will be costly to the coast. We have much to lose here in Marin County, from our beloved surf break at Stinson Beach and Dillon Beach, to numerous world-class coastal access and trail opportunities.

We continue to urge the County to act swiftly to update the environmental hazards sections and submit a hazards draft to the Coastal Commission for review as soon as possible.