April 14, 2015 | City of Carpinteria Council Chambers
More than 60 local practitioners gathered at the City of Carpinteria’s City Council Chamber on April 14, 2015 to discuss planning strategies for sea level rise and coastal impacts in the region. This workshop provided a venue to network and discuss best practices and challenges in planning. Information was provided on sea level rise models and tools, conducting vulnerability assessments, adaptive management planning, and legal challenges and opportunities. Regulatory and policy guidance was provided from the California Coastal Commission.
USC Sea Grant’s partnership with the California Coastal Conservancy, the City of Carpinteria, California Sea Grant, and the Counties of Santa Barbara and Ventura enabled a broad group of stakeholders to attend. Participants represented diverse levels and sectors of government, as well as NGO’s, consulting groups, and academia – all of whom are currently working to address coastal erosion, storm impacts and sea level rise in their communities.
In addition, participants discussed the multitude of groundbreaking and innovative projects underway in the Santa Barbara and Ventura region. Understanding how these efforts fit together and/or compliment each other was an emerging theme of the day. The audience heard about the US Geological Survey’s Coastal Storm Modeling System (CoSMoS), modeling developed by ESA and Revell Coastal to support the Coastal Resilience Projects in Ventura and Santa Barbara, as well as FEMA’s upcoming Open Pacific Coast Study to update Flood Insurance Rate Mapping for the Region.
Megan Herzog and Sean Hecht from the UCLA Law School Emmett Institute on Climate Change provided important legal perspectives around both the potential challenges in planning for sea level rise, as well as the opportunities afforded in existing law. There was significant interest in their upcoming study (funded by USC Sea Grant in 2015) to develop a model ordinance for California local governments to integrate adaptation into existing land use plans.
Workshop participants expressed a strong interest in continuing to share information and collaborate across Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties. This could include increasing communication across all cities and the two counties, sharing management plans and lessons learned to help support decision-making, and ensuring that the best available science is applied when planning for the impacts of climate change.
Presentations and Materials
- Workshop Agenda
- Welcome & Introductions Presentation, Phyllis Grifman, USC Sea Grant
- Coastal Storm Modeling System (CoSMoS), Li Erikson, USGS
- Coastal Resilience Ventura, The Nature Conservancy
- Coastal Resilience Santa Barbara, Dave Revell, Revell Coastal and Heather Allen, SB County
- Coastal Ecosystem Vulnerability Assessment (CEVA), Monique Myers, CA Sea Grant
- FIRM Mapping: Open Pacific Coast Study, Ed Curtis, FEMA
- Vulnerability Assessments: Process and Lessons from the Field, Juliette Hart, USC Sea Grant
- CA Coastal Commission and Introduction to Adaptation, Lesley Ewing, CCC
- Legal Issues & Opportunities for SLR, Sean Hecht & Megan Herzog, UCLA Law
- Adaptative Management, Alyssa Newton Mann, USC Sea Grant
Additional Resources
- Herzog and Hecht legal study “Combatting Sea Level Rise in Southern California”
- Articles by Sean Hecht on Insurance, Sea Level Rise and Climate Change
- Ballona Wetlands Land Trust v. City of Los Angeles
- Ocean Harbor House Homeowners Association v. California Coastal Commission
- Sierra Club v. City of Oxnard
