Implementing Better Coastal Planning

Implementing Better Coastal Planning

The various techniques that can help achieve better coastal land use planning must be incorporated into each community’s land use planning documents. Some of the most significant planning documents will include the comprehensive plan, zoning and subdivision ordinances, watershed management plans, and natural hazard mitigation plans.

Comprehensive Plans

The Comprehensive Plan should establish land use designations based on knowledge of land development suitability and potential impacts to sensitive aquatic living resources. Emphasis should be placed on future land use and development policies since the greatest potential to protect water quality is in the undeveloped large tracts of land that can benefit most from advanced planning. Comprehensive plans can designate areas for special consideration and set policy on jurisdiction-wide or watershed-wide issues that have the potential for broader impacts, such as stormwater management, wastewater management or boating access. Local comprehensive plans could include the following to protect coastal environments:

v Develop policy to protect high risk sensitive resource locations.

1. Create Preservation Areas for especially sensitive resource locations.

§ Purchase of land for greenways trails, parks or conservation areas

§ Purchase or transfer of development rights from current land owners

§ Purchase of Conservation Easements

2. Designate Overlay Districts that require development requirements beyond the current regulatory standards to protect the sensitivity of the shoreland and natural resources.

v Develop policies to limit private and public access points using risk-based analyses of affected embayments.

v Develop policies to establish appropriate embayment-wide shoreline management methods for each embayment based on the particular conditions found there prior to development pressure.

v Develop and adopt a comprehensive wastewater management program with site-specific wastewater treatment standards based on a combination of site suitability and location in a variety of sensitive resource protection areas.

o Implement with inspection and enforcement procedures.

v Address all of the coastal elements included in the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Designation and Management Regulations, including:

o Physical constraints to development (e.g., soil suitability for septic systems);

o Protection of potable water, including groundwater resources;

o Land use impacts on fisheries and other aquatic resources;

o Siting of docks and piers;

o Water quality impact of public and private access to waterfront areas;

o Mitigation of water quality impacts due to pollution from land uses;

o Shoreline and streambank erosion problems;

o Potential water quality improvement through redevelopment.

Zoning and Subdivision Ordinances

Traditional zoning tools can be used to limit development in vulnerable coastal environments. Local governments can set minimum standards, but allow flexibility through performance standards that may allow alternative development techniques that still meet the performance goal. An example would be changing a requirement of one-acre lot size minimums to a requirement of no more that one home per acre. Such a standard could allow for smaller lots while leaving a substantial amount of open space and hopefully reducing impervious surfaces as well. Improved design standards could also be incorporated into subdivision ordinances allowing more flexibility in design to those who wish to develop in more sensitive areas but are willing to incorporate conservation performance standards into their subdivision. Local zoning and subdivision ordinances could include the following to protect coastal environments:

v Revise Environmental and Stormwater Management standards to encourage the use of Low Impact Development where the physiography is suited to such methods.

v Allow flexibility in subdivision development standards for implementing the principles of Better Site Design.

v Establish special zoning districts adjacent to high and moderate risk coastal aras.

1. Create Districts that require stricter development standards for riskier coastal areas, such as:

¨ Require alternative nitrogen reducing on-site wastewater treatment systems.

¨ Limit the number of access sites in an embayment.

¨ Minimize land disturbance and grading.

¨ Limit location/amount of shoreline hardening.

¨ Require regional marinas.

2. Require Planned Unit Developments to negotiate stricter development standards for higher risk coastal areas.

v Limit the impervious surface allowed per site, or per developed subdivision.

v Develop a Landscape Ordinance that limits clearing to the house site and requires a percent canopy coverage per lot.

v Encourage Conservation Subdivisions in higher risk coastal areas.

v Where feasible, develop lot size limits to minimize impacts to high and moderate risk coastal areas.

Watershed Management Plans

Watershed management plans identify the specific actions necessary to restore habitat and water quality, identify lands for conservation and development, reduce nonpoint source pollution, and prioritize pollution reduction actions. Watershed management planning establishes partnerships between local and state governments, community organizations with the common goal of protecting the watershed. This coordination helps encourage a more holistic approach to implementing or modifying many existing programs like the comprehensive plan and zoning and subdivision ordinances. Coordinating community efforts to create a watershed-focused plan can help communities meet their watershed goals more quickly and efficiently.

Natural Hazard Mitigation Plans

Natural hazard mitigation planning helps state and local governments identify the potential impacts of likely natural hazards and necessary actions and activities to reduce the potential losses from those hazards. Developing a hazard mitigation plan helps communities recognize that human and economic losses due to natural hazards stem not from unexpected events, but from the predictable outcomes of interactions between (1) the physical environment, (2) the social and demographic characteristics of coastal communities, and (3) the built environment. Luckily for coastal communities, many of the coastal features that are critical to water quality protection and plant and animal habitat (e.g., tidal wetlands, dunes, riparian forest, etc.) can also mitigate the impacts of many coastal natural hazards like hurricanes, storm surges, and flooding.

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