This report provides an easily used guide for planning staff and others in how to deal with grading effects from subdivision decisions to lot layout and building design. Attachments to this report provide details on the possible impacts from grading, a review of policy and regulatory approaches to minimize land form alteration and some of the technical options available as alternatives to conventional site grading.
Concern for land form alteration should begin the moment changes to a piece of land are contemplated, rather than just before the bulldozers are scheduled to arrive. And it should continue through the entire process of subdivision, site access, and lot development, rather than just the week before plans are submitted to the Coastal Commission. Concern for land form alteration is also more than quantifying total amounts of cut or fill, rather it encompasses concern for the long-range effects and consequences that land development activities can have on habitat, visual quality, streams, drainage and all the many characteristics which make a site distinctive and unique. Analysis of land form alteration cannot be confined only to steep mountainous terrain, although these areas often pose the greatest technical difficulties for development and the effects from their alteration are often magnified. Analysis of land form alteration should be applied everywhere -- on hillsides, in floodplains, on marine terraces, in sand dunes, in forests, on chaparral and grasslands.
The California Coastal Commission has attempted to approach constructively land form alteration issues for a number of years by working with applicants in the review of coastal development permits and working with local governments in developing Local Coastal Programs. In many situations this input has been of great value to the ongoing development process, producing projects which are more complementary to the landscape in which they are sited. Land form alteration was not a new issue when it was included in the Coastal Act. It was discussed eloquently in the late 1960's by Ian McHarg in Design with Nature, and routinely addressed in zoning regulations, grading ordinances and requirements for erosion and sediment control plans.
Recently, attention has been given to some of the development projects before the Commission which, for one reason or another, have undertaken massive amounts of grading to accomplish site development. These projects are usually the exceptions. Many development efforts throughout the coast have found ways to successfully accommodate access and structures without jeopardizing the site's stability, visual character, and ecological values.
Out of concern that these "exception" projects were becoming more common, and the realization that many of the "easy" sites have been developed and that continued growth will put greater pressure on lands with development constraints, the Commission has prepared this general land form alteration guidance document and the supporting attachments. These documents will introduce new planners to the issues surrounding land form alteration, help more experienced planners demonstrate to applicants and local governments why land form alteration is a concern, and provide everyone concerned with land development with some alternatives and options which may help refocus site development decisions to address all the concerns about the site. These documents CANNOT substitute for either common sense or technical expertise; and they DO NOT come with a guarantee that every site can be developed or that every possible land form alteration situation has been anticipated.
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Form Alteration Policy Guidance Title Page
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Section 2 CCC Authority with Regard to Land Form Alteration
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