1 Cervantes, Stefanie
From:
Sent: Thursday, May 16, 2024 10:03 AM
To: _City Council; Public Comment; Coffey, Sarah; Pacifica Permit Tech; City Manager; CoastalPlan
Cc: Vaterlaus, Sue; Bigstyck, Tygarjas; Beckmeyer, Sue; Bier, Mary; Boles, Christine; Murdock, Christian; 'Phil Ginsburg'; 'Potter, Spencer (REC)'; Cervantes, Stefanie; Woodhouse, Kevin Subject: Pacifica City Council Meeting May 23, 2024, Local Coastal LUP Study Session #5 / SF Pub. Golf Alliance Comment Letter re Environmental Justice Policy Attachments: Ltr.SFPGA.to Pac.Ci.Cil.re.Pacifica.LCLUP.5.14.24.pdf [CAUTION: External Email]
Pacifica City Council Mtg May 23, 2024, LCLUP Study #5 / SF Pub. Golf Alliance Comment Letter re Environmental Justice Policy
Pacifica City Clerk Sarah Coffey – Please acknowledge receipt, include in Council’s Correspondence file in the Study Session #5 file, include in Council’s Agenda Packet, and forward to City Council, Planning Commissioners, Planning Department, and Staff
Mayor Sue Vaterlaus, Pacifica City Council and Pacifica Planning Department Dear Mayor Vaterlaus, Councilmembers, and Planning Department Staff Enclosed please find SF Public Golf Alliance’s comment letter, dated May 14, for Council’s May 23 Local Coastal LUP Study Session #5.
Please include in the public record and in Councilmembers’ and Staff’s meeting packets.
Thank you for your public service. And we look forward to seeing you again.
Very Best Regards
Richard Harris
San Francisco Public Golf Alliance
826 Stanyan Street
San Francisco, CA 94117-2726
Phone: (415) 290-5718
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the City of Pacifica. Unless you recognize the sender's email address and know the content is safe, do not click links, open attachments or reply. 1 826 Stanyan St., San Francisco, CA 94117 • 415-290-5718 • [email protected] May 14, 2024
Pacifica City Council
540 Crespi Dr.
Pacifica, CA. 94044
Pacifica City Council Meeting / May 23, 2024 / Draft Local Coastal LUP Study Session #5 LCLUP Should Incorporate Relevant Language from the CCC Environmental Justice Policy Dear Mayor Vaterlaus and Council Members,
This is to supplement our letters to Council of April 201 and April 22, 20242 calling for revision of the environmental justice language in Pacifica’s April 2024 Draft Local Coastal LUP. By Exhibit A to this letter, we submit for Council’s consideration a proposed revision. . At Council’s April 15, 2024 LCLUP Study Session No. 4, Councilmembers Bigstyck, Boles, and Beckmeyer voiced opinion that the Environmental Justice Policy in Pacifica’s April 2024 Draft Local Coastal Plan is too narrowly drawn. Both Councilmembers Beckmeyer and Boles suggested that the LCLUP’s environmental justice language be revised to a “broader scope,” as is found in the Coastal Commission’s Environmental Justice Policy.3 1 Letter, SF Public Golf Alliance to Pacifica City Council, re April 2024 Draft LCLUP.4.20.24 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1 -03aFI4RPoKI7ZuyrWztWv23 CxqR1G/view?usp=drive link 2 Letter, SF Public Golf Alliance to Pacifica City Council, re April 2024 Draft LCLUP.4.22.24 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EC4mW3TSgoo3QKPGUIEZQkRl15gUG36w/view?usp=sharing 3 Pacifica City Council, Minutes of April 15, 2024 Meeting, at P. 9, ln. 2 to P. 10, ln. 7, found at Attachment B to Council’s May 13, 2024 Agenda, Pkt. Pgs. 49-50 (Minutes approved at Council’s May 13, 2024 Meeting): https://pacificacityca.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1531&Inline=True 2 The Coastal Commission’s Environmental Justice Policy, adopted March 8, 2019, (https://documents.coastal.ca.gov/assets/env-justice/CCC EJ Policy FINAL.pdf ) includes a 2- page “Introduction” (Pp.2-3 ), a 1-page “Environmental Justice Policy” (P.4) which in turn incorporates a 9-page “Statement of Environmental Justice Principles” (Pp.4-12) with 9 subparts titled “Respecting Tribal Concerns,” “Meaningful Engagement,” “Coastal Access,” “Housing,” “Local Government,: “Participation in the Process,” “Accountability and Transparency,” Climate Change,” and “Habitat and Public Health”; a 5-page “implementation” section (PP.13-17), and a 3-page Glossary (Pp.18-20).
The Introduction (at P.3) describes the dual substantive and procedural aspects of environmental justice and the Coastal Commission’s mission of protecting and preserving coastal resources for all people. . .” The Environmental Justice Policy (at P.4) provides:
“ . . . the Commission as an agency is committed to protecting coastal natural resources and providing public access and lower-cost recreation opportunities for everyone. The agency is committed to ensuring that those opportunities not be denied on the basis of background, culture, race, color, religion, national origin, income, ethnic group, age, disability status, sexual orientation, or gender identity. . . . Coastal development should be inclusive for all who work, live, and recreate on California’s coast and provide equitable benefits for communities that have historically been excluded, marginalized, or harmed by coastal development. . . The Commission is committed to compliance and enforcement of Government Code Section 11135,
4 as well as consideration of environmental justice
principles as defined in Government Code Section 65040.12, 5 consistent with Coastal Act
policies, during the planning, decision-making, and implementation of Commission actions, programs, policies, and activities.”
4 Government Code Article 9.5. Discrimination . . . Section 11135(a) No person in the State of California shall, on the basis of sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, ethnic group identification, age, mental disability, physical disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, or sexual orientation, be unlawfully denied full and equal access to the benefits of, or be unlawfully subjected to discrimination under, any program or activity that is conducted, operated, or administered by the state or by any state agency, is funded directly by the state, or receives any financial assistance from the state. Notwithstanding Section 11000, this section applies to the California State University.https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=GOV§ionNum=11135. 5 Government Code Section 65040.12 . . . (e) (1) For purposes of this section, “environmental justice” means the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of people of all races, cultures, incomes, and national origins, with respect to the development, adoption, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. (2) “Environmental justice” includes, but is not limited to, all of the following:
(A) The availability of a healthy environment for all people. (B) The deterrence, reduction, and elimination of pollution burdens for populations and communities experiencing the adverse effects of that pollution, so that the effects of the pollution are not disproportionately borne by those populations and communities.
(C) Governmental entities engaging and providing technical assistance to populations and communities most impacted by pollution to promote their meaningful participation in all phases of the environmental and land use decisionmaking process.
(D) At a minimum, the meaningful consideration of recommendations from populations and communities most impacted by pollution into environmental and land use decisions. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=65040.12.&lawCode=GOV 3 Proposed Revised Definition of “Environmental Justice” The April Draft LCLUP Glossary’s definition of “Environmental Justice” is too narrow. As discussed in detail at pages 2-3 of our April 20, 2024 letter to Council, the April 2024 Draft LCLUP’s definition is constricted to “policies that affect housing and the environment” -- much narrower than the Coastal Commission’s Environmental Justice Policy, which explicitly includes a far broader range of coastal resources, including equitable coastal access, lower-cost recreational facilities, existing affordable housing, and protection of coastal resources, including “sensitive habitats, watersheds, water quality, marine biodiversity, and biological productivity.6 For Council’s consideration we submit a proposed revision -- Exhibit A hereto -- which we have annotated to quoted language from the Environmental Justice Policy, Coastal Access, Housing, Climate Change, Habitat and Public Health, and Glossary sections of the Coastal Commission’s Policy.
Exhibit “A” is a revised version of Exhibit 1 to our April 8, 2024 letter.
Proposed Modification of Pacifica April 2024 Draft LCLUP Environmental Justice Guiding Policy PR-G-28
To go with a revised definition of Environmental Justice, a slight modification is in order for the April 2024 Draft LCLUP Guiding Policy PR-G-287, as follows (with the two added words “policies, practices” shown in underline and bold).
Guiding Policies
PR-G-28 Environmental Justice. Strive to implement policies, practices, processes and procedures that promote environmental justice in support of the Coastal Commission’s environmental justice policy.
The effect of the two added words “policies, practices” would be an explicit recognition of Environmental Justice as a substantive policy -- not merely procedural -- of the LCLUP.8 This would accord with the Coastal Commission’s Environmental Justice Policy, which states:
6 Letter, SF Public Golf Alliance to Pacifica City Council, re April 2024 Draft LCLUP.4.20.24, at pp. 2-3 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1 -03aFI4RPoKI7ZuyrWztWv23 CxqR1G/view?usp=drive link 7 City of Pacifica March 2024 Draft LCLUP, Chptr.3, Public Access and Recreation, P. 3-46 https://pacificacityca.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1527&Inline=True 8 Policy PR-G-28 is preceded in the LCLUP’s Public Access and Recreation Section, at P. 3-46, by the text of Subsection 3.9,”Environmental Justice,” which reads as follows:
In 2019, the Coastal Commission adopted its first environmental justice policy. [FN.8] The policy is designed to achieve more meaningful engagement, equitable process, effective communication, and stronger coastal protection benefits under the Coastal Act that are accessible to everyone. While the City of Pacifica has not adopted a formal environmental justice policy, the City recognizes the importance and benefit of inclusive and equitable practices and procedures that reduce impacts on disadvantaged communities.
The stricken language is text from page 3-44 of the original February 2022 Consultation Draft LCLUP adopted by the Council in February 2022 (https://cityofpacifica.egnyte.com/dl/EPskSdDwa4) – reflecting that at the time “Pacifica has not adopted a formal environmental justice policy”; accordingly the PR-G-28 “Environmental Justice” policy was at that time purely aspirational and procedural; it could not have then been substantive, because as the 2020 version of the text noted, “Pacifica [had] not adopted a formal environmental justice policy.” By contrast, the language of the April 2024 Draft LCLUP should be updated to reflect both procedural and substantive policy. 4 “The term “environmental justice” is currently understood to include both substantive and procedural rights, meaning that in addition to the equitable distribution of environmental benefits, underserved communities also deserve equitable access to the process where significant environmental and land use decisions are made.”9 Respectfully submitted,
Richard Harris
President, San Francisco Public Golf Alliance
cc: City Manager Kevin Woodhouse, Planning Director Christian Murdock, Deputy Planning Director Stefanie Cervantes, Planning Commission and Commissioners, City Clerk Sarah Coffey, Phil Ginsburg, Gen. Mgr., San Francisco Recreation and Parks Dept., Spencer Potter, Esq., San Francisco Recreation and Parks Dept.
Coastal Trail / beach disability access ramp at Sharp Park berm, completed by San Francisco in 2021 9 Coastal Commission’s Environmental Justice Policy, supra, Introduction, at P. 3 (https://documents.coastal.ca.gov/assets/env-justice/CCC EJ Policy FINAL.pdf 5 EXHIBIT A
Proposed Draft Pacifica LCLUP Definition of “Environmental Justice,” with annotation to the California Coastal Commission’s Environmental Justice Policy10 Environmental Justice means the fair treatment of people of all races, cultures, and incomes, with respect to the development, adoption, implementation, and enforcement of policies that affect coastal resources.11 Environmental Justice includes, among other things, protecting coastal natural resources and providing public access and lower-cost visitor and recreational opportunities and facilities for everyone – not to be denied on the basis of background, culture, race, color, religion, national origin, income, ethnic group, age, disability status, sexual orientation, or gender identity 12 Maximum access and recreational opportunities for all, and the protection, encouragement, and provision of lower-cost visitor and recreational opportunities, embody fundamental principles of Environmental Justice.13 Environmental Justice priorities include protection of existing affordable housing14 and protection of coastal resources, including sensitive habitats, watersheds, water quality, marine biodiversity, and biological productivity.15 The expense of sea level rise adaptation measures for coastal communities could heighten displacement of disadvantaged populations by increasing living expenses.16 10 California Coastal Commission, Environmental Justice Policy, Mar. 8, 2019 https://documents.coastal.ca.gov/assets/env-justice/CCC EJ Policy FINAL.pdf 11 California Coastal Commission, Environmental Justice Policy, Id., Glossary, at p. 19 (22/25) “Environmental Justice means the fair treatment of people of all races, cultures, and incomes, with respect to the development, adoption, implementation, and enforcement of policies that affect coastal resources.” 12 California Coastal Commission, Environmental Justice Policy, supra, “Environmental Justice Policy” at p. 4 (8/25) :
“The Commission as an agency is committed to protecting coastal natural resources and providing public access and lower-cost recreation opportunities for everyone. The agency is committed to ensuring that those opportunities not be denied on the basis of background, culture, race, color, religion, national origin, income, ethnic group, age, disability status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.”
13 California Coastal Commission, Environmental Justice Policy, supra, at p. 7 (11/25): “The Coastal Act’s mandates to provide maximum access and recreational opportunities for all, and to protect, encourage, and provide lower-cost visitor and recreational opportunities embody fundamental principles of environmental justice.” 14 California Coastal Commission, Environmental Justice Policy, supra, Housing, at p. 8 (12/25):
“. . . Commission retained the authority to encourage affordable housing. The Commission will increase these efforts with project applicants, appellants and local governments, . . . . by working with local government to adopt local coastal program policies that protect affordable housing. . . . The Commission will also support measures that protect existing affordable housing.”
15 California Coastal Commission, Environmental Justice Policy, supra. Habitat & Public Health, at p. 11 (15/25):
“Understanding that . . . there is no environmental justice without a healthy environment, the Commission will continue to prioritize the protection of coastal resources. This includes sensitive habitats, watersheds, water quality, marine biodiversity, and biological productivity.”
16 California Coastal Commission, Environmental Justice Policy, supra, Climate Change, at p. 11 (15/25) “Lower-income residents and those who live in rental units are also more likely to be displaced by flooding or related impacts as compared to property owners because they lack the funds and/or abilities to rebuild, have less control over their safety, and often have limited access to insurance. The expense of sea level rise adaptation measures for coastal communities could also heighten displacement of disadvantaged populations by increasing living expenses for sewer and water services.”