At Stake: The future of Horse Keeping in the Santa Monica Mountains

Hearing to approve Los Angeles County Local Coastal Plan  - Feb 11, 2014

Residents in the coastal zone, which includes areas in the 91301 and 91302 zip codes south of Mulholland, are preparing to fight for the right to keep their horses.

There is concern among these residents, along with environmentalists, that
developers, and others with financial incentives will petition the Board of Supervisors to amend the draft Coastal Plan to lighten development standards. Horse-keeping in the Santa Monicas is also up for debate. The hearing to to approve the draft is open to the public and is set for February 11, 2014.

The California Coastal Act mandates that all jurisdictions within the Coastal Zone adopt a local coastal program (LCP) which establishes the policies and implementation measures/development standards for protecting coastal resources. The County of Los Angeles in 1986 adopted the Malibu Land Use Plan for the Santa Monica Mountains Coastal Zone which has served as this area’s land use plan for the past two decades. However, an implementation program was never adopted.As such, the County prepared a draft LCP which it made available to the public on July 17, 2006 and which was ultimately approved by the Board of Supervisors on October 30, 2007. However, because the Board of Supervisors requested specific modifications at its October 30, 2007 hearing, the draftLCP has yet to receive final consent approval. Once this occurs, the LCP will be presented to the California Coastal Commission for its certification. Once certified, the LCP’s policies and development standards will govern development of land in the Coastal Zone region of unincorporated Los Angeles County properties in the Santa Monica Mountains. As presently crafted, the policies, resource delineations, and implementation measures of the proposed LCP will result in severe limitations on any future development of private property.
For a full text of the draft click here.