Real Estate Round-Up: The attack on home ownership – continued.

A few weeks ago I wrote an article about the California Energy Commission (CEC) requiring all new residential structures to have solar panels installed as of January 1, 2020. I called it an “attack on home ownership.” There is another attack that affects our coastal communities, and we need to be aware of it and care about it, even though we are 12 miles from the coast.

The California Coastal Commission (CCC) recently wrote a 95-page document called the Residential Adaptation Policy Guidance (RAPG). It’s a series of policies dealing with our rising sea level and ordinances that will affect homes on the coast. This guideline has been nicknamed ‘managed retreat.’

The CCC requires cities to implement this within a city’s guidelines so the city can retain control over coastal areas with regard to development of things like seawalls and shopping centers. What’s being hotly debated right now is the mandatory requirement of this guideline which could eventually lead to the removal of certain coastal homes, roads, public buildings and other structures that are being encroached upon from rising sea levels.

In some cases, it could involve the government buying the properties (or assisting in the sales of properties) and helping the residents find new places to live. In other cases, it could involve the government taking the properties or restricting the property’s use, like banning homeowners from remodeling a kitchen or adding a bedroom.

Carlsbad, Imperial Beach and Del Mar have already adopted their managed retreat plans, and Oceanside and Solana Beach are working on theirs, as they all have “vulnerability zones.” The idea is especially controversial in Del Mar, where hundreds of multi-million dollar homes are near sea level on the northern end of town near the beach and the San Dieguito River.

Del Mar residents and city officials say they intend to cope with sea-level rise using a combination of beach replenishment, sand retention and flood management projects. However, if Del Mar were to have voted to not include managed retreat guidelines, the city would not have been able to implement any of these coping mechanisms, since the state would have control.

There are serious concerns with aspects of the RAPG that would prematurely and unnecessarily devalue, restrict and condemn properties on the coast. The document was created without sufficient public input; it enables premature taking of private property and it only addresses residential structures in a world where residential, commercial and public works are inseparable.

We seem to be living in a time where government agencies are given authority over private property in a vacuum. First, we have solar panel requirements and now we have restrictions on coastal properties, both decided by commissions that are appointed and have no responsibility to you or me, but only to their single objective. Have we lost our voice? Look out – you never know what could be coming to Fallbrook. Stay informed my friends.

Kim Murphy can be reached at [email protected] or (760) 415-9292 or at 130 N Main Avenue, in Fallbrook. Her broker license is #01229921, and she is on the board of directors for the California Association of Realtors.