SDMC §126.0712 requires Coastal Development Permits for most construction in the city's Coastal Zone. La Jolla, Pacific Beach, Mission Beach, Ocean Beach, Point Loma, and Sunset Cliffs are covered, with Coastal Commission appeal rights.
Under the California Coastal Act, San Diego administers a certified Local Coastal Program over its Coastal Zone, requiring a Coastal Development Permit for new structures, additions over a defined floor-area threshold, demolitions, grading, paving, fencing in some zones, and changes in use. SDMC §126.0712 establishes process and findings, including conformance to the LCP, public-access protection, scenic resource protection, and hazard avoidance. Areas of deferred certification, the Coastal Commission's original-jurisdiction zones, and projects between the first public road and the sea are appealable directly to the California Coastal Commission. Major neighborhoods include La Jolla, Pacific Beach, Mission Beach, Ocean Beach, Point Loma, Sunset Cliffs, and parts of Bird Rock and Mission Bay Park.
Construction without a CDP triggers stop-work orders, daily fines up to fifteen thousand dollars under Public Resources Code §30820, mandatory restoration, and injunctive actions by the city or California Coastal Commission. Unpermitted work clouds title and complicates future sales.
San Diego, CA
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San Diego, CA
San Diego's Coastal Overlay Zone under SDMC §132.0401 et seq. applies to all property within mapped coastal boundaries. A Coastal Development Permit (CDP) ma...
See how San Diego's coastal zone permits rules stack up against other locations.
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