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Local Coastal Program

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Local Coastal Program and the Coastal Zone

The California Coastal Act of 1976 requires all local governments located within the designated Coastal Zone to prepare a Local Coastal Program (LCP). The City's Coastal Zone generally extends inland half a mile from the ocean and includes about six miles of the City’s shoreline and much of the Airport. Approximately 70% of the City’s Coastal Zone is held in public ownership, including numerous beaches and parks, an extensive public waterfront, and a full working harbor.  Development in the Coastal Zone is reviewed for compliance with the City’s LCP and the Coastal Act.

The City’s Local Coastal Program (LCP) has two parts:

  • A Coastal Land Use Plan (LUP), which includes the kind, location, density and intensity of land uses within the Coastal Zone and coastal access and coastal resource protection policies and development standards; and
  • An Implementation Plan (IP), which includes development standards and other ordinances relating to coastal access and coastal resource protection, and maps that delineate zoning districts within the Coastal Zone.  Most of the IP is contained within the Title 28 Zoning Ordinance. 

City of Santa Barbara LUP

In August, 2019, the California Coastal Commission (CCC) certified the City's updated Coastal LUP. The 2019 Coastal LUP documents the criteria and interpretations for the review and approval of Coastal Development Permits, clarifies development standards for traditionally complicated topics such as development near coastal bluffs and creeks, and addresses emerging issues for the City.

Santa Barbara Airport LUP

The Santa Barbara Airport is regulated by a separate segment of the LCP that includes a Airport and Goleta Slough Coastal Plan certified in 1982 and amended in 2003 and the Airport Zoning Ordinance (Title 29).