IMPORTANCE OF “OFFERS TO DEDICATE” IN CALIFORNIA’S COASTAL ACCESS

Abstract

Offers to Dedicate (OTDs) are required by the Coastal Commission as a condition of receiving a coastal development permit. These are only offers and the interest remains with the landowner until the OTDs are accepted by any government agency or a nonprofit agency. The purpose of the OTDs is to mitigate the impact of the proposed project on the public’s ability to access the coast. Since most of these easements were generated between 1980 and 1986 and court cases in 1987-89 challenged the relationship between the “exaction” and the development and have made it almost impossible for the Commission to require any more of these public access easements, the OTDs that the California Coastal Commission has now are very crucial. However, not all the OTDs have to be given the same priority in opening them to the public. This study creates a comprehensive GIS database whose need was identified in the Coastal Commission’s Public Access Action Plan. It also formulates a method of ranking the OTDs based on a scoring method that considers three criteria: date of expiration, proximity to an existing access point as well as topography of the location. These result in a feasibility score and subsequently a priority index that ranks the OTDs as highest, high, medium and low priority for opening as access for the public.