Special Area Management Planning in Coastal Areas: The Process

Charles K. Walters

Special area management plans developed in Grays Harbor, Washington, and other coastal areas show great promise in reducing conflicts of development versus preservation. In most of these planning efforts, task forces composed of relevant local, state, and federal coastal interest groups or regulators work together to resolve use conflicts for a special area, preparing a plan to guide future regulatory decisions. The goal of this process is to improve the predictability of regulatory decisions and to trade off development in one part of the area in exchange for long-term preservation of the remaining portion. Certain principles, such as consensus decision making and balanced task force representation, are crucial to the success of the technique. Other elements of the process, such as implementation methods, will vary depending on individual circumstances.

Competition for use of coastal shorelands and aquatic areas, particularly those adjacent to port areas, continues to increase. Regulatory authorities have developed over the past decade to balance the need for new coastal development against other values such as critical habitat for important fish and wildlife. These regulations have also attempted to ensure that new development, if allowed, does not significantly degrade aquatic systems. Unfortunately, most local, state, and federal shoreline and water development permit procedures designed to guide development have traditionally functioned on a case-by-case basis, with little ability or authority to assess and control accumulative impacts of projects over time and along a shoreline. The need for a more comprehensive approach to coastal environmental regulation has therefore become evident.

The Coastal Zone Management Act provides states the potential to develop longer-range plans for shorelines and aquatic areas, but most state plans are general and policy-oriented rather than geographically specific and they have little project-siting capability. Some coastal management efforts have attempted, however, to integrate land- and water-use planning efforts with review procedures, such as those required under NEPA (National Environmental Planning Act). One such effort, the Grays Harbor Estuary Management Plan, has attempted to integrate all such procedures into a detailed, site-specific, long-range agreement between local, state, and federal bodies. Although the agreement process has encountered some difficulties due to changing federal policies (such as federal wetland protection guidelines), the effort has precipitated positive changes in national legislation for future planning efforts.

Specifically, the Grays Harbor planning effort was instrumental in a 1980 amendment to the Coastal Zone Management Act to encourage Special Area Management Planning (SAMP) efforts, even though no guidance has ever been developed by the agency implementing the Act—the Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management. The Grays Harbor SAMP process also influenced changes in the Clean Water Act (section 404, 1982 version), which enabled stratified permit decisions to occur in the plan process and for advanced identification of dredged material disposal sites as well as de-designating sites for dredged material disposal. Other SAMP efforts at Yaquina Bay, Oregon, Lower Willamette River, Oregon, Coos Bay, Oregon, and Kenai, Alaska, discussed briefly in this chapter, have also provided valuable lessons for future SAMP efforts in coastal and estuarine areas.

The geographical areas included in the following discussion are marine, estuarine, and freshwater aquatic areas as well as adjacent shorelines. By compressing all anticipated conflicts into the present, the mediated, consensus SAMP process should provide the predictability needed by development interests for investment purposes and by conservation interests for long-term protection of important ecological areas. The SAMP process requires an open, give-and-take atmosphere, however. In areas of historical conflict between development and conservation interests, it is difficult to initiate and complete such a process. All the ingredients must be there: the right people, the right process, commitment by all represented groups, funding, and a "superhuman" facilitator/consultant, SAMP is not a method that should be attempted everywhere, but it does offer a solution where large-scale conflicts exist between development needs and long-range natural resource productivity, SAMP should be considered where the time and effort can be prorated in the future to provide predictability not otherwise available.

Initiating the SAMP process

Prior to embarking on an estuary planning effort, careful analysis needs to occur on the need for such an exhaustive planning effort, SAMP is not a simple cure-all process. Quite the opposite: SAMP is costly, time-consuming, and stressful as well as politically dangerous for participants. Some analysts have likened SAMP to a high-stakes poker game. If the desire is sufficient, however, the effort can be worth it for all involved. Long-term predictability for all interests is the key benefit.

As part of the original "needs" test to determine if a SAMP is the best solution, a series of important issues or problems usually arise. In the Grays Harbor case, for example, an application to build a site to manufacture offshore drilling equipment generated substantial controversy and eventually provided the impetus for the formation of the Grays Harbor Estuary Management Task Force. Agencies or groups that are expected to be important in decisions on these catalyzing issues should be members of the planning task force. Otherwise, key groups that are not represented on the decision-making body may not accept the SAMP agreements and may litigate or hinder plan progress. One mistake identified by some in the Grays Harbor plan was to exclude a conservation representative from the task force. Continued adverse publicity to the Grays Harbor plan has occurred, largely due to the choice in task force composition.

The public plays an important role in planning processes in coastal areas. Several techniques can be used to secure their participation. One technique is to choose at-large members for the task force representing a balance of public opinion. Another is to have conservation and development groups select a representative. Still another is to utilize balanced representation from existing state Coastal Zone Management (CZM) Citizen Advisory Groups. Whatever technique is chosen depends on the local situation. It is...