Board of Supervisors supports Parks recommended changes to beach access and Park fees

Jun 11, 2021 | Coastal Access / Public Right-Of-Way, Santa Cruz County: Coastal Access / Public Right-Of-Way

The board unanimously approved ordinance amendments related to parkland dedication, or in lieu, fees, park impact fees and trail and coastal access dedication. The fees, lower than that of neighboring jurisdictions, have failed to meet the rising cost of acquiring parkland and construction for more than 20 years. The fees are used to develop new or existing parkland facilities to accommodate the county’s growth, Gaffney explained in his report. Because the fees have not been increasing with the costs, the county’s Capital Improvement Program in this fiscal year identified more than $94 million in unfunded projects that could aid mitigation of increased population and, therefore, increased park demand. In terms of trail and coastal access dedications, the word “beach” will now be changed to “coastal access” throughout and the minimum public shoreline access easement width is increased from 5 feet to 10 feet. It appears that easements for current beach access paths for Public Parks will be widened from 5 to 10 feet, to access costal beaches. This would impact beaches such as Twin Lakes, Blacks Beach, and Moran Lake.