Marina City Council approves a draft Local Coastal Plan addressing sea level rise.

There are only so many ways to respond to rising seas: accommodate, protect, retreat or do nothing. These options fall on a scale, ranging from simply buying more time to longer-term solutions. They can include infrastructure changes, like elevating structures or building floating homes; or they can focus on redirecting or dissipating water, like constructing sea walls, levees or restoring wetlands.

The most aggressive approach is managed retreat: moving structures and people away from the coast to give the sea space to rise, allowing the environment to adapt and restore itself.

On Wednesday, Jan. 22, Marina City Council voted to take a significant step toward enacting a more progressive option to coastal management planning to address rising seas in approving a draft of coastal hazards policies for the Local Coastal Land Use and Implementation Plan. These documents, which will go to the California Coastal Commission for certification this spring, detail a plan to respond to sea level rise using managed retreat as well as soft armoring methods that include nature-based approaches to addressing erosion.

“This is not an evacuation. I’m not saying everybody move right now,” said David Revell, a coastal geomorphologist who advises cities on sea level rise. “But we’re going to monitor and observe where erosion is happening and when certain things need to be relocated before they end up as a big mess on the beach.”

Most of Marina’s coastline remains in its natural state and has been protected against “armoring,” or building structures like sea walls or bulkheads. While these methods can stabilize shorelines, they can create other problems by disrupting the natural movement of sediment.

Four main stakeholders are involved in this plan. There are three public entities – California State Parks, Marina Coast Water District and Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District – and one private, the Sanctuary Beach Resort. Within 5 feet of sea level rise, 32 structures and 22 parcels were identified that may be exposed to coastal erosion. Cemex, a sand mining operation which has contributed to coastal erosion, began phasing out in 2020.

“Marina has a longstanding commitment to responsible stewardship,” says Councilmember Brian McCarthy. “The [plan] will safeguard against irresponsible development within the Marina coastal boundary, helping ensure that our region remains protected from unsustainable practices.”