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Goal 20 Proposal  Sep 28 2009 --  Sea Level Rise Petition Leads to Statewide Interim Strategy on Climate Change RV Park at Twin Rocks, in Tillamook County. Photo by Dave Bonkowski. Oregon’s Land Conservation and Development Commission, (LCDC), unanimously approved an Interim Strategy and Work Plan on Climate Change to prepare Oregon for a statewide outreach effort to engage the public and communities in planning for adaptation to climate change, beginning in 2011. John VanLandingham, Chair The climate change strategy was produced largely in response to Oregon Shores’ “Petition for a Rule,” under ORS 197.225 and 183.390, for a new statewide planning goal, “Goal 20”, to address sea level rise and related hazards expected to result from climate change, which was submitted to the Commission in July 2008. At the July 31 hearing in Brookings, where the interim strategy received approval, LCDC Chair John VanLandingham, of Eugene, stated, “I think Oregon Shores can take some pride in initiating, or helping to initiate, this discussion.” What's in the Interim Strategy? The interim strategy contains components that, if expeditiously and effectively implemented, could help prepare the coast for climate change, including: identifying communities to develop pilot “local adaption plans” to serve as models for community climate change planning in particular regions within Oregon; mapping of climate-related hazards; development of new analytical tools to quantify and map risks associated with natural hazards; and conducting an inventory of coastal dikes and levees. A more detailed description of the interim adaptation actions can be found on pages 6 through 9 of the interim strategy. Action Needed Statewide, Including on the Coast Though Oregon Shores’ “Goal 20” petition was ultimately denied, it was not due to lack of support for planning to address sea level rise, but rather to the Commission having a preference for first getting itself and the state agencies prepared for launching a statewide climate change planning effort. At the hearing, Oregon Shores testified in support of the Commission adopting a new statewide climate change goal that would include planning for sea level rise. Commissioners and Staff Show Commitment to Action During the Brookings hearing, many of the Commissioners, as well as the DLCD staff, indicated that a new goal or goal amendments very well could be warranted, at the statewide level, after the interim strategy is completed. Because comments made by the commissioners and staff provide a clear demonstration of their level of commitment to taking action on climate change, we have included key excerpts here for our readers’ review. A nearly two-hour long audio file of the July 31, 2009 hearing is available at the LCDC meetings page. Key Comments from the Hearing Jeff Weber Chairman VanLandingham said, “My reaction is that as I’ve stated already we agree that there likely will be changes that are needed in the Oregon statewide land use planning program to address climate change. What we’re really focused on here is timing and strategy of what to start with.” The Chair further stated, “I think that we agree that broad public engagement needs to occur, not only in this state, but frankly nationally and globally, but timing wise we believe once we have done the work we are proposing to do on adaption planning, and importantly work that the legislature directed on mitigation [including statutes based on the recently enacted House Bill 2001 and House Bill 2186], we will have tools to communicate with the public (on) what does this mean to the person’s average, ordinary everyday life that we don’t have now. Again, starting the long process of a goal amendment now without those tools would result in confusion and negative reaction.” Jeff Weber, Coastal Conservation Coordinator for DLCD, explained to the commissioners, “Nobody takes the goal option off your table. The adaption plan and outreach plan provide us with an opportunity to calibrate the starting point for the discussion with Oregon communities.” Greg Macpherson Commissioner Greg Macpherson, of Portland, stated to the chairman, “What I’m hearing John, in the staff response to Oregon Shores proposal – is that really the work plan as laid out does retain an option to pursue a new climate change goal, it just doesn’t specify a timeline, nor does Oregon Shores specify a timeline, I think a disconnect is that the staff proposal is to lay a foundation so potentially a goal could be pursued at some point in the future.” Commissioner Marilyn Worrix, of McMinnville, also indicated support of adopting an interim strategy to move to statewide action in 2011. She stated, “I agree with the recommendations. And the reasoning of the recommendation, but that doesn’t mean we disagree with the suggestion that we do everything we can reasonably do to address this issue. There’s no philosophical differences in this room. Where we don’t know enough we are trying to learn very quickly. That is part of the plan we propose. Where we see the plan fragmented, we are trying to coordinate it. Where we do know what to do, we’re doing it. We put it on a high priority in the work plan. And we’re doing a great deal at this point.” Marilyn Worrix Worrix further stated, “It is extremely important to coordinate this when we go out and talk to the public. It sounds like a delay, but we need time to coordinate the message so it isn’t just a fearful message for one thing, a confusing message for another and a message that lacks some solutions and some paths for dealing with that. We need to give ourselves at least enough time for doing that. I think that doing the goal at this time could interfere with every single one of those step. I don’t think we’ve done enough work at this time for us to know if the best solution is a new goal or changes to existing goals – it may be that ends up being a better solution.” Commissioner Christine Pellett, of Central Point, shared her thoughts about the urgency of addressing climate change, stating, “I support this, but I have grave reservation, not so much that this is the step we need to take, but I fear this may move far faster in terms of a problem for Oregon and I worry that we won’t be ready. But I agree -- I don’t think the public quite understands yet, and I think that should be one of our focuses, and I don’t think that we quite know what to do. As we start to see some of the effects of climate change, I hope we are not too late in kind of running behind this and not ahead of it. I would suspect that is true.” Christine Pellett Commissioner Pellett continued, “We didn’t talk about much of the effect on agriculture in terms of water and in terms of climate change this is all going to be quite large, and in forestry for that matter. I saw a report on the Rogue Valley that says, in 30 or 40 years, the fir trees will are no longer be in the Cascades there. What kind of forestry are we going to have if our major species are gone? So the impacts are relatively not that far off, but they are huge.” The Chair closed out the discussion by sharing his thoughts on goal writing. He stated, “I’m not interested in doing a vague goal if we ever get to that. My issue has always been affordable housing. I think we have enough vague goals that don’t really say what is required of local government. If we do a goal, we have to have one that means something to the people and that we don’t mislead folks about what we want to accomplish.” For more information: July 31, 2009: 2-hour long audio file of the hearing Complete Interim Strategy document from LCDC July 31, 2008: Oregon Shores' original Goal 20 Proposal 2007: Complete Chapter 197 — Comprehensive Land Use Planning Coordination regulations for LCDC, LUBA, etc. 2007: Complete Chapter 183 — Administrative Procedures Act; Legislative Review of Rules; Civil Penalties Contact: LCDC Interim Strategy   MORE NEWS...  Fri Jul 31 2009 7:30 AM -- Aug 13 2009  LCDC to Vote on Goal 20 The Department of Land Conservation and Development will vote Friday, July 31, on whether or not to deny the petition of Oregon Shores to move forward on a new Goal 20. Robin Hartmann will present the testimony signed by Allison. The meeting in Brookings will begin at 7:30 AM, at the Best Western Beachfront Inn, 16008 Boat Basin Road. The governor's response to our earlier letter is attached. ... MORE   Jun 13 2009 -- Jul 13 2009  "Why Goal 20?" PowerPoints Steve Schell, Oregon Shores board member and author of the Goal 20 proposal, has been kind enough to provide his "Why Goal 20?" PowerPoint presentation for the Coastal Climate Action Conference in Newport on June 6, 2009. For more information: 6/6/2009: "Why Goal 20?" PowerPoint presentation Oregon Shores' Petition to LCDC creating Goal 20 Oregon Shores' 1/2/2009 Press Release Q&A on Sea Level ... MORE   Jan 21 2009 -- Feb 28 2009  Sea Level Goal Jumps First Hurdle with State Panel The Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC) didn’t reject Oregon Shores’ proposal for a new goal related to climate change impacts at its January 15 meeting, which is actually a surprisingly positive development. The commission’s staff had recommended that they deny our petition for a “Goal 20,” a new statewide goal, adding to the existing 19 which are the backbone of Oregon’s land ... MORE   Dec 18 2008 -- Jan 20 2009  Oregon Shores Proposes Bold New "Goal 20" on Sea Level Rise Oregon Shores will ask the Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC) at its January 15 meeting in Salem to adopt a new land use goal dealing with the impact of rising sea levels on Oregon coastal communities. The commission will meet at the headquarters of the Department of Land Conservation and Development, 635 Capitol St., Basement Hearing Room. Beginning at about 10 a.m., the ... MORE  ©2013 Oregon Shores •  CONTACT US