European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 16, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 18 the stars and stripes sunday March 16, 1986 the View looking South along the big so Between Lucia and Carmel Calif. Big sur zoning awash in controversy by Robert Lindsey new York times a after More than a decade of debate government officials and environmentalists have agreed on a sweeping zoning plan for California s big sur coast that they say will preserve its spectacular Beauty. Karin Strasser Kauffman a Monterey county supervisor said what this Means is that when you look around you 100 years from now big sur will be essentially unchanged from the Way it looks the plan which has been approved in principal and is awaiting Only minor technical revisions before final adoption severely limits development along a 68-mile stretch of twisting mountainous Shoreline whose soaring Cliffs Rocky outcroppings and rugged Beauty have Long caused it to be regarded As one of the most stunning meetings of land and sea in the world. Under the plan no additional buildings will be permitted along the big sur coast if they can be seen from any Angle from beaches Parks campgrounds major trails or from state Highway 1, a two Lane Road that was blasted into the Steep coastline in the 1930s and is now travelled by millions of tourists annually. Large hotels condominium projects and comparable major developments Are barred As is widening of Highway 1 to More than two lanes. Limited amounts of additional commercial development Are permitted but Only in four existing Rural hamlets. The big sur land use plan was drafted by Monterey county authorities after almost a decade of debate that often bitterly divided the big sur Community of 1,400 people. Its Basic principals were approved by the California coastal commission which regulates development along the state s 1,000-mile coast. After making minor revisions members of the Monterey county Board of supervisors say they expect to enact ordinances this Spring establishing the plan s provision As Law. In the meantime they say no additional coastal developments will be permitted. It has not been easy but i believe it to be a historic Effort Strasser Kauffman said and i believe it will be studied around the world As a efforts to preserve the coast have been the focus of often conflicting proposals by the Federal and state governments and environmentalists for Many years. The big sur coast has frequently been described As a National treasure that demands extraordinary procedures to protect it from development. Big sur residents have a reputation As individualists who Are willing to put up with isolation storms that regularly Wash out Highway 1, and difficulties making a living in the rugged environment in Exchange for the Joy of living there. They have opposed most of the efforts by outsiders to place restrictions on the land. In 1981, after a comprehensive Bill was introduced in Congress that would have set aside the big sur coast As a Federal preserve residents raised More than $100,000 to finance a successful lobbying Effort to. Kill the proposal. Last year a proposal by William Penn Mott director of the National Park service to establish a big sur National Parkway similar to the Blue Ridge Parkway that crosses the appalachian mountains ran into fierce opposition from local residents. Many asserted that federalization of the Region would Lead to poor management and an excessive surge of tourists. The newly approved big sur zoning plan has satisfied Many residents but not All. Some including several owners of Large tracts who would lose the right to sell coastal Sites for houses or commercial developments have threatened to sue the county because of some provisions of the zoning plan. I think this will probably end up in court said John Harlan a 60-year-old big sur native who is a member of the fourth generation of his family to live Here. He assailed what he called idealists and Flat Landers who live 90 Miles from where i sit As seeking to dictate the area s future. He particularly criticized the plan s prohibition on new construction visible from Highway 1 and other Ponts. The area is referred to in the plan As big sur s critical this View shed policy is preposterous Harlan asserted. It undercuts the Basic concept of property he said development would be impossible under such conditions. Big sur is going to either become a playground for the very wealthy or it will eventually be federalized because the plan won t work Harlan whose family owes Large amounts of property in the area said. Spokesmen for owners of a 7,100-acre cattle ranch big sur s largest private property owner have also hinted at a lawsuit. Under a tentative version of the zoning plan they had been Given the right to build a 100-room hotel scores of Homes and a Large restaurant near the coast. But county officials later withdrew consent saying the project would make the area Overly commercial. Currently 165 hotel rooms Are scattered along the coast covered by the plan Between san Luis Obispo and the town of Carmel Highlands. Construction of 300 More rooms is permitted by the plan but Only in clusters of 30 units or less in four Rural communities. About 800 houses or about twice the present number can be built but Only in canyons lowlands or at other Sites where they do not intrude on the View. In an unusual feature of the plan about 60 property owners deprived of their rights to build on Sites within the critical View shed will be guaranteed the right to build two Homes outside it somewhere near the coast. County lawyers maintain that these credits will constitute adequate compensation to property owners but Many such As Harlan strongly dispute that. Strasser Kauffman who came to this country from Germany As a child and was one of the principal architects of the plan said if you be seen what they be done to the French Riviera with pollution and traffic you know what can happen if you Don t work hard to protect what we have. We Are determined to keep the big sur area protected. Now we have a very Good Chance of Doina a
