SECTIONS 22000-22002 - California Statutes

PUBLIC RESOURCES CODE

SECTION 22000-22002

22000. The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the
Ventura-Los Angeles Mountain and Coastal Zone, defined in Section
22012, as the last large undeveloped area contiguous to the shoreline
within the greater Los Angeles Metropolitan Region, comprised of Los
Angeles and Ventura Counties, represents a unique and irreplaceable
natural resource to the people of the state, that uses of the zone
include recreation, conservation, open space, and utilization and
enjoyment of the sea and the mountains, that the zone functions as an
integral component of the physical and biological systems of the
entire region, and to a significant, although not as yet precisely
determined degree, impacts upon these essential life-support systems,
that there are pressures of population growth and economic
development in the zone, and that if conservation and development
practices are permitted to continue in their present unplanned,
uncoordinated, and haphazard manner, irreversible deterioration of
the zone as a precious natural resource for the people of the entire
state may ensue.

22001. The Legislature further finds and declares that current
conservation and development practices may conflict with the public
interest of present and future generations due to:
(a) An insufficient understanding of the long-range implications
of land use practices as they affect the zone and the region.
(b) The uncoordinated and fragmented nature of public and private
planning of development and conservation activities within the zone.
(c) The lack of a comprehensive plan and program to provide for
conservation and development of the zone in the best public interest.
(d) The fact that no governmental mechanism exists for studying
and evaluating individual projects as to their effect on the entire
zone and region.

22002. The Legislature further finds and declares that in order to
protect and advance the interests of the present and future
generations in the zone and region, there is need to create a
Ventura-Los Angeles Mountain and Coastal Study Commission to study
the entire zone as well as the relationship of the zone to the
region, to ascertain what is needed for balanced conservation and
development, to determine a set of policies and priorities based on
such studies, and to propose further legislative action to provide
for implementation of these policies.