Quick Take
Santa Cruz County has chosen a local team to guide its study on sea-level rise, an analysis that will determine how the region adapts to climate change in the decades to come. Integral Consulting was the lone firm to submit a bid of the eight from which the county requested proposals.
Santa Cruz County has been called on by the state to conduct a sea-level rise study that will shape how the region tackles the impacts of climate change along its 32 miles of coastline. However, only one firm applied to handle the study, and although this led to some locals with heavy real estate stakes along the coast to call foul on the process, county leaders said it was time to move forward on understanding its vulnerabilities to climate change.
Integral Consulting, a firm with offices in Santa Cruz and cities across the country, will conduct the analysis of economic, environmental and societal impacts of sea-level rise on the county. Integral Consulting was the only firm that applied for the job, a fact that drew some skepticism toward the hiring process.
The key tension permeating the study and the forthcoming policy questions is the debate over how best to adapt to an encroaching Pacific Ocean: Should we armor coastal properties and protect them from sea-level rise, or surrender and retreat from the coast?
In recent years, the California Coastal Commission, the statewide agency overseeing land use along the coast, has adopted a managed retreat philosophy, and wants to see that reflected in local land use and coastal protection plans, known as “local coastal programs,” as well. The commission rejected Santa Cruz County’s coastal program in 2022 for failing to incorporate a sufficient coastal retreat policy.
But last year, the Coastal Commission decided to help, and wrote a check to Santa Cruz County for $780,000 to finance a deep-dive analysis on its vulnerability to sea-level rise. Part of the problem in the past, the commission said, was that coastal property owners had too much influence over the county’s plan. This study’s results, conducted by a third party and transparent to all, would drive how the county shapes its long-range coastal policies.
The Coastal Property Owners Association of Santa Cruz County, a group that advocates for laws and policies that allow coastal property owners to protect their homes and businesses from coastal erosion, pushed back against the selection of Integral Consulting, claiming the firm had ties to the Coastal Commission. Charles Lester, director of the Ocean and Coastal Policy Center at UC Santa Barbara, will be leading the study’s policy analysis; Lester worked at the Coastal Commission for 20 years and was its executive director between 2011 and 2016.
“The process was flawed,” Steve Forer, president of the association, told county supervisors Tuesday. “This would not be in the best interest of the public, the county, or the coastal property owners. It didn’t provide for any opportunity for public input even though this will affect billions of dollars of coastal real estate throughout Santa Cruz County.”
County Resource Planner David Carlson said the county requested proposals from eight firms, but Integral Consulting was the only one that responded. District 1 Supervisor Manu Koenig, whose district stretches south from the Santa Cruz Harbor and down to part of Capitola, was the only vote against the contract among the five supervisors.
“Given that we have a study here [worth nearly] a million dollars that will affect a billions of dollars’ worth of property, taking just another month or two in order to re-advertise the bid … ultimately that’s just going to make sure the county gets the best value for its money,” Koenig said.
Tuesday’s vote was the second attempt to hire Integral Consulting. On Jan. 30, the supervisors reached a stalemate, with Koenig and Bruce McPherson voting against the contract, and Justin Cummings and Felipe Hernandez wanting to move forward. District 2 Supervisor Zach Friend, who was participating remotely by phone, dropped out of the call right before casting a would-be decisive vote. For Friend’s district, which stretches coastward from Capitola down to Pajaro Dunes, coastal adaptation policies are a high-stakes affair.
On Tuesday, Friend voted to hire Integral Consulting, but emphasized that the contract was for only a consultant and that the board of supervisors would be the ultimate arbiter of which policies are forwarded to the state. Friend said the previous process, which resulted in the Coastal Commission rejecting Santa Cruz County’s plan, tried and failed to find a middle ground between the commission’s desire for a statewide model of managed retreat policy and local property owners along the coast who wanted to hold out as long as possible against sea-level rise.
“We could have this process go on, realistically, forever, and you would never actually choose [a consultant] that met everybody’s preconceived needs,” Friend said. However, he urged county staff and Integral Consulting to lean into the desire from community members to participate in the process.
Integral Consulting’s four-person team features some familiar names. Gary Griggs, professor of earth and planetary sciences at UC Santa Cruz, will work on the study’s technical reviews, and former Santa Cruz mayor Donna Meyers will help advise on stakeholder and community engagement. UCSB’s Lester will lead on policy analysis, and Charles Colgan, a director at the Center for the Blue Economy at Monterey’s Middlebury Institute, will study the economics of sea-level rise.
County staff said the plan will be developed through community input and scientific and economic analysis. The study is expected to wrap up by August 2025.
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