5/12/26
This may be our last chance to keep large new condo developments for the wealthy off Santa Monica’s coastline.
Our City Council’s push to kneecap the California Coastal Commission by weakening its jurisdiction (ONLY!) in Santa Monica has passed the California Assembly and is headed to the Senate. Luckily, its fate there is less certain as opposition is mounting from Santa Monica and environmental groups.
Assembly Bill 1740 will allow new market-rate development on Santa Monica’s beaches without currently required Coastal Commission approval. It takes us back to a time, decades ago, when monied interests alone determined the fate of our shoreline.
The advocates of AB 1740 pretend its purpose is to allow more bike lanes and dining along our beaches. But what it also does is give Santa Monica—and ONLY Santa Monica—a carve-out so our City Council can approve whatever “infill housing” it wants on our coast.
And all this new coastal development would require NO AFFORDABLE HOUSING.
Worse, our City Council is trying to push this through with NO PUBLIC PROCESS.
That’s right. As dramatically as this will change our shoreline, our City Council has held no public sessions about it, and there has been NO public input.
No public process, gutting coastal protections, monetizing a coast that belongs to all of us, densifying our beaches with multi-million-dollar condos — is that what Santa Monicans want?
Please contact our State Senator Ben Allen at Senator.Allen@senate.ca.gov and urge him to vote against AB 1740 and tell his Senate colleagues on the Housing and Natural Resources and Water Commission why this is bad for Santa Monica.
?Once the bill is assigned to those Senate committees, we will update you to contact other Senators. You can track every hearing and amendment and the timeline to a full Senate vote here:
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billStatusClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1740&utm_
This bad legislation will affect all California cities — you can be sure if Santa Monica is allowed to build whatever it wants on its beaches, other cities will soon demand the same carve-outs, effectively ending coastal protections.
Forty years ago, Californians pushed back against powerful interests and created the Coastal Commission to preserve our coastlines for all Californians. Now it’s our turn to continue that fight. Please contact Senator Ben Allen today.
