By Bob Walsmith Jr.
2022 President
Santa Barbara Association of Realtors
This past week, I was fortunate to attend the inaugural Smart Coast California Summit in Long Beach on behalf of the Santa Barbara Association of Realtors. I was joined by Reyne Staplemann, a former SBAOR President and current board member of Smart Coast California. This summit brought Realtors, legislators, land use planners, attorneys, and other interested parties together in the same room with the purpose to discuss sea level rise in California, the effects on our beautiful coastline and how to hopefully negate, or at least mitigate, the effects of sea level rise with smart and economical solutions.
Smart Coast California was established in 2019 to promote and advocate for property rights and smart land use policies affecting California's 1,100 miles of coastline. People from all over the world flock to live and play on our coast for its beauty and amusement. We need to make sure we make smart decisions on how to protect our coast so those living here can continue to enjoy the use of their property and those visiting still have access to our pristine beaches for generations of Californians and tourists to come.