San Diego

After 12 years of effort by San Diego planning officials, the city has been given the authority to regulate development in its coastal zone.

A vote by the state’s California Coastal Commission on Wednesday transferred the authority to give out coastal development permits from the state to the city, said senior planner Greg Konar.

“It is significant because it means much more local control of development,” Konar said.

“It’s become over the years somewhat of an inconvenience and certainly an expensive process to get an additional permit for development” from the coastal commission, he said.

The change, which must be ratified by the San Diego City Council, means that developers and private homeowners of coastal zone land would no longer need both city and commission approval to build on their land. Although the city must still rezone some land, it could begin processing coastal development permits by March, Konar said.

The coastal zone in San Diego County is an irregularly shaped area that generally includes all land west of Interstate 5.

The Coastal Commission was established by the state’s Coastal Act in 1976 as an interim agency to protect the state’s shoreline. Twelve years later, it still controls development authority for half of the state’s coastline.