NORTH CAROLINA STATE LIBRARY 

 RALEiGH 



MAR 2 8 m N. C. 



Doc. 



MAY, 1977 



1235 Burlington Laboratories 

 NCSU, Raleigh, N.C, 27607 Tel: (919) 737-2U5U 



Planning for coastal development 



In the spring of 1974, the North Carolina Gen- 

 eral Assembly passed a bill which was designed to 

 protect natural resources and regulate develop- 

 ment in the state's coastal area. It was called the 

 Coastal Area Management Act (CAM A). 



This controversial legislation made North Caro- 

 lina one of the first states in the nation to pass 

 comprehensive land use planning laws for its 

 coastal area. The bill was in part a response to the 

 Federal Coastal Zone Management Act passed 

 by Congress in 1972. That act provided federal 

 assistance to states to develop management pro- 

 grams for preserving coastal resources. 



CAMA is based upon the assumption that the 

 coast — with its estuaries, marshlands and ocean — 

 is a fragile and ecologically important area. Be- 

 cause of its high recreational and economic value, 

 there is growing competition for the use of the land 

 and water. CAMA is an attempt to provide for 

 orderly development of the coast, according to one 



of the authors of the act, Thomas Schoenbaum of 

 the UNC Law School. 



"Much of what we have in the coastal area re- 

 sults from the fact that we have a relatively natural 

 system," notes Gene Huntsman of the National 

 Marine Fisheries Service. "We have good produc- 

 tion of finfish and shellfish. In order to retain this 

 we must make choices about what kind of develop- 

 ment we will have. If we have unplanned develop- 

 ment, we will lose the waters as a source of fish, 

 recreation and occupations." Huntsman is also a 

 member of the Coastal Resources Commission. 



The act covers 20 coastal counties, all of which 

 are bounded either by the Atlantic Ocean or a 

 coastal sound. Basically, it requires each county to 

 draw up comprehensive land use plans and provides 

 for the designation of special areas of environ- 

 mental concern (AECs). 



The legislature established the 15-member 

 Coastal Resources Commission (CRC) to ad- 



(See "CAMA," p. 2) 



