Welcome to the Santa Cruz Coastal Lagoons &
East Cliff Drive Resiliency Plan
Santa Cruz County Parks was awarded a State Coastal Conservancy grant to develop the Santa Cruz Coastal Lagoons and East Cliff Drive Resiliency Plan (Project). The Project will develop an initial planning-level feasibility study of nature-based adaptation strategies to sea level rise (SLR) for roughly 0.5-miles of East Cliff Drive at three locations where the roadway crosses the three coastal lagoons (Schwan Lagoon, Corcoran Lagoon, and Moran Lagoon) in mid-Santa Cruz County.
Our Project
The feasibility analysis will analyze a range of adaptation strategies to projected SLR for the three coastal lagoons. The Project will result in the identification of a preferred adaptation strategy for each location that prioritizes the use of nature-based solutions, protection and enhancement of coastal resources and ecosystems, maintenance of coastal access, and resilience of infrastructure and property. The Project will include beach berm surveys, hydrologic monitoring, and other studies that will result in the development of models that can predict the response of the beach/lagoon system to various SLR scenarios. The models will be used to guide development of adaptation strategies. Further, significant and robust community, stakeholder, and tribal engagement will be conducted to identify the needs of the community and guide the development of strategies. The feasibility analysis will lead to the development of a preferred alternative(s) for each location along with a final report detailing the selection of the preferred alternative. The project goal is to identify an alternative that can be further developed through preliminary design, environmental review, final design, and permitting in a later, future phase.