Intergovernmental influences on the implementation of coastal zone management in the United States: Public shoreline access in the Southeast

Abstract

This article is about factors that influence local government implementation of state coastal policies with specific application to public shoreline access. Although the national government delegates authority for coastal zone management to state governments, local jurisdictions are ultimately responsible for public shoreline access program implementation. Local budgets provide the funds and staff that impact public access development in addition to daily maintenance of public access sites. However, since local governments are creatures of the state, local implementation naturally involves a reciprocal relationship with state governments. Local governments get grants and technical support from state governments while the states get successful state policy implementation at the local level. Previous shoreline public access evaluations only reviewed how well each state agency met federal objectives. Such evaluations gave little attention to local government programs, despite acknowledging that local governments are the “primary implementers of state coastal policies and programs” through the use of land use powers and infrastructure improvements. Understanding of local government's relationship with state agencies is an essential ingredient for the formulation of public shoreline access programs and to gain insight into national coastal policy success and failure. Forty-five local public shoreline access programs were examined in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida. Although no single indicator explained local compliance with state public beach access policy; selected economic, political and demographic variables were statistically associated with compliance. Public officials and others interested in shoreline access need to be aware of how such capacities can influence policy implementation.