USLs Defined
The definition of Urban Services Line (USL) is important to my attempt to get a building permit. So what is the definition of a USL?
From the 2011 Coastal Zone Framework for Planning, page 4-4:
Within the Urban Reserve Line of each community is the Urban Services Line (USL). The Urban Services Line is the Urban-Rural boundary as defined in the Local Coastal Plan.
This means that the LCP can define a USL anyway that it wants to. It is just a line. And that line can be defined by a map, or just by a sentence somewhere in the LCP, or as a reference to another document, like a SLO LAFCO Map. The LCP explains the LAFCO connection with this sentence from page 3-13 of the Coastal Zone Framework for Planning (2011 version):
“Because LAFCO definitions of “sphere of service” and “sphere of influence” correspond to the LUE definitions of urban service line and urban reserve line, respectively, such coordination is necessary to support orderly urban expansion.”
LAFCO sets the boundaries of the local agencies (like CSA-12 and ABCSD) and their maps have Service Areas (or Sphere of Service), and Sphere of Influence.
Example LAFCO maps:
LAFCO map of ABCSD (Avila Beach Community Services District)
Because the LCP uses the terms USL and URL, and LAFCo uses Sphere of Service of Sphere of Influence, there has to be a mapping between those terms, and as LAFCO expands the boundaries as growth occurs, those expansions have to be reflected in the LCP.
Therefore, Sphere of Service (or Service Area) line is the same a Urban Services Line (or USL).
And, according to the Coastal Zone Framework For Planning page 4-5, LAFCO has to amend it’s Sphere of Service line before a USL can be expanded:
Expansion of a USL is accomplished through an amendment of the Land Use Element and Local Coastal Program and should occur after LAFCo has amended the corresponding sphere of service line.
So any USL defined in the LCP is required to have a corresponding LAFCO Sphere of Service line.