Notwithstanding any other provision of this division, no coastal development permit shall be required pursuant to this chapter for the following types of development and in the following areas:
(a) Improvements to existing single-family residences; provided, however, that the commission shall specify, by regulation, those classes of development which involve a risk of adverse environmental effect and shall require that a coastal development permit be obtained pursuant to this chapter.
(b) Improvements to any structure other than a single-family residence or a public works facility; provided, however, that the commission shall specify, by regulation, those types of improvements which (1) involve a risk of adverse environmental effect, (2) adversely affect public access, or (3) involve a change in use contrary to any policy of this division. Any improvement so specified by the commission shall require a coastal development permit.
(c) Maintenance dredging of existing navigation channels or moving dredged material from those channels to a disposal area outside the coastal zone, pursuant to a permit from the United States Army Corps of Engineers.
(d) Repair or maintenance activities that do not result in an addition to, or enlargement or expansion of, the object of those repair or maintenance activities; provided, however, that if the commission determines that certain extraordinary methods of repair and maintenance involve a risk of substantial adverse environmental impact, it shall, by regulation, require that a permit be obtained pursuant to this chapter.
(e) Any category of development, or any category of development within a specifically defined geographic area, that the commission, after public hearing, and by two-thirds vote of its appointed members, has described or identified and with respect to which the commission has found that there is no potential for any significant adverse effect, either individually or cumulatively, on coastal resources or on public access to, or along, the coast and, where the exclusion precedes certification of the applicable local coastal program, that the exclusion will not impair the ability of local government to prepare a local coastal program.
(f) The installation, testing, and placement in service or the replacement of any necessary utility connection between an existing service facility and any development approved pursuant to this division; provided, however, that the commission may, where necessary, require reasonable conditions to mitigate any adverse impacts on coastal resources, including scenic resources.
(g) (1) The replacement of any structure, other than a public works facility, destroyed by a disaster. The replacement structure shall conform to applicable existing zoning requirements, shall be for the same use as the destroyed structure, shall not exceed either the floor area, height, or bulk of the destroyed structure by more than 10 percent, and shall be sited in the same location on the affected property as the destroyed structure.
(2) As used in this subdivision:
(A) “Disaster” means any situation in which the force or forces which destroyed the structure to be replaced were beyond the control of its owner.
(B) “Bulk” means total interior cubic volume as measured from the exterior surface of the structure.
(C) “Structure” includes landscaping and any erosion control structure or device which is similar to that which existed prior to the occurrence of the disaster.
(h) Any activity anywhere in the coastal zone that involves the conversion of any existing multiple-unit residential structure to a time-share project, estate, or use, as defined in Section 11212 of the Business and Professions Code. If any improvement to an existing structure is otherwise exempt from the permit requirements of this division, no coastal development permit shall be required for that improvement on the basis that it is to be made in connection with any conversion exempt pursuant to this subdivision. The division of a multiple-unit residential structure into condominiums, as defined in Section 783 of the Civil Code, shall not be considered a time-share project, estate, or use for purposes of this subdivision.
(i) (1) Any proposed development which the executive director finds to be a temporary event which does not have any significant adverse impact upon coastal resources within the meaning of guidelines adopted pursuant to this subdivision by the commission. The commission shall, after public hearing, adopt guidelines to implement this subdivision to assist local governments and persons planning temporary events in complying with this division by specifying the standards which the executive director shall use in determining whether a temporary event is excluded from permit requirements pursuant to this subdivision. The guidelines adopted pursuant to this subdivision shall be exempt from the review of the Office of Administrative Law and from the requirements of Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
(2) Exclusion or waiver from the coastal development permit requirements of this division pursuant to this subdivision does not diminish, waive, or otherwise prevent the commission from asserting and exercising its coastal development permit jurisdiction over any temporary event at any time if the commission determines that the exercise of its jurisdiction is necessary to implement the coastal resource protection policies of Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 30200).
(Amended by Stats. 2004, Ch. 697, Sec. 18. Effective January 1, 2005.)