Coastal Area Management Act: Regional Planning for the State's Coastal Area

"In recent years the coastal area has been subjected to increasing pressures which are a result of the often conflicting needs of a society expanding in industrial development, in population, and in the recreational aspirations of its citizens. Unless these pressures are controlled by coordinated management, the very features of the coast which make it economically, esthetically, and ecologically rich will be destroyed. The General Assembly therefore finds that an immediate and pressing need exists to establish a comprehensive plan for the protection, preservation, orderly development, and management of the coastal area of North Carolina." COASTAL AREA MANAGEMENT ACT OF 1974 Legislative Findings and Goals Born of necessity and molded in perseverence, the Coastal Area Management Act of 1974 is perhaps the most comprehensive piece of environmental legislation ever forged by the North Carolina General Assembly. After several years of study and deliberation outside the legislative corridors, the concepts of regional land use planning and resource management for the coast were introduced during the 1973 session of the General Assembly. Unsuccessful in that year of political transition, the bill was redrafted and reintroduced on the second day of the following session; it was ratified, after a series of dramatic twists and turns, on the day prior to adjournment