Santa Barbara Councilmember Meagan Harmon Elected Chair of California Coastal Commission

Attorney and Santa Barbara City Councilmember, Meagan Harmon has been elected chair of the California Coastal Commission. Her election was a result of a unanimous vote by the 12-member board. She has been a part of the Coastal Commission since 2021, appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom.

Highlights

• Meagan Harmon is an attorney and council member who has been selected as the chair of the California Coastal Commission.
• She has served as a city council member for Santa Barbara since 2019.
• She plans to streamline the Commission’s complex permitting process.

Harmon Pledges to Simplify the Coastal Commission Process

The California Coastal Commission regulates the development of the 1,110-mile stretch of California’s coastline. Since its inception in 1972, the committee has maintained a low profile. However, the organization gained prominence in 2024 after the commission rejected Elon Musk’s SpaceX’s launch expansion.

Councilwoman Meagan Harmon, who has served on the board for four years, stated that as chair of the committee, she will ensure partnerships across multiple jurisdictions and simplify the Coastal Commission’s system statewide.

She succeeds Chair Justin Cummings; Monterey County Supervisor Chris Lopez previously held a Commission seat. On Wednesday, Commissioner Caryl Hart was also appointed Vice Chair of the commission.

Harmon, now chair of the Coastal Commission, was first elected to the city council of Santa Barbara in 2018 and took office in 2019. Since then, she has been re-elected twice. Her current term comes to an end in 2026. As a member of the council, she has vocally spoken out about affordable housing, and is even pushing to utilize reserve funds to address the housing crisis – a motion that was recently approved.

Councilwoman Harmon is also a real estate attorney. She has been an Associate at Hepner & Myers LLP since 2020. Before that, she also worked with Griffith & Thornburgh LLP and Morrison & Foerster LLP.

From 2014 to 2015, she was a Visiting Fellow for the Islamic Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School. She was also a Program Consultant at Welthungerhilfe DE between 2010 and 2011. She has a Juris Doctorate from New York University School of Law, as well as a Master of Arts in Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University. She also earned her undergraduate degree at Wellesley College.

The Coastal Commission currently has a range of issues under its purview. These include the approval of a housing project for UC Santa Barbara and the issuance of a multimillion-dollar fine against Sable Offshore Corporation, among others. Harmon is expected to address these issues as chair of the commission.