This article examines the progressive erosion of coastal living and recreating opportunities. It considers the possibility that such changes represent not a softening of concern over recreation and preservation by local decisionmakers, but a breakdown in the traditional system of checks and balances available in our allocative system. To this end, several methods for increasing the capability of local jurisdictions to render balanced land‐use decisions on the foreshore are examined, and suggestions are presented for increasing private opportunity for recreation and living on the coast, particularly over time.