3. relevant laws and guidance…. heritage education public access restoration preservation...

3. Relevant Laws and Guidance…

• HERITAGE • EDUCATION • PUBLIC ACCESS • RESTORATION • PRESERVATION • PROTECTION •

Two Basic Goals

1. Protect the water from further “Impacts to Navigation”

2. Improve access to the shoreline wherever and whenever possible.


How?

Simply by understanding and following existing laws and guidance:

• Federal – The Rivers and Harbors Act

• State – The Public Trust Doctrine

– The Coastal Act


The Story of the Pierhead Line…

• San Francisco and the Gold Rush…


The Pierhead Line in Glorietta Bay


United States Code

• Title 1: General Provisions

• Title 2: Grants and Agreements

• Title 3: The President

• Title 4: Accounts

• Title 5: Administrative Personnel

• Title 6: Homeland Security

• Title 7: Agriculture

• Title 8: Aliens and Nationality

• Title 9: Animals and Animal Products

• Title 10: Energy

• Title 11: Federal Elections

• Title 12: Banks and Banking

• Title 13: Business Credit and Assistance

• Title 14: Aeronautics and Space

• Title 15: Commerce and Foreign Trade

• Title 16: Commercial Practices

• Title 17: Commodity and Securities Exchanges

• Title 18: Conservation of Power and Water Resources

• Title 19: Customs Duties

• Title 20: Employees' Benefits

• Title 21: Food and Drugs

• Title 22: Foreign Relations

• Title 23: Highways

• Title 24: Housing and Urban Development

• Title 25: Indians

• Title 26: Internal Revenue

• Title 27: Alcohol, Tobacco Products and Firearms

• Title 28: Judicial Administration

• Title 29: Labor

• Title 30: Mineral Resources

• Title 31: Money and Finance: Treasury

• Title 32: National Defense

• Title 33: Navigation and Navigable Waters

• Title 34: Education

• Title 35: Reserved (formerly Panama Canal)

• Title 36: Parks, Forests, and Public Property

• Title 37: Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights

“Navigation and Navigable Waters” has a Title all to itself: Title 33.

2011


Title 33 Contents

Chapter 9 is “Protection of Navigable Waters and of Harbor and River

Improvements Generally”


Pierhead Line Definition:

• A line in a Navigable Waters…– Beyond which no pier may project

– Beyond which construction is prohibited

– Beyond which no structure may extend

• Open-pier construction may extend outward from the Bulkhead Line to the Pierhead Line

The Present Standard


Chapter 9 Contents

Section 403:“Obstruction of navigable waters generally;

wharves; piers, etc.; excavations and filling in.”

Section 404: Establishment of harbor lines; conditions to grants for extension of

piers, etc.”


Title 33, Section 4032011 US Code


Title 33, Section 404

Construction of piers and docks is not allowed past the Pierhead Line.

2011 US Code


Terrestrial Analogies

• The curb on a road…and building on the street, in the public right-of-way…

• The property line between two neighbors, and where to put the fence…

• The Federal Debt “Ceiling”…a classic case of compound government errors…


A Story From San Francisco…

Part of the Pierhead Line Map for San Diego Bay…


Coronado Yacht Club 1990 EIR


1990 Desired Dock Expansion (not allowed)


1990 Desired Dock Expansion (allowed)


Coronado Yacht Club’s proposed new docks (in green).

Recent CYC Proposal


This yellow line is the Pierhead Line.

CYC Proposal


Note that the yacht club has fully developed their docks out to the Pierhead Line already.

CYC Proposal


HOW MUCH BOAT PARKING AREA IS THAT?

CYC Proposal

5½ FOOTBALL FIELDS!!!

Public Trust Doctrine Considerations(State Lands Commission)


Public Trust Doctrine

“The United States Supreme Court issued its landmark opinion on the nature of a state’s title to its tide and submerged lands nearly 110 years ago, and although courts have reviewed tidelands trust issues many times since then, the basic premise of the trust remains fundamentally unchanged. The Court said then that a state’s title to its tide and submerged lands is different from that to the lands it holds for sale. “It is a title held in trust for the people of the State that they may enjoy the navigation of the waters, carry on commerce over them, and have liberty of fishing” free from obstruction or interference from private parties. In other words, the public trust is an affirmation of the duty of the state to protect the people’s common heritage of tide and submerged lands for their common use.”


“But to what common uses may tide and submerged lands be put? Traditionally, public trust uses were limited to water-related commerce, navigation, and fishing. In more recent years, however, the California Supreme Court has said that the public trust embracesthe right of the public to use the navigable waters of the state for bathing, swimming, boating, and general recreational purposes.”




The Legislature, acting within the confines of the common law public trust doctrine, is the ultimate administrator of the tidelands trust and often may be the ultimate arbiter of permissible uses of trust lands. All uses, including those specifically authorized by theLegislature, must take into account the overarching principle of the public trust doctrine that trust lands belong to the public and are to be used to promote public rather than exclusively private purposes.

III. The Leasing of TidelandsA few principles established by the courts are instructive in analyzing under the public trust doctrine the leasing of public trust lands for particular uses. For example, itwas settled long ago that tidelands granted in trust to local entities may be leased and improved if the leases and improvements promote uses authorized by the statutory trust grant and the public trust. Leases for the construction of wharves and warehouses and forrailroad uses, i.e., structures that directly promote port development, were approved early in the 20th century.11 Later, leases for structures incidental to the promotion of port commerce, such as the Port of Oakland’s convention center, were held to be valid because although they did not directly support port business, they encouraged trade, shipping, and commercial associations to become familiar with the port and its assets.12


Projects must have a connection to water-related activities that provide benefits to the public statewide, which is the hallmark of the public trust doctrine.

“Hallmark” of the Doctrine


Public Trust Doctrine Checklist

Public’s resources are preserved for public use?

Navigable waterways protected for People of California?

Consistent with Trust Origins? Consistent with new interpretations? Does not surrender Trust lands to private

interests?



Protects public’s right of access? Protects public’s right to navigate upon,

conduct commerce over, and fish, free from obstruction from private parties?

Protects expanded Doctrine purposes of bathing, swimming, boating and general water-related recreation?

Enhances statewide public’s enjoyment?



Takes into account overarching principle that trust lands belong to the public and are to be used to promote public rather than exclusively private purposes?

Leases and improvements promote uses authorized by trust?

Lease structure accommodates or enhances public enjoyment of trust lands?

Coastal Act(California Coastal Commission)


California Coastal Act

“It is the policy of the State to preserve, protect, and where possible, to restore the

resources of the coastal zone for the enjoyment of the current and succeeding

generations…”


Coastal Act Excerpts

• Section 30001.5 Legislative findings and declarations: goals– (c) Maximize public access to and along the coast and

maximize public recreational opportunities in the coastal zone…

• Section 30211 Development not to interfere with access – Development shall not interfere with the public’s right

of access to the sea…



• Section 30212 New development projects – (a) Public access from the nearest public roadway to

the shoreline and along the coast shall be provided in new development projects…

• Section 30220 Protection of certain water-oriented activities – Coastal areas suited for water-oriented recreational

activities that cannot readily be provided at inland water areas shall be protected for such uses.



• Section 30224 Recreational boating use; encouragement; facilities – Increased recreational boating use of coastal waters

shall be encouraged, in accordance with this division, by developing dry storage areas, increasing public launching facilities, providing additional berthing space in existing harbors, limiting non-water-dependent land uses that congest access corridors…

4. Recommendations For the Future


Recommendations

1. Be very careful about recommending future developments that take up additional Glorietta Bay waterspace…and NEVER one inch past the Pierhead Line.


Recommendations

2. Take full advantage of DBW funding ($630,000) to improve small, non-motorized boating access at the boat ramp.


Recommendations

3. Investigate public docks—similar to Oceanside—for the Glorietta Bay Marina.

Glorietta Bay is still the #1 preferred “destination” for local boaters.


Recommendations

4. Review the permit for “Glorietta Bay Marina Boat Rental/Public Dock.”


Recommendations

5. Build a strong program at the new boathouse for public access.


Recommendations

6. Give more serious consideration to routing the Bayshore Bikeway on the Golf Course shoreline.


The Public Deserves...

• More than just a path or walk near the water.

• “Public Access,” and the ability to actually reach and use the water.– not just look at it

• A user-friendly shoreline. – not a concrete wall, not rip-rap, not massive rocks

• Conscientious adherence to Federal and State Guidance by local government officials.

Glorietta Bay has always been the jewel in Coronado’s crown.

It deserves to be protected and preserved, and public access improved, whenever possible.

3. relevant laws and guidance…. heritage education public access restoration preservation...

Documents