Why can’t the waterfront be owned by developers?
As part of public planning for shoreline in the Bay Area, the Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) was formed to protect and administrate the use of a 100 foot wide strip along the entire waterfront area. BCDC acts to preserve that strip as a public trust, attempting to enforce the guarantee that the public will have access to the water and be able to enjoy it. In order to carry out their mandate, BCDC commissioners meet with developers and consider their proposals for use of that 100 foot strip. Commissioners, acting on behalf of the people, make trade-offs and compromises in the use of that land to make sure that the public good isn’t injured.
BCDC was the first coastal management agency formed in the United States. It was created in California State legislation, Section 66600 of the McAteer-Petris Act. That act includes a paragraph describing the reason for creating the agency:
The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the public interest in the San Francisco Bay is in its beneficial use for a variety of purposes; that the public has an interest in the Bay as the most valuable single natural resource of an entire region, a resource that gives special character to the Bay Area; that the Bay is a single body of water that can be used for many purposes, from conservation to planned development; and that the Bay operates as a delicate physical mechanism in which changes that affect one part of the Bay may also affect all other parts. It is, therefore, declared to be in the public interest to create a politically-responsible, democratic process by which the San Francisco Bay and its shoreline can be analyzed, planned, and regulated as a unit.
Section 66600 of the McAteer-Petris Act.
BCDC makes controversial decisions when it tries to balance the demand for private and public uses of the Bay shoreline. But it retains legal right of control over that perimeter and can insist that public access be preserved.
Because BCDC walks a political tightrope in balancing private and public uses, it does listen to people with something to say about Bayshore usage. We must make sure that people talking to BCDC commissioners about plans for our Estuary shoreline are not only the developers who will profit from the usage. BCDC can’t simply agree to private use without corresponding benefit to the public. In the case of the shoreline on the Estuary, no exchange is possible which can compensate for the its loss. Be sure that BCDC knows that you know they must insist on your right of access. By law, they can’t give it away.