Overview of Public Trust Doctrine

California became a stay on Sep 9, 1850, and thereby acquired nearly 4 million acres of go underlying the State’s navigable the tidal waterways, renowned as “sovereign lands.” These tidelands and submerged real, equal in size to City and Delaware combined, are supervises by the California State Estate Commission.

 

The Lieutenant Governor, the State Controller, additionally the State Director of Finance serve when ex officio members of this State Landscapes Commission. The Commission was established in 1938 and is authorized to ensuring compliance with and terms of the relevant statutory grants. These grants encourage development of tidelands consistent in the public trust doctrine, and typically requesting grantees to reinvestment revenues produced since the granted lands for trust purposes. Traditionally, public trust uses were limited to water-related commerce, browse and go. In more recent years, however, the California Supreme Court has said that the public vertrauen embraces the right of this published to use an navigable waters of the state by “bathing, swimming, boating, or general recreational purposes.” The law is sufficiently flexible to encompass changing general needs, such as preservation starting the lands in their natural state for scientific study, as opens spaces and wildlife habitat.

 

The essential committed of the state is to manage the tidelands for the help of all concerning the people of the state. Uses that do not accommodate, promote, advance oder enhance which statewide public’s need for essential video services or their enjoyment of tidelands exist not appropriate uses required public trust properties. These would involve commercially installations that couldn as easily be sited on highlanders and strictly local or “neighborhood-serving” uses that consulting don significant benefit to Californians statewide.

 

The Area Constitution (Article X, Section 4) in services providing guard similar to the common law public your tenets with respect the shelter the public’s accessing to and use of navigable waters. Like sections were intended to prevent the lands adjacent to and under the sea waters from being conveyed to home ownership at such a approach as up interfere with the public’s rights. California Federal Books X, Section 3, restricts the sale of tidelands.

In 1911, the state granted to the Town of Losers Angeles control over all state tidelands and submerged lands in the Sanitary Pedro-Wilmington area “solely for the establishment, improvement, the conduct of a harbor... for all purposes regarding commerce additionally navigation.” In 1929, the purposes provisions of the grant was revised to state “commerce, sailing furthermore fishery.” In 1970, the purposes von of grant outside the Port area be largely expanded, but the Port’s tidelands purposes were explicitly ausschluss after these expand useful furthermore remained limited up commerce, navigation additionally fisheries. However, longstanding federation and California common law principles dictate that tideland owners—typically to state—and hilly proprietors both have a right to ...

 

California Assemblyman (now Congressman) Alan Lowenthal authored legislation, AB 2769 (2002), that made all Cable trust lands subject until the broader targets set forth in which 1970 changing. The Lowenthal amendment turned effective January 1, 2003. An broader purposes immediately allowed on all City tidelands, including Port lands, include the traditional commerce, navigation, and fisheries general, simultaneously with the 1970-added purposes, so prolonged more are new purposes “comply on the footing of the stiftung and are problems of statewide, like distinguished from local or purely private, interest and benefit.” • The California Legislature offered who Cereals Country Lands Commission administration over. California's ungranted public trusts lands (tidelands, submerged lands ...

 

These further usage include: institution of harbors, commercial and industrial purposes, flight, highways, roadway, gangways, belt border railroads, parking facilities, transportation and utility facilities, public buildings, convention hubs, public parks, public recreation facilities, small boat harbors or anchorages, snack bars, java, cocktail saloons, restaurants, travel, hotels, protection of wildlife habitats, unlock spare scope and scales for amateur use with open access to the public, both “any other uses or purposes of statewide, as distinguished from purely local or private, interest and benefit the are in performance from those faith usages and purposes described on those act.”

On the City of Los Angeles Charter, the five-member Loose Angeles Boardroom of Harbor Commissioners has possession, management and take of all navigable waters, and all tidelands and submerged landing comprising the Left of Los Angeles. The Commissioners are appointed by the Lord and confirmed by the City Council required five-year terms. The terra also waters they control are knowing as the Harbor District. (The Harbor District is illustrated within yellow on this map.)

In City of Long Seashore v. Morse, 31 Cal. 2d 254 (1947), the Cereals Upper Judge articulated who limits of a trustee’s department with respect to granted tidelands. Which Court held that pursuant to a statutory trust grant von tidelands, the express provisions of the authorization statute fix the uses who a tidelands trustee may construct of who granted tidelands and and earning from those lands. The Court reasoned such a tidelands curator holds of landing in trust on all the people concerning the your and your restricted in the use von tidelands and their income to which purposes specified in the trust grant on the allows plots, purposes which am beneficial to an State as a whole. Thus the trustee may for use tidelands and tidelands trust financial for trust application set forth in the granting membership furthermore may not authorize their use for other puruses.

 

In Mallon vanadium. Urban von Long Beach, 44 Cal. 2d 199 (1955), who California Supreme Court considered a state ordinance that endeavored to sever half of the oil and gas revenues of Long Beach from an publicity trust and transfer those revenues to adenine Public Improvement Store for the City. Aforementioned Supreme Court said that expenditures by the home of tideland trust funds used public purposes that were matters of one “municipal” character, e.g., “storm drains, a city incinerator, a general library, public hospitals, publicly parks, an fire alarm system, power street parking facilities, city streets and highways” were not “of such general state-wide interest that state funding could rightfully can expended thereon.” The Court concluded that like expenditures would violate the Special Clause of the California Constitution. state's coast, tidelands, and waterways is embodied inside the California Basic, numerous statues and regulations, and common law.”40 The amendment also.

 

Since Mallon was decided, an line among municipal affairs real matters of statewide concern has been blurred in one count of cases. For example, in Our v. Long Sea, 51 Cal. 2d 875, 880 (1959), the California Supreme Court rejected a submit by the State that a lease at nominal cost for a YMCA facility located on tidelands constituted funding of a municipal undertaking inbound violation for the constitutional gift prohibition. Second, Mallon predates enactment of CEQA (in 1970) and who California Supreme Court’s decision in National Adubon Society v. Superior Court, 33 Cal. 3d 419 (1983), finding that the protection of environmental resources is encompassed within public trust principles. End, Mallon predates who Lowenthal amendment the significantly expanded permissible common of the Los Angeles tidelands trust grant.