BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 2649
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          Date of Hearing:   May 16, 2012

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                    AB 2649 (Ammiano) - As Amended:  May 2, 2012 

          Policy Committee:                              Local 
          GovernmentVote:9-0
                        Natural Resources                     8-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          No     Reimbursable:              

           SUMMARY  

          This bill authorizes the State Lands Commission to remove the 
          use requirements of the public trust for the property known as 
          seawall lot 322-1.  Specifically, this bill:

       1)Allows for the development of affordable housing on seawall lot 
            322-1 and other designated seawall lots.

       2)Authorizes the Port of San Francisco to sell the transferable 
            development rights in connection with a historical pier or 
            historical resource on Port property. 

       3)Requires the Port to provide the State Lands Commission with 
            necessary information when the commission is asked to remove 
            the use requirement from the specified property.

       4)Provides the State Lands Commission can remove the use 
            requirement of the public trust only until January 1, 2094.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Minor and absorbable costs to the State Lands Commission.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Purpose  .  According to the author, the Port is currently 
            pursuing market rate housing at several seawall lots that are 
            no longer needed for trust purposes.  The Port has directed 
            staff to explore the feasibility of developing affordable 
            housing on seawall lots no longer required for trust purposes 








                                                                  AB 2649
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            as well.  The author notes, for affordable housing to be 
            feasible on a seawall lot, the Port would need legislative 
            authorization to lease the site for affordable housing at a 
            below market rate.

           2)Support.   This bill, sponsored by the Port of San Francisco, 
            would free Seawall 322-1 from trust use restrictions, 
            authorize affordable housing at that site, and permit the City 
            and County of San Francisco to lease the site below market 
            rate in exchange for Jobs-Housing Linkage fee credits at 
            another waterfront site.  The proposal would be subject to an 
            agreement by the SLC, and the Port would offer the site below 
            market rate to the San Francisco Mayor's Office of Housing.  


           3)Background.   Existing law protects, pursuant to the common law 
            doctrine of the public trust, the public's right to use 
            California's waterways for commerce, navigation, fishing, 
            boating, natural habitat protection and other water oriented 
            activities.  The public trust doctrine provides that filled 
            and unfilled tide and submerged lands and the beds of lakes, 
            streams, and other navigable waterways (public trust lands) 
            are to be held in trust by the state for the benefit of the 
            people of California.

            The State Lands Commission (SLC) is the steward and manager of 
            the state's public trust lands.  SLC has direct administrative 
            control over the state's public trust lands and oversight 
            authority over public trust lands granted by the Legislature 
            to local public agencies.  For over 100 years, the Legislature 
            has granted public trust lands to local governments so the 
            lands can be managed locally for the benefit of the people of 
            California.  There are over 80 trustees in the state, 
            including the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Diego, San 
            Francisco, Oakland, Richmond, Benicia and Eureka.  While these 
            trust lands are managed locally, SLC has oversight authority 
            to ensure those local trustees are complying with the public 
            trust doctrine and the applicable granting statutes.

           4)Previous legislation  .  AB 418 (Ammiano), Chapter 477, Statutes 
            of 2011, authorized two exchanges of public trust lands in San 
            Francisco and placed a variety of conditions on the exchanges 
            and the uses of the current public trust lands










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           Analysis Prepared by  :    Roger Dunstan / APPR. / (916) 319-2081