Politics & Government
East of 101 Residents and Businesses Beware Your Properties Legally Probably Sit on Public Trust Lands.
Ambulatory boundaries, sea level rise and climate change are conspiring to make the Public Trust a legal tool for taking private property.
I have written multiple times about the Public Trust. A legal principle that comes to us from Roman times when the world was a very different place and is still unbelievably in use today. Today, ambulatory boundaries, sea level rise and climate change are conspiring to make the Public Trust a legal tool for taking people’s homes.
I wrote about the Public Trust several times last year.
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In that article I wrote:
“In an interesting case in 2009, the United States Federal government acting as a Trustee of the Lummi Nation of Indians in Washington state sued homeowners on the Strait of Georgia. The government argued that without the levees that were built the homes were encroaching on the theoretical mean high water mark. In October 2009, the case went to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (covering among other states Washington, the state of the original suit, and California.) In United States v. Milner the court ruled that: “given that the United States . . . holds title to the tidelands and that the Homeowners cannot permanently fix the tideland boundary, it quickly follows that the Homeowners are liable for trespass.” Pg. 14482
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Does this mean that according to this ruling, homes and businesses east of 101 are trespassing on the California State Lands Public Trust waters? Probably. In the following article I wrote:
“Ambulatory boundaries are boundaries that move. Think of a river that is the defined border between two properties and migrates slowly or quickly either because of changing underlying plate tectonics (the reason for earthquakes,) floods and or other natural events. Ambulatory boundaries come into play even more when defining coastal properties that are subject to tides. CSLC property rights follow the ordinary high water mark (OHWM.) What this essentially means is that portions of Redwood City east of 101 such as Redwood Shores will with sea level rise in the not too distant future become a part of California State Lands Commission jurisdictional social property commons.”
In this article in regards to homes in Vallejo I wrote that the California State Lands Commission was working on the following projects:
“Authorize issuance to Alan and Linda Barker of a general lease –recreational and residential use beginning December 8th, 2005 for a term of 20 years, for reconstruction of house and deck on the land described in Exhibit A.”
http://archives.slc.ca.gov/Meeting_Transcripts/2013_Documents/09-20-13_Transcripts.pdf
(Speaking Ms. Jennifer Lucchesi, Executive Officer) “Commission staff recently held a public meeting on June 19th for the residents of the Sandy Beach community, which is a small waterfront community near the City of Vallejo along the Carquinez Strait. Staff is continuing its efforts to ensure that those occupying State property are brought under lease with the Commission.”
“Of the 40 improved lots at Sandy Beach, 37 have improvements that encroach onto State property. We only have currently six active leases and seven additional ones are in holdover. So we think there’s a tremendous amount progress that can be made in terms of bringing these folks under lease.”
And yet just last week we had a plaintiff: “Citizens for the Public Trust and Ted J. Hannig” sue the City of Redwood City alleging Public Trust abuses at Docktown.
According to the lawsuit: Page 72, item 241 “Redwood City has breached this duty by allowing the private alienation of the public trust land for the benefit of the residents of Redwood City; more specifically, the residents of Docktown.”
To truly understand the implications replace Docktown with residents and businesses east of 101.
Item 242 “The violation of this duty has elevated the interests of the approximately 100 Docktown residents over the approximately 38.8 million California citizens, in clear violation of Redwood City’s fiduciary duties and the Public Trust Doctrine.”
And I could go on and on line for line. If you are interested please feel free to access and follow the case on the San Mateo Superior Court records website:
http://openaccess1.sanmateocourt.org/openaccess/civil/ Case number CIV 536168.
In the 21st century, in a world of rising sea levels, climate change and ambulatory borders; unless residents and businesses east of 101 would also like to lose their properties legal doctrines originating in Roman times need to finally be put to rest.
As a neighbor of mine put it: “Don’t trust the Public Trust.”
