Redwood City Alleges Public Trust Violation in Trying to Remove Floating Home at Docktown But Is That Really The Case ?

Approved in December 2016, Redwood City's Docktown Plan stated reason for the decision to close Docktown Marina is to “meet its legal obligations under the public trust doctrine.” See Docktown Plan page 1. But if certain homes at Docktown are not on the public trust; any buy out, removal or evictions would constitute “other displacing activity”, thereby triggering the California Relocation Assistance Act but even more importantly probably means that they can stay.

According to maps supplied by the California State Lands Commission (SLC), the first home off the ramp on South Dock is not on Grant Land, nor does it appear to be on Public Trust Land. According to SLC maps and US Survey (see above), after 1858 the shoreline was moved. Furthermore, according to documentation from the State Lands Commission, around 1898 Redwood Creek was dredged, which constitutes ‘artificial accretion’, meaning a man made change in the shoreline. As evidenced by this same map, docks may have been placed where this home currently sits on or prior to 1898. Since the home is not on Grant Lands and appears not to be on Public Trust Land, it can actually stay in the same place it is.

Not to get too obtuse but these maps (https://data.ngdc.noaa.gov/pla...) show the shorelines that appear to have moved since they were mapped. H00637 (1858) and H02412 (1898) and when overlayed on each other would seem to indicate that this house is located in an area where man made changes occurred to the shoreline. MHTL (1958) per CB 892 and OLWM (1898) per CB 892. Portion of CB 892 (Grant Map) is shown on the left. So essentially the first home on South dock is located outside the Grant Boundary. The owner, James Jonas, has notified City of Redwood City staff numerous times in both public comments made at City Council meeting and in written and verbal communications over a number of years.

If you follow the maps above, you can see that the areas of artificial accretion also include several outcroppings along the edges of Redwood Creek and therefore include at least another dozen homes. Using a map from 1858 (H00637) as used by the SLC map, a projection was made of potential non-Public Trust portions of Docktown. Although the State Lands Commission (SLC) has yet to provide its final conclusion in this area, it is reasonable to assume that any assertion that ALL of Docktown is on Public Trust lands is probably incorrect. The next step is for the official State Lands Surveyor to do his work; a process that will hopefully happen soon.

Interestingly enough, sea level rise is essentially a form of man made accretion (maybe a subject for a future post). The mud flats that Docktown sits on have in this manner in the last century experienced about eight inches of accretion.

Why the City of Redwood City City Council would settle a lawsuit based on some unconfirmed statements, and approve and begin to execute a plan to evict a community based on incomplete information is beyond irrational. We look forward to obtaining the results from the official State Lands surveyor and protecting the homes that still remain. Any further actions on the Docktown Plan should really be shelved until such a time as this information is confirmed one way or another.