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What Kinds of Uses can be on the Waterfront?

Tidelands Trust Uses

The waterfront area managed by the Port is called state public trust land. This land that must serve statewide, as opposed to purely local, public purposes. Public trust uses are generally limited to water-dependent or water-related uses including:

• Commerce
• Fisheries
• Navigation
• Environmental preservation
• Recreation

Examples of appropriate uses are:

• Ports, marinas, docks, wharves, and buoys;
• Hunting, commercial and sport fishing;
• Bathing, swimming, boating;
• Warehouses, container cargo storage, facilities for the production of oil and gas;
• Visitor serving facilities such as hotels, restaurants, shops and parking lots;
• Wildlife refuges, scientific study; and
• Open space

Uses not permitted on public trust lands are those not related to the list above, do not serve a public purpose, and can be located on non-waterfront property such as residential, non-maritime related commercial, including department stores, and certain office uses.

Links

For additional information on stewardship of state tidelands, please refer to the following documents:

• Public Trust Doctrine (PDF)
• California Tidelands: Land Held in Public Trust (PDF)