Littoral Development Co. v. San Francisco Bay Conservation & Development Commission

In order to protect San Francisco Bay from further environmental degradation through filling and development, the Legislature created the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), and gave BCDC jurisdiction over all areas of the bay subject to “tidal action”—which for purposes relevant here the Legislature defined in Government Code section 66610. This statute specifically defined San Francisco Bay, for purposes of BCDC jurisdiction and as here pertinent, as including all sloughs; “marshlands’’ extending from a seaward line of “mean high tide” of the bay to a landward line five feet above mean sea level; “tidelands” lying between mean high tide and mean low tide; and “submerged lands” lying below mean low tide.

Section 66610 also conferred jurisdiction to BCDC over a “shoreline band.” That band is measured 100 feet landward of and parallel with the shoreline of San Francisco Bay. BCDC contends that the “shoreline” of San Francisco Bay, comprising the seaward boundary of the 100-foot “shoreline band” under its jurisdiction, is coterminous with the level of the highest tide recorded since 1965, when BCDC was formed. In this case, it has sought to…