Richard Beveridge Peter Murray Gregory Davis Peter Eastman v. Steven H. Lewis City of Santa Barbara

This case asks whether federal law regulating navigation, waterways, and harbors preempts and thus renders invalid a Santa Barbara city ordinance forbidding the anchoring or mooring of boats in a specified area during certain months of the year. The plaintiffs are owners of such boats and seek a judgment declaring the ordinance an invalid attempt by local government to regulate in an area preempted by the federal government. The district court found that the Ports and Waterways Safety Act of 1972 and related regulations did not preempt the ordinance. We affirm because federal regulations neither implicitly preempt nor actually conflict with the ordinance.

I.FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In 1984 the city of Santa Barbara enacted a municipal ordinance, Santa Barbara Municipal Code § 17.13.020, which states, in pertinent part:

The plaintiffs are owners of boats moored or anchored within that one-half mile of the easterly edge of Stearns Wharf and within the city limits. For many years vessels have moored or anchored east of the wharf, apparently without regulation by the city. The waters east of the wharf are entirely outside the harbor lines of the Santa Barbara harbor, which…