DATE: October 13, 2016
SUBJECT:
Title
RESOLUTION APPROVING MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CALIFORNIA STATE LANDS COMMISSION AND THE SAN DIEGO UNIFIED PORT DISTRICT REGARDING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A COLLABORATIVE MARINE PLANNING PARTNERSHIP FOR THE STATE-OWNED TIDELANDS AND SUBMERGED LANDS LOCATED IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN OFFSHORE SAN DIEGO COUNTY
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The purpose of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) (Attachment A) is to memorialize a collaborative partnership between the California State Lands Commission (Commission) and the San Diego Unified Port District (District) to effectively plan for use of the ocean space and to include local trustee grantee’s participation in management. The planning effort would include development of a pilot-scale marine decision-support framework and spatial analysis tool. The framework encompasses coastal waters off San Diego County in an area to be determined based on further discussions.
The value of Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning (CMSP) efforts has gained valuable recognition at the state and local levels and the pilot marine decision-support framework is anticipated to serve as a model for future co-management collaborations between the Commission and its local trustee grantees. For the District, the MOA provides the opportunity to have a “seat at the table” and a leading voice in the planning for coastal and ocean resources of which the District is both intimately familiar and invested. The marine spatial planning effort is consistent with, and supports, the District’s Integrated Planning Vision and Guiding Principles and goals of the District’s Compass Strategic Plan.
The Commission and the District will work together to develop a process to acquire and share comprehensive environmental baseline data, environmental analyses, impact assessments, conservation opportunities, socioeconomic research, and other information pertaining to the pilot planning area. This collaborative process will allow for scientifically-informed decision making while maintaining consistency with applicable state, federal, and local laws, regulations, and policies.
The MOA includes the Commission’s and the District’s commitment to transparent, robust public engagement during all phases of framework development. An objective of the MOA is to facilitate coordination between the Commission and the District to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy that would reduce the potential for conflict among various Public Trust consistent uses, resources, and values.
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Adopt a resolution approving the Memorandum of Agreement between the California State Lands Commission and the San Diego Unified Port District regarding the establishment of a marine planning partnership for the State-owned tidelands and submerged lands located in the Pacific Ocean offshore San Diego County.
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FISCAL IMPACT:
Funds for this item are included the FY16/17 approved budget in the Aquaculture & Blue Technology cost center under Services - Professional and Other, Marine Spatial Planning - Bay & Ocean for $100,000.
Compass Strategic Goals:
A collaborative partnership between the Commission and the District for CMSP will have substantial benefits related to law enforcement, economic development, and environmental protection through enhanced planning of ocean resources and local enforcement of laws and regulations. Local planning and management by the District has potentially significant economic benefits to the District and the State and greater environmental protection and improvement. The District is uniquely positioned to plan and manage ocean resources with the knowledge and expertise, flexibility to respond to the needs of planning, and the financial resources to devote to planning and development.
This agenda item supports the following Strategic Goal(s).
• A Port with a healthy and sustainable bay and its environment.
• A Port with a comprehensive vision for Port land and water uses integrated to regional plans.
• A financially sustainable Port that drives regional job creation and regional economic vitality.
DISCUSSION:
Background
Federal Context
In the coming decades, the state and nation will be facing a number of significant challenges on and in the Pacific Ocean. As the global population continues to grow there will be increased demand and pressure on coastal and ocean resources. Recognizing these challenges, on July 19, 2010, President Obama issued Executive Order 13547, “Stewardship of the Ocean, Our Coasts, and the Great Lakes.” The order adopts a National Ocean Policy to guide the federal government, with the participation of coastal states, tribes, and stakeholders, to protect, maintain, and restore the ecological health of the ocean, promote sustainable use of ocean and coastal resources, and strengthen coastal economies.
The Executive Order established a National Ocean Council and other elements of a new structure for organizing and coordinating the work of federal agencies responsible for ocean issues; identifies priorities for federal action; and creates a new federal Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning (CMSP) “framework for effective coastal and marine spatial planning that establishes a comprehensive, integrated, ecosystem-based approach to address conservation, economic activity, user conflict, and sustainable use of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes resources.”
The CMSP framework provides an opportunity to engage public stakeholders and take advantage of rapid advances in technology to respond to these challenges by creating transparency and certainty around the use of these valuable resources. The National Ocean Council identifies and defers to Regional Planning Bodes as the main planning entities for CMSP. Of special relevance to the Commission and the District planning effort, the Federal CMSP framework provides a “flexible approach [to] ensure[s] that each region can determine the benefits it wants to achieve and the process by which it does so.” Moreover, the San Diego region has a local representative on the National Ocean Council’s, Governance Coordinating Committee (GCC) through San Diego County Supervisor Greg Cox. Supervisor Cox is one of 18 members on the GCC who represents broad, diverse interests, regions, and people. The GCC serves as an independent body to advise and coordinate with the National Ocean Council on inter-jurisdictional collaboration and cooperation on the National Ocean Policy and related matters.
State and Local Context
For more than 50 years, the District has successfully managed the lands and water of the San Diego Bay that were entrusted to it by the Legislature in accordance with the Tidelands Trust. The economic development, environmental stewardship, and law and regulatory enforcement provided by the District have significantly benefited the public trust and the State of California. The Commission and the District have a mutual relationship, working together toward outcomes that benefit both parties and their constituents. A joint CMSP effort is a natural progression of this relationship and seeks to provide additional benefits to the public trust.
At its December 18, 2015 meeting, the Commission directed its staff to develop a framework to engage in a comprehensive, ecosystem-based, stakeholder driven pilot planning partnership with the District for state-owned tidelands and submerged lands located in the Pacific Ocean offshore San Diego County. This area includes seven Marine Protected Areas designated under the Marine Life Protection Act of 1999. Commission staff expects that this area would be the starting point for developing and refining the boundaries of the planning framework based on stakeholder input, selected planning sectors, scientific information, and other factors identified during the planning process (Attachment B). The final boundaries will be based on stakeholder input, selected resource use sectors, scientific information, and other factors identified during the process.
The planning effort recommended to be undertaken by the Commission and the District aligns with the marine conservation and resource management goals of the National Ocean Policy. While the Commission and the District will lead the San Diego process, it will include representative perspectives from federal, state, local, and tribal governments as well as non-governmental stakeholders. Selection of a localized goals and geographic boundary are also consistent with National Ocean Council guidance recommending planning bodies define the “scope, scale, and content of marine plans to solve problems that regions care about in ways that reflect their unique interests, capacity to participate, and ways of doing business.” This joint planning effort between the Commission and the District will differ from the traditional regional planning body process in its adherence to voluntary participation and adoption for all parties, rather than the compulsory implementation for federal agencies inherent in the outcome of the planning process.
Objectives
The Commission and the District anticipate the work product coming out of the MOA’s implementation is a planning document that will serve to inform the adaptive management of the state-owned tidelands and submerged lands in the Pacific Ocean within a geographic area offshore San Diego County. The parties do not intend for this effort to impact or otherwise usurp existing local, regional, state and federal regulatory authorities, jurisdiction, and processes.
The Commission and the District will collaborate to achieve the following objectives:
1. Develop a Pilot-Scale Marine Decision-Support Framework
a) Develop a multi-sector, spatially referenced, marine planning framework that takes into account the interests and needs of the Commission and the District to continue to champion, and balance, existing and emerging water-related commercial activities (“Blue Economy”) with environmental protection, ocean health, climate resiliency, and social equity.
b) Protect and enhance where feasible, cultural and biological resources, using the partnership to enhance awareness and dialogue around culturally and ecologically important marine resources.
2. Develop and Share a Spatial Analysis Tool
a) Facilitate streamlined evaluation and consideration of projects or activities in the planning area by creating a GIS-based spatial analysis tool that identifies the location of existing and emerging sectors, potential conflict areas, and areas of mutual benefit.
b) Encourage resource users to use the spatial analysis tool and accompanying data to help ensure proposed projects minimize conflict and maximize multi-sector co-benefits.
3. Develop a Pilot-Scale Framework for Local Trustee Grantee Participation in Management of Ocean Areas
4. Facilitate Stakeholder Engagement
a) Maximize transparency, collaboration, integration of best available science, and stakeholder participation to ensure development of a decision-support framework and spatial analysis tool that is relevant, balanced, and user-friendly.
Next Steps
If the Board approves the staff recommendation, the Commission and the District:
1. Will gather existing information from their respective institutions relevant to the pilot area and the resource sectors therein.
2. Will coordinate, share, and combine resources and data to support and prepare the decision-support framework and spatial analysis tool, while identifying and seeking to fill research gaps through a combination of outreach and new research efforts.
3. Perform outreach to federal, state and local agencies, Tribes, non-governmental organizations, industry, community organizations, utilities, universities, fishing interests, the military and other stakeholder groups to benefit the process of developing the decision-support framework.
4. May create and convene working groups comprised of the aforementioned stakeholders in order to share, create, and analyze resources and data to assist the development and preparation of the spatial analysis tool.
5. Will hold public meetings or use other public engagement techniques to achieve transparency, share process and tool development updates, and elicit input and feedback from the community, stakeholders, and the general public.
6. Will use best available science to inform process and tool development, and enlist a scientific peer-review of work products to ensure data-driven decision-making.
7. Will create and carry out an implementation plan for use of the developed decision-support framework and spatial analysis tool for resource management and lease authorizations.
General Counsel’s Comments:
The General Counsel’s Office has reviewed and approved the proposed MOA as to form and legality.
Environmental Review:
The draft MOA contemplates that the District and the Commission will cooperatively start discussing a potential plan to develop a pilot-scale marine decision-support framework; develop and share a marine spatial analysis tool; develop a pilot-scale framework for local trustee grantee participation in management of ocean areas; and to facilitate stakeholder engagement. Approval of the MOA does not constitute an “approval” of a “project” under the definitions set forth in California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Sections 15352 and 15378 because it would not result in any direct or indirect physical changes to environment, including without limitation, physical changes to the environment. It is the District’s interpretation of the draft MOA that no adoption of an ocean planning document (like a master plan) or development can or will occur until after environmental review is conducted under CEQA, which is the intent of the parties. Rather, the MOA, allows the District and Commission to gather information and start a discussion regarding potential planning efforts. Additionally, the District retains sole and absolute discretion to, among other things (i) prepare, adopt, or disapprove any CEQA analysis; (ii) adopt any and all feasible mitigation measures to lessen potentially significant environmental effects; (iii) modify the project, adopt any alternatives to the same, including the “no project” alternative, and adopt or refuse to adopt a Statement of Overriding Consideration, if applicable, in connection with the CEQA process. Pursuant to the MOA, the parties also agree that the agreement does not commitment either party to a specific course of action. Therefore, the Board still has the ability to reject or approve any formulated plan or project.
In addition, the proposed Board direction and actions allow for the District to implement its obligations under the Port Act and/or other laws, such as to further commerce, navigation and fisheries. The Port Act was enacted by the California Legislature and is consistent with the Public Trust Doctrine. Consequently, the proposed Board actions are consistent with the Public Trust Doctrine.
Finally, the proposed Board actions do not allow for “development” as defined in Section 30106 of the California Coastal Act, or “new development,” pursuant to Section 1.a. of the District’s Coastal Development Permit (CDP) Regulations. Therefore, issuance of a CDP or exclusion is not required at this time. However, prior to authorizing the construction, reconstruction, demolition, or alteration of any structure or improvement, issuance of a CDP will be required. The Board, in its sole and absolute discretion, has the authority to issue or deny a CDP for the Project, following its review and approval the EIR. No further action is required at this time.
Equal Opportunity Program:
Not Applicable.
PREPARED BY:
Jason Giffen
Assistant Vice President, Planning & Green Port
Job Nelson
Assistant Vice President, External Relations
Attachment(s):
Attachment A: Memorandum of Agreement between the California State Lands Commission and the San Diego Unified Port District regarding the establishment of a collaborative marine planning partnership for the state-owned tidelands and submerged lands located in the Pacific Ocean offshore San Diego County
Attachment B: California State Lands Commission meeting, February 9, 2016, Calendar Item 81: Informational Presentation on the framework for a partnership between the State Lands Commission and the San Diego Unified Port District to engage in a comprehensive, ecosystem-based, stakeholder driven pilot planning effort for state-owned tidelands and submerged lands located in the Pacific Ocean offshore San Diego County