Grandfather Docktown!

Tonight the action on the Inner Harbor Plan moves to the City Council where our argument is that Redwood City should petition State Lands to grandfather Docktown the same way that BCDC grandfathered floating communities at Mission Creek in San Francisco and Barnhill Marina in Alameda.

Some people in the city had declared us dead. But task force members who spoke eloquently for Doctown and a new proposal from Orlene Chartain for pockets of Floating Homes along the creek drew as many votes as the plan to create a new floatng community at Ferrrai’s, and pushed the creek option back on the table.
  
This is consistent with public comments at the meetings, and the public workshop where a Floating Community was the most popular land use cited.

“There is a general consensus among participants that value Docktown. Community members have a deep attachment to that area and the community within it," wrote the consultant who described the meeting.  "Participants would like to see additional floating homes and live aboard options.  (http://www.grandfatherdocktown.com/?p=1)

The city's own general plan talks about the value of Docktown as an alternative, affordable source of housing, and also points to a BCDC policy of grandfathering houseboats on the bay prior to 1985.

In light of precedence and community sentiment we are proposing a resolution with the following points:

1- WHEREAS: Redwood Harbor which became Docktown was established in 1960, and has always had liveaboard residents; and
2- WHEREAS: liveaboards, houseboats, and floating homes have continued to proliferate since that time with the knowledge of the City, which continued to accept rent monies from the Marina operators for the use of Redwood Creek through the beginning of 2013, and
3-WHEREAS: the City’s General Plan EIR adopted in 2010 speaks to the continued existance of, and support for, floating communities in Redwood City, and 
4- WHEREAS: the same document refers to the Bay Conservation and Development Commision (BCDC ) policy of grandfathering all houseboats that were on the Bay prior to 1985 as a guiding principle for the future of Docktown, and
5 - WHEREAS: BCDC policies allowed the grandfathering of Floating Communities at Barnhill in Alameda and Mission Creek in San Francisco, which actions were never challenged by SLC even though the land grants did not include residences as an allowable use. 
 
5 - WHEREAS: the opinions from the State Attorney General’s called “Public Trust Policy,” and  Public Trust Doctrine,”  now used by SLC  to define their responsibilities with regard the Public Trust, were not adopted until 2001, long after the floating community at Docktown existed,  

6 - It is hereby RESOLVED that the city of Redwood City petition the State Lands Commission to standardize policies for Grandfathering houseboats and floating communities consistent with BCDC policies and SLC history, and grandfather DocktownMarina at its present location on Redwood Creek.
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notes

1 “Boating Days Here.” Redwood City Tribune Apr. 21, 1960; aerial photos from USGS on Middlefield Rd Menlo Park

2 Redwood City Tribune Jan 1, 1965 photo and  caption of christening of houseboat;  “Residents of Docktown Marina a Breed Apart, “Peninsula Times, Feb 16, 1981;, contracts between the city and Docktown Inc; Sorba letter to the City Council on the Adroveno case; City committee meetings on Docktown.

3 - http://www.redwoodcity.org/phed/planning/eir/pdf/gp/4.9_Land_Use.pdf pg 4.9-17

 4 http://www.redwoodcity.org/phed/planning/eir/pdf/gp/4.9_Land_Use.pdf pg 4.9-17

5 http://www.slc.ca.gov/Granted_Lands/Granted_Lands_Main.html

http://archives.slc.ca.gov/Meeting_Transcripts/2011_Documents/09-01-11_Transcripts.pdf

Much more background information is available at http://www.grandfatherdocktown.com