V-161 



SECTION 4. SELECTED INTERLOCAL COASTAL MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS 



SAN FRANCISCO BAY CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION 



San Francisco Bay vividly illustrates the problems and promises of 

 comprehensive estuarine management. Alarmed by this shrinking and 

 polluted bay, the California Legislature in 1965 created the San 

 Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC). 

 The Act provided for a 27-member commission representing all 

 elements of government including the cities and counties. It 

 declared that: "The present uncoordinated, haphazard manner in 

 which San Francisco is being filled threatens the Bay itself 

 and is, therefore, inimical to the welfare of both present and 

 future residents of the area surrounding the Bay" (V-3-11). 



The BCDC was directed to make a detailed study of the Bay and to 

 prepare a comprehensive and enforceable plan for its conservation 

 and the development of its shoreline (V-3-12). It was given the 

 power to protect the Bay during the study and planning period by 

 issuing or denying, after public hearings, permits for all fill 

 or excavation projects. 



The BCDC study documented the deteriorating conditions and com- 

 plex problems of the Bay. In 1850, before extensive diking and 

 filling had begun, the Bay comprised about 680 square miles. 

 Presently, it is 400 square miles in area. Further, if all 

 relatively shallow parts of the Bay were filled, as planned by 



