415 



regulated by ordinances, such as the Los Angeles ocean-submerged 

 lands ordinance, which sets forth detailed criteria for stnio.tnres, 

 spacing, and operations affecting estuarine development (V-3-5). 

 To regulate dredging or fills, permits may specify that certain 

 requirements be met; for example, the developer must dedicate a cer- 

 tain portion of his shoreland for parks, pay a fee for the increased 

 value, or fill certain designated areas; he may also be required to 

 provide for the right of public access. Detailed conditions are often 

 contained in dredging permits, because this sensitive operation may 

 cause irreversible physical and biological harm to estuaries. 



FINANCIAL INDUCEMENTS 



Local tax policies serve as financial inducements for private owners 

 to conserve their estuarine land by giving them more favorable terms 

 than the standard ad valorem assessment of real property. Preferential 

 assessment of land — evaluation at actual or current use rather than the 

 fair market or development value — is one such technique. A second is 

 deferred taxation, by which taxes are held back until the land is con- 

 verted to a higher use. Grants or subsidies by local governments to the 

 landowner so that he may pay his property tax have also been proposed 

 as a form of rental payment to induce him to keep his land open. 



ZONING 



Land use controls, especially zoning, are employed by most local 

 governments, although their effectiveness is being increasingly ques- 

 tioned. Zoning, or districting by permissible use, varies widely from 

 locality to locality. Some zoning tools are use lists, density standards, 

 and, recently, performance standards (locating according to opera- 

 tional characteristics). Critics of this use-classification approach 

 charge that it is unsatisfactory for land conservation purposes because 

 it is either too rigid or allows for too many exceptions and variances. 

 More imaginative and flexible approaches, however, such as cluster 

 zoning, planned-unit development, and new-town zoning generally 

 provide for open-space planning and allow greater land protection. 



Another land-use measure is subdivision control, which requires the 

 developer to allocate a specified portion of his land project for open 

 space or parks. A recent example of creative use of this tool is the 

 West Islip, Long Island, N.Y., residential builder who dedicated one- 

 half of his land as a wildlife refuge. Finally, flood-plain lines can be 

 established to protect against construction of houses, while specifica- 

 tion of bulkhead lines for private tidelands can greatly limit dredging 

 and filling. 



PLANNING AND COORDINATION 



Planning by local governments for orderly development and bal- 

 anced usage of estuaries has generally been lacking. Presently, how- 

 ever, there are several possible means of increasing planning coordi- 

 nation at the local level. Section 204 of the Demonstration Cities and 

 Metropolitan Development Act of 1966, as amended, provides that 

 Federal grants for sewage treatment, hospitals, water supply, and 

 transportation should be submitted for review to an areawide agency 



