416 



with metropolitan or regional planning authority, while section 701 

 provides for such planning grants (V-3-6). In addition, section 3c 

 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended (33 U.S.C. 

 466) , allocates funds for water quality management planning studies 

 to local or State planning agencies designated by the Governor. Plan- 

 ning grants of this kind such as the one recently awarded to the Bay 

 Conservation and Development Commission through the State of Cali- 

 fornia to curb San Francisco Bay pollution are designed to seek solu- 

 tions on a basinwide basis to reconcile the conflicting interests of 

 polluters and other water users. 



In local-State coordination, the codes of towns such as Westport and 

 Brookhaven, N.Y., require that local officials approve permits for 

 estuarine filling only after consulting with State officials. Planning 

 studies by private organizations can be very helpful in establishing 

 estuarine management programs. The Belle Baruch Foundation, for 

 example, aided a survey study of Atlantic coast wetlands which exten- 

 sively mapped and evaluated the legal aspects of their ownership 

 (V-3-7). The conservation foundation has also shown how new and 

 imaginative planning and design techniques can be applied to preserve 

 and develop Rookery Bay in Florida (V-3-8). This study illustrates 

 the feasibility of a multipurpose estuarine conservation and develop- 

 ment plan using the efforts of both public and private sources. Imple- 

 mentation of this study, however, has been delayed by the reluctance 

 of local officials to adopt a resolution endorsing the development objec- 

 tives and general recommendations of the plan. 



PUBLIC EDUCATION 



Although programs to educate and inform the public are of great 

 value, they are rarely found at the local level. One significant exception 

 is the training of marine technicians by the city of San Diego, Calif. 

 But on the whole there have been few local studies to guide developers 

 in cost reduction by better planning of land and water use, or to 

 acquaint developers with the benefits of open space. 



Section 3. Problems and Failures 



Having briefly enumerated the management tools that local govern- 

 ments could employ for rational estuarine development, this section 

 will evaluate the reasons why local governments' failures in this area 

 outweigh their successes, recognizing at the same time that the record 

 of the State and the Federal Governments has also been disappointing. 



LEGAL PROBLEMS 



The confused legal situation is a direct cause of the failure of local 

 government in preventing uncontrolled growth in the estuaries. Di- 

 vided ownership, disputed titles, unresolved public-use rights, and 

 varying State, Federal, and local laws considerably complicate the 

 attempt to achieve planned land-water management. 



There is an urgent need for court clarification of such essential ques- 

 tions as : The definition of tidelands and territorial waters ; can they be 

 sold ? What is the extent of public-use rights in privately owned land ? 



