Development charges are fees or taxes imposed 

 on an owner by Government as a condition for 

 permitting the owner to develop his land, or as a 

 tax on the privilege. Measurement of the charge 

 might take one of two forms with respect to 

 coastal land: a value increase charge measured by 

 some portion of the difference of value in the land 

 before and after the permit issuance; or a fill fee 

 measured by some amount per acre filled or per 

 cubic yard of fill placed in a water area. As 

 suggested by the San Francisco Bay Conservation 

 and Development Commission, the money re- 

 ceived from such charges might be used to 

 purchase areas that should never be filled because 

 of special importance, such as wildlife habitats, to 

 buy areas behind existing dikes, or to open up 

 areas to the coastal waters and to improve ecolog- 

 ical conditions in some areas, such as by creating 

 new marshlands.' "* 



5. State-Wide Land-Use Zoning or Regulations 



Traditionally, local governments exercise au- 

 thority to regulate land uses in the United States. 

 There has been little use of the States' power to 

 regulate land uses such as to preserve open space, 

 but as pointed out by the Department of Housing 

 and Urban Development,"" indications exist of 

 growing interest in the use of State regulatory 

 powers. 



Generally, this use for open space has been 

 limited to land use adjacent to highways. Connec- 

 ticut has adopted State-wide zoning regulations of 

 flood plains. The Wisconsin "shoreland zoning 

 regulation" sets standards for county zoning of 

 unincorporated areas to prevent and control water 

 pollution, protect aquatic life, and preserve natural 

 beauty. The State must adopt its own ordinance in 

 any counties that fail to meet the minimum State 

 standards."" Only Hawaii has legislation requir- 

 ing the State to adopt State-wide zoning. 



The Institute of Government, University of North 

 Carolina, reports one instance of a private owner ex- 

 pressing willingness to create a spoil bank, grading it to 

 proper elevation, and planting local marsh grass, to 

 provide more marsh than would be destroyed in dredging 

 a small navigation channel along the shore in front of his 

 property. See Heath, "State Programs for Estuarine Area 

 Conservation," Report to the North Carolina Estuarine 

 Study Committee, April 1968. 



109 



Department of Housing and Urban Development, 

 "Open Space for Urban America," 1965. 



""wise. Stats., §§59.971, 144.26 (Supp., Vol. 3, 

 1965). 



C. Establishment of Bulkhead Lines 



Although the Corps of Engineers is empowered 

 to regulate dredging and filling for any improve- 

 ment to navigable waters, the States and local 

 governments may require permits for such work 

 in addition to those issued by the Corps under the 

 Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899." ' 



One regulatory technique upheld by some State 

 courts has been the establishment of bulkhead 

 lines, by which the States regulate filling and 

 reclamation of privately owned tidelands,' ' ^ par- 

 ticularly where the filling might interfere with 

 navigation. Florida has made a series of amend- 

 ments to its criteria for dredging and filHng 

 permits,* ' ^ and now requires that, before a 

 bulkhead line is located, local authorities must 

 first obtain a biological survey, ecological study, 

 and, if deemed necessary, a hydrographic survey 

 from the State Board of Conservation. The Board 

 has issued a circular containing guides for evalu- 

 ating marine productivity and adopting standards 

 for waterfront development. Until such studies are 

 completed, the Trustees of the Internal Trust 

 Fund, who administer the statute, have placed a 

 State-wide moratorium on dredging and filling. 

 Recommended removal of the moratorium in nine 

 counties has been the subject of recent contro- 

 versy within the State. 



Florida once actively encouraged reclamation 

 of tidelands by private interests, but now has 

 elaborate conservation criteria written into its 

 statutes. Among the considerations: potential 

 interference with riparian rights; impediment to 

 navigation, interference with conservation of nat- 

 ural resources, with findings as to potential harm 

 to specific types of marine life or marine habitat. 

 Dredging beyond bulkhead lines is only to be 

 permitted for navigation channels, installation of 

 utilities, shore protection work, or after conclusive 

 determination that the dredging or filling will not 

 harm marine life, marine habitat, or natural 

 shoreline processes. This last requirement has yet 

 to be defined by the courts. 



^^^ Sec Cummingsv. Illinois. 188 U.S. 410, 431 (1902). 



"^See, e.g., Gies v. Fischer, 146 So. 2d 361, 362 

 (1962). 



"^Florida Laws 1963, ch. 63-512; Laws 1967, ch. 

 67-393, §§2-9 (Fla. Stats. Ann., §§253.122-135, Supp. 

 1968). 



111-127 



