The Act was the first comprehensive coastal management law 
in the country. In the 2 0 years it has been in effect, it has 
worked remarkably well. This law instructs the Commission to 
balance the need to preserve the natural values of San Francisco 
Bay with the need to accommodate economic uses of the Bay. 
However, if there is an unavoidable conflict between those 
goals, preservation of the Bay predominates. 
The San Francisco Bay Plan establishes the policies that 
govern the Bay. The 1965 version of the Act charges the 
Commission with preparing a comprehensive plan for the Bay in 
three years. The resulting planning program involved consider¬ 
able research summarized in many technical reports. Some titles 
of these reports may give you some sense of the range of the 
investigation. 
(1) Geology of the Bay; 
(2) Mineral Resources of the Bay; 
(3) Sedimentation Aspects of the Bay; 
(4) Effect of the Bay on Climate; 
(5) Ecological Aspects of the Bay; 
(6) Tides of the Bay; 
(7) Water Pollution and the Bay; 
(8) Regional Organization for Bay Conservation and 
Development; 
(9) Municipal, State and Federal Programs Affecting the 
Bay; and 
(10) Air Transportation of the Bay. 
This is only a sample -- a number of other reports dealt 
with ownership, regulatory authority, recreation, public facili¬ 
ties, barrier proposals, safety of fills, surface transporta¬ 
tion, waterfront housing, waterfront industry, taxation, fund¬ 
ing, and similar matters that affect how the Bay is governed. 
Thus, both the McAteer-Petris Act and the Bay Plan address 
the Bay's resources from a number of points of view. Certainly 
preserving the Bay is the foremost priority in both the law and 
the Plan. Because there were several areas where information 
was lacking and because priorities and values change over time, 
the Legislature instructed the Commission to make a continuing 
review of all aspects of the Bay. Since 1969, the Bay Plan has 
been revised to reflect new information and to adopt new or 
changed policies. The most important planning efforts since 
1970 include the studies that led to the Suisun Marsh Protection 
Plan, the study on dredging in the Bay, the studies that led to 
the Richardson Bay Special Area Plan, the diked historic bay- 
lands study, and the Seaport Plan. In addition to a well 
written law and a comprehensive plan for the Bay, the Bay also 
enjoys strong judicial and public support. 
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