Planning for rising sea levels: what planners need to know about the public trust doctrine

Methods that coastal planners will surely use to help their communities adapt to these changes will be updating comprehensive plans, development policies, and future land use maps to reflect the predicted changes in the coastline. Some planners from coastal cities and states have already begun to make these changes. For instance, in Maryland, the Living Shoreline program is set up to allow coastal areas to adapt to sea level rise by moving wetlands and coastal uses inland as oceans rise (EPA, 2010). In California, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) has already begun planning how sea level rise will impact low-lying parcels (BCDC, 2010). The U.S. Environment Protection Agency has also established a database of coastal vulnerability and adaption tools to serve as a clearinghouse for other jurisdictions that want to start planning for sea level rise (EPA, 2010). The planning process will no doubt have a positive impact on coastal areas' resiliency and adaptability to sea level rise. This Planning Advisory Service (PAS) Report urges coastal planners -in addition to using traditional planning tools- to consider legal doctrines and tools that will help communities adapt to sea level rise equitably and efficiently. The most significant legal doctrine that will help planners in this process is the public trust doctrine which provides that state governments own all coastal submerged land and any coastal land that is affected by the tides. To accomplish this goal, this PAS Report will first describe in Part II how two regions are planning and preparing for sea level rise. These two case studies will be used to emphasize how the public trust doctrine can complement and assist local government efforts to efficiently adapt to sea level rise. Next, in Part III, this PAS Report will -in planner-friendly terms- explain the public trust doctrine and how it is applied by the courts in response to changing environmental and land use circumstances. Part IV will demonstrate how the doctrine will be useful to planners and governments as they plan their communities' response to sea level rise. Lastly, in Part V, this PAS Report will consider the obstacles that may face planners and local governments if they use the public trust doctrine.Master of City and Regional Plannin