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said city, or its successors, may grant franchises thereon for limited periods for wharves <br />and other public purposes7” <br /> <br />Docktown Today <br />Docktown Marina, which sits on the above-mentioned granted lands, has been the home to <br />“live-aboard” watercrafts for over 50 years. It has evolved into a Redwood City community, with <br />longtime residents and naturally affordable housing. The City took over management of <br />Docktown Marina in 2013 when its private operator gave notice to terminate the permit under <br />which it operated. Since taking over operations, the City has been in constant communication <br />with State Lands Commission staff to determine whether residential use was allowed on granted <br />lands. Recently, the State Lands Commission waived Attorney-Client privilege, and released an <br />informal opinion from the Attorney General’s Office. This letter informed the City that, despite <br />the fact that live-aboard vessels have been located at Docktown for decades, private residential <br />uses are in in violation of the City’s granting statute and Public Trust Doctrine. The letter from <br />the Attorney General’s Office is attached to this report. <br /> <br />ANALYSIS <br /> <br />As noted above, in January of this year, the State Lands Commission advised the City through <br />an informal opinion by the Attorney General’s Office that residential uses at Docktown Marina <br />are inconsistent with the State Lands Grant issued to the City. The informal opinion opined that <br />private residential use is inconsistent with the Public Trust Doctrine. Also in January of this <br />year, the City settled litigation with a citizens group wherein the City agreed that, absent a <br />superseding public change in Commission policies related to Docktown or superseding action <br />by the Legislature to allow residential use in Docktown, the City would take formal action by <br />December 31, 2016 to adopt a Docktown Plan which is consistent with the informal opinion of <br />the Attorney General’s Office. <br />Based on Council direction given at Docktown-related Council meetings in 2015 and 2016, and <br />the timeline noted above, staff has been researching situations similar to Docktown to determine <br />if there is any precedent for allowing live-aboard watercrafts to remain at least for a limited <br />period of time despite conflicts with granting statutes (and the laws that support those granting <br />statutes). Unfortunately, the Docktown situation is rather unique, and there are no previous <br />situations that line up precisely with the circumstances at Docktown. <br />A situation in San Diego, however, is similar in many respects. In this case, the “DeAnza Point <br />Mobile Home Park” was located on filled State-granted lands. The mobile home park had <br />entered into a 50-year lease with the City of San Diego. The attached statute, adopted by the <br />Legislature and supported by the State Lands Commission in 1981, allowed the “DeAnza Point” <br />Mobile Home Park to stay on granted lands for an extended period of 32 years (1981-2003), <br />which was consistent with remaining time on the mobile home park lease. The statute was <br />adopted in an attempt to balance the hardship of relocating tenants with the public needs for <br />6.1.F. - Page 3