Formalizing State Authority Over Tidelands

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published February 17, 2009 at 12:36 PM PST

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

A San Diego legislator has introduced a bill that would require state approval for any proposed development on tidelands operated by the Port of San Diego. KPBS Environment Reporter Ed Joyce has deta

A San Diego legislator has introduced a bill that would require state approval for any proposed development on tidelands operated by the Port of San Diego. KPBS Environment Reporter Ed Joyce has details.

The legislation is sponsored by Senator Christine Kehoe and would mandate that any development proposed for port land be considered by the State Lands Commission and the California Coastal Commission.

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The bill would prohibit any changes to the Port's master plan through the ballot box by city, county or district referendums.

Voters could only change the master plan through a statewide initiative.

Kehoe says the bill would protect coastal areas for recreation and industry since it clears up any questions about the state's authority in regulating public tidelands in the port district.

A failed ballot measure last November sought to change the port's master plan to allow a 40-foot-tall deck over the 10th Avenue Marine Terminal for a sports stadium or other development.

Port officials, the city, the Navy and the most of San Diego's state and federal legislative delegation were opposed to the measure, saying that it threatened cargo jobs.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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