HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/14/1966 Item #I-16CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH
CITY ATTORNEY
�TMENT
To: The Honorable Mayor and �1
Members of the City Council p 0.
From: City Attorney HL
Subject: Balboa Angling Club lease
c S nj
November 9, 1966
By letter dated September 22, 1966, the Balboa Angling Club has
requested the City Council for an extension of the existing lease
covering the Club s facilities at the foot of "A" Street adjacent
to the bay in Balboa for an additional ten -year term. The letter
was referred to this office for a report on any legal issues
which might arise from the fact that a portion of the property
under lease is tidelands.
The original lease was approved by the City Council on April 28,
1947, for a term of ten years. On October 24, 1955, the City Coun-
cil extended the lease for an additional term of ten pears, com-
mencing May 1, 1957, and ending on April 30, 1967. The property
under lease is described as follows:
All that land within the northerly prolongation of A
Street, as shown upon a map of Balboa Tract, recorded in
Map Book 4, page ll, records of Orange County, California,
and lying between the northerly line of Bay Avenue, as
shown upon said map and the pierhead line as established
by United States Government Engineers.
The lease contains a finding by the City Council that the leasing
of the lands consisting of State - granted tidelands and City -owned
uplands to the Angling Club is not inconsistent with the terms of
the trust under which the tidelands were granted to the City.
The lease also contains a statement that it is the intention of
the Angling Club to construct a building on the leased land which
will be used together with the surrounding land for educational,
civic and recreational purposes and will be generally offered to
the public for recreational, civic and educational purposes.
In view of the fact that
an increased interest in
have been administering
legislation which could
field, it would seem to
gations with respect to
lands.
the State Legislature has recently shown
the manner in which local governments
State - granted tidelands and has proposed
drastically alter State policies in this
be desirable to examine the City's obli-
the use and administration of its tide-
Tot The Honorable Mayor and
Members of the City Council -2-
L
November 9, 1966
The Legislature has conveyed tidelands to the City in three sepa-
rate statutory grants which are summarized as follows:
Statutes of 1919 - Cha ter 4'
an su merge an s w n t.
the City, situated below the
border upon and are in front
at the time of the grant and
may thereafter acquire.
a4 - conveys those tidelands
ie then existing boundaries of
line of mean high tide, which
of uplands owned by the City
such other uplands as the City
Statutes of 1927 - Chapter 70 - conveys tidelands and sub-
merged an s bordering upon, in and under Newport Bay, situ-
ated below the line of mean high tide, not previously granted
to the City or the County of Orange.
Statutes of 1929 - Cha ter 813 - conveys tidelands, filled
lands lying within e City lim its, and bordering upon, in
and under the Pacific Ocean, not previously granted the City
or the County of Orange.
Each of the above mentioned grants contains the following statement
of purposes for which the lands may be useds
"Said lands shall be used by said city and by its.succes-
sors solely for the establishment, improvement and conduct
of a harbor and for the establishment and construction of
bulkheads or breakwaters for the protection of lands
within its boundaries or for the protection of its harbor,
and for the construction, maintenance and operation thereon
of wharves, docks, piers, slips, quays, ways and streets,
and other utilities structures and appliances necessary
or convenient for tie promotion or accommodation of commerce
and navigation, and the protection of lands within said
city....
Each of the grants further provides; "That said city or its suc
cessors may grant franchises thereon for a period not exceeding
25 years (50 years in the 1929 grant) for wharves, and other public
uses and purposes, and may lease said lands or any part thereof for
limited periods, in any event not to exceed 25 years (50 years in
the 1929 grant) for any and all purposes which shall not interfere
with commerce or navigation and are not inconsistent with the
trusts upon which said lands are held by the State of California
or with the requirements of commerce or navigation at said harbor."
The question arises as to whether the use of the property by the
Angling Club is consistent with the terms of the trust. The letter
�T
•
Tot The Honorable Mayor and
Members of the City Council -3- November 9, 1966
signed by Robert W. Davis, President of the Angling Club, states'
that the Club has been active in various civic projects, including
sponsorship of the Annual Junior Fishing Tournament which is open
to all youngsters in the community; that the clubhouse is used as
a meeting place by various community organizations; that the Club
facilities are used during the Spring Summer and Fall for the
purpose of weighing game fish caught Ly the general public and
that no charge is made for this service.
Until 1959, most of the cases dealing with the subject of the ex-
tent of the use to which State - granted tidelands can be put involved
the use of tide and submerged lands for the development of large
ports and harbors, accommodating oceangoing vessels and commerce.
(Oakland, Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Dieggo). Some of the uses in
connection with such harbor development whic have been held to be
consistent with the trust are as follows:
Wharf and yacht clubhouse - Oakland v La Rue Wharf & Ware-
house Co. (1918), 179 Cal. 2 7 .
Extraction of minerals, oil, gas-and other hydrocarbons
when not done in such a manner as to "impede the use of the
harbor - City of Long Beach v. Marshall (1938), 11 C. 2d 609.
Warehouse constructed in furtherance of and in conformity
with the general scheme or plan devised for the improvement
of the harbor - City of Oakland v. Williams (1929), 206 Cal.
315.
Privato wharf not injurious to the harbor or an inconvenience
to commerce - Pacific Coast S S Co v Kimball (1896) 114'
Cal. 414 (Monterey); re0VLe v. Monstac kLVIUr, 209 Caf. 658
(Redondo Beach).
Convention, exhibition and banquet halls for use by trade,
shipping and commercial organizations - Ha ert v City
u�Oakl nd (1958), 161 C.A. 2d 407. (Does not nvo ve tidelands,
language of the City of Oakland charter which was
being considered by the Court is similar to the language con-
tained in the tidelands grants.)
The foregoing cases indicate
the Angling Club pursuant to
with the trust purposes cont,
THStmec
cc - City Manager
City Clerk
to me that the use of the property by
the terms of the lease is consistent
wined in the tideel�ands rants.
Tu11y At . Seymo
City torney