Balancing shoreline interests
MASSACHUSETTS is known as the Bay State for good reason.
Those who live, work, and vacation here owe much to the natural beauty of harbors, bays, rivers, wetlands, and ponds, and these riches must be protected by all of us -- the caretakers for future generations.
Last week, the House of Representatives passed legislation that recasts how we should approach the economic development and environmental questions regarding the shoreline.
Though the Senate and Governor Deval Patrick have slightly differing views, we urge them to join on to our compromise -- which, more than other drafts, strikes the delicate balance between encouraging the robust building boom Boston is experiencing with the environmental protections that our land -- and citizens -- demand.
In February, the Supreme Judicial Court forced this debate by ruling that the Department of Environmental Protection did not have the authority to apply a streamlined permitting policy for tidelands that have been filled in and were landlocked by a public way, exempting them from a full licensing review even though they remain covered by the tidelands law, Chapter 91.
The court decision created uncertainty in the licensing process and gave the Legislature 120 days to validate the regulations or to change them. We accepted this as a challenge to improve the process and give more input to communities impacted by development.
We created a compromise that gives the governor a clearer path for permitting projects and provides the public with a powerful new independent voice in the process. As is necessary for general laws, the House bill looks beyond the immediate problems and establishes a framework for decision-making that will consider the public interest for all future decisions.
This bill builds on the centuries-old legal concept known as the public trust doctrine, which protects public access along the waterfront for the benefits of "fishing, fowling, and navigation." Today, however, public benefit encompasses not just open space, environmental protections, impact on the surrounding community, and improvements to the property but also housing, commerce, and economic development. Broadly defining public benefit ensures that the public interest is considered in each significant waterfront development.
Establishing an office whose sole responsibility is to determine fairly and independently the public benefit in waterfront development protects the interests of all Massachusetts citizens to enjoy the state's shoreline. That is exactly what this bill has done.
Simultaneous with the DEP and Massachusetts Environmental Protection Act review, the bill would allow a newly established director of Tidelands and Great Ponds, as guardian of the "public trust," to review the public benefits of the development. This would include the impact on the neighborhood and the benefits to commerce such as leases, easement payments, and town or city permits.
Following public input and staff investigation, the director would send a report to DEP that would become part of the record.
The intent is to give the public more access to agency decision-making. This would help protect the environment and improve the quality of development of tidelands. The new director and staff would help supplement an understaffed DEP and help them make better decisions, not supplant DEP authority.
Our bill also guarantees title certainty for developers and owners in the more than 4,000 acres of land -- three-quarters of which is in Boston -- that was thrown into doubt by the SJC decision.
There are many ways to address a particular problem. The House has taken its course, and we look forward to continuing to work with the Senate and Governor Patrick in making the best possible law to protect our tidelands. Massachusetts has an opportunity to show the rest of the nation that we can balance protection of the priceless natural resources with the powerful market forces that continue to attract businesses, people, and tourists here.
We believe that with increased public benefits discussion, Massachusetts will be able to do an even better job of keeping our legacy as the Bay State.
Frank Smizik, of Brookline, represents the 15th Norfolk District and is House chairman of the Committee on the Environment, Natural Resources, and Agriculture. Salvatore F. DiMasi, of the North End, represents the Third Suffolk District and is speaker of the House. 
