some time. we will return in 10 minutes.

>> we are going to reconvene and i am going to ask staff to go with item number 12. >> good afternoon, members of the commission and the public. i'm the superintendent of the parks and open spaces and i will be leading today's marina item and we will be joined by other team members for these projects.

the item before you is a discussion of possible action to prove to critical policies required for the operation of the san francisco small craft harbour rita. -- harbor marina. first is for the west basin and the second item is the approval of proposed rules and regulations for the operation of the harbor as amended by the committee on its april 5 meeting which will replace all existing goals, policies, and regulations. the marine harbour lands are bounded on the east and west. on the south by marina boulevard and by the san francisco pay. the marine has 671 births in the two basins and the east bay some, a.k.a. the gashouse.

the harbor is operated by the recreation and parks department. the management solution was granted in 1995 by the state of california with the stipulation is the hold in trust and use it for aquatics recreation and playground purposes. all uses, including those authorized by the legislature must take into account the overall principle of the trust doctrine. they are to be used from a public rather than an exclusive [unintelligible] the doctrine calls for broad public access to the tide line and the legislation therefore enhances the instrument of the lands that have historically been set apart for the public's benefit.

the essential obligation of the state's is to manage the tidelands in order to implement or facilitate those trusts for all of the people of the state of california. the recreation and parks commission and department have been engaged in a 10 year project in the operational policies for the effective management of the marine operation. the milestones can be easily identified starting with the inception of the renovation program followed by an audit of the marina by the comptroller's office and the year 2000 which recommended the condition conduct a careful examination of the marina's operational policies. prior to 2008, the san francisco harbor association drafted an addition to the testing rules which have been posted on the web site since that time. most recently, in 2010, the

commission approved the mixed designation in the capital projects at which time the department informed the commission of the timeline for the development of the policy as well as reinforce the commitment to revised rules and regulations in time for the repo population of the west basin. in november of 2011 as part of a city presentation and an annual harbor association meeting, the department initiated the community engagement progress and it has lasted six months since then. today's hearing marks a milestone in the 10 year journey on this matter. the first item is a review and discussion of the birthing assignment policy to be -- to determine the assignment of the births. this is the blueprint for the west basin which was repopulate

it after the renovation is completed. in particular, i would like to bring to your attention the priority berthing assignment plan that lays out the first priority to the current birth holders who have signed a new nursing license and accepted the newly adopted rules and regulations. the proposed rules and -- [unintelligible] short-term guests and waiting list of applicants have been determined as well. the proposed policy incorporates an opportunity to operate at the time of the birth selection and lastly, a clear and customer from the process has been outlined that extends opportunities to give the most preferred assignments based on seniority and the priority plan.

the policy includes a -- is included in the commission binder. unless there are any specific questions, i would like to continue to the next item. are there any questions? >> i don't see any. >> the next item is a discussion and review of new harbor rules and regulations which have generated a great deal of interest. much more so than the berthing assignment policy. charting the course toward a world-class marine operation are 6 into and out comes. first and foremost is protecting the exposure to risk and liabilities. toward that end, that commission

and the assessment of its existing rules and regulations which included in the binder as attachment d identifies witnesses particularly in regard to the liability and other risk exposures. equally important to protecting the marina is providing broad public access to the marina. this is an intentional walk, in accordance with the overarching principle of the public trust doctrine as a reference to in that legislation. public access to california's navigational waterways and the coastline and amenities is a shared overarching principle by government agencies including the city and county of san francisco, the california department of boating and waterways and the san francisco bay conservation commission.

we continue by following the findings and recommendations by the comptroller's report which calls for adherence to industry standards and the recognition of standards by the significantly upgraded marina. in order to incorporate these standards, the department consulted a professionally recognize the international benchmark publication known as the marine a manual. let there be no doubt it is the department's intention to align the practices with us public practices to create the right environment or re -- and enhance their recreational experience. to that end, the department examined references to local government agencies with in the marine operations by the california department of boating and waterways. this was an important consideration since they fund

the loans for the west basin renovation and the loan conditions. lastly, the department secured the services of an independent consulting firm as an alternative to engage the public and stakeholders and a constructive policy dialogue to explore the issues and this still conflicting viewpoints. the intended outcome was for the rules and regulations irresponsive and consider all stakeholders. at this time, i would like to ask the lead consultant to join me in continuing to describe the stakeholder feedback process which is one of six milestones toward the new marine operation. >> a good afternoon.

i'm mark murphy. i am an independent consultant their recreation and parks department hired to stand between the state court communities and recreation and parks to collect feedback over the progress that has been going on for some time. in defining these takeover community, i want to lay them out so that you understand the stakeholders or the harbor association, those people on the weightless currently, those people in the west and east basin, the to yacht clubs, the marina neighborhood association , the people who live proximate to the marina. the department of boating and waterways, the short-term voters and those who are transient voters, the public at large, and that was the stakeholder community we engaged.

the result of this work is included in your commission binder as attachment f. over the past number of months, we had two meetings attended by approximately 550 people in both meetings. in an effort to get to that many people, we reached out to and have about 3000 e-mail addresses and mailing addresses so we let people know in two different ways. we also publicized in two different publications and in our best efforts to reach the most people we could in the largest number of audiences. the feedback we got -- just so you have an idea of what we did receive was approximately 425 different e-mail. we set up a specific address so

people could provide their candid, confidential feedback. we received about 400 males that resulted in a zero about 400 unique comments. we took comments from the community meetings, we had people sitting at tables and collected all of the meeting notes from every single table at the evening. we had comment cards that we collected from that and that public feedback and captured all of the notes from that. as part of that committee feedback process, the committee asked for a 1 month extension. that took place in moving the meeting back from march 10 as a

result of the feedback. as you will hear, there are three key areas of feedback provided by the community. subleasing, transfers, and breathing license. the community was very clear and voters were clear they did not want to lose control of the revenue opportunities they currently have. from a transfer perspective, the voters were concerned about the ability to transfer a berth from themselves to someone else upon the sale of a boat. the financial hardship that would take place if transfers were not allowed any further. from the perceived ownership of a birth, the change of any contractual agreement for a license to something else was of concern to the voters in the

community. some final comments are want to share our the very beginning of the process, it was clear the community said we want you to move and we want to get it done. the marina is going to get done and every net it -- the america's cup is coming so please move. i must share after the first draft of rules and regulations were presented to the community, and there was a bit of a 180 and the community said stop, slowdown, what are you doing and why we have to move so quickly. other feedback that came back strongly was it asked for the department to please and forced the existing rules and regulations, talking about a lot of history. the voters said please startby