Stephanie Showalter, J.D./M.S.E.L.

On May 18, 2008, the Alabama Legislature passed a resolution (H.J.R. 656) establishing a Waterfront Access Study Committee. The resolution was a result of efforts by the Alabama Working Waterfront Coalition, a group of working waterfront stakeholders facilitated by Auburn University Marine Extension and Research Center/ Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium. The Committee, which includes representatives from the state legislature, state and federal agencies, the commercial and recreational fishing industry, local government, and other relevant sectors, will “study the degree of loss and potential loss of the diversity of uses along the coastal shoreline of Alabama and how these losses impact access to the public trust waters of the state.” The Committee will be chaired by the director of the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Program.
 
     The Legislature charged the Committee with five specific tasks:

• Gather information about local land-use management and zoning, current shore­ ­ line de­ ve­ lop­ ment trends, and local tax rates, in­ cluding tax assessment trends for shoreline properties.
• Collect research and in­ formation from Alabama and other states and jurisdictions re­ garding incentive-based techniques and management tools used to preserve waterfront diversity.
• Assess the applicability of such tools and techniques to the coastal shorelines of Alabama.
• Prepare a draft report with a statement of the issues, a summary of the research, and recommendations to address issues of diversity of waterfront use and access in Alabama.
• Hold at least three public meetings to present the draft report and recommendations to the public and user groups.

       The Committee’s final report is due in 2010. An interim report is due at the beginning of the Legislature’s 2009 Regular Session. North Carolina formed a similar waterfront access study committee in 2007. That committee’s final report containing twenty-seven recommendations for the North Carolina legislature is available at http://www.ncseagrant.org/files/WASC_FINAL_web.pdf .