Welcome to the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission

The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) is a California state planning and regulatory agency with regional authority over the San Francisco Bay, the Bay’s shoreline band, and the Suisun Marsh. BCDC was created in 1965 and is the nation’s oldest coastal zone agency.

Its mission is to protect and enhance San Francisco Bay and to encourage the Bay’s responsible and productive use for this and future generations. State law requires sponsors of projects that propose to fill or extract materials from the Bay to apply for a BCDC permit. In addition to minimizing any fill required for an appropriate project and ensuring that the project is compatible with the conservation of Bay resources, BCDC is tasked with requiring maximum feasible public access within the Bay’s 100-foot shoreline band. Throughout its existence, BCDC has approved projects worth billions of dollars, and the Commission continues to work closely with all applicants – private and public – from a project’s initial stages to ensure that they comply with state law. In addition, the Commission leads the Bay Area’s ongoing multi-agency regional effort to address the impacts of rising sea level on shoreline communities and assets. Its authority is found in the McAteer-Petris Act, the San Francisco Bay Plan, and other special area plans and laws and policies.

What's New

• Descriptive Notice for Proposed San Francisco Bay Plan Amendment No. 1-17 Concerning Amendment of Various Sections of the Bay Plan to Address Bay Fill in Habitat Projects, Associated Natural Resource and Dredging Policies, Protection of Shorelines and, Potentially, the Public Access Policies
• Descriptive Notice for Proposed San Francisco Bay Plan Amendment No. 2-17 Concerning Amendment of Various Sections of the Bay Plan to Address Social Equity and Environmental Justice and to Add An Environmental Justice Section with New Findings and Policies
• New State of California scientific projections for Rising Sea Level
• BCDC’s explanation of its recently-filed Complaint against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regarding its planned 2017 Operations and Maintenance dredging program in San Francisco Bay
• BCDC’s Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regarding its planned 2017 Operations and Maintenance dredging program in San Francisco Bay (San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission v. United States Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Case No. 3:16 cv-05420, filed September 22, 2016)
• Staff Report on the Final Recommendations from the Commissioner Workshop Series on Rising Sea Levels
• San Francisco Chronicle supports BCDC’s new rising sea level policies
• Chair Zack Wasserman's comments on BCDC’s expanding role in adapting to rising sea level