History
Founded in 1983, the Bay Planning Coalition (BPC) is a non-profit, membership-based organization representing public and private entities in the maritime industry and related shoreline businesses, ports and local governments, landowners, recreational users, labor unions, residential and commercial builders, environmental and business organizations, and professional service firms in engineering, construction, law, planning, and environmental sciences.
The mission of the Bay Planning Coalition (BPC) is to ensure that commerce, recreation and the natural environment thrive in the San Francisco Bay-Delta region. more …
BPC emerged from a group of Bay Area citizens and representatives of local government and private industry who became concerned about the increasing complexities and inefficiencies in the state and federal permit processes. Many instances were documented where unreasonable permit conditions, delays, and over-reaching policies impeded the economic use of land and water for commerce and essential infrastructure to serve population needs. BPC was formed to correct this problem and establish balance in Bay permitting and planning processes to reduce unwarranted costs, delays, and uncertainties for Bay development projects.
Federal and state laws and plans call for the development of the Bay Area while protecting the Bay as a natural resource. These laws require timely procedures for the many public agencies to review and act on permit applications. The agencies continue to be challenged in meeting timelines specified by law, while balancing the needs of both the environment and development. BPC works to ensure that the agencies fulfill the intent of the law while meeting time and economic constraints of the permit applicants.
BPC activities have expanded to cover not only the permit process, but also essential planning, communication and consensus-building related to navigation and dredging, water and air quality, water supply, transportation, and wetlands and wildlife issues (work program details).
BPC relies on collaboration as key to achieving a fair and expeditious permit process with governmental agencies, environmental organizations, private industry and many others to address and resolve all stakeholder concerns. These collaborative efforts promote and implement projects for the Bay-Delta navigation and flood management infrastructure, ports, ferry system expansion, highways, rail and waterway transportation, homebuilding, water and air quality and water supply improvements, wetland restoration, and endangered species protection.
The Coalition’s primary purpose, then and now, is to ensure that the Bay and Delta are sustained, enabling sound economic development, conservation and public use.
