Killing Two Myths with One Stone: How the Public Trust Doctrine Can Improve Climate Resiliency by Stopping Gentrification

• Author: Alexandra Votaw
• Position: Georgetown Law, J.D. 2021; Arizona State University, B.S. 2018
• Pages: 497-525

NOTES

Killing Two Myths with One Stone: How the Public

Trust Doctrine Can Improve Climate Resiliency by

Stopping Gentrification

ALEXANDRA VOTAW*

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498

I. Zoning, Gentrification, and Climate Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501

II. Gentrification Decreases Community Resiliency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505

III. Sunset Park, New York . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508

A. New York City Climate Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509

B. Industry City Redevelopment Proposal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510

C. Political Context and Community Proposal—Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512

D. Outcome. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513

IV. The Public Trust Doctrine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513

A. General Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514

B. Saxion Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515

C. Expansion of the Saxion Framework. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517

V. Expanding the Public Trust Doctrine in Discretionary Zoning and Land

Use Decisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518

A. Developing a Workable Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519

1. Incorporation into Zoning Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519

2. Adjudication of the Public Trust Doctrine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520

B. Applying the Framework to Sunset Park, New York . . . . . . . . . . . 522

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524

* Georgetown Law, J.D. 2021; Arizona State University, B.S. 2018. © 2023, Alexandra Votaw.

Thank you to Professor K-Sue Park for giving me the opportunity to think creatively and for your

guidance in writing this Note. Thank you to Professor Edith Brown Weiss for your work regarding the

Public Trust Doctrine, which inspired this Note.

497

INTRODUCTION

Humanity is waging a “‘suicidal’” war on the natural world, but “‘[n]ature

always strikes back.’”

1

Justin Rowlatt, Humans Waging ‘Suicidal War’ On Nature – UN Chief Antonio Guterres, BBC

(Dec. 2, 2020), https://perma.cc/Q745-URPC.

Even if greenhouse gas emissions were reduced to zero

today, nature will continue to “strike back” for decades to come

2

Id.; Charles W. Schmidt, Beyond Mitigation: Planning For Climate Change Adaptation, Spheres

Of Influence, 117 ENV’TL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES 306, 307 (2009), https://perma.cc/T3ME-B83G

(“‘[E]ven if we blocked all emissions now, the amounts of greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere

would raise global temperatures by an additional 2˚C by 2100,’ says Robert Corell, vice president of the

John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics, and Environment, in Washington, DC.”); Matthew

Collins et al., Long-term Climate Change: Projections, Commitments and Irreversibility (Sylvie

Joussaume, Abdalah Mokssit, Karl Taylor & Simon Tett, eds.), in INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON

CLIMATE CHANGE, CLIMATE CHANGE 2013: THE PHYSICAL SCIENCE BASIS, 1029, 1085 (Thomas F.

Stocker et al., eds. 2013), https://perma.cc/KE9P-55B6.

—with an

increased frequency of flooding,

3

See, e.g., United Nations Environment Programme, How Climate Change Is Making Record-

Breaking Floods The New Normal (Mar. 3, 2020), https://perma.cc/UUL5-RCRM.

extreme weather events,

4

WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM, THE GLOBAL RISKS REPORT 2019 5, 6, 15, 91 (14th ed. 2019), https://

perma.cc/NJ4E-KD2B.

and natural disasters.

5

Sea-level rise alone is expected to destroy billions of dollars in property and dis-

place millions of people.

6

Amy Morsch, Planning For The Economic Risk Of Climate Change, CENTER FOR CLIMATE

ENERGY SOLUTIONS (Oct. 17, 2019), https://perma.cc/M6ZC-Z57M.

But climate change is not the only threat to frontline

communities. Gentrification, through a pattern of what this Note terms “climate-

blind development”,

7

See, e.g., Christopher Flavelle & John Schwartz, As Climate Risk Grows, Cities Test A Tough

Strategy: Saying ‘No’ To Developers A1, N.Y. TIMES (Nov. 19, 2019), https://perma.cc/NG5D-98R6

(“The outcome of [the battle between developers and local governments trying to plan for climate

impacts] will shape American’s vulnerability to climate change for generations – and so far,

development seems to be prevailing. In many coastal states, homes are going up at the fastest rate in the

most flood-prone areas.”); Evelyn Lee, Deep Dive: Is Private Real Estate Short-Sighted On Climate

Risk?, PERE (Apr. 6, 2020), https://perma.cc/HUA7-QCX4; Patrick Sisson, How Climate Change

Creates A ‘New Abnormal’ For The Real Estate Market, CURBED (Oct. 19, 2019), https://perma.cc/

KRL5-MTBM.

has placed the most vulnerable communities at even greater

climate risks.

8

Aparna Nathan, Climate is the Newest Gentrifying Force, and its Effects are Already Re-Shaping

Cities, SCIENCE IN THE NEWS (Jul. 15, 2019), https://perma.cc/ZNW9-QWSF; Jared Brey, Climate

Change Is Already Amplifying the Affordable Housing Crisis, NEXTCITY (Aug. 20, 2019), https://perma.

cc/LE97-R8FB.

Both climate change and gentrification are causing, and will con-

tinue to cause, an event of mass displacement

9

See United Nations High Commission on Refugees, Why UNHCR Is Taking Action On Climate

Change Displacement, United Nations High Commission on Refugees, 2017, https://perma.cc/L2RR-

PWHX; Oli Brown, Migration And Climate Change, 31 INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR

MIGRATION RESEARCH SERIES, 11, 20, 41, 2008, https://perma.cc/Z4VX-AEBB. (“By 2050 one in every

45 people in the world will have been displaced by climate change.”); The Uprooted Project,

Background: Gentrification and Displacement 3, 5, UNIV. OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN, https://perma.cc/

5MM5-F4N4; see also Alexander Gelfand, Gentrification: Climate Change’s Latest Threat 3-5,

HOPKINS BLOOMBERG PUB. HEALTH (Oct. 8, 2018), https://perma.cc/C7K7-6NNZ (“Hurricane Katrina

that threatens the social cohesion

1.

2.

3.

4.

5. Id. at 5, 6, 15, 91.

6.

7.

8.

9.

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