Pt. San Pedro Road Coalition Annual Meeting
Meeting Notes for August 22, 2009
About 180 residents filled the meeting room at St Luke Church on Saturday morning, August 22, 2009 for the Pt. San Pedro Road Coalition’s fourth annual community meeting. Speakers addressed city and county budget problems and current news, the upcoming public infrastructure bond measure, and Coalition projects. While discussion about the upcoming hearings on the San Rafael Rock Quarry operations and reclamation plans took the major portion of the Coalition presentation, there were also reports on the Loch Lomond Marina, our medians committee work, disaster preparation and wetlands restoration plans.
All five candidates for San Rafael City Council were present: Gary Ford, Barbara Heller, Eric Holm, Marc Levine and David Mayer. Also present was Carole Mills, aide to Senator Mark Leno.
County Supervisor Susan Adams led off the program and her comments included the following:
Budget. As a result of the slowdown in sales and property taxes and state revenue reductions the county’s FY 2009-2010 budget includes major reductions, notably in Health and Human Services. Marin anticipated the slowdown and began preparing for it two years ago. In the past two years Marin has reduced its budget by $15 million and eliminated more than 70 positions. In addition this year administrative personnel have foregone COLAs and many unions have negotiated lower amounts However more cuts will be coming and although Marin is also one of three California counties in a fairly good position and able to weather the next year, the public at some point will feel the cuts.
New Health and Wellness Campus. The campus at Bellam and Kerner opened in November, construction paid for by a combination of funds from a tobacco settlement and savings from being able to consolidate county services that has been leasing quarters in various locations around the county. She is currently serving as vice chair on the National Association of Counties Health Steering Committee, so involved with healthcare on a national level. In October she and County Health and Human Services Director Larry Meredith will hold a forum on healthcare reform as Congress works through the options.
Government G-Channel. She invited residents to visit Marin’s new online government channel (www.co.marin.ca.us/G-channel) where they access videos on many county meetings.
Flu Season and Swine Flu. Her website will post vaccine dates but there will be a lot of emphasis this yer to get flu shots.
Glenwood Parking. She is working with a resident, Stuart Brown, on parking issues in the Glenwood School vicinity.
San Rafael Rock Quarry. She stated her long-held concern regarding the health risks of dust and diesel from the operations at the Quarry as well as the impact of noise and blasting on surrounding residences. She described the upcoming schedule of public hearings on the Final EIR to be followed by the Board of Supervisors vote on certification of the EIR.
City Manager Ken Nordhoff spoke on several issues (information also on the city’s website at www.cityofsanrafael.org):
Loch Lomond. There is no new owner to date. However new state law allows for extension of housing project entitlements if the city council approves and this could affect Loch Lomond and several other projects n the city.
Ascona Place Subdivision. Nine large single family homes are proposed on this 6.2 acre site west of San Pedro Elementary School and bordered by San Pedro Cove, Seastrand, Loch Lomond and Villa Real. The revised application is currently being reviewed by the city for completeness. The site is on a ridgeline and has an average slope of about 40%.
Police Activity. From January through mid-August the San Rafael police have responded to about 300 calls in the Loch Lomond and Peacock Gap neighborhoods; these included an unusually high number of residential burglaries in recent months. A common M.O. and proximity of many of the victim homes helped police toward resolution of the burglary spree and in early arrests were made by San Rafael and San Anselmo police that have resulted in a sharp decline in the burglaries.
Canalfront Vision. A Canalfront Advisory Committee has worked for about a year to develop a draft Canalfront Conceptual Design Plan, which is due to be presented to the city this fall. It should include a safe route from Pickleweed Community Center to Pt San Pedro Road. There currently is not funding available for implementation.
San Rafael Rock Quarry. The city commented on the quarry EIR, noting that there is no traffic capacity for the proposed redevelopment and supporting the Coalition’s request for further air quality studies.
Third and Union. The northwest corner curb ramps were done on Friday, new sidewalk ramps will be on Union by August 25, the northeast corner traffic signal is being installed and the entire project should be completed in October.
Other projects.
- Northgate will open in November 2009 with new restaurants and retailers.
- The city is processing the EIR for the Shoreline project.
- They are filing a grant for a multi-agency study about the downtown transit center.
- An extension has been granted to the Corporate Center for completion of its new office construction.
- The city raffic engineer is looking at the roadway parking situation near United Market and other locations.
- The city is working with the county to discuss repaving of Pt. San Pedro Road, but not funds are currently available for this.
San Rafael Battalion Fire Chief Jeff Buscher’s comments included the following:
- Despite the budget crunch department staffing remains stable and operations have not changed.
- City fire stations are old and in disrepair; the public is welcome to come by and tour the stations.
- A ‘Stay and Protect’ program reported by the media is not intended to encourage citizens to ignore evacuation orders in a fire emergency; rather it means the public should prepare their homes for an emergency – but vacate when asked.
- Long and short programs on disaster preparedness are available and the public is encouraged to take part in these.
- The fire department has expanded its relationship with neighboring fire departments and a lot of training has been done to maximize their joint ability to serve the public.
- There are no plans for prescribed burns in China Camp for this year (not a city project).
Coalition Board Member Dave Crutcher described the Coalition’s position on the quarry applications and project EIRs.
- The County Board of Supervisors will hold the first of three meetings on the quarry’s dual applications for its operations and reclamation (future redevelopment) plans, and their environmental impact reports. The meeting Tuesday, starting at 1:30 PM in the Supervisor’s chambers, is one of the public’s last opportunities to speak before board action is taken.
- The Coalition does not support certification of the EIR for several reasons, including: understates health risk, uses an improper baseline for operational activity, assumes an unstudied reclamation plan, and allows quarrying under the guise of reclamation.
- The quarry is currently operating at a reduced level and, subsequently, resident complaints have been fairly muted. But the current situation does not represent what is proposed.
- They have asked that all production restrictions be lifted and that they be allowed to engage in substantial operations seven days a week year-round.
- The Coalition is concerned about health threats posed by the planned operations: not only diesel dust, but also crystalline silica, which accumulates in lungs and, over time, leads to silicosis or lung cancer.
- The EIR admits that the risk of cancer from quarry operations is cumulatively considerable and cannot be mitigated.
- The Board of Supervisors has the ability to limit operations to the 1982 level, which is all that Dutra purchased. The health risks are so extraordinary that intensified operations should not be allowed.
Coalition Co-president Denise Lucy described the structure of the EIR structure which analyzes several alternatives to the proposal provided by Dutra Corp.
- Denise prepared a PowerPoint presentation on the material in the Coalition's Position Paper. (The PowerPoint presentation requires Microsoft's PowerPoint Viewer or PowerPoint application. The Position Paper is a PDF document.)
- The EIR describes several alternatives and, of these, the Coalition supports the “reduced alternative.” This calls for limits on rock and asphalt production to 1982 levels, phasing in best practices over a two-year period, various restrictions on blasting, washing and tarping loaded trucks leaving the quarry. Limiting operation to the hours of 7 AM to 5 PM and reducing truck traffic by 50% from what is allowed by the interim conditions. However, the Coalition feels strongly that there are some key modifications to this alternative that are required to make it compatible with nearby residences.
Coalition Board Member Sara Jensen briefly spoke about Loch Lomond:
- The owner, Oaktree Capital, still intends to sell the property but the general economic situation has slowed down progress toward a sale. Developer Thompson/Dorfman of Sausalito has been replaced with Real Estate Strategies and Solutions of Emeryville.
- Entitlements are now good until August 2010 and may be extended to August 2012 under a new state law.
- She is in regular communication with Paul Jensen at the City planning department about the sad state of the replanted area behind Andy's market. Cuts in city staffing has slowed reaction time down.
- She is also in communication with BCDC about the part of the boardwalk near the spit that needs to be repaired. An amendment to the BCDC plan is needed. Pat Lopez, harbormaster, is to provide engineering plans before the work can be approved. [NOTE: On Monday those repairs were completed and the boardwalk has been reopened}
- We need to support our local market. Because of economic condition the new store will not be available as soon as expected. If we want to keep a full service grocery store at the marina, we need to use the current market so that it remains economically viable.
Coalition Medians Committee Chair Sandra Sellinger gave an update:
The purpose of the committee is to provide a garden gateway to our homes. (Note the committee had set up a display of satellite images of medians along the corridor in the back of the meeting hall.) She noted that the medians and sidewalks under county jurisdiction are in great need of repair and has approached the county’s Parks and Open Space Department but they do not have funds for work here and suggested a volunteer effort. Supervisor Adams was able to arrange release of some discretionary funds for a one-time clean up of the medians under County jurisdiction, but the community must develop a management plan for on-going maintenance.
Environmental Scientist Stuart Seigel described the situation with the quarry marsh and Beach Drive marsh.
The quarry marsh looks better this year than it sometimes has in the past but there is a great opportunity here for improvement and the marsh has the potential to provide nice wildlife habitat.
The Beach Drive marsh suffers from being cut off from bay tidal action by construction of the adjacent marina and from sediment deposition due to its low energy environment and development in the watershed above it over the past half century. As residential development took place the new roads, roofs and other impermeable surfaces created faster runoff which scours out the drainage channels and deposits sediment in the inlet. The Coalition has studied ways to increase drainage for the marsh and improve its health. The county has installed a flapgate in its outlet to keep sediment out in storm events and this has helped. However it is clear that the presence of the marina has caused the problems with this marsh.
Coalition Co-president Bonnie Marmor and Bayside Acres HOA Liaison Bill Gates of the Disaster Preparedness Committee reported that a recent meeting of the committee was held at the home of Milton Davis (president of the Villa Real Homeowners associtation). Representatives of several HOA's all along Pt. San Pedro Road attended the meeting, as did representative of the San Rafael Office of Emergency Services.
Subsequently, a grant application was submitted to the County for funds to purchase mobile kits containing medical trauma supplies, light search and rescue equipment for storage at strategic locations along Pt. San Pedro Corridor.
Residents were encouraged to attend and/or host Get Ready trainings and CERT trainings, as well as to volunteer as liaisons to the Committee.