Marin County suspends Corte Madera flood control project

The Marin County Department of Public Works has suspended a Corte Madera Creek flood control project to determine if its goals can be accomplished.

An announcement by the department said the project “faces a combination of regulatory, technical, and community challenges that prevent it from moving forward in its current form.”

“This pause gives us the opportunity to step back, reassess our approach, and ensure we are making responsible decisions on behalf of the community,” said Christopher Blunk, the public works director.

The announcement follows a notification by the Federal Emergency Management Agency that aspects of the project are problematic.

In January, the county disclosed that a FEMA edict was impeding another flood control project on Corte Madera Creek, the removal of Building Bridge 2 in San Anselmo. FEMA told the county that the bridge cannot be demolished without the unanimous consent of 12 downstream property owners who would face increased flooding if the structure is removed.

The projects at issue are in Zone 9 of the Marin County Flood Control and Water Conservation District within the Ross Valley watershed. The district is managed and staffed by the public works office and governed by the Board of Supervisors. Each zone has an advisory board.

Several members of the Zone 9 advisory board said there was no mention of a pause when they met with public works staff on Jan. 28. Christopher Martin, who serves on the advisory board, said Blunk called him on Feb. 8, a Sunday.

“He explained that the Corte Madera Creek flood risk project has the same issues that Building Bridge 2 has, which is delaying its progress,” Martin said.

Blunk told Martin that FEMA had determined that the work that remains to be done on the Corte Madera project would increase the risk of flooding downstream.

The changes being contemplated include removing a fish ladder downstream from the Ross post office between the Lagunitas Road bridge and the Sir Francis Drake Boulevard bridge; creating larger fish resting pools within the concrete channel between the College Avenue bridge and the Lagunitas Road bridge; and creating taller floodwalls between the Lagunitas Road bridge and part of the way to San Francisco Bay.

In response to questions, the public works office said in an email that the Corte Madera Creek flood risk project “was designed to manage modeled rise associated with removing the wooden fish ladder, by raising some wall segments along the channel, but not to a level that meets FEMA’s requirements.”

To meet FEMA’s requirements, the channel walls would need to be raised to a height that could obstruct views from the pedestrian and bike path along the Corte Madera Creek concrete channel and “generally change the aesthetic of the neighborhood,” the email said.

“Alternatively,” the email said, “mitigations may be required for downstream properties. Either of these scenarios warrants discussions with the community before the District proceeds with further development of the project.”

Martin said the public works office had expected FEMA to approve the Corte Madera project and was surprised by the requirement to raise the floodwalls or provide mitigation.

“It’s very frustrating for everyone involved,” he said. “Removal of the fish ladder has been an issue for over 20 years.”

Advisory board member Frank Egger said he received a similar call from the public works office.

“I’ve been trying to get that old fish ladder removed because it blocks salmon passage in Corte Madera Creek coming up towards the upper reaches of the Ross Valley,” said Egger, the vice mayor of Fairfax.

While the public works office said the pause only applies to the Corte Madera Creek project, Marin County Supervisor Brian Colbert said a reappraisal of both it and the Building Bridge 2 removal project are in order.

“Basically, all the various projects are facing challenges,” Colbert said. “It’s our responsibility collectively to determine what needs to be done to get the projects across the finish line. We really need to understand where this process veered off course so we can correct it and prevent similar issues elsewhere.”

The Department of Public Works has sent letters to the 12 property owners who must agree to proffered mitigations in order for Building Bridge 2 to be removed. It set a Feb. 28 deadline for their response.

“The mitigations that they’re proposing are still inadequate.” said Jennifer Mota, one of the property owners. Mota said public works managers canceled a meeting they had scheduled with her on the day the meeting was supposed to happen, and no follow-up meeting has been agreed on.

Another property owner, John Crane, said he has a meeting with Blunk scheduled for Feb. 25.

“I need more information,” Crane said. “I put in requests to them for the information, and I repeated it several times over. I’m still waiting to hear.”

The public works office said it has “received additional questions from downstream property owners, but no definitive responses.”

Whether the flood district has the money to pay for all the mitigations that might be required is an open question. A 20-year stormwater drainage fee approved by Ross Valley to generate money for flood control projects sunsets in June 2027. The fee generates about $2.6 million per year. Without the fee revenue, Zone 9 is projecting an operating deficit of more than $200,000 in the fiscal year ending in 2028. It has a fund balance of $6.6 million.

The bridge removal project has $2.2 million in California Department of Water Resources grant funds that are scheduled to expire at the end of this year. The Corte Madera project has $3 million in remaining Department of Water Resources grant funds scheduled to expire at the end of March.