Posts Tagged ‘Marin City’

Capping a two-year effort, the board governing the Transportation Authority of Marin voted unanimously to accept the 200-page document at its meeting on June 26. Approval enables the agency’s staff to begin working with officials in the county’s 11 municipalities to implement policy changes and start developing projects, including elevating roads and restoring marshlands. “This is really intended to be more than just another study that sits on the shelf,” Anne Richman, executive director of the Transportation Authority of Marin said at the meeting. “There’s a lot of technical data behind the actual report, and we really want it to be useful to the jurisdictions.”

“Even relatively small increases in the bay water levels will cause major flooding impacts,” said Roger Leventhal, an engineer with the Marin County Flood Control District. That’s why Leventhal, Marin planners and environmental groups are applauding the San Francisco Bay Area Conservation and Development Commission for adopting a first-of-its-kind regional shoreline adaptation plan.

“The marsh itself is currently drowning through this muted tidal effect,” said Rob LaPorte, a project manager at the conservancy. “It takes longer for the tides to drain from the marsh than a normal functioning marsh.” “So we’re losing vegetation and we’re losing whole sections of the marsh to wave erosion,” he said. “We’re making sure we get a project implemented as fast as possible in order to restore the marsh and all of the rare wildlife and plants it supports.”

Now comes word that Marin City is among a dozen economically disadvantaged communities across the nation selected to receive up to $10 million in assistance from the federal government to complete small public works projects. The $120 million in projects is being funded with money from the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2021. Marin City’s successful proposal was submitted by the Marin City Community Services District in collaboration with the nonprofit Marin City Climate Resilience and Health Justice.

The major areas of focus span much of the county, including Bel Marin Keys; Belvedere and Tiburon; Bolinas; the Hamilton Wetlands; Inverness; Marin City; Manzanita and Tamalpais Junction; Mill Valley, downtown and western Novato; Santa Venetia; Sausalito; Stinson Beach; Highway 37; Highway 101; San Rafael; Kentfield; Corte Madera; Terra Linda; and Larkspur. “They are mostly coastal areas, as expected, with some additional inland due to groundwater rise,” Hiatt said.