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Conservationists Rush to Save Endangered Species in Redwood Creek Watershed
Conservationist Groups Rush to Save Endangered Coho Salmon and Northern Spotted Owls in Biodiversity Hot-Spot in Redwood Creek Watershed
Marin County’s processing of a proposal to develop up to four luxury single-family homes, four Accessory Dwelling Units and four Junior units on dedicated open space land in the Dipsea Ranch violates environmental protections under CEQA.The Dipsea Ranch proposed development site is an environmentally significant property in the same watershed as Mount Tamalpais State Park and Muir Woods National Monument. The proposed housing development threatens wildlife, habitat and public safety.
In 1992, the Tamalpais Community Plan designated 8.29 acres of land in the Dipsea Ranch as protected open space. The property is bounded by 1500 feet of significant headwater creeks. It is connected to Mount Tamalpais State Park through an undeveloped parcel owned by the same developer, and it is entirely within the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI). The Redwood Creek watershed is internationally recognized, by the United Nations, as a biodiversity hotspot of wildlife habitat, containing endangered Coho Salmon, Red Legged Frogs, Northern Spotted Owls and a multitude of other species.
Salmon habitat recovery is currently a priority of multiple public land and wildlife agencies. NOAA (the National Marine Fisheries Service) and California Fish and Wildlife have spent hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars creating recovery plans, guidelines and projects for Central Coast Coho and Steelhead.These projects include the multi-million-dollar restoration at Muir Beach and of riparian habitat in Muir Woods National Monument, directly downstream of this property.
150 community members, the “Friends of Muir Woods Park,” Watershed Alliance of Marin, and Sierra Club Marin Group, have appealed the County Planning Commission’s approval of a Mitigated Negative Declaration and Tentative Map Subdivision (dated July 27, 2020). This approval was based, in part, on unexplainable, glaring errors by the developer in his favor, without adequate consideration of the significant, unmitigated environmental impacts. Therefore, the County’s decision to not prepare an Environmental Impact Report (EIR), as required by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), is without factual or legal justification.
There will be an appeal hearing before the
Marin County Board of Supervisors on this item on October 6, 2020.
Please CLICK HERE to sign our petition
The issues:
- The County Planners made a serious mistake by not adhering to the 2007 Countywide Plan, which restricted building to the lowest end of the density range for the property: only one unit allowed.
- Remarkably, in 2014, the developer/owner built an illegal, un-engineered, unpermitted road berm on the property, during the winter rains, which added 1200 cubic yards of fill dirt of unknown quality or origin, onto the site, covering virgin land above a stream and filling in a federally protected wetland area. The new proposed project involves improper clearing on steep hillsides, increased erosion, and illegal road and trail building in sensitive habitat and watercourse areas.
- The hydrology report prepared by the developer’s own consultant downgraded the property’s streams without an objective third party hydrogeologist analysis or adherence to National Wetlands Inventory designations. Downgrading creek status removes important stream conservation area (SCA) protections and fails to follow the “Watershed Approach” of protecting streams throughout the County.
- Perhaps most shocking is that Marin County has abdicated its responsibilities by not providing adequate notice to the neighbors, as required by both the County’s own Zoning Ordinance and State Law.
The Sierra Club Marin Group and Watershed Alliance of Marin have requested that the County comply with CEQA by preparing an EIR that would clearly and scientifically provide disclosure of impacts based on facts, not speculation and unsupported assumptions. Community members in “Friends of Muir Woods Park” are demanding that the illegal roadwork be removed and that further subdivision and development be prevented by requiring deed restrictions.
Environmental organizations and the community support District Attorney Lori Frugoli’s request for hiring an Environmental Investigator, as other counties have done, to provide the County with the tools it needs for an adequate evaluation of environmental impacts and to ensure enforcement of local, state and federal environmental laws.
Please support protection of the Dipsea Ranch property in open space.
- Write your supervisors, BOS@marincounty.org
- Attend the Zoom Public Hearing on October 6, 2020.Time to be determined....
- Check the listing for the meeting time at marincounty.org –Board of Supervisors
- Sign our petition at Change.org/savemuirwoodscoho
- Support Watermarin.org
Media Contact:
Laura Chariton, Watershed Alliance of Marin, watermarin@comcast.net