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Ross Valley Flood
Save San Anselmo Creek Park Plaza
The residents of San Anselmo have decided too much taxpayer money has
been spent for too many years on Flood Control solutions that have been
poorly
designed, at odds with the needs of the community, and without San Anselmo
residents being consulted.
An
initiative to withdraw San Anselmo from Flood Zone 9 has been
officially certified by the Marin County Registrar with 1,295 verified
signatures, hundreds more than the 952 needed.
At this time, only the Marin County Board of Supervisors has the authority to
make decisions on any flood control project in our town. Since 2008, County staff
has spent over $40,000,000 and no significant benefits for San Anselmo.
The Initiative addresses a range of concerns citizens have expressed over the
years, namely:
- We don’t want to see the demolition of Creek Park Plaza; this is an invaluable community asset in the middle of downtown. It can be repaired for just a small fraction of what the Flood zone may spend on demolition of this important space.
- We don’t want more waste of San Anselmo flood fees by County Flood Zone 9.
- We don’t want increased risk for lawsuits by causing flooding of our neighbor’s properties downstream.
- We don’t want to see ever-increasing financial obligations to maintain ineffective flood control projects that do nothing for San Anselmo.
Tens
of millions of dollars have been spent on County staff and consultants
with no real flood control in sight. San Anselmo residents contributes
$50,000 every month to the Flood Zone, $600,000 each year and about
$8,000,000 since 2008.
There is mounting public opposition to demolition of Creek Park Plaza and the
waste of our tax dollars on non-existent flood control. Since the approval of the
Flood tax, in a controversial election in 2007, the County has attempted to
convert recreation facilities into flood basins.
In
previous initiatives, the voters in San Anselmo overwhelmingly voted
down creating a flood basin at Memorial Park and Millennium Playground
(which our children call ‘Dinosaur Park’) as have Fairfax residents who
saved Lefty Gomez Field from becoming flood basin.
The
Initiative for San Anselmo to withdraw from the Marin County Flood
Control District is supported by San Anselmo Vice-Mayor Eileen Burke and
former Mayors Paul Chignell, Matt Brown, Ford Green, Anne Wooliever,
Jeff Kroot, Tim Yarish, and Maria Zharoff.