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ACTION ALERT! - BOS Hearing on Muir Woods Traffic & Parking on June 30th @ 1:30 pm
3501 Civic Center Dr., Rm. 330
San Rafael, California
1:30 PM PT
Please write letters and attend the upcoming Marin County Board of Supervisors hearing on Muir Woods traffic and parking. Hearing date is June 30th at 1:30 pm.
The pending Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), an agreement between the County and the National Park Service, will have a HUGE impact on the environment and traffic congestion in the entire Mill Valley area! As currently written, the Draft MOU allows OVER ONE MILLION Muir Woods visitors per year (more than the population of San Francisco!) and a FOUR FOLD INCREASE in buses heading to and from the monument!
Marin County Board of Supervisors Public Hearing:
Re: Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the County & the National Park Service, regarding Muir Woods traffic and parking.
WHEN: Tuesday, June 30, 2015 @ 1:30 pm
WHERE: Marin Civic Center, 3501 Civic Center Dr., Rm. 330, San Rafael, CA
Link to the Supervisors' Agenda. The Muir Woods MOU is Item #17:
http://marin.granicus.com/GeneratedAgendaViewer.php?view_id=33&event_id=684
Information For Those Who Care About Muir Woods:
At the June 30th Board of Supervisors public hearing the Supervisors will discuss a revised DRAFT Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), a proposed agreement between the County of Marin and the National Park Service. This agreement would create a Muir Woods reservation system in conjunction with changes to public transit, roadside parking, and parking enforcement.
The MOU between the County and the NPS could be used to lower visitation to Muir Woods, reduce traffic congestion and ensure safe parking for Muir Woods’ visitors and, in so doing, preserve the environment and protect public health and safety. Unfortunately, the County has ignored resident’s concerns and comments and the revised DRAFT MOU is almost identical to the previous draft and increases the visitations to Muir Woods and the associated traffic and pollution impacts.
The proposed reservation system for Muir Woods would reduce peak hour visitation but not overall visitations. Instead it would spread the same amount of yearly visitation that we currently have, throughout the year.
The agreement does NOT lower yearly visitation to the park. Rather, it still allows OVER A MILLION yearly visitors to Muir Woods (which is more than the population of San Francisco!) and a FOUR FOLD increase in buses heading to and from the monument.
The biggest concern about the MOU is that it does not include enforceable Visitor “caps” that would reduce total yearly visitation to Muir Woods and subsequently lower related traffic and environmental impacts.
As presently planned, the reservation system will be used to boost sales and visitations to the park. Its advantages include:
- The ease of online real time booking (24 hrs. / 7 days a week);
- Increased utilization of the destination by booking visits throughout the entire day;
- Up-selling, cross-selling, offering package deals and promotional discounts;
- Online performance measurement and sales matrix - A business story can be measured and scaled as online systems will display the performance matrix and act as a critic for every move you make. Real-time reporting shows the number of prospects, and how many were converted to actual reservations. This builds a profile of customer behavior and identifies sales trends information that can be used for strategic planning purposes;
- Currency and language settings to appeal to a global audience; and
- Repeat business with more sales - The customer database generated through sales can also be used for targeting future marketing campaigns.
The harmful impacts and consequences of increased visitors include: destruction of sensitive habitat; harm to wildlife (including endangered species); increased traffic congestion; more pollution and debris; and greater risk of public harm due to more accidents, blocked evacuation routes and fires.
However, a properly designed reservation system could be used to lower visitations related traffic and environmental impacts. But the only way to ensure this would be to establish enforceable, sustainable, hourly, daily, monthly and yearly Visitor caps. Such caps should be based on an Independent Scientific Carrying Capacity Study of Muir Woods.
Another concern is that the MOU slowing (over 7 years) limits but DOES NOT ELIMINATE PARKING ALONG MUIR WOODS ROAD. Parking along this road presents a safety hazard, threatens the health of the Redwood Creek watershed, and diminishes the visitor experience. The parking limitation was supposed to address these concerns. The Coho salmon that live in the creek are facing extinction and 7 years isn't fast enough.
For more information about the Muir Woods Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), please read the attached letter, dated June 28, 2015, from Sustainable TamAlmonte to the Marin County Board of Supervisors regarding the issue.
In order to preserve the environment and protect public health and safety, Sustainable TamAlmonte recommends that the Board of Supervisors make the following improvements to the Muir Woods Memorandum of Understanding (MOU):
1. Require an INDEPENDENT Scientific Carrying Capacity Study of Muir Woods;
2. Establish enforceable Visitor CAPs that lower yearly & daily visitation to Muir Woods;
3. Establish enforceable bus & car CAPs that are consistent with the Visitor Caps;
4. Require a regional 'Point of Origin' shuttle system;
5. Eliminate parking along Muir Woods Rd. within 3 years;
6. Lower bus lengths to 25 feet;
7. Insert realistic compliance mechanisms into the MOU;
8. Arrange for the County to participate in revenue collected from parking on Muir Woods Road, which is a County Road;
9. Retain County control of shuttles and parking enforcement;
10. Prevent new parking lots and visitor centers in writing;
11. Establish social equity measures;
12. Establish a special provision for visitation of locals; and
13. Ensure transparency.
Besides attending the June 30th hearing, please send in letters/email to the Marin County Supervisors. If you don't have time to write your own letter and you agree with ours, then please send in a quick message endorsing our letter:
bos@marincounty.org
ksears@marincounty.org
skinsey@marincounty.org
Together we can make a difference!
Organization: Sustainable Tam/Almonte
Contact: Sharon Rushton
Contact Email:
Website: http://tamalmonte.org