Coronavirus or now, the Marin County Flood Control and Water Conservation District will begin excavating Sunnyside Basin near Fairfax in early September as part of the long-awaited San Anselmo Flood Risk Reduction Project. The excavation and relocation of 20,000 cubic yards of earth is expected to take up to three months and cost approximately $1.2 million.
The San Anselmo project, which completed the environmental review process in 2018, is designed to improve public safety and reduce flood risk for residential and business properties along Fairfax and San Anselmo Creek in the Ross Valley, a region that has suffered significant damages from flood events for decades.
The 33-acre Sunnyside Basin is a former nursery located at 3000 Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, about a mile northwest of downtown Fairfax. Ultimately the site will divert and store floodwater during the rainy seasons, significantly lessening flood risk to the historically impacted area.
The construction of Sunnyside Basin is one of three parts of the overall San Anselmo Project. The other parts include the removal of a building at 634-636 San Anselmo Avenue, part of which spans over San Anselmo Creek, and restoration of the creek bank next to the park. The street level structure was removed by the Town of San Anselmo in May 2020. The structure’s foundation, which obstructs the creek’s natural flow, will be extracted next year.
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