Sherman R. Frederick
Ross Valley Reporter
A group of 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 consultation of San Anselmo residents.”
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. The initiative went to the Town Council this week for placement on the ballot, which is expected to be in March 2024.
This is the second citizen rebellion in Ross Valley this year, taking unpopular issues to a vote of the people. Fairfax residents put their Town Council on notice over what some called a draconian rent control ordinance they say punishes housing providers. Unlike San Anselmo’s leaders who chose to get it on the ballot sooner rather than later, the Fairfax Town Council pushed the rent-control vote off to next year’s presidential general election in November 2024.
Fairfax leaders are also moving now to get started before the popular vote with a pilot program for their rent-control measure started.
At this time, only the Marin County Board of Supervisors has the authority to make decisions on any flood control project in San Anselmo. Since 2008 County staff has spent over $40,000,000 and the group of citizens behind the movement say those dollars have brought “no significant benefits for San Anselmo.”
The press release goes on to say that “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.”
The group’s press release sent to the Ross Valley Reporter continues: “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 contribute $50,000 every month to the Flood Zone, $600,000 each year and about $8,000,000 since 2008.”
The county proposal to demolish Creek Park Plaza has stirred controversy in San Anselmo. The citizen group says Marin 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 a 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.
A vote on March 24 will cost the city about $19,000, the cheapest option. An earlier, free standing election would have cost about $85,500.
For more information on the group, email info@stopFZ9fee.com.
(You can reach the writer at shermfrederick@gmail.com.)
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