Bolinas Community Public Utility District

Resolution No. 570

Affirming the Vital Importance of Terrace Avenue to the Bolinas Community and Requesting the County of Marin to Take Immediate Action to Preserve and Protect this County-Maintained Road.

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    WHEREAS, Terrace Avenue in Bolinas is one of the roads accepted by the County of Marin within its network of County-maintained roads;

    WHEREAS, for many decades the County of Marin has regularly maintained Terrace Avenue;

    WHEREAS, the County of Marin also has undertaken significant projects throughout the years to repair and preserve Terrace Avenue including, but not limited to, the building of a seawall at the base of “Surfer’s Overlook”;

    WHEREAS, Terrace Avenue is a vital community thoroughfare and is one of only two access/egress roads off the Bolinas Mesa, where the majority of Bolinas residents reside and through which thousands of visitors pass each year to visit the Point Reyes National Seashore;

    WHEREAS, the other access/egress road for the Bolinas Mesa – Mesa Road – is vulnerable to periodic closure due to, among other things, vehicle accidents, falling trees and limbs, and/or downed power lines;

    WHEREAS, the Bolinas Community Public Utility District (“BCPUD”) has both a water main and a sewer main located under sections of Terrace Avenue, including but not limited the portion of Terrace Avenue at Surfer’s Overlook;

    WHEREAS, a geotechnical report prepared by Salem Howes Associates and dated September 1, 2004 for the County of Marin’s Department of Public Works determined that “cliff retreat at Surfer’s Overlook is due to wave erosion at the toe and wind/rain erosion of the face” of the cliff.

WHEREAS, the BCPUD, the Bolinas Fire Protection District and many Bolinas residents have advised the County of Marin (including the Board of Supervisors, County Counsel and Department of Public Works) for more than two years that the County’s seawall at the base of Surfer’s Overlook is failing and is in need of immediate repair;

    WHEREAS, the failure of the County seawall at the base of Surfer’s Overlook would lead to a catastrophic failure of Terrace Avenue at this location;

    WHEREAS, the failure of Terrace Avenue at Surfer’s Overlook would leave the Bolinas community and visitors with only one access/egress road for the Bolinas Mesa;

WHEREAS, given the demonstrated vulnerability of  Mesa Road to periodic closures, the loss of Terrace Avenue as the only other access/egress road off of the Bolinas Mesa would present an unacceptable risk to human safety during an emergency event;

WHEREAS, the degradation and/or loss of Terrace Avenue at Surfer’s Overlook would require the BCPUD to relocate its existing water and sewer mains at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars to the customers of the BCPUD;

WHEREAS, the voters of Marin County in 2004 approved Measure A, which was a $331 million package to fund transportation improvement projects within the County; and

WHEREAS, despite the foregoing facts, the County of Marin’s Department of Public Works has advised the Bolinas Community that it has recommended that the County “take no measures to attempt to maintain, reinforce or replace the [sea]wall” below Surfer’s Overlook, despite the Department of Public Works’ own acknowledgement that the wall “needs to be replaced” and “the failure of this wall will ultimately hasten the loss of Terrace Avenue at this location.”

The BCPUD Board of Directors hereby finds that the foregoing recommendation by the Department of Public Works’ is tantamount to a recommendation that the County of Marin not fulfill its responsibilities to the taxpayers of Marin County and will result in directly foreseeable and significant costs to the customers of the BCPUD (for the relocation of existing water and sewer mains) and risks to public safety (due to the loss of a vital access/egress road).

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT the BCPUD Board of Directors hereby affirms the vital importance of Terrace Avenue to the Bolinas community and requests the County of Marin to take immediate action to preserve and protect this County-maintained road. 

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED FURTHER THAT the BCPUD Board of Directors calls upon the County of Marin to effectuate an immediate repair of its failing seawall below Surfer’s Overlook.  The BCPUD Board of Directors hereby demands that such repair be completed prior to the commencement of the upcoming rainy season so that a total failure of the seawall can be averted.  The BCPUD further demands that the County of Marin immediately commence an open and transparent planning process to design and implement the necessary protective measures to permanently preserve Terrace Avenue at Surfer’s Overlook.

    IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that this resolution was duly introduced and adopted by the Board of Directors of the Bolinas Community Public Utility District this 8th day of October, 2008, by the following vote:




AYES:    Amoroso, Kimball, McClellan, Smith

NOES:  None

ABSTAIN: None

ABSENT:   Siedman                                           

      
  __      _Victor Amoroso_______
                         Vice President, Board of Directors
Attest:

_______Jennifer Blackman___
    Secretary