Arroyo Creek Must Be Protected!

Action Needed by July 17, 2007

Dear Friends,

On Tuesday July 12, the Marin Board of Supervisor's heard the appeal of developer, Thomas Robertson, regarding the proposed development just upslope from Arroyo Creek, one of the most important coho spawning tributaries in the San Geronimo Valley. The development proposes to place two wells and an 8,400 square foot steep driveway inside the stream conservation area.

The Supervisors postponed a decision and we need you to weigh in on this important issue now!

Along with many others who live in this sub-watershed, we testified and urged the Supervisor's to uphold the Planning Commission's denial of the permit.

We presented legal analysis by attorney Michael Graf indicating a "Negative Declaration" environmental review was inadequate and considering the scope of the project and its location upslope of coho habitat, and that a full Environmental Impact Report was needed. See here

We also presented evidence by Watershed Sciences geomorphologist Laurel M. Collins indicating the inadequate extent of the studies purporting to determine insignificant impacts from increased flow and sedimentation caused by newly created impermeable surfaces and changes to drainage flow. See here

We are asking that you send the email below today to our Supervisors and request that:

The developer be required to hook up to MMWD water, like the vast majority of other Valley residents.

Any wells should be constructed outside the stream conservation area.

A full Environmental Impact Report (including a cumulative impact analysis) should be required to better inform the public and decision-makers to allow for the best science-based development decisions in this sensitive habitat.

Or better yet, write your own letter to the Supes to support better protections for the few remaining coho creeks in Marin.

Thank you!

Todd and Paola

Why Are We Demanding A Cumulative Impact Analysis? A cumulative impact analysis is necessary to ascertain the additional impacts this particular development will have on this already stressed sub-watershed and its associated endangered and threatened species, especially as it relates to impervious surface impacts on water quality, temporal distribution and quantity, the reduction of forest habitat and its cumulative impacts on threatened and endangered species. Furthermore, a cumulative impact analysis is called for to investigate the County's policy which is allowing lot line adjustsments that are allowing for additional development pressures.

CEQA requirements
"CEQA is a comprehensive scheme designed to provide long-term protection to the environment," and must be "interpreted `to afford the fullest possible protection to the environment within the reasonable scope of the statutory language.' " (Mountain Lion
Foundation v. Fish & Game Com. (1997) 16 Cal.4th 105, 112.) To achieve its objective of environmental protection, CEQA and the regulatory guidelines implementing it "establish a three-tiered structure. If a project falls within a category exempt by
administrative regulation [citation] or `it can be seen with certainty that the activity in question will not have a significant effect on the environment [citation] [then] no further agency evaluation is required. If there is a possibility that the project may have a significant effect, the agency undertakes an initial threshold study [citation] [and] if that
study demonstrates that the project `will not have a significant effect,' the agency may so declare in a brief Negative Declaration. [Citation.] If the project is one `which may have
a significant effect on the environment,' an [Environmental Impact Report (EIR)] is required." (No Oil, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles (1974) 13 Cal.3d 68, 74.)

Coho Salmon Critical Habitat
(a) Central California Coast Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch).
Critical habitat is designated to include all river reaches accessible to listed coho salmon from Punta Gorda in northern California south to the San Lorenzo River in central California, including Arroyo Corte Madera Del Presidio and Corte Madera Creek, tributaries to San Francisco Bay. Critical habitat consists of the water, substrate, and adjacent riparian zone of estuarine and riverine reaches (including off-channel habitats) in hydrologic units and counties. Accessible reaches are those within the historical range of the ESU that can still be occupied by any life stage of coho salmon. Inaccessible reaches are those above specific dams or above longstanding, naturally impassable barriers (i.e., natural waterfalls in existence for at least several hundred years).

SEARCH	Arroyo Creek Must Be Protected! Action Needed by July 17, 2007 Dear Friends, On Tuesday July 12, the Marin Board of Supervisor's heard the appeal of developer, Thomas Robertson, regarding the proposed development just upslope from Arroyo Creek, one of the most important coho spawning tributaries in the San Geronimo Valley. The development proposes to place two wells and an 8,400 square foot steep driveway inside the stream conservation area. The Supervisors postponed a decision and we need you to weigh in on this important issue now! Along with many others who live in this sub-watershed, we testified and urged the Supervisor's to uphold the Planning Commission's denial of the permit. We presented legal analysis by attorney Michael Graf indicating a "Negative Declaration" environmental review was inadequate and considering the scope of the project and its location upslope of coho habitat, and that a full Environmental Impact Report was needed. See here We also presented evidence by Watershed Sciences geomorphologist Laurel M. Collins indicating the inadequate extent of the studies purporting to determine insignificant impacts from increased flow and sedimentation caused by newly created impermeable surfaces and changes to drainage flow. See here We are asking that you send the email below today to our Supervisors and request that: The developer be required to hook up to MMWD water, like the vast majority of other Valley residents. Any wells should be constructed outside the stream conservation area. A full Environmental Impact Report (including a cumulative impact analysis) should be required to better inform the public and decision-makers to allow for the best science-based development decisions in this sensitive habitat. Or better yet, write your own letter to the Supes to support better protections for the few remaining coho creeks in Marin. Thank you! Todd and Paola Why Are We Demanding A Cumulative Impact Analysis? A cumulative impact analysis is necessary to ascertain the additional impacts this particular development will have on this already stressed sub-watershed and its associated endangered and threatened species, especially as it relates to impervious surface impacts on water quality, temporal distribution and quantity, the reduction of forest habitat and its cumulative impacts on threatened and endangered species. Furthermore, a cumulative impact analysis is called for to investigate the County's policy which is allowing lot line adjustsments that are allowing for additional development pressures. CEQA requirements "CEQA is a comprehensive scheme designed to provide long-term protection to the environment," and must be "interpreted `to afford the fullest possible protection to the environment within the reasonable scope of the statutory language.' " (Mountain Lion Foundation v. Fish & Game Com. (1997) 16 Cal.4th 105, 112.) To achieve its objective of environmental protection, CEQA and the regulatory guidelines implementing it "establish a three-tiered structure. If a project falls within a category exempt by administrative regulation [citation] or `it can be seen with certainty that the activity in question will not have a significant effect on the environment [citation] [then] no further agency evaluation is required. If there is a possibility that the project may have a significant effect, the agency undertakes an initial threshold study [citation] [and] if that study demonstrates that the project `will not have a significant effect,' the agency may so declare in a brief Negative Declaration. [Citation.] If the project is one `which may have a significant effect on the environment,' an [Environmental Impact Report (EIR)] is required." (No Oil, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles (1974) 13 Cal.3d 68, 74.) Coho Salmon Critical Habitat (a) Central California Coast Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch). Critical habitat is designated to include all river reaches accessible to listed coho salmon from Punta Gorda in northern California south to the San Lorenzo River in central California, including Arroyo Corte Madera Del Presidio and Corte Madera Creek, tributaries to San Francisco Bay. Critical habitat consists of the water, substrate, and adjacent riparian zone of estuarine and riverine reaches (including off-channel habitats) in hydrologic units and counties. Accessible reaches are those within the historical range of the ESU that can still be occupied by any life stage of coho salmon. Inaccessible reaches are those above specific dams or above longstanding, naturally impassable barriers (i.e., natural waterfalls in existence for at least several hundred years).
	SPAWN is a project of Turtle Island Restoration Network • PO Box 370, Forest Knolls, CA 94933 Phone: (415) 663-8590 • Fax: (415) 663-9534 • Email: