Point Reyes Light - November 7, 2002

Bolinas Lagoon plan rejected

By Ivan Gale

An official from the California Coastal Commission last week declared the US Army Corps of Engineer’s plans to restore Bolinas Lagoon a proposal so incomplete the agency couldn’t approve the project.

At a workshop put on by the Bolinas Lagoon Technical Advisory Committee (BLTAC), Kathleen Stycket, a coastal program analyst with the California Coastal Commission, said the proposal failed to include key environmental definitions that had huge impacts to the overall project.

Sensitive habitat

Stycket said the report failed to use the commission’s definition of wetlands, environmentally sensitive habitat areas, buffer zones, or riparian areas.

"We have no grasp of the real impacts of the project," she said referring to the information in the report.

Stycket told The Light the current plans failed to document impacts to benthic invertebrates, and added the commission would like to participate in the planning but thus far has been kept "in the dark."

"There has been no contact to us by either the consultant or the [US Army Corps of Engineers] to initiate a dialogue that would help them understand our requirement," Stycket said.

Until the documents are consistent with coastal act requirements, she said "the project will not go forward."

Unresolved issues

"These issues should have been resolved prior to release of the draft," noted Stycket. "It is incumbent on the [US Army Corps of Engineers] and the consultants to provide information so BLTAC can make an informed decision."

Stycket’s comments prompted BLTAC members to ask whether the advisory committee even had a definitive list of permits that needed to be obtained to go ahead with the restoration.

BLTAC shouldn’t be surprised with the latest discoveries said committee member Michael Bernsohn, who along with other members urged the group to "regain control" of the project which has ballooned into an estimated $100 million-plus restoration.

Dissatisfaction

Despite the group’s dissatisfaction with the current state of the project, BLTAC members discussed, but stopped short of deciding whether to change environmental consultants who drafted the Lagoon project, or whether to scrap the current draft environmental documents and draw up new documents entirely.

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