The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday pushed forward a proposal by the North Marin Water District to build a 125,000-gallon concrete tank at the top of Drakes View Drive. Though the board rejected the request from a neighbor to redesign the project to lessen the impact on his view, the board, in a rare move, ordered the district to give the landowner $5,000 for landscaping.
The tank will replace one that burned in the 1995 Mount Vision Fire but was never rebuilt, as well as an aging redwood tank in operation now. The board’s decision overturned a ruling by the Planning Commission, which in October sympathized with the homeowner, musician Jesse Colin Young, who appealed the county’s approval of the coastal development permit.
The commission had voted to shrink the size of the proposed tank and outlined other view-related mitigation measures. Though county supervisors explored the feasibility of design alternatives on Tuesday, ultimately they came to a unanimous decision that the water district should move forward with its original plans.
The board’s action also ran counter to the recommendation of county staff, who favored maintaining the Planning Commission’s decision to lower the tank to 18 feet to comply with a county ridgeline code. County staff told the board on Tuesday that supervisors had discretion to interpret the ridgeline code, however.
Now, the water district’s coastal permit will allow the tank to extend 20 feet and 8 inches.
Supervisors included a new provision in their decision, ordering the water district to allocate $5,000 to the Young family to landscape their own property to shield the view of the tank, which sits five feet uphill from their property line.
It would have been more typical for the board to order the district to complete the landscaping itself, but because the Young property is so close to the tank, the work has to take place on private property.
The tank will meet new water storage requirements from the Marin County Fire Department, which mandates a 1,000-gallon per minute flow for a duration of two hours in that area. The tank that burned in 1995 could hold 25,000 gallons, and the current tank has a 50,000-gallon capacity.
The project is the largest of several capital improvement projects North Marin Water District is planning in West Marin, and though it was originally estimated to cost $525,000, it is now estimated to reach $775,000.
Influencing the board’s decision, chief water district engineer Rocky Vogler said that a redesign would potentially postpone the project for an entire season, given the seasonal constraints of biological surveys associated with permitting.
“This debate has been posed as a conflict between the Youngs and N.M.W.D., but in fact the issue affects all of the 160 residents of Paradise Ranch Estates,” said Tim Stanton, the president of the Inverness Ridge Association.
The private district along Drakes View Drive that the tank will service unanimously supported North Marin’s original proposal, Mr. Stanton said. “None of us have heard from a single resident against the proposal. All of us knew about this project well over a year ago, and are in full support,” he added.