PROJECT LOCATION AND Description

The project site is located on San Pablo Bay, four miles east of the city of Novato, Marin County, California. The project includes a 988-acre parcel with a former military airfield, adjacent California State Lands Commission areas, and the 1,612-acre Bel Marin Key Unit V (BMKV) parcel. The levee-protected site has subsided below the elevation of the surrounding properties, including the tidal wetlands immediately adjacent to San Pablo Bay. This project allows for the beneficial use of 24.4 million cubic yards of dredged material, including 3.5 million cubic yards from the Port of Oakland 50' Deepening Project. This wetlands-restoration project would advance the beneficial use of dredge material from San Francisco Bay as part of the Long Term Management Strategy (LTMS).

FY16 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Nursery management and planting

• Monitoring and adaptive management of the site

• Cost accounting, to include with the Port of Oakland 50’ Deepening Project
  
  
  
  

FY17ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Nursery management and planting

• Monitoring and adaptive management of the site
  
  
  
  

ISSUES AND OTHER INFORMATION

• The California State Coastal Conservancy (SCC) is the non-Federal sponsor.

• This project did not receive funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), Title IV, Pub. L. No. 111-5, 123 Stat. 115, Feb. 17, 2009.

• A General Re-evaluation Report (GRR) was completed in 2003 and a Chief's Report was signed in July 2004, recommending the adjacent 1612-acre BMKV property be added to the Hamilton Construction Authorization.

• The BMKV parcel was authorized as part of the Hamilton project in the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2007, and an Aquatic Transfer Facility (ATF) was pursued as a more cost effective mode of transporting dredge material to the site.

• A draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR) for the ATF was released to the public on 17 October 2008.

• Because of environmental issues and the State budget, the Corps and State annotated technical comments and shelved the ATF Supplemental EIS/EIR draft document until further notice.

• The San Francisco District (SPN) and NFS coordinated a PCA amendment to include BMKV per Water Resources Development Act WRDA 2007 authorization.  The approval of the PCA amendment will allow Land, Easements, Rights-Of-Way, Relocation, and Disposal Areas (LERRDS) crediting of the BMKV parcel, which was purchased by the NFS in 2001, and the use of federal matching funds for the project. However, at issue was the 65/35 project cost share for the Hamilton-BMKV project. The NFS asked for a review of the cost share ratio with the stipulation that the PCA amendment would be signed only if the original authorization’s 75/25 cost share continues. The Assistant Secretary of the Army, Civil Works (ASACW) determined that legislative action was required to maintain a 75/25 cost-share.

• WRRDA 2014 Section 1030(d) returned the cost share percentage back to 75/25.

• Regarding BMKV, the NFS has begun designing the first major project feature (flood control levee) on its own, under the purview of an existing In-Kind Services MOU.  The 2010 MOU for design is still in effect.  However, the Conservancy’s design plans will align part of the BMKV project levee differently than the description in the approved 2010 Integral Determination Report (IDR).  Because the design is configured substantially differently than that in the plan recommended in the General Reevaluation Report (GRR) authorized by Congress in WRDA 2007, the Corps must undertake an analysis to  determine whether the proposed changes  are within the existing Congressional authorization. 

• Considering the steps required to determine whether the proposed design is within the WRDA 2007 project authorization and to potentially reconcile the Conservancy’s proposed design and construction to the GRR, it would be premature at this time to enter into an MOU for in-kind crediting for construction.

• The NFS is looking for ways to reduce the cost of BMKV, which primarily means reducing the placement of dredge material.  This would impact the region’s LTMS goals, as well as delay the restoration of BMKV to wetlands.

• An amendment to the PCA to cost share the Bay Trail 50/50 as authorized in WRDA 2007 was executed on 20 June 2013.  Construction of the Bay Trail was completed prior to opening the site to tidal action as per environmental permit requirements.

CONGRESSIONAL INTEREST

• 2nd District, Rep. Jared Huffman
• Senator Barbara Boxer
• Senator Diane Feinstein

POINT OF CONTACT

• Deputy for Project Management, Arijs A. Rakstins, (415) 503-6720

Updated on 22 February 2016

Click Map to Zoom In