With a heavy El Ni\u00f1o in the forecast this winter, Sausalito will fast-track flood prevention measures along Gate 5 Road.<\/p>\n
The public works department plans to beef up pumps at key drainage conduits in one of the city\u2019s most flood-prone areas. Property owners at nearby Varda Landing also suggested raising a private road to create a levee to counter king tides.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere may be some things that can be done via simple permitting,\u201d Mayor Steven Woodside said Tuesday during a City Council flood control discussion.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, absolutely,\u201d said Brandon Phipps, interim city manager. \u201cWe\u2019d be happy to streamline those kinds of proposals to help bolster against Super El Ni\u00f1o.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier, county emergency management officials told the council that worrisome tides would crest on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and in late January.<\/p>\n
The Gate 5 Road area is in the northeast corner of the Marinship district. It is a mix of maritime businesses, art studios and residences.<\/p>\n
Record king tides last January flooded the area, overwhelmed city emergency pumps and filled many ground floors with several feet of water. The flooding came as city consultants were studying causes, scenarios and countermeasures for the area\u2019s chronic flooding.<\/p>\n
Consultant Eric Slaugh of WSP USA told the council that the bay is expected to rise 6 feet by 2100 while the Marinship area subsides by another 3 to 4 feet. He described how hillside stormwater runoff, infrastructure, drainage systems, tidal flows, tidal surges and the rising sea interact to cause floods.<\/p>\n
Slaugh suggested a mix of complementary short- and long-term solutions. By the shoreline, he suggested tidal gates, pumps for drainage systems and eventually a seawall. Uphill and farther inland, he suggested landscaping that absorbs stormwater and water storage facilities under parks. Each of the projects could cost millions of dollars.<\/p>\n
As an immediate task, he suggested installing a tidal gate and large pumping station above the Coloma Street drainage canal. The narrow channel with sheet-metal walls funnels runoff from west of Bridgeway to the bay. During king tides, however, the drainage system works in reverse as pressure from cresting bay waters presses inward and spills out of storm drains.<\/p>\n
\u201cA gate that\u2019s put on the outfall acts as a barrier so the water cannot go into the culvert,\u201d Slaugh said. \u201cAnd say we get a large rainfall \u2026 that pump station would kick on to get water around the gate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since late last year, a temporary pumping system has been in place for the canal and nearby key drainage junctions. Since the king tides in January, it has prevented further flooding.<\/p>\n
Kevin McGowan, the city public works director, said it is ready to solicit proposals to install a pumping system before this winter. The system would be smaller than WSP\u2019s suggestion.<\/p>\n
During public comments, property and business owners praised the city\u2019s attentiveness after the winter floods, but said action is needed now.<\/p>\n
Ken Pedersen, the owner of Clipper Yacht Harbor, and Reason Bradley, a property owner at Varda Landing, both said more could be done to supplement the city\u2019s preparations.<\/p>\n
They suggested raising a private road on their properties from the Clipper Yacht Harbor parking lot to Gate 5 Road to create a levee that would block another entry point for tidal surges.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve come up with a plan that\u2019s pretty simple,\u201d Bradley said. \u201cThis isn\u2019t a 100-year plan. This is like a 20-year plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just proposing a bunch of trucks of dirt, raise the road a little bit, a couple of pumps, and then put in some check valves,\u201d he said, estimating its cost at $100,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to back up and thank public works,\u201d said Dan Morgan, a landlord who has lost tenants because of flooding. \u201cSince the temporary pumps went in and the outfall got shut off, that has worked.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat system that\u2019s temporary now will continue working until the overland flows at Varda Landing inundate Gate 5,\u201d he said. \u201cThen the pumps get turned off because you can\u2019t stay ahead of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are motivated to do what we can to address this,\u201d Woodside said, suggesting that the city could tap its reserve funds if necessary.<\/p>\n
\u201cI agree with my fellow council members that immediate action is required,\u201d Councilmember Joan Cox said. \u201cI would endorse utilizing our emergency fund if we don\u2019t have funds elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With a heavy El Ni\u00f1o in the forecast this winter, Sausalito will fast-track flood prevention measures along Gate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455554,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[74130,7,179818,643,644,181,23,992,100,180,993,266,39272,101,1914,103,102,3624,104,106,105,19],"class_list":["post-455553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-2026-storms","tag-california","tag-el-niu00f1o","tag-environment","tag-flooding","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-marin-county","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-north-bay","tag-northern-california","tag-richardson-bay","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-bay","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sausalito","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}