By Joe Wolfcale
Marin Independent Journal
Monday, November 14, 2005
A pond in Corte Madera used for decades for drainage and flood control is at the center of a dispute between environmentalists and town officials who want to fill it and build a parking lot.
The half-acre pond, no more than four feet deep, is at the north end of the Corte Madera Inn and Max's restaurant, in a region where several ponds and lagoons have been linked to provide flood control for storm water runoff for more than 50 years.
The owner of the Corte Madera Inn, Reneson Hotel Group of San Francisco, is proposing 23 new parking spaces for hotel guests and restaurant patrons and landscaping and lighting. The Planning Commission approved the plan in September.
But the Marin Audubon Society and other environmental groups, such as Friends of Corte Madera Creek Watershed, oppose the project. They say the pond is a wetland that supports a number of bird species - as many as 30, by some estimates - and other wildlife, and deserves protection.
Audubon has appealed the Planning Commission's approval; the Town Council will hear the appeal at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow in the council chambers at 300 Tamalpais Drive.
Marin Audubon Society President Barbara Salzman said her group has hired a San Rafael-based company, Wetlands and Water Resources, which will demonstrate for the city council why the pond should be protected and not filled.
At issue is whether the pond falls into the category of a "wetland."
In the appeal, the Audubon Society states the pond is a wetland as defined by the town's general plan and that the project thus conflicts with policies and zoning that prohibit the filling of wetlands.
"It's an old, man-made flood retention pond; it's certainly not pristine wetlands," Reneson Hotel Group President Garrett Grialou said. "It does not meet the definition of wetland. There's so little habitat. We get the same birds in our swimming pool each day. With the mitigation, there is a net win to the environment there."
Corte Madera Planning Director Bob Pendoley asserts the pond is no longer needed for flood control. The town's findings are supported in a study conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
"There are other things at issue," Pendoley said. "The studies assert it is badly degraded, it's isolated and doesn't get tidal flushing, so it's no longer natural. It does have some value, but the impact can be mitigated."
Reneson Hotel Group has agreed to provide 0.65 acres at the Burdell Ranch Wetland Conservation Bank, a wetlands habitat near Gnoss Field in Novato.
The kidney-shaped pond, 300 feet long and 160 feet wide, is due north of the restaurant on the inn's six-acre site. It receives water, mostly from a 30-inch storm drain that connects with Lagoon No. 1 to the west A slide gate is used for water control.
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Biological studies have found that two federally protected species - the California red-legged frog and the California tiger salamander - could potentially inhabit the site, although that is unlikely. A number of plant species grow along the water's edge.
The plan calls for filling the pond with some 9,000 cubic yards of clean fill and geo-foam materials. Approximately 4,000 square feet of grassy swales would be constructed in the new landscaping plan. Lighting would include nine pole fixtures 20 feet in height.
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