The November 9 meeting of the Richardson Bay Regional Agency (RBRA) took place in Mill Valley City Council Chambers. Prior to the City of Sausalito’s withdrawal from the agency most RBRA meetings took place at the Sausalito City Chambers. Meeting locations will now rotate among the remaining members: Tiburon, Belvedere, Mill Valley and Marin County.
Richardson’s Bay harbormaster Bill Price reported to the RBRA that he had received an additional $71,000 from the SAVE (Surrendered and Abandoned Vessel Exchange) program to augment their 2017 budget. The RBRA had been without funds to remove boats from the bay for several months. Since receiving the grant 11 vessels have been removed, using $28,000 of those funds. 7 were removed from Marin County water, 1 from Tiburon, and 3 from Belvedere. He further reported that the most recent water quality checks were the best ever.
An anchor-out association spokesman reported that they now have a web page, anchoredout.org. He said their inspection of ground tackle—in preparation for winter—has checked 50 boats so far. They are listing 190-200 boats at the moment.
The next RBRA meeting will be on January 11, 2018. Check the RBRA online site for meeting locations—the RBRA plans to update their site shortly, to make this information more readily accessible. These meetings are public and anyone can attend. A portion of each meeting is set aside for the public to voice their opinion—usually limited to a few minutes per speaker. As in the past, someone from the FHA board will attend the January meeting.
Waterfront Community Meeting and Debris Collection Event
The Sausalito Police Department hosted a waterfront community meeting—on Wednesday, November 15—in conjunction with the Marin County Sheriff’s Office, the Richardson Bay Regional Agency, and Marin County Health and Human Services. The meeting was held at Southern Marin Fire Protection District Station One at 333 Johnson Street in Sausalito.
The purpose of the meeting was to inform the waterfront community of a debris collection event taking place on Richardson Bay on Tuesday, November 21. The event has the following goals:
- Encourage mariners to remove debris from their anchored vessels before winter, so as to help prevent debris and hazardous items from falling into the Bay during storms
- Assist mariners in making their vessels compliant with City of Sausalito and Richardson Bay Regional Agency nuisance/debris ordinances
- Contact individuals from the waterfront and offer, for those who are interested, services which may help them to obtain alternative housing
Any questions about the debris collection event may be directed to Lieutenant Bill Fraass at (415) 289-4171 or bfraass@sausalito.gov.
Addendum — Nov 21 Marin IJ Article: Sausalito, Richardson Bay agency clears debris from anchor-outs provides full coverage of the event.
And this article, also by Mark Prado, published Nov 20: Sausalito turns to tech to track ‘anchor outs’.