Visitors to our community frequently notice what appear to be vacant berths on the docks. They’re always amazed to discover that these openings are actually underwater streets, vestiges of unrealized plans to fill in Richardson’s Bay back when California first became a state. According to a paper by Michael Wilmar,...
Two articles in the Sunday Marin IJ starkly detail the effects of climate change on our local environment. Writing about the Bay Conservation and Development Commission’s newly adopted regional shoreline adaptation plan, IJ reporter Adrian Rodriguez states that water levels are expected to rise “more than 6 feet by 2100...
The Richardson Bay Regional Agency (RBRA) continues to make progress toward reducing the number of anchor-out vessels from the waters off Sausalito. In September, the agency removed the last illegal floating home off Waldo Point, a condition of its agreement with the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC). ...
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) encourages each coastal zone management program, like the Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), to create a five-year Assessment and Strategy (A&S) to guide its program development and strengthen and improve its operations. BCDC has just started this process. The A&S will cover...
Last week Michael Konrad of South 40 Pier provided a primer on eel grass, a key component of the ecology of Richardson’s Bay. This week he examines threats to eel grass and what is being done about them. The damage that anchored boats can inflict on eelgrass is often mentioned...
The recent news that the infamous Forbes Island has been resurrected in the Delta reminded me that its visionary builder, Forbes Kiddoo, got his start fabricating concrete barges for Sausalito floating homes. Most of those barges measured no more than 20 by 40 feet, but one day Forbes got the...
Harbor owners are opposing the recently enacted rent stabilization ordinance (AB252), claiming it is a financial burden, and are collectively seeking to amend the bill. The FHA wants all residents to understand what is in the bill, and how it helps to level the playing field between floating homeowners and...
Local media has been abuzz lately with stories from the Southern Marin waterfront. Galilee Harbor. The March 27 San Francisco Chronicle carried a front–page story about rising berth rents at Galilee Harbor. The article describes Galilee’s unique status this way: “It is the only wholly owned and operated live–aboard cooperative harbor...
The recent front-page headline in the Marin IJ, “Richardson Bay agency scraps mooring field plan” took most of us by surprise, including Sausalito councilmember Jill Hoffman, who has been a vocal opponent of the plan since it was first suggested by the RBRA in 2014. Hoffman reiterated her concerns with...
The recent announcement of the resignation of the harbormaster for the Richardson’s Bay Regional Agency (RBRA) got me thinking back to how the anchor–out phenomenon got its start. That story was told by the original anchor–out himself, Bob Kalloch, in an oral history recorded for the Historical Society. Bob, a...