Body of News Release
San Rafael, CA — The Marin County Flood Control and Water Conservation District’s Flood Zone 9 Advisory Board will consider a staff recommendation on Thursday, March 26, to cancel the proposed Building Bridge 2 (BB2) Removal Project in downtown San Anselmo.
If supported by the advisory board, the recommendation will be forwarded to the Marin County Board of Supervisors, which serves as the governing board of the Flood Control District, for final consideration at a future public meeting.
The advisory board is meeting at 6:30 PM in Suite 143D of the Marin County Civic Center, 3501 Civic Center Drive, San Rafael. For in-person visitors, the best access to the meeting room is through the Civic Center’s North Archway, closest to the Lagoon Park entrance. The meeting will also be held via videoconference for remote participants.
The BB2 project was originally proposed to improve flood water conveyance along San Anselmo Creek as part of the Ross Valley Flood Risk Reduction program. However, the bridge is located within a FEMA-designated floodway and must comply with federal regulations based on a 100-year flood event.
As part of its review, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) determined that removing the bridge would increase flood elevations for several downstream properties and required those impacts to be fully mitigated. Addressing those impacts would require additional technical analysis, regulatory approvals, and agreements with affected property owners.
District staff concluded that these requirements cannot be met within available funding or project timelines, and that the project no longer has a viable path forward.
“Based on FEMA’s requirements, advancing this project would require significant additional investment without a clear or achievable path to completion,” said Public Works Director Christopher Blunk. “Recommending cancellation at this stage is the most fiscally responsible course rather than continuing to commit additional public funds to a project that cannot meet federal standards.”
The current flood risk would not increase if BB2 remains in place, Blunk noted, as conditions would remain unchanged.
If ultimately approved by the Board of Supervisors, the Flood Control District would withdraw its Conditional Letter of Map Revision (CLOMR) application from FEMA and formally cancel the project.
District staff will continue working with Ross Valley communities to evaluate alternative strategies to reduce flood risk.