Nothing here says don't sign. It says don't sign this week without reading the waiver, and without knowing what the easement is worth. The six steps, in plain language →
Latest
- Tuesday, September 29 — Board of Supervisors: a $3 million flood emergency funding request. County staff are asking the Board for $3 million in flood emergency funding. Some of it is for Santa Venetia; how much has not been stated. Public comment is open to any resident. What to say, and the three questions worth asking →
- Coming up — A community meeting on the floodwall has been proposed for late October. No date has been set yet. Sign up and we will send the date, time and place as soon as the County announces it — along with what is on the agenda.
- September 24, 2026 — The County posted a Flood Protection Easement Donation Process for this project: owners who donate are asked to waive compensation and appraisal rights. What the six steps involve, and what to know before signing →
- September 23, 2026 — At the District meeting the County said easement acquisition cannot start until the environmental review is certified, and estimated two to three years to secure the easements after that.
- September 24, 2026 — New page: Protect Your Home — sandbag locations, emergency alerts, what flood insurance does and does not cover, and what to do before the rain starts, in one place.
Older updates are on the Timeline. Every page shows the date and time it was last changed in the footer.
Write to the County
Santa Venetia is in District 1, represented by Supervisor Mary Sackett. A short, civil note in your own words beats a form letter, and the people on the other end are working on this too. Something like this is plenty:
Opens your own email program with the message already addressed and written — edit it before you send, because your own words land harder. If nothing opens, write to Mary.Sackett@MarinCounty.gov. Read the full ask →
The facts behind the ask
Everything below comes out of the County's own documents and its own marker on the levee. It is why we are asking for what we are asking for.
Last January the king tides came over the top of the timber wall along Las Gallinas Creek and soaked through it in places. The County declared an emergency and put about $2.6 million of damage on the books. Months later, the answer for much of the alignment is still sandbags — and we are heading into another winter with the same wall.
The permanent floodwall is not about to be built. That is a calendar, not an objection.
Nothing starts until the environmental review is certified. It is not certified. On September 23, County staff said easements cannot begin until then, and estimated two to three years to get them. The County holds 16 of 111. Its old date of 2028 assumed the easements and the money were already in hand. They are not.
In the order staff described — certify the review, two to three years of easements, a funding vote, a bid, then construction — a finished wall is five to seven years away. That is seven more winters behind the timber wall. The County has published no schedule that says otherwise.
So the real question isn't which wall we build. It's what protects our houses in the meantime.
There is only one work window a year, and it is open right now
From February through August the marsh birds are nesting and heavy work along the creek is off limits. That leaves September 1 to January 15. Repairs not under contract by mid-October won't be finished in time, and the neighborhood goes into the rainy season on sandbags again.
What we are asking the County to do — this fall
| The ask | Why |
|---|---|
| Repair the levee and timber wall we already have to El. 10.0 feet above sea level | The County's own marker on the levee puts the 100-year tide at 9.8 feet. Ten feet clears it. |
| Fix every failed section, along the full alignment | A gap anywhere lets water in everywhere. A barrier with a hole protects no one. |
| Seal the leaks at the pump-station pipes | The 2013 geotechnical report identifies the pipe penetrations as a known seepage path. |
| Put a real closure at the Meadow Drive crossing | The County's own 2022 drawings leave this crossing as a "temporary flood barrier … by others." |
| Then do it again every fall until a permanent wall is standing | The crest is still settling. A wall at 10 feet in 2027 is not at 10 feet in 2031 unless someone measures it and tops it up. |
Read the full ask, and what to say to the County →
This does not replace the floodwall — and nobody should pretend it does
Repairing the timber wall is what keeps water out of our houses until a permanent floodwall is built end to end. It is not a substitute for that wall, and one good repair season does not mean the problem is solved. Both things are true at once: the permanent wall still has to get built, and the wall we have has to hold until it does.
And none of this money is wasted. Every plan for the new wall — the County's included — leans on the existing wall to hold the water back until the new one is finished.
No Sandbags
The full interim protection ask, the deadline, and the two questions to put to the County.
Timeline
From "ready to build" in 2021 to the January 2026 breach — every major decision and delay.
Key Facts & Documents
The public record — costs, easements, funding — explained in plain language.