The five facts every affected homeowner should know
1. The easement is the project
The current design requires a permanent 18-foot easement into 111 private backyards — forever. In five years of acquisition effort, the County has secured 16. The County has stated it will fund only voluntary easement acquisitions on this project — and because a flood barrier with a gap protects no one, every parcel matters: one holdout stalls the entire alignment. Until the easement problem is solved, no amount of funding produces a wall.
2. The easement requirement was assumed, not engineered
The County's stated reason for the wide easements is good public policy and future maintenance of the composite and timber wall system. Those maintenance needs are real for those materials — composite and timber deteriorate, rodents burrow, crews need recurring backyard access. But the County's March 2023 Basis of Design — the document that is supposed to justify every major design decision — contains no engineering analysis of the easement requirement, and the rationale depends entirely on the choice of wall material. The County's own published cost-by-phase figures put right-of-way at roughly $10 million — a major project component with no documented engineering basis.
3. No grant pays for easements
State and federal grants fund construction — not permanent easement acquisition. The ~$10 million right-of-way cost falls entirely on Santa Venetia residents through a future Prop 218 assessment, currently estimated at $100–150 per month per household for 30 years. That is $36,000–$54,000 per home.
4. There is no schedule and no finance plan
The County's own FAQ concedes there is no construction schedule and that 2028 is the soonest possible start. A draft finance plan promised by the end of 2025 was never produced. The County's FY2027–31 Capital Improvement Program lists the Santa Venetia floodwall as "TBD" with $0 programmed in all five years.
5. A reviewable alternative exists — and has not been examined
A steel sheet pile design (rather than the current vinyl/composite design) would not need broad permanent backyard access: steel does not rot, rodents cannot penetrate it, and maintenance is minimal. That concept — a narrow 6-foot permanent strip plus a temporary construction easement that is released after the work, at a preliminary target of $12–15 million total, on the order of half the assessment burden of the County program — has now been developed into a full draft Alternate Basis of Design: 35 pages, four appendices, a bottom-up cost model on current steel-mill pricing, and a photographic record of the entire alignment. It is entering professional review by Bay Area heavy-civil contractors and independent engineers, and will be published on this site when that review is complete. Neither the County's design nor the alternative has ever had an independent third-party review. The County's own Bolinas seawall (2014) is a steel sheet pile wall in Bay Mud that has performed for over a decade with minimal maintenance.
Cost comparison at a glance
| Item | County design | Steel alternative (preliminary) |
|---|---|---|
| Total cost | $25–30 million | $12–15 million |
| Permanent easement | 18 ft into 111 backyards (~$10M) | Narrow 6-ft strip matching existing berm |
| Monthly cost per household (30 yr) | $100–150 | On the order of half — final figure pending contractor verification |
| Construction timeline | 2030+ (no schedule exists) | 18–24 months after easements |
| Independent review | Never done | In progress — contractor & engineer peer review |
Alternative figures are preliminary and unfunded — which is precisely why independent review is the right next step.
The public record
Sources for every figure on this site:
- August 2021 — County announcement: $6M project, construction planned November 2021.
- November 2022 — 100% Construction Documents (dated 11/02/2022), vinyl/composite sheet pile wall.
- March 2023 — Basis of Design: contains no easement justification.
- February 2024 — DPW board letter: CSW Stuber-Stroeh single-source contract #32300040, $617,549, twice extended.
- May 2024 — KneeDeep Times: "100+ Easements for One Flood Wall?"
- October 2025 — Marin IJ: "Marin lays groundwork for new flood tax pitch."
- January 2026 — Supervisor Sackett op-ed: "The project is designed but we don't have money for easements and construction."
- June 8, 2026 — Flood District budget hearing record: program presented at $25–30 million; $5 million County loan moved to begin easement work; constructability workshops announced.
- 2026 — County FY2027–31 Capital Improvement Program: Santa Venetia floodwall TBD, $0 programmed.
- 2026 — County project FAQ, item 12: no construction schedule; 2028 soonest.
Copies of these documents will be posted here as the document library is built out. Want a specific document in the meantime? Email wmta@wmta.com.