How we got here — most recent first
Every entry below is drawn from a public document: County press releases, board letters, environmental filings, Flood Zone 7 staff reports, budget documents, and published news coverage. See Key Facts & Documents for where to find each one.
Open right now: the County's revised draft environmental review for the floodwall is out for public comment, and the comment period closes September 28, 2026 at 4:00 p.m. It is the one formal opening on the record this fall, and comments submitted in that window become part of the project record.
- September 23, 2026 — At the Flood Zone 7 Advisory Board meeting the County states that easement acquisition cannot proceed until the environmental review is certified, and Robin Bartlett, acting Flood Zone 7 manager, estimates two to three years to secure the easements once it can. On that estimate, acquisition alone runs to 2029 or 2030 — past 2028, the year the County has called the earliest possible construction start. A permanent Zone 7 manager is expected to start in early October.
- September 24, 2026 — The County posts a Flood Protection Easement Donation Process for the floodwall: a six-step route by which an owner grants the permanent easement and, in doing so, "voluntarily waive[s] compensation and, where applicable, appraisal rights." Donating is described as voluntary. This is now the County's stated path to the easements it has not funded.
- August 28 – September 28, 2026 — The County circulates a Revised Draft Supplemental Environmental Review / Subsequent Mitigated Negative Declaration for the floodwall, with a Notice of Availability and a mailed postcard. Public comment closes September 28, 2026, 4:00 p.m.
- July 22, 2026 — Flood Zone 7 Advisory Board issues a written update in lieu of a meeting: further timber-wall repairs are "anticipated," disaster reimbursement is "still far off," and seepage is reported in the 600 block.
- June 2026 — Estimate now $25–30 million. After five years: 16 of 111 easements secured, no schedule, no secured construction funding, $0 programmed in the County's five-year capital plan — and a Prop 218 assessment heading toward residents.
- June 8, 2026 — Budget hearing: program presented at $25–30 million. The Board of Supervisors approves a $5 million loan to the Flood Control District to begin easement work, and constructability workshops are announced. Still no schedule and no cost buildup for the easement program.
- March 25, 2026 — Flood Zone 7 Advisory Board staff report identifies 49 parcels as critical, funds five repair sites for 2026 at roughly $573,000 — and leaves sandbags as the answer for the rest of the alignment.
- February 23, 2026 — County post: "January King Tides Emphasize Critical Need" for the floodwall project.
- January 21, 2026 — County holds a community webinar on the flooding and the project. It is not a Flood Zone 7 Advisory Board meeting, and no repair schedule comes out of it.
- January 13–20, 2026 — A local emergency is proclaimed for the storm and tide damage, and ratified by the Board of Supervisors on January 20. Damage to the levee system is later put at about $2.6 million.
- January 2026 — Supervisor Sackett, in an op-ed: "The project is designed but we don't have money for easements and construction." To the Marin IJ: "It's a terrible chicken-and-egg problem."
- January 3, 2026 — The levee breaches during a king tide. Streets flood; water enters backyards. The 100% construction documents predate this breach by more than three years.
- October 15, 2025 — Community Open House #1 on the proposed floodwall.
- October 2025 — Cost now $25 million. Construction "planned for 2028, if funding is secured." A promised finance plan, due by end of 2025, is never produced.
- September 24 & December 3, 2025 — Flood Zone 7 Advisory Board staff reports and presentations on project status and Zone 7 finances.
- 2024 — Response to Comments issued on the supplemental environmental review.
- May 2024 — KneeDeep Times: "100+ Easements for One Flood Wall?" documents the easement problem publicly.
- February 2024 — CSW contract extended a second time, through February 2026. Amendment amounts not disclosed.
- December 2023 — First Supplemental Environmental Review / Subsequent Mitigated Negative Declaration circulated for the redesigned wall, with a Notice of Availability.
- March 2023 — Basis of Design issued. It contains no analysis justifying the permanent easements that have stalled the project — the word "easement" does not appear.
- March 2023 — District Board of Supervisors authorizes completing the environmental review for the redesigned floodwall.
- November 2022 — 100% Construction Documents completed (dated 11/02/2022) for a vinyl/composite sheet pile wall. Cost estimate climbs toward $25 million.
- October 13, 2022 — CSW presents the wall design to the Flood Zone 7 Advisory Board.
- July 2022 — CSW Stuber-Stroeh Engineering hired on a single-source contract ($617,549) — no competitive bidding.
- March–July 2022 — Cost estimate jumps to $12 million, then $14 million.
- Early 2022 — Construction does not start. $2 million of a $3.2 million FEMA grant is lost — the easements were not in hand.
- August 2021 — County announces a buildable $6 million project, with construction planned for November 2021.
- March 2021 — Special tax measure to fund the timber wall fails by three votes: 66.29% approval, with 67% required.
- October 2020 — Draft benefit-assessment engineer's report prepared for the ~$6 million project, and a resolution of intent for Subzone 7A — the first run at the assessment path.
- September 2020 — Pilot plan set issued, before the composite design.
- June 2020 — Flood Barrier Study technical memo compares barrier types and cost bands — including steel sheet pile.
- October 2019 — Response to Comments on the Initial Study / Mitigated Negative Declaration.
- 2019 — FEMA grant awarded toward the levee upgrade — $3.2 million, most of which is later lost.
- June–July 2019 — Initial Study / Mitigated Negative Declaration for the Gallinas Levee Upgrade released with a Notice of Availability — the environmental baseline for everything that follows. Survey outreach letters and a drone LiDAR survey of the alignment come the same spring.
- 2018 — Original plan: a $5 million timber wall upgrade.
The pattern: the cost has gone from $6 million to $25–30 million — a four- to five-fold increase — with zero construction to show for it. The constant through every delay is the easement problem: the design requires a permanent 18-foot easement on 111 private parcels, and five years of effort has produced 16 signatures.