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Dredge Bit Slip
When BCDC's Allen Brooks inspected Port Sonoma in late August 2001, he found some pieces of cordgrass dangling from a dredging bit. Although the Port's permit allows for yearly dredging within the marina to keep it navigable by small craft, Shellmaker Channel, a marshy area at the mouth of the Petaluma River adjacent to the marina, is not included in the permit and had lain undisturbed for many years. It had filled in with silt and cordgrass, creating a potentially ideal spot for the endangered clapper rail, and raising red flags with the wildlife agents who first spotted the unauthorized activity.
Over the last year, Port Sonoma officials have either maintained they had permission to dredge at Shellmaker or denied that any dredging took place. John Zentner, an environmental consultant representing the Port, wrote in an October 25, 2001 letter to Brooks that the Port had authorization from other regulatory agencies, including the S.F. Regional Water Quality Control Board. Zentner, who minimized the damage done to the cordgrass, says he didn't know anything about the dredging until U.S. Fish & Wildlife and the Army Corps informed him of the activities. He attributes the fact that the Port did not get BCDC's permission to an administrative oversight. In its notification to the Regional Board, the Port sent a map of the marina's authorized dredging area that included Shellmaker Channel. A similar map sent to BCDC did not include the channel.
"The only thing I can figure out was the original permitting consultant for some reason included the wrong map in materials to the Regional Board," explains Zentner.
What's stirring the silt in Port Sonoma is the prospect of the sleepy marina becoming a bustling North Bay transit hub. Marina operators involved in the dredging told Fish & Wildlife officials they were clearing the way for a ferry terminal, an announcement that was news to Brooks and others who oversee the Port's dredging activities. According to Brooks, "The [Port] permit does not discuss any future ferry terminal."
Harbormaster Brian Swedberg agrees with Zentner that the fiasco was due to an administrative oversight. He says the Port was merely concerned that Shellmaker Channel did not completely fill in with cordgrass.
"Right now, we're just trying to keep our options open," says Swedberg. "In the next 20 years, if the Water Transit Authority looks at Port Sonoma as a ferry terminal, that would be great. But we're not relying on that."
In the meantime, Port Sonoma remains on the list of sites for further examination under a $12 million state-funded study of ferry service expansion on the Bay. Environmentalists say wetlands and wildlife concerns are reason enough for the Water Transit Authority to nix Port Sonoma from consideration. The Port remains in the running, though, thanks largely to the efforts of local politicians and the business community, says Teri Shore of the Blue Water Network. "They're pushing it even though it has huge environmental flaws," says Shore.
To help settle its permit violations with BCDC, the Port, sandwiched between Carl's Marsh and Sonoma Baylands (a 320-acre marsh restoration site), has agreed to grant an easement to the Sonoma Land Trust for access to Sonoma Baylands. It has also promised to remain within the bounds of the current dredging permit for five years.
Public access is murky territory too, though. At issue is whether a path from a parking and picnic area on Port property can legitimately be part of the mitigation. Stuart Siegel, wetlands consultant for the Sonoma Land Trust, believes the path is part of the public access the Port was required to provide as part of its original permit for the marina. Brooks says that only if the Port had developed a third marina (which it didn't) would it have had to make half of the path accessible. Brooks says that under the new agreement, the whole path will be included.
"The benefits of the agreement clearly outweigh the damage caused by the alleged violation," says Brooks. Other observers are skeptical that another public access issue-access to Carl's Marsh through a locked gate-has been resolved by the Port agreeing to unlock the gate as long as visitors give 48 hours' advance notice and carry insurance covering the Port.
In the meantime, the Port awaits the findings of the WTA ferry study. In the recently released draft EIR, it has been bumped down on the priority list of potential ferry sites; one rub is that ferry service would certainly spur development in a largely undeveloped area. Ferry proponent and former Sonoma County Board of Supervisors member Jim Harberson sees the potential development as a plus. "It's the only logical place for a ferry," explains Harberson, who is also a consultant to the Port. "There is development there already. If there were nothing there but wetlands, then I wouldn't support it."
Contact: Allen Brooks (415) 352-3624; Brian Swedberg (707) 778-8055; Teri Shore (415) 544-0790 KC
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