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Among the many hats I wear, one of them is serving on the Bay Area Air Quality Management District Board of Directors (BAAQMD). The Air District has regulatory authority and a legal mandate to reduce toxic emissions from stationary sources that pollute the air, harming the environment and public health. The Federal Government sets emissions standards for various pollutants for air basins across the county. The Bay Area is not in compliance with federal air quality standards for Nitrous Oxide (NOx) and fine particulate matter (PM 2.5).
In March, the Air District amended Rules 9-4 and 9-6 regulations for residential and commercial water heaters and space heaters to require that only zero NOx (nitrous oxide) emitting alternatives be available for distribution or sale in the greater Bay Area beginning in 2027 for water heaters and 2029 for space heaters. The regulations do not apply to gas stoves/ovens. These are point of sale (time of replacement) regulations. Property owners can continue to use their existing gas water heater or furnace for as long as they like (or as long as it works)!
Why is the Air District doing this? Gas appliances emit both NOx and PM2.5 and are a major source of these pollutants in the bay area. Health impacts from short- and long-term exposure to NOx and PM 2.5 include asthma and other respiratory conditions, pulmonary and neurological disease, stroke and lung cancer, and premature death. It will take roughly twenty years for the Bay Area’s stock of these NOx emitting appliances to age out and be replaced with clean alternatives, resulting in improved air quality, public health, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions as well.
Learn more about these water heater and heating appliance regulations and how they are structured to be responsive to emerging technology and market conditions. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or comments.
 Town of San Anselmo Reimagine Creek Park Concept
This has been the kind of winter, (saturated soils + atmospheric rivers) in which historic floods have occurred in the Ross Valley. The most recent major flood happened the morning of December 31, 2005, devastating business districts and neighborhoods up and down the Ross Valley and causing upwards of $100 million in damages. The 2005 flood was the impetus for the launch of the Ross Valley Flood Prevention and Watershed Program, which includes several flood mitigation projects, among them the San Anselmo Fairfax Flood Risk Reduction project (SAFFR).
SAFFR was approved by the Marin County Flood Control District in 2018 and is comprised of a detention basin in Fairfax at the old Sunnyside nursery site in (completed in 2022), and in San Anselmo removal of Building Bridge 2 (BB2) and creek bank and habitat restoration improvements. BB2 spans the creek and was the foundation to several buildings on San Anselmo Avenue, and more recently has served as the platform for Creek Park Plaza. BB2 causes constriction to creek flow during storm events and is a major cause of flooding in San Anselmo.
In November 2018, the Flood District purchased BB2 properties and in early 2020, in cooperation with the Town, removed the buildings on top of BB2, and launched work on the first phase of SAFFR – the upstream detention basin in Fairfax. Simultaneously, the town went to work fleshing out its vision for Reimagine Creek Park project – to create an enhanced community commons connecting Creek Park to San Anselmo Avenue, and designed to piggyback on the District’s flood project.
Then came the pandemic. Responding to the desire for more outdoor gathering spaces downtown and the opportunity that the vacant BB2 platform presented, the Town leased the platform and converted it into a temporary public place soon to be known as Creek Park Plaza. The plaza quickly became the go-to place for community gathering, was a huge benefit to local businesses during the pandemic, and ultimately, “proof of concept” for a re-vitalized downtown common. Hence, the upset and outcry, when in September 2022, the District terminated the lease with the town and closed the plaza after receiving engineering reports showing that BB2 was structurally unsound and not safe for public use.
Over the course of the following months, a working group comprised of staff and elected officials from both the Town of San Anselmo and the County of Marin, met regularly to explore options and feasibility for re-opening the plaza in advance of the district moving forward with SAFFR project and removal of BB2 bridge. Ultimately, the Town’s requests to pursue reinforcement of the structure and re-establishment of the platform were denied as articulated in the District’s March 2023 letter to the Town.
Next steps: The SAFFR project is in the pipeline for completion. BB2 will be removed no later than October 15, 2024. The Flood District will continue to work collaboratively with the Town to coordinate its project with the town’s Reimagine Creek Park project—ultimately realizing both reduced flood risk and new vision for Creek Park.
For meeting notifications and updates for the SAFFR projects, sign up here.
 The summit of Bald Hill.
It’s ours! The 1,141-foot treeless summit and surrounding 60 acres is finally protected, preserved, in perpetuity!
Most Ross Valley residents probably had no idea that Bald Hill, that iconic backdrop to Ross and San Anselmo, was privately held. But, in fact, this ingrained part of Ross Valley’s identity has been vulnerable to development for years. With its acquisition and incorporation into the Bald Hill Open Space Preserve, a decades-old goal of the community and the County to protect this invaluable landscape and prevent development on its pristine hillsides has been fulfilled.
My thanks to all those who helped to make this acquisition happen – particularly San Anselmo’s intrepid open space champion, Jonathan Braun, the entire board of MOST (Marin Open Space Trust), Ross Town Councilmember Elizabeth Robbins and Dan Kalafatas who led the private fundraising effort which made this acquisition possible, the Town of Ross, Marin Open Space District and all those whose generosity of time, talent were essential to a successful outcome.
On behalf of the many, many Ross Valley residents and visitors who have enjoyed the trails, vistas, and beauty of our beloved Baldy, thank you all!
Thank you to everyone who completed the survey in our last newsletter. Housing, Traffic/Transportation, homelessness and environment were top issues of concern. Write in responses reflected the broader range of concerns from mental health and substance abuse to wildfire and water supply, early childhood education and childcare. The response tells me that my focus areas are in alignment with the priorities of folks out in the community.
Look for a much more robust community survey coming from the County later this spring. This survey will help inform future county budgets and program development. It will be mailed in mid-April to randomly selected households, and available online to the public early in May. Stay tuned!
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