Marin moves to speed up Santa Venetia floodwall as 700 homes face an El Niño winter behind a 40-year-old berm

The wooden flood barrier that keeps Las Gallinas Creek out of about 700 Santa Venetia homes in San Rafael is more than 40 years old. On Oct. 20, Marin County supervisors took two steps toward replacing it.

What supervisors approved

According to the Marin Independent Journal, supervisors approved a supplemental environmental review for the replacement. The plan is a roughly 7,800-foot sheet-pile floodwall in place of the timber-reinforced berm on top of the earthen levee. They also authorized County Executive Derek Johnson or his designee to negotiate, approve and sign right-of-way contracts.

The county published the revised draft supplemental review for comment in August. It supplements a 2019 study done for an earlier, cheaper plan to rebuild the berm with composite lumber. That plan, estimated at about $5 million in 2018, stalled for lack of funding. The district switched to the sheet-pile design in 2023.

The easement problem

Much of the levee sits on private land. The flood district needs property rights on about 110 parcels. It holds easements on about 16 and is working on seven or eight more controlled by partner agencies, which leaves 85 to 90 properties still to secure, the IJ reported. Public Works Director Christopher Blunk said easements are crucial to getting money for the $30 million project, because many funding programs require site control.

The flood district's own project page says easements are needed from the 111 homeowners along Vendola Drive whose properties back onto the creek. At a 2025 community meeting, a consultant told residents a new wall would save the district up to $400,000 a year in berm repairs.

This winter

The permanent wall won't be built before the El Niño rains. During storms last January, the levee took $2.6 million in damage, and water topped the wall by about an inch in places. The county is using lidar to find low spots and wants to add sandbags and temporary barriers to raise them to about 9 feet. Blunk said about half the owners asked for temporary access have agreed so far.

"I wish we were talking about the full solution to this, but unfortunately we know the permanent project is not going to be done, and we have very real concerns about what is coming this winter," Supervisor Mary Sackett said.