Richmond eyes shoreline erosion project to save Bay Trail expansion

RICHMOND Shoreline erosion at Point Molate Beach could jeopardize a million recreational trail project through Richmond and threaten historical artifacts A million city financing approved by the city council on Tuesday aims to find a key For about a decade the East Bay Regional Parks District and Richmond functionaries have envisioned expanding a section of the San Francisco Bay Trail a -mile-long recreational highway meant to circle the entire bay along a mile section of Richmond s bayfront Once built the new portion of the pedestrian and cyclists trail would stretch from the historic Winehaven District once known as the largest pre-prohibition winery in the world before becoming a war-time fuel storage site past the Chevron refinery to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge With studies conducted and million in funding from grants tax dollars and legal settlements identified the project was put out to bid All that now holds up expansion is a crumbling section of Point Molate Beach that sits at the center of the future trail site This is not a hypothetical menace This is a current happening condition Deputy Residents Works Director Robert Armijo disclosed during the council meeting Tuesday Staff has proposed placing a cluster of large boulders referred to as a revetment or riprap on feet of the beach stretch to create a buffer that would prevent future erosion of a -foot section of the bluff The construction of foundation for feet of the new trail would also be completed as part of the project along with swapping a failed -inch storm drain pipe with a new -inch concrete culvert The city had initially planned to repair the section with a million grant from the Division of Boating and Waterways Shoreline Erosion Control Undertaking matching it with a city contribution But Armijo disclosed staff in recent days discovered the grant was never awarded Growing construction costs updated design plans and mitigation requirements imposed by the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board have caused the estimated project budget to increase to million the city commented If the council did not agree to fund the bluff repairs Armijo and General Works Director Daniel Chavarria announced the city runs the threat of losing grant funding for the Bay Trail expansion that demands to be spent by the end of this year We are right now in the middle of the fire and we need to make a decision right now if we want to lose grants or keep them declared Chavarria What we re trying to do is save the Bay Trail project Concerns about the prospective unintended consequences of installing a revetment were raised by members of the populace Among those concerns are the probable erosion of other sections of nearby beaches future expensive repairs of that damage and the loss of residents access to a chunk of Point Molate Beach Riprap does several things It does stabilize the shoreline but at a terrible price disclosed Sally Tobin a Richmond resident and member of the Point Molate Alliance and the Richmond Shoreline Alliance This kind of damage is very expensive to repair and disrupts biodiversity Without constructing particular form of barrier Armijo mentioned other sensitive artifacts including human remains from a sacred indigenous burial site and a historic Chinese fisherman camp could be washed away Rerouting the trail could also damage a marsh the city built to offset impacts to other wetlands during a different project Armijo noted With this plan we are protecting those sites If we don t do this then the bluffs that are at this moment holding onto these culturally sensitive sites they will erode and they will go into the bay Armijo announced Chavarria Armijo and consultants working on the project were unable to answer initial questions about the broader impact of the project and other solutions considered but assured the council they could return before the project is put out to bid to provide more clarity Councilmembers agreed to allocate the funding but only with the requirement that staff return with a evaluation session during which more information on the environmental impact of the revetment can be presented along with probable project alternatives