June 25, 2019 Maintenance Shed update

Here is an 8 minute update about the Marinwood Maintenance Facility that Eric Driekosen gave the Park and Rec Commission last week.   It was a violation of the Brown Act because it was not listed on the Agenda.  In fact,  a few weeks earlier the public asked for Park Maintenance Facility update and were denied the same from Eric.  Jon Campo knows that they need to be transparent but Eric is refusing

Eric Driekosan talks about their strategy about getting the project approved.  They are meeting with the top planners Brian Crawford, Jeremy Terjirian and Tom Lai, CP attorney Damon Connolly to gain "unofficial approval" prior to submisssion of their plans.

It is alarming that the CSD is completely dismissive of our technical concerns with the project and believe that politics alone will gain approval.

Here are the untractable problems that I see with their current plans.

1.) A total violation of the Stream Conservatikon Ordinance when an environmentally preferred solution is available.  The ENTIRE project is in the "no build" zone.

2.) The impact area of the project has grossly been misrepresented.  There will be no walkpath and half of the field to the East must be used for vehicle turnaround

3.) The turning radius of their Ford F250 truck or the space requirements for loading operations.has not been considered.  This is a project killer.  There is not simply room either inside or outside the facility for loading and storage of landscaping waste. This is the PRIMARY function of this work area.  The CSD is actually trying to build a facility that is NOT FUNCTIONAL.

Former CSD Politician Bill Hansell was hired as an architect for an "ALL INCLUSIVE COST ESTIMATE" in February 2018 for $13,800 for the entire project.  As of today he has billed over $30,000 and STILL HAS NOT PRODUCED A PLAN that conforms with Marin County Standards.

The Hansell plan will need to be scrapped.  It's design violates the Marin County General Plan ordinance of 2007 that requires 100' setback.  Hansell, a residential /commercial architect has little understanding of county regulations and needs of maintenance facilities for material handling and the movement of vehicles.  His "Eichler like design" cannot accomodate our maintenance vehicles, tractor and loading requirements.  Instead he has included "custom home" featues like custom glue lam beams, iron work and windows which inflate the cost of the utilitarian structure. The worst part of the design is not the aesthetics but the fact that it requires trucks to drive around the facility at take up an enormous footprint in our park.  

A sensible alternative design was offered by Irv Schwartz in 2017 known as "Option 3" The conventional design  would cost far less and be more useful to our department. Locating it about 50 to the West of the proposed Hansell design would avoid encroachment on the Stream Conservation Area and most of the environmental concerns with the Hansell design.

This maintenance facility could be built in a few months and cost a fraction of the Hansell "Whte Elephant"

Option #3 was offered by Irv Schwartz in 2017.