Central Marin sanitation easement adds wrinkle to housing plan near San Quentin

A land-access debate between the Central Marin Sanitation Agency and the developer of a workforce housing project near San Quentin is emerging.

The problem centers around what access the sanitation agency can maintain on and around an easement through the state land off Sir Francis Drake Boulevard in Larkspur, where the district has an odor treatment site, once construction on the housing project begins.

The sanitation agency will still be permitted to deliver chemical treatments there. However, a proposed driveway, which is part of the Oak Hill Apartments project and crosses the easement, won’t be wide enough to accommodate the 5,000 gallon trucks the sanitation agency uses to convey the treatment.

The state issued the easement to the sanitation agency in 1995. The district has been making odor treatments there since 1997.

At a sanitation agency board meeting on July 9, Bruce Dorfman, chief executive officer of Education Housing Partners, the developer of the 135-apartment project, said construction is expected to begin by March 2025. He said it’s the sanitation agency’s financial responsibility to remedy the problem if it wishes to maintain the same or similar access.

“We really believe at the end of the day this is an agency facility; it’s an agency improvement,” Dorfman told the board.

“We’re here to cooperate anyway we can, but it’s really not our forte,” Dorfman said. “The clock’s ticking, and we need to get something resolved.”

Sanitation agency board members say if they have a legal right to the easement perhaps the agency shouldn’t have to bear all the costs to find a solution.

“I don’t think it’s our problem until a lawyer tells us our easement can be obstructed,” board member Mary Silva said at the meeting. “I think it’s technically not an easement anymore if it’s so obstructed we can’t do what we need to do.”

Board member Maribeth Bushey, a San Rafael city councilmember, said she’s interested in resolving the problem amicably.

“How can we accommodate this needed housing for our community in a way that doesn’t interfere with CMSA’s operations and doesn’t materially impact our finances?” she said.

The Oak Hill Apartments development consists of two projects. The Education Housing Partners development calls for 135 apartments that will be reserved for Marin County employees and the employees of local school districts. They will be available to people classified by the state as being low income, or earning between 60% and 120% of area median income. That means a two-person household could earn between $89,520 and $149,200 per year.

The second project, developed by Eden Housing, will be situated next to it and would feature 115 apartments that will be priced to be affordable to households that earn between 30% and 60% of the area median income. For a two-person household, that translates to between $44,760 per year and $89,520 per year.

At the meeting, the board directed staff to seek legal counsel to determine the access rights to the easement.

The board also asked staff to seek a consultant who can perform a feasibility study that would look at potentially funneling the odor treatments offsite. The proposal would involve inserting a tube within a recycled water pipe used to fill a Larkspur pond to carry the chemical treatment.

When contacted after the meeting, Jason Dow, general manager of the sanitation agency, said the district uses a hydrogen peroxide solution for odor treatment at a cost of $3.35 per gallon.

The district spends about $324,000 annually for the chemical, which is delivered to the San Quentin site an average of twice a month, and to its San Rafael headquarters.

Dow said staff explored hiring a different company that uses smaller 2,000 gallon trucks, but the only available contractor was based out of the Los Angeles area, and it would cost about 80% more, or about $583,000 to make deliveries. Even so, the driveway would likely need to be redesigned.

“Odor control is important,” Dow said.

For one, treatment prevents the unpleasant smell of sewage from dispersing into the air. Secondly, without treatment, the sewage could produce a harmful gas. Exposure is bad for sanitation workers and equipment, Dow said.

Staff is performing its own study to determine the impacts of shutting down the treatment site, Dow said.

Staff is also attempting to contact the neighboring Drakes Cove Homeowners Association to discuss potential options to create a new driveway into the treatment site from Drakes Cove Road if no other solution is feasible.

“At this point, we’ve had a great relationship with the developer,” Dow said. “Everybody has agreed to work together to find a solution and make sure we work as quickly as we can.”

Dow said he expects to present an update on the progress at the board’s Aug. 13 meeting.