Forum set on environmental safety, equity

Equity is the focus of a public workshop next week on the county's approach to environmental threats such as drought, wildfires and sea level rise.

Leslie Lacko, a county planner, said the county has been discussing its safety element in tandem with the housing element. Bringing the conversations together is a deliberate strategy to create housing goals that will not put vulnerable residents in harm's way, she said.

The workshop is set for 6 p.m. Tuesday via teleconference. Meeting access information is at bit.ly/36JWNkK.

Focusing the session on the safety element gives planners a chance to explain more specifically what the policies and programs mean and why they're written the way they are, Lacko said.

“Through the housing element, there have been a lot of environmental questions,” Lacko said. “So we are looking at those concerns and trying to address them through the safety element.”

California requires the two elements to be updated every eight years. The policies and programs adopted only apply to unincorporated areas in Marin. Each city and town has its own general plan with safety and housing elements, which are also on the same cycle.

Lacko said the county's safety element vulnerability assessment showed that Marin County was vulnerable to the effects of climate change. After a presentation to the Board of Supervisors and county Planning Commission at a joint meeting in February, the two boards called for more attention to vulnerable populations.

“The big focuses are wildfire, sea level rise and disaster preparedness, response and recovery,” Lacko said.

Ashley Eagle-Gibbs, legal and policy director at Environmental Action Committee of West Marin, said some standout data from the assessment included an indication that by 2100, around 7,000 acres, 120 miles of roads and 10,000 buildings will be exposed to sea-level rise in Marin.

The report also showed that 82% of the total land area in the county has moderate to very high fire hazard severity zone ratings, she said. Some coastal areas such as Stinson Beach and Bolinas will have severe flooding by 2030.

Eagle-Gibbs said she hopes the safety plan will help inform the county's effort to finish the environmental hazards update for the local coastal program, which serves as a general plan for coastal western Marin. She said in-person meetings would help to make the effort more accessible and equitable.

“We must plan for more extreme weather and climaterelated hazards. The climate

data is only getting more extreme,” Eagle-Gibbs said. “This is an opportunity for the county to equitably plan for a sustainable and adaptive future and hopefully set an example for other counties.”

Bill Carney, chairman of Sustainable San Rafael, said, “The county is doing a really masterful job showing us just how deadly and expensive climate change is becoming, and we need to prepare.”

Carney said the only way to reduce the climate impact “is to reduce climate change itself,” which includes putting an end to burning fossil fuels.

Marin County Fire Department Chief Jason Weber said fire officials work closely with the county planners on safety issues.

“I think the county's perspective is whatever we're doing we need to make sure we have an equity lens in all of our policies and plans,” he said.

“When we have fires, floods, a pandemic, those most affected are usually those who are already marginalized. We want to make sure that our plan is addressing that fact and that we're able to mitigate what we can for less impact, and that's a good thing.”