COM flap over new building intensifies

Parents raise safety issues, ask halt until further study

College of Marin did not meet generally accepted legal guidelines when it granted an exemption from full environmental review to its new maintenance building next to Kent Middle School, Kentfield parents told COM trustees this week.

“They didn’t do the right kind of environmental assessment that they needed to,” Kent Middle School parent Ina Gotlieb said after Tuesday’s COM board of trustees meeting. “What we’re asking them to do is to stop, pause the project, and really do a real evaluation of what the problems could even be — we might not even know what they are yet. We want to find out what potential issues we might discover, and then really create a really clear mitigation plan.”

College officials, who are already in a legal fight with Kentfield School District over the project, said they were considering their next steps. College president David Wain Coon has publicly apologized for a lack of community outreach and communication about the new building, and has asserted the college’s intent in being good neighbors with the Kentfield schools and parents.

“We will be reviewing the claims and concerns expressed last evening by the parents and others in attendance over the next days,” Wain Coon said in an email Wednesday. “At the same time, we will continue to work toward settling the litigation filed by the Kentfield School District.”

Gotlieb was one of five Kentfield parents to offer testimony to the board Tuesday about their concerns over the new $15 million, 19,900-squarefoot complex that is 10 weeks away from completion and sitting next to the school’s track, ath

letic fields and classrooms. About 30 parents were in the audience to support the speakers; at least 800 people have signed an online petition posted by the grassroots group Friends of Kentfield Kids and Creeks.

On Tuesday, several board members thanked the parents for coming, but declined specific comment on the project.

Several parents’ testimony focused on an exemption from CEQA review the college received after its environmental contractor, Rincon Consultants Inc., determined the maintenance and operations building would have no significant impact. The proximity to Kent Middle School is not mentioned in the assessment the consultant filed to obtain the exemption, the parents noted.

College officials have said that such consideration was not required by the state.

According to Gotlieb, a “CEQA Checklist for School Districts” posted on the website for the Walnut Creek legal firm Lozano Smith offers a detailed review process that should normally be undertaken when anything is built near a school. None of that process was followed, she said.

“I feel betrayed as a community member,” said Kentfield parent Diane Springfield, adding she didn’t even know about the project until recent weeks, when the outer shell was built. “I didn’t even see a story pole go up — so that I could even contemplate whether or not this was a good project.”

Springfield said she gets an ill feeling when she walks past the nearly completed building, which is expected to house the campus truck fleet operations, some trash transfer receptacles and other maintenance shops.

“This is where I live — I’m not on the board and (just) coming here for my job,” Stringfield said. “This is where I walk with my friends, this is where I walk my dog, where my child goes to school — it’s this beautiful lovely backdrop with peaceful (spaces). And now, I’m just sick to my stomach when I go there.”

Kathryn Menge, a mother of two, said she was worried that a planned fence separating the maintenance building driveway from the Kent Middle School campus would not be enough protection if a delivery truck made a wrong turn and struck a school child who was walking on the sidewalk.

“When I look at the building, I actually don’t think about the blocked views, the smell of garbage or the noise,” she said. “I think about the other things — the risk of vehicles driving right beside the playground.”

“I know how much those trucks weigh,” she added. “A fence is simply not going to stop a truck driven by a distracted delivery driver, who is not a College of Marin employee, coming in from somewhere else, driving along with a heavy load, from driving into our children.”

College officials have said that no food waste would be stored at the building, and that any trash would be stored in a sealed compactor for pickup at night. The college would have a noidle policy for trucks and would install a sound barrier of some kind to control noise, they said. They are also creating a crosswalk along the driveway access to the new building and will be installing various barriers, they said.

Tuesday’s meeting was the fourth in a series of public venting by the parents about the project. Prior events included a mass email blast by Gotlieb, an informational meeting held by Kentfield Schools parent teachers association, and a protest rally attended by several dozen parents along College Avenue on Tuesday morning.