July 22, 2004

Mr. Don Neubacher, Superintendent
Point Reyes National Seashore
Point Reyes, CA 94956

Re: Studying Public Access as Part of the Giacomini Wetlands Restoration Project

Dear Mr. Neubacher:

The Marin County Bicycle Coalition (MCBC) is writing to provide written comments regarding the Giacomini Wetland Restoration Project. These comments are meant to supplement our previous letters and the comments provided by Eric Anderson, MCBC's Director of Planning, at the National Park Service's June 22 public meeting.

First, please accept our thanks for your stated intention to study public access as a part of the Giacomini Project.

At the June 22nd public meeting, in a conversation with Eric Anderson, you and Lorraine Parsons informed Eric that a wide range of public access proposals would be formally studied. MCBC considers two of those proposals to provide the greatest increase in safety and connectivity for walking and bicycling in the immediate project area. These proposals also seem to be most compatible with the wetlands project.

For this reason, the MCBC is respectfully requesting that the National Parks Service focus your public access study on two of what appear to us at this time to be the most feasible options for public access:

A) A pathway parallel to Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, fully supported by the Community Pathways Committee and supported in concept by the Sierra Club.

B) A pathway along the abandoned railroad right-of-way (ARROW) along the east side of the project. This pathway could serve many functions, for example as a north-south connection between Point Reyes Station and destinations to the north such as Martinelli. It is important to note that MCBC considers this as a separate access proposal -- distinct from less feasible concepts proposed up to this point that would combine use of the ARROW with bridges across the wetlands project in order to reach Inverness Park.

We hope that the NPS study will focus on how public access could be achieved through these two possible alignments. The MCBC realizes that all proposals must be studied, if only at a cursory level. We believe that in order to move public access forward, it is desirable for the study to get as close as possible to a concept design for both of the proposed options described above. Respectfully, we feel that it would be counterproductive to expend limited resources to equally study all options - both feasible and infeasible.

At this time the MCBC is only asking the NPS to study these alternatives. Although we support the Community Pathways Committee's efforts to establish a perimeter path parallel to Sir Frances Drake, the MCBC will not take an official position on what public access alignments we endorse until the study has been completed.

Public access will allow for local residents and visitors to enjoy healthy exercise and view the restored wetlands. Public access will also increase safety, thus permitting for more people to choose to walk and bicycle for transportation between Inverness Park and Point Reyes Station. This will help to prevent unnecessary automobile trips that contribute towards pollution of the land, the water and the air.

Thank you very much for your time, and for stating that the National Parks Service will study public access components. Please keep us informed about the progress of the study.

Sincerely,

 

Deb Hubsmith
Executive Director