Letter: Montara stormwater committee meets Oct 4

This letter comes from the MontaraFlood Yahoo group, where you can find a copy of the agenda for the meeting

The San Mateo County Midcoast Stormwater Drainage Committee will hold its fourth meeting on Thursday, October 4 at 2:00PM at the Sheriff’s substation in Moss Beach. We are still in the "education" phase of our work, in which committee members are learning about stormwater problems in the Midcoast area as well as the State and County laws, ordinances and policies that govern County actions.

The main topic of discussion at this meeting will be "paper streets," that is, streets that are set aside for future development. We will include existing streets that are not on the County-maintained system, as these are governed by the same policies.

I think this will be a good opportunity for members of the community, particularly along Second Street in Montara, to address the committee about the problems you are experiencing as a result of current ordinances and policies. The meetings are open to the public, and I encourage your participation.

As background, you should be aware of the following two pieces of legislation which County staff has provided to the committee in advance (there may be others discussed at the meeting - I’m not sure). First is the following excerpt from the California Civil Code:

  "831. An owner of land bounded by a road or street is presumed to own to the center of the way, but the contrary may be shown."

Also of interest is this excerpt from the San Mateo County Code:

"4.100.160 Watercourse protection.

Every person owning property through which a watercourse passes, or such person’s lessee or tenant, shall keep and maintain that part of the watercourse within the property reasonably free of trash, debris, excessive vegetation, and other obstacles which would pollute, contaminate, or significantly retard the flow of water through the watercourse; shall maintain existing privately owned structures within a watercourse so that such structures will not become a hazard to the use, function, or physical integrity of the watercourse; and shall not remove healthy bank vegetation beyond that actually necessary for said maintenance, nor remove said vegetation in such a manner as to increase the vulnerability of the watercourse to erosion. (Prior code ? 5204; Ord. 3633, 2/14/95)"

I have attached the meeting agenda. I hope to see and hear some of you at the meeting.

Stephen Lowens
Montara