DIFFERING VISIONS for addressing flooding in Marin County highlight contrasts between candidate Mark Galperin and incumbent Mary Sackett in the race for the District 1 seat on the county Board of Supervisors in the June election.
Galperin has lived in Marin County for more than 30 years. He is a retired business manager and a former nuclear scientist. He currently serves on the resident advisory board of the Marin Housing Authority. His candidacy announcement suggests solutions for Marin including the streamlined development of modular single-family homes, better access to professional training and STEM education, and the construction of emergency shelters and supply depots.
Sackett was a practicing lawyer before becoming the top aide to then-District 1 Supervisor Damon Connolly in 2017. Connolly now serves in the state Assembly and is running for a seat in the state Senate. As Connolly’s aide, she worked on environmental protection policies, transportation, housing laws, parks and open space. In 2022, Sackett was elected supervisor representing District 1 and is now seeking her second term in the June 2 election.
Both candidates were asked by phone interview what they would do to protect infrastructure and vulnerable communities from increased flooding expected over time due to seasonal king tides, sea level rise and increased storms due to climate change. Galperin calls for individual communities to protect themselves from flooding, while Sackett is focused on a multi-jurisdictional approach.
District 1 includes the Gallinas Creek watershed, where the older community members of Santa Venetia often watch creek waters flood across access roads. Another threatened area of the district is the San Rafael Creek watershed, which meets the sea at the San Rafael Canal neighborhood, a dense community of over 10,000 low-income, mostly immigrant residents. Much of the bowl-shaped Canal neighborhood sits 3 to 6 feet above sea level.
In January, with tides measuring 8.7 feet, a combination of king tides, winter storms and high winds closed parts of U.S. Highway 101, flooded homes and vehicles, and left whole neighborhoods islanded.
Galperin: ‘The reason is legislation’
When asked what he would do as supervisor, Galperin began by questioning the urgency of the threat. He cited international research that he said shows global sea levels are rising at about 1.5 inches per decade with a current acceleration rate that is negligible. Based on that data, he suggested the county should be cautious about large-scale investments and focus on measured, cost-effective responses.
Sackett framed sea level rise as an immediate and complex regional challenge requiring coordinated action across jurisdictions. She pointed to a proposed county effort aimed at bringing cities, utilities and agencies together to compete for state and federal funding and advance projects more quickly. Sackett said the county faces roughly $17 billion in adaptation needs and must improve coordination to secure grants and move projects toward construction.
Galperin said the reason it floods in Marin is not rising sea levels.
“The reason is legislation,” he said.
He said several state, regional and local environmental laws have resulted in a near total ban on dredging, and he called for creeks to be dredged with cooperation from the state.
“Dredging is a way to reduce flooding that does not cost $17 billion, and I’m talking about creek flooding, not king tide flooding,” Galperin said.
Many Marin communities were surprised by the intensity of the January king tide flooding. At a post-storm press event with U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, National Weather Service Bay Area meteorologist Brian Garcia said the region was caught off guard because predictive modeling is based on patterns of the past. Those patterns are no longer reliable because the climate is changing.
Sackett: ‘We need an overarching governance model’
Sackett said in a phone interview that flooding in low-lying areas can disrupt the entire county, and for that reason communities need to work together.
“The county is working with the Marin Community Foundation and Coastal Quest, a nonprofit climate adaptation organization, on the development of a proposed Marin County Climate Collaborative,” Sackett said. “We need an overarching governance model in order to address sea level rise.”
She noted potential solutions were examined in regionwide feasibility studies by the Association of Bay Area Governments, the Transportation Authority of Marin and the Marin County Community Development Agency. Various infrastructure projects could include creek dredging, building tidal gates or elevating highways.
“Now, how do we take those to the next level?” she said, adding that some communities are turning to the state’s $10 billion general obligation bond approved in 2024. Proposition 4 funds climate resilience, water, and natural resource projects, focusing on wildfire protection, coastal resilience, and clean energy.
“What we’re hearing on the Proposition 4 funding, which is the state climate bond, is that they will help with technical assistance and grant writing but the closer we can get those projects to shovel-ready the more competitive they are for all.”
She said the county has just created a separate Marin climate office with its own director.
“We moved all those folks together into one place, and they will report to the county executive, rather than being buried within the community development office,” said Sackett.
She described the January flooding as a wake-up call, as several small jurisdictions started applying for state grants independently.
“Larkspur can’t handle sea level rise alone,” Sackett said. “Applications are going to be stronger if they’re supported by two jurisdictions in the county, and some of the Marin Community Foundation, versus a small city trying to have the staffing and resources to apply for the grant, let alone carry out the grant on their own.”
Galperin said, if elected, he would work with the community members of Santa Venetia to fund their own flood protection projects, with matching grants from the county, state and federal governments.
“We create our own fund and protect our property,” he said. “Maybe it’s better to collect about $25,000 from each household and renew the levee without waiting for anyone else.”
