Aquatic Park EGRET Analysis of Dredging and Culvert Cleaning

July 2008 Aquatic Park Cleaning (Dredging) Project

The City of Berkeley Public Works Department proposes to dredge the area in front of the five tide tubes to the SF Bay (see PDF map, 622kB). This proposal is the "completion" of their ill-fated dredging of the area in front of the Strawberry Creek culvert at the north end of the park (see Daily Planet article from July 3, 2008).

Documents:

• City of Berkeley's Initial Study Checklist: Aquatic Park Cleaning (Dredging) Project (PDF document, 449 kB). This includes and sets the groundwork for the City's "Negative Declaration" (stating they don't need to do a CEQA review).
• Contract No. 7429 Amendment for W. R. Forde Associates to Complete Phase I Cleanup at Aquatic Park (City document without supporting document-see next link--PDF, 73 kB)
• Contract No. 7429 (complete document with Water Pollution Control Program for Aquatic Park Dredging scanned document, PDF, 9.7 MB).

Their current plan is ill-conceived and misdirected. Problems with it include:

• The tubes they propose to clean are CalTrans responsibility, and as such the City of Berkeley should not undertake the expense to clean them.
• The dredging is being presented to improve habitat by improving water/tidal circulation, but none of the research from the APIP process points to this as a necessary or even having a positive impact. In addition, dredging of this quantity may be desired, but rather than proceeding with it as an individual project, this should be folded in the greater APIP plan, with dredging, if needed, conducted at the locations determined to the of most importance (e.g. there has been discussion of dredging to increase the depth of the lagoon at selected locations, with the spoils used to raise the elevation of Bird Island.)
• The un-permitted work begun in November 2007 (dredging in front of Strawberry Creek culvert) had an estimated cost around $80,000, and this has ballooned to over $300,000. None of this work was budgeted for, and we question what city services will be cut to pay for it.

EGRET recommends:

1. Any City of Berkeley funds for cleaning culverts should be limited to the equalization tubes that connect Main Lagoon and the Model Yacht Basin and the connection between Potter Culvert and the Model Yacht Basin.
2. No dredging should occur at this time. The CEQA Review process for the APIP can address the environmental impact and habitat value of dredging, and dredging now is "putting the cart before the horse."