Fifty years in the past, the sounds of excavators transferring grime and vans pouring concrete within the Tennessee Valley would have been a trigger for alarm for Marin County’s open area defenders.
However not like the Nineteen Sixties and Nineteen Seventies when builders eyed the valley as a gateway to the envisioned metropolis of Marincello within the Marin Headlands, building crews working within the valley these previous weeks are as an alternative upgrading an entry level to one of many largest tracts of protected public land in Marin.
“Had it not been for group involvement, this could be an entrance gate to Marincello and we might be seeing condominiums and homes on the Marin Headlands as an alternative of the open area that we see as we speak,” stated Nationwide Park Service spokesman Charlie Strickfaden.
This challenge, led by the Nationwide Park Service and Federal Highways Administration, is working to improve the favored Tennessee Valley Trailhead close to Mill Valley with a first-ever paved car parking zone. The trailhead may also embody new facilities and security upgrades akin to bike racks; elevated accessible parking spots for disabled guests; sidewalks between parking areas and trailheads; and curbs to forestall erosion in some areas.
The trailhead is visited by about 195,000 individuals per yr and the earlier 75-spot car parking zone is usually full throughout peak seasons. The park service was unable to supply the variety of parking spots that will likely be out there after building. The lot is at present closed Mondays by Fridays from 8 a.m. to six p.m.
A federal challenge solicitation issued final yr confirmed the development challenge price starting from $500,000 to $1.2 million. The park service was unable to supply info on the estimated completion time, price and funding supply for the challenge as of Thursday.
The trailhead is positioned simply close by a number of the remnants of the ill-fated Marincello. Concrete medians for the deliberate Marincello Boulevard, which might have led vehicles into the 30,000-resident group, now sit overgrown with shrubs alongside a mud path now loved by 1000's of hikers and bikers.
First conceptualized within the Nineteen Sixties, plans for Marincello had been finally defeated after a six-year battle by residents, open areas advocates, environmentalists and political representatives. The land was finally acquired by the Nature Conservancy in a $6.5 million deal after which transferred to the Nationwide Park Service in 1972 to change into a bit of the newly shaped Golden Gate Nationwide Recreation Space. The 82,000-acre park in Marin and San Francisco has change into some of the visited nationwide parks within the nation.
Amy Meyer of San Francisco was one of many key gamers within the grassroots motion that led to the creation of the brand new city nationwide park, however stated the “individuals in Marin made all of the distinction” when it got here to defeating Marincello.
“It was the foresighted individuals in Marin, the Marin Conservation League, Margot Patterson Dawes, Huey Johnson and the Board of Supervisors all recognizing we might do one thing significantly better than Marincello,” Meyer stated.
Nona Dennis, a former president of the Marin Conservation League who was amongst opponents of the Marincello, welcomed the enhancements to the Tennessee Valley trailhead, calling it “a good way to have a good time the fiftieth anniversary of the Golden Gate Nationwide Recreation Space.”
“It's most likely the preferred and accessible trailhead for walkers of all ages, household teams, individuals from everywhere in the Bay Space, bikers, equestrians from the close by stables (everybody besides canine walkers) on the Marin Headlands,” Dennis wrote in an e mail. “Remnants of Marincello’s erstwhile entryway nonetheless stand, marking the victory of public land over large improvement all of the extra notable. It’s an exquisite 4-mile roundtrip stroll to the seashore, all the time fashionable.”
Chris Prentiss of Mill Valley is without doubt one of the 15 million individuals who now use the Golden Gate Nationwide Recreation Space every year. As a substitute of biking down Marincello Boulevard alongside a stream of vehicles on Wednesday, Prentiss was using on an open grime path of the Marincello Path.
“I believe this land being protected is fairly vital for the group that now we have,” Prentiss stated. “I handed a bunch of hikers and bikers and all people else. That is land that all of us take pleasure in and it makes Mill Valley and Marin fairly particular.”