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EMAILS. Between RAMMB’s (Red Alert Montara, Moss Beach) Larry De Young (RAMMB Steering Committee and Chair) and Caltrans District 4 Public Information Officer, Jeneane Crawford.
From: Jeneane Crawford; Public Information Officer – Caltrans District 4 on March 14th, 2025
Dear Larry,
Thank you for your patience while we gathered information regarding your request. Our Right of Way Property (ROW) Management team met with both our arborist and a CalFire chief on-site. Following this visit, two actions have been identified:
First, the arborist recommended clearing the area of fallen debris, shedding bark, pods, and leaves, primarily from the eucalyptus trees. We will have a landscape team begin this work as soon as possible. I will provide a date and time once it is confirmed.
Second, our Property Management team is preparing a vegetation management plan to share with CalFire for their review. Like you, their primary concern is the safety of structures located within 100 feet of any trees. We anticipate completing the report by mid-April. Once the plan is reviewed and approved, we can proceed with the necessary actions based on the recommendations.
As always, I will keep you updated, but please don’t hesitate to call if you have any questions.
From: RAMMB’s Larry De Young (Steering Committee, Chair) on March 19th, 2025 (RAMMB = Red Alert Montara, Moss Beach)
RAMMB general members and the RAMMB steering committee have pointed out that Caltrans’s response does not accurately reflect our concerns. To remedy this I sent the following email to Jeneane Crawford of Caltrans. She has acknowledged receipt and thanked me for the clarification:
_________________
Hi Jeneane (Public Information Officer – Caltrans District 4),
The community is pleased and encouraged with your response dated March 14, 2025.
I want to clarify a point In your email where you said:
“Second, our Property Management team is preparing a vegetation management plan to share with CalFire for their review. Like you, their primary concern is the safety of structures located within 100 feet of any trees”.
It is likely you made this statement based on one of the slides in the RAMMB presentation showing that for neighbors of the ROW (right of way), it would be impossible to comply with Governor Newsom’s 100 feet of defensible space requirement.
The ROW’s trees overhang our properties, making it impossible to have any defensible zone. However, in the case of the ROW, 100 feet of defensible space is not nearly enough.
The ROW is a state-made fire hazard.
The 100 feet cited by Governor Newsom is the property owner’s responsibility.
The entire ROW is California’s responsibility. It was not a fire hazard before Caltrans acquired it.
The local communities should not have to worry about defending their homes against any fire occurring in the ROW, as with proper management, there should be no fire in the ROW.
To summarize, RAMMB and the community expect Caltrans to ensure that there is no significant possibility of fire in the ROW against which we need to defend. I am happy to discuss this with Caltrans and Calfire.
Sincerely, Larry De Young, (RAMMB Steering Committee and Chair)
From RAMMB’s Nextdoor feed; RAMMB Updates from March 16th, 2025
1. RAMMB will make a short presentation at the Coastside Fire Protection Board of Directors Meeting on Wednesday, March 26th, 2025 at 4:00pm. We will let you know the outcome.
2. RAMMB has requested to be placed on the agenda of an Aprill 2025 MCC public meeting to present the issue and request that the MCC take an active role in monitoring and contributing to the Caltrans/Calfire project to mitigate the Very High Fire Hazard posed by the ROW. We will let you know of a date for that meeting.
3. Despite our requests, no State or County Elected Official has engaged with RAMMB or expressed a willingness to monitor the Caltrans/Calfire mitigation project. We continue to ask that the State and County play an active role and support the efforts of its constituents.
If you have any questions or concerns, please let us know.
More on RAMMB on Coastside Buzz
RAMMB’s Caltrans Devil’s Slide Presentation to Montara Water and Sanitary District (MWSD) February 13th, 2025.
Author: mdrag
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