Save The Water Tank Hill

In 1953, when I was two, my parents bought a home in San Mateo, moving south to the warmer clime from Broadmoor, a foggy, windy area just south of San Francisco.   In the Bay Area, twenty miles makes a big difference! The move satisfied my Mom, who grew up in the benign climate of San Luis Obispo. She is still living in the same house now, 62 years later, in her 100th year. My brother had been living with her for many years. When Russ passed away in 2012, my husband and I moved here to help her stay in her home. I am a country girl at heart, and greatly appreciate the open space behind our family home.

My little brother Rusty and me in our backyard, about 1956. You can just see the grass-covered slope behind us. The only trees were the eucalyptus grove and a ring of small Monterey pines planted by the water department to hide the tank. It took many years before they managed that, and now they are so tall and spindly that they no longer accomplish their purpose. They have, however, produced an army of young pine trees all around the hill, as their cones have rolled down the slope.

Now there are many young pine trees growing all around the hill.

By 1964, Russ and his best friend Biffer were 10, and brush was beginning to get established. We called these shrubs Tickbrush and avoided contact. Now I know they are Baccharis pilularis, Coyote brush, and an important native species. Back in 2009 Russ was one of many strong voices raised in opposition to the development of the Water Tank Hill. His love of the land impassioned him in a fight which was successful in stopping the destruction.

Today when I step out the back gate, the scene is peaceful and green from December's all-too-brief rains (we didn't get a drop all January). Looking west, I can't help but be saddened, as once more the Hill is under threat of development. If the landowner has his way, a huge and invasive housing development would begin just one and a half backyards away....beginning in a line up the slope perpendicular to where those solar panels sit. The prospect of development of the hill has loomed like a dark, noxious cloud over our home for many years. I react against it as a threat to my home and family, and to my community.

My community is not limited to human neighbors. Many creatures utilize this land. I played hide'n'seek with this pair of deer around the Hill during my walk. I sang to them to hold their attention, like I did back in high school...though my voice was better then, and they stayed a lot longer! We've been blessed to have this piece of paradise right outside our back gate for the past 62 years: the last remaining remnant of the open, rolling grasslands in which I grew up playing. Back then there were willow copses along little creeks, and seasonal seeps and springs and tadpole ponds. There were beautiful live oaks that arched over big rock outcroppings...the best playhouses a child could ask for. Those were all bulldozed to build houses back in the early 60's. It broke my heart. It would be a tragedy to lose this last gem to one man's greed at this point. I pray the city council will heed the voices of the community which stands 100% in opposition to this poorly planned travesty. We all need a bit of the wild in our surroundings.

 

The slope is incredibly steep...so much so that, as kids, one of our biggest thrills was running down the path on the side nearest our homes. Now THAT was a challengel! Note all the trees that have grown in. Not just pines, but oaks and other kinds as well. All these trees and many, many tons of topsoil and rock would have to be removed to make way for three perpendicular rows of houses lined up across the face of the Hill.

The new plan now involves filling in the old firebreak road, steepening the slope immediately above the houses on Parrott Drive. The new houses would loom above them, close enough to spit from their balconies into the older homes' backyards. Goodbye privacy, peace, and quiet!

The only possibly entry road is highly problematic, and vey steep. It would require enormous retaining walls to fit in a road at the very maximum 20º slope allowed (a slope so steep that the road must be paved with concrete rather than asphalt). The impact on the homes on Parrott and Bel Aire would be enormous.

There are a few relatively level areas on the Hill, where five or six very lovely high end homes could be placed with minimal disturbance of the land. But wait! Looks like someone has already claimed this land!

The deer come up here every day to graze the sweet grass. Coyotes, hawks, and owls also inhabit the Hill. We even had a big cat, a bobcat or, more likely, puma, climb over the fence into our backyard to consume its prey. Mom could hear it crunching and snarling right through her bedroom wall!

The land is very prone to erosion; a fact the developer's consultants denied in the public hearing I just attended. Anyone who'd like to learn the truth of the matter is welcome to walk around the Hill with me.

Back in the early 60's, a water main burst on the slope behind our house, and washed out a piece of the hillside. The wash has since deepened and enlarged to become a significant gully that scars the east face of the Hill. You can't tell me this soil isn't prone to erosion! And this is far less damage than is on the cut south and west sides.

In this satellite image, Parrott Drive is seen at the top. Three streets, parallel to Parrott, would be crammed in between those houses and the tank, with a fourth row placed over the crest of the hill, west of the tank. All the streets are straight lines, complexly ignoring the lay of the land.Our house is marked with the pin. The Water Tank Hill is hemmed in on all four sides with neighborhoods. It is a refugia for native species, including very probably an endangered butterfly (denied by the developer's consultants but photographed by residents).  It is extremely prone to erosion, as can be seen in the photo. Bare gullies which have existed, ever-worsening, since the earlier developments sliced into the Hill. In many places around the Hill, devastating landslides have occurred in the past on disturbed sites.

Native grasses and plants like Marah fabaceus (Indian Cucumber), seen above, as well as Chlorogalum pomeridianum (Soaproot), Ranunculus californicus (California buttercup), lupines, California poppies, wild yarrow and many other native wildflowers still thrive on the slopes. This place deserves a better fate. We should have learned something over the past decades from our observations of the impact of intense development on such delicate environments. Perhaps the Penninsula Open Space Trust (POST) http://www.openspacetrust.org
could take up the cause, although this spot is more humble than many they have championed. But we who live around its base value this prominent rise. It would make a wonderful park!

Save the Water Tank Hill!