Zoning hearing officer approves creek-bank restoration at 301 Redwood Avenue

San Mateo County Zoning Hearing Officer Joe LeClaire approved a coastal and grading permit June 5 to allow restoration and revegetation of the banks of Yukon Oak Creek at 301 Redwood Avenue (File PLN2025-00026), subject to modified findings and conditions of approval.

The project aims to stabilize an eroding bank immediately adjacent to a residence at 301 Redwood Avenue using engineered rock slope protection, anchored root-ball structures and replanting with native riparian vegetation. Staff and the applicant said the work is intended to reduce sediment delivery downstream and improve habitat for native fish and wildlife, including steelhead and coho salmon.

Planner Mike Schaller of the San Mateo County Planning and Building Department told the hearing that staff recommended a categorical exemption from CEQA under the CEQA Guidelines for small habitat restoration projects (class 33) and noted that resource agencies have reviewed the proposal. He also described two minor edits to conditions of approval: that biological survey results be submitted to the County of San Mateo and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and that water held in containers for captured salamanders be drawn only from the creek rather than from tap water. "The results…