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Consultants tell Mill Valley board enrollment will grow; middle school EIR and site‑safety studies to go to public review
Summary
MGT presented a resident‑based enrollment forecast projecting K–5 growth through 2029–30; consultants also outlined a schedule to release a draft EIR and a preliminary site assessment for the middle‑school modernization project, noting the campus sits on an old municipal landfill and will be reviewed by DTSC and county environmental health.
Consultants told the Mill Valley School District board on April 3 that resident student enrollment is expected to grow modestly over the next decade and that environmental and site‑safety documents for a proposed middle school modernization will go to public review this summer.
Isaac Johnson, project manager from MGT, said the demographic study uses parcel‑level mapping, capture‑rate analysis and mobility factors across 140 small study areas. "We're seeing kindergarten capture and birth‑rate trends that suggest K–5 growth," Johnson said, noting a forecast that places resident K–5 students near 1,583 by 2029–30 from a current baseline of 1,429.
Johnson explained the methodology — four years of student data, parcel and parcel‑level study areas, and mobility/survival rates between grades — and cautioned that projections should be updated annually as birth rates and mobility change.
On facilities, Tracy Craig of Craig Communications and project staff outlined two documents due for public comment: a draft Environmental Impact Report under CEQA and a Preliminary Endangerment Assessment (PA) — an environmental site evaluation. Craig said both documents will be available for public review in July (45‑day comment period for the EIR; concurrent agency review and agency comments for the PA, followed by a second draft for the public).
Craig explained why the site assessment is needed: the middle school campus sits on a former municipal dump where early operators burned and buried waste and later capped the site with sandy clay. "When they closed the landfill...they put a cap of sandy clay — about two to three feet — across the entirety of the property," Craig said, adding that testing will include soil, groundwater and soil‑vapor samples and that DTSC and Marin County environmental health will review mitigation recommendations.
The schedule presented sets a public comment period over the summer, a public hearing in August, and the board's final EIR decision anticipated by year‑end if agency reviews proceed on schedule. Consultants noted that a Postclosure Land Use Plan and a DTSC response plan (sometimes called a removal‑action or response plan) will also be required, and that some mitigation measures are likely to focus on engineered caps and vapor‑mitigation systems rather than mass soil removal.
Provenance: MGT demographic presentation appears in SEG 1814–SEG 2365; the EIR and PA presentations and schedule appear in SEG 2744–SEG 3161.
