Future big box drainage fixed as Marina rediscovers vernal ponds.

Seven years of idleness has created a number of problems at the soon-to-be-opened Wal-Mart location in Marina. While some of these decays, like a leaky roof and broken tiles, are limited to the actual site, other issues may have been contributing to the contamination of nearby natural resources.

On June 16, Steve Zmak, founder of Citizens Against Wal-Mart in Marina, contacted the City because storm water runoff was creating a pond on the site’s parking lot during heavy rains. Some was overflowing onto adjacent Beach Road.

Zmak’s worried the runoff may have been draining into and contaminating nearby vernal ponds, a violation of city code because the vernal ponds are legally protected as extensions of the coastline. Zmak met with city planning officials last week to find out what the city was doing about it.

The answer: Wal-Mart will fix the drainage problems.

Christi di Iorio, Marina community development director, says Wal-Mart is working to clear the storm drains in the old building. It will also resurface the site’s entire parking lot to prevent water from ponding as it did last winter.

“You’re just not going to undergo a lot of wear and tear with seven years of inactivity,” says di Iorio, adding that the City is close to granting Wal-Mart a permit to move in.

Because of Zmak’s letter, city officials recognized that they had virtually forgotten about a vernal pond maintenance program adopted by the City in 1994. Some provisions of the plan, which di Iorio says the City will implement again, call for reintroducing native wildlife to the vernal ponds.

The City will begin testing the ponds for pollutants as early as the next few weeks. While still virulently opposed to a Wal-Mart in Marina, Zmak says the city’s pond monitoring gives him “something to look forward to.”