Drakes Bay Oyster Company Special Use Permit: Draft Environmental Impact Statement: Public Comments

The National Park Service (NPS) released the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for Drakes Bay Oyster Company Special Use Permit for public comment from September 23, 2011, to December 9, 2011. During this time, three public open house meetings were held at different locations in the vicinity of the park. The public was encouraged to submit comments on the DEIS through the National Park Service's Planning, Environment, and Public Comment (PEPC) web site. Comments by individuals were also accepted at the meetings, by postal mail, and in person at the park. More than 52,000 pieces of correspondence were received during the comment period.

Formal notifications by the NPS announcing the public comment period for the DEIS included the following text:

We [the National Park Service] will not accept bulk comments in any format (hard copy or electronic) submitted on behalf of others.

On multiple occasions during the comment period, letters were delivered to the National Park Service in bulk form. The individuals who delivered the bulk comments were informed that letters submitted on behalf of others would not be included in the correspondence received during the public comment period. These bulk comments are not included below.

Preliminary Content Analysis Report

A Preliminary Content Analysis Report was produced for the correspondence received during this period and all original pieces of correspondence. A digistal copy of the Preliminary Content Analysis Report is available upon request.

Comments recorded on flip charts during Public Meetings:

A total of 275 people attended the three meetings (151 people attended the meeting at the Dance Palace in Point Reyes Station, 54 attended the meeting at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, and 70 attended the meeting at the Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley). Some people attended more than one meeting.

Attendees at the three public meetings were able to provide verbal comments. Flip charts were set up at each venue to record these comments. As a comment sheet was filled, it was posted on a wall at the meeting venue, so that all comments could be read by meeting attendees. Comments from each meeting were entered into PEPC as a single piece of correspondence.

Next Steps

After the public comment period closed, the National Park Service begam the process of analyzing comments, conducting further analysis as needed, and preparing the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), which was completed and release in the fall of 2012.

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