If crews are scheduled to wrap up at Blackie's Pasture by Nov. 20, why does the town's own design rendering show the beach as it should look about three years from now?
The town built the project that way on purpose. The work at Greenwood and Brunini beaches puts loose sand, gravel and logs along Richardson Bay and then lets the waves finish the job. The beach you'll walk past this winter is a starting point. Each high tide will move it, and over the next few seasons the planted backshore is expected to grow in.
A shoreline built to move
Most hard edges along the Bay are made to stay put. Riprap and seawalls hold the line by staying still. Tiburon's project goes the other way. In The Ark's report on the contract, David Eshoo, engineering manager for the town's Public Works Department, described it like this: "the wave action will pull the material out and push it back in so that it doesn't erode any of the areas along Blackie's Pasture."
The Marin Independent Journal explains how it works, citing a 2024 conservancy report. Coarse beach sediment goes along the shoreline, and the waves spread it out into a natural beach profile. Sediment and cobble drift sills hold that material in place without stopping it from moving. The Ark lists the specific jobs for contractor Goodfellow Bros. of Livermore:
- Grade back the eroding scarp, which is the steep face where waves have cut the beach away
- Remove and haul off old asphalt
- Install two rock sills at Brunini Beach
- Place a log backstop at Greenwood Beach
The asphalt is a big part of why the work is needed. The San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority's project description says the shoreline has been eroded by waves for years. Old asphalt, concrete rubble and sand fill have scattered across the mudflats, and the vertical edge that keeps crumbling could drop more rubble into the Bay. The project removes that debris and puts back material the Bay can move.
When Councilmember Alice Fredericks asked at the Aug. 19 meeting whether this approach is "considered superior to boulders and rocks," Eshoo answered, "Absolutely, that is correct," the Marin IJ reported. He also called the project a pilot the town may use elsewhere. So the town is also using these two beaches as a test of whether the method works on its shoreline.
How the work has been staged
The project didn't start this fall. It has been coming in pieces for more than five years:
- April 25, 2021. A preliminary design report for the Greenwood bay beach is completed.
- August 2024. The town finalizes the project's environmental document. The same year, it receives a $1.5 million grant from the California State Coastal Conservancy.
- March 23–26, 2026. Crews build the drift sill, with soil and rock piled next to the shoreline and trucks moving through the park.
- Aug. 19, 2026. The Town Council votes 3-0 to award Goodfellow Bros. a $468,983 contract. The town manager can approve change orders of up to 15%, which would bring the maximum to $539,330.
- Aug. 31, 2026. The town posts a notice titled "Greenwood Beach Restoration Project Begins This Week."
- Nov. 20, 2026. Construction is expected to be complete. Establishment, monitoring and maintenance periods follow.
The reported start dates don't match. The Marin IJ said the fall phase would begin Sept. 1, and The Ark said Sept. 8, the day after Labor Day. We couldn't find any progress update from September or October, so Nov. 20 is still the planned finish date, not a confirmed one. As of Oct. 12, that's a little under six weeks away.
The money works out simply. The $1.5 million Coastal Conservancy grant fully reimburses the $468,983 construction contract.
What's open while crews work
The beach construction areas are closed during this phase. In an email to the Marin IJ, Eshoo said trucks and equipment would drive through parts of Blackie's Pasture to reach the work, and that "the Town's intent is to maintain public access to as much of Blackie's Pasture and the surrounding trail system as practical, while restricting access to the active construction and staging areas."
We found no published guidance on the parking lot or the dog areas for this phase. During the March work, the town asked park users to follow temporary access restrictions and traffic control, and gave contact information for questions. Eshoo can be reached at 415-435-7388 or [email protected].
The closures cut off a well-used stretch of shoreline. The town's 2024 environmental document says people use Greenwood Beach for walking, dog exercise, water play and birdwatching. The project aims to keep or improve those uses once it's done, according to Audubon California's project page.
After Nov. 20: fencing, plants and a beach that keeps changing
The end of construction won't bring the whole beach back right away. The environmental document plans temporary fencing with designated access gaps while the new vegetation gets established. Expect the backshore to stay partly fenced after the trucks leave, with marked openings down to the water.
The plants do real work here. The Bay Restoration Authority lists gumplant, pickleweed and California sea-blite as examples of native salt-tolerant plants for the backshore. The environmental document says native beach and marsh plants help trap sand and wrack, the seaweed and drift that washes up at the tide line. As the plants fill in, they help hold onto the material the waves keep moving. That's why the finished look in Audubon's rendering is about three years out instead of on the construction end date.
One bird is already on record at the site. The town's environmental document says song sparrows, including San Pablo song sparrows, have been observed there. They are expected to feed along the shoreline at Blackie's Pasture but not nest, because the habitat patch is small and gets heavy recreational use. The same document notes that San Pablo song sparrows forage in pickleweed marsh and often nest in gumplant, two of the plants named for the new backshore. For other species, the 2021 preliminary design report lists Forster's tern, black-necked stilt, American avocet and black oystercatcher as examples of birds that can benefit from bay beach habitat in general. The sources don't say whether those birds will turn up at Greenwood Beach.
Railroad Marsh: the same winter, a different kind of upkeep
A second shoreline project is running on the same schedule. The Town Council voted 4-0 on Aug. 19 to hire Lafayette-based McNabb Construction to clear Railroad Marsh, next to the Point Tiburon Marsh condominiums. The contract is capped at $274,743, with change orders of up to 10% allowed. The work was scheduled from mid-September through October, so it should be in its final weeks now.
This project runs the other way from Greenwood Beach. There, crews are adding material and plants. At Railroad Marsh, they're taking plants out. The Marin IJ reports the job removes 1,500 tons of vegetation and 300 tons of sediment, so cattails and introduced plants make up about five-sixths of the load. The marsh is one of Tiburon's retention ponds for holding stormwater during heavy rain and high tides, and the overgrowth has reduced how much water it can hold. The timing is tied to the forecast. The Ark reported that federal forecasters give this winter better than a 90% chance of a very strong El Niño.
The project has a longer history. The Marin IJ reported that the town began this work a couple of years ago and stopped after a California red-legged frog appeared. The species is listed as threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. After biological studies, surveys and mitigation with federal and state agencies, the town got permits to continue. About $25,000 of the budget is set aside in case any frogs need to be moved to an undisturbed part of the same habitat.
Railroad Marsh also has a set schedule ahead. The town plans smaller maintenance projects there every other year and another large one in five to six years. The town hasn't said whether this fall's work affects path access. The last access notice we found, a shoreline closure from Oct. 2 to 15, was for the 2025 cleanup.
Both projects end their fall work this season. Railroad Marsh goes back on a regular maintenance cycle, and Greenwood and Brunini beaches enter their establishment period, when tides and new plants take over from the crews.
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