What's the story with the rain gutter things along San Pablo Avenue?

"They're rain gardens," according to El Cerrito Public Works Director Jerry Bradshaw. Along with looking pretty and sprucing up several blocks along San Pablo Avenue, the gardens also provide an incredibly useful function: filtering pollutants.

Crews broke ground in February, tearing up sidewalks and rejiggering water drainage into newly created planter areas. The system is designed so rain water, which picks up oil, brake dust and other nasties from San Pablo Avenue traffic, flows through the garden soil before going down the storm drain, which flows to the bay.

The method is hardly new; private developments have been required to filter storm water for about five years now. The new City Hall and Windrush School both have the same type of filtration systems already in place, according to Bradshaw. Retrofitting city streets however, doesn't come easy or cheap. It cost $350,000 to complete just the two small trial stretches along San Pablo Avenue, one located two blocks north of the El Cerrito Theater from Eureka to Lincoln and the other just north of City Hall in front of Big 5 Sporting Goods.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sees huge value in it fortunately, picking up $215,000 of the cost. Construction is wrapping up now, and fresh work will begin when the rains start in another month or so. At that point, the San Francisco Estuary Institute will test the water quality, and graciously pick up the $200,000 price tag as well.

Said Bradshaw: "We're experimenting to see if we can retrofit our streetscape."

Planting rain gardens the entire length of San Pablo Avenue in El Cerrito is an unlikely next move though; besides being pricey, the gardens are tough to locate. The current test spots were selected because they were wide enough and did not conflict with underground utilities, trees, crosswalks and other limitations.

What's up with the old lumber yard?

The short answer to this one is not much. Formerly occupied by Dolan Lumber, the 3.26-acre site has been vacant for several years. It's actually located in Richmond, with just a small corner at Central and San Mateo avenues edging into El Cerrito territory. Still, El Cerrito staff has pushed a handful of times to get something developed there, since the eyesore is the first thing welcoming people to El Cerrito when they exit at Central Avenue off Interstate 80.

"Sometimes you run into owners with unrealistic expectations of what their property is worth," said Dwayne Dalman, the city's economic development project director. "They're not willing to sell or even meet. We've forwarded probably three or four developers to talk."

MRE Commercial's Erik Housh is the listing agent for the property. According to Housh, owners are asking $7 million for the property, which is zoned for any type of development other than industrial. He was tight-lipped about sharing details regarding development timing, marketing strategies or whether any parties were currently interested in the site.

Said Housh:  "My client is not interested in talking. I am not authorized to give out any information."

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