El Cerrito residents still skeptical of herbicide plans

EL CERRITO -- A community meeting held Nov. 21 by BART about its plans to spray herbicide to control weeds along the Ohlone Greenway appeared to raise more concerns among residents than it resolved.

The transit agency is planting grass along some portions of the Greenway between the El Cerrito Del Norte BART station on the north to Cerrito Creek below the El Cerrito Plaza shopping center on the south.

The lawn areas are being installed following a seismic retrofit to the overhead BART tracks that concluded in December.

BART plans to seed about 50 percent of the area that was disrupted by the retrofit and install native plants and shrubbery before turning the property back to the city in April.

A bicyclist rides on the Ohlone Greenway between Potrero Avenue and the Del Norte BART Station in El Cerrito on Jan. 8, 2010. (Giovanna Borgna/Staff archives)

BART retrofit project director Tom Horton told about the 25 to 30 residents who turned out for the meeting that the agency chose seeding as the method to install the grass rather than laying down sod as a money-saving measure.

However, the seeding requires at least one and perhaps two applications of the iron-based herbicide Fiesta to suppress weeds and insure that the roots become firmly established.

BART's spraying contractor will steer clear of buffer zones around locations where creeks run beneath the tracks and around the community garden and frog habitat in Fairmont Park, Horton said.

Horton and city Environmental Programs Manager Stephen Pree told residents that Fiesta is the most benign weed control product on the market and that any weeds that crop up after the spraying will be pulled by hand.

However, assurances by Horton and Pree didn't please some residents, who requested that BART post better warning signs in multiple languages before the spraying is done and mark the boundaries of the spray area clearly to make sure the contractor honors the buffer zones.

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El Cerrito residents still skeptical of herbicide plans