Only In Marin
The Coast is the Most By Bill Meagher
W est Marin is on the rest of the county or make a value judgment that one is better than the other. But I do think it’s fair to say the rest of Marin has adapted to change in a more rapid fashion than Point Reyes Station, which is where our story takes place. Point Reyes is the western most point in the county, a square peg in a round hole between San Francisco and Sonoma. And while San Francisco the last vestige of old Marin. I don’t mean to cast aspersions
will carry restrictions insisting two of the three added units will be reserved as affordable. This seems like a victory of sorts for affordable housing, a rare occurrence in Marin County. But don’t stick that W in the win column just yet. There are two hurdles still outstanding. First, the project is opposed by the Point Reyes Village Association, which raised $15,000 via Go Fund Me for a legal battle chest. The association welcomes the new housing but not a larger store. The association lobbied each supervisor prior to the vote. Likewise, Redwood met each supervisor as well. The association says it has the
is known as a world class dining destination and Sonoma has world class wine, Point Reyes is about world class beauty and locals who like things as they are. Point Reyes isn’t like coastal neighbor Bolinas where residents took pride in keeping the town under the radar by hiding Caltrans signs marking the town boundaries—in the hopes visitors might keep moving on down the road. Nobody is hiding road signs in Point Reyes, the denizens there just like to determine how things work and, maybe more to the point, they wish the County of Marin would listen more closely to the hopes and desires of residents. But the county is sending the small town mixed messages. In April the planning commission considered a project by Rohnert Park-based Redwood Oil Co. for changes to a gas station that includes a building constructed in the 1930s. The company owns 24 gas stations and convenience stores in Northern California running to the border of Oregon. Founded in Marin by Pete Van Alyea, a former Standard Oil exec, the company is now honchoed by his daughter Julie. The planning commission sent a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors limiting the size of a remodel of the property. But the board of supes voted 4-0 to approve a project that will allow a substantially larger convenience store at the gas station, certainly an upgrade from a 215-square-foot cashiers booth. Supervisor Dennis Rodini, who reps West Marin recused himself from the supe’s vote, hence the 4-0 tally. At present up to 5,500 square feet of commercial space would be allowed for the project, but there is no indication of just how large the store tied to the gas station would be. The county said the size of the retail store would be revealed when a building application was submitted. But what is certain is that new housing will be part of the deal. The county approval includes a stipulation that five housing units would be built as part of the project. There were already two units on site, but those units were built without the county’s blessing. The new housing
backing of the Point Reyes business community to the tune of 96% of local
Point Reyes Station is at loggerheads over the size of a proposed new gas station convenience store.
businesses feeling the store will be too big. As if to prove the contemplated project is not perfect and the best projects leave everyone unhappy on some level, Redwood’s lawyer John Kevlin cautioned the board that for all of the housing to be built, the convenience store needs to be larger. Walk softly and carry a big warning Governing West Marin has always been a colorful pursuit. Barbara Boxer allegedly locked community leaders in a room once and said nobody leaves until a solution to Highway 1 repairs was found. The late Gary Giacomini was the supe repping West Marin for two and a half decades. An environmentalist and a land use lawyer, Giacomini was equally at home shaking a hand and pounding a table. I covered the county and Giacomini for years for the Pacific Sun newspaper. He once told me West Marin was hard to fully appreciate unless you lived there, “then it makes perfect f--king sense,” he said, laughing so hard he had to take his glasses off and wipe his eyes. This is the kind of issue that would have Giacomini conjugating the F word in classic form. The county is on the spot, West Marin needs housing. But its residents deserve more than lip service coming out of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Civic Center. g
Bill Meagher is a contributing editor at this magazine writing this column monthly. He is also a senior reporter at The Deal, a Manhattan-based digital financial news outlet where he covers a little alley off Wall Street dealing with SPACS, alternative investment and the SEC.
September 2024
NorthBaybiz 37
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