Marin approves controversial rural housing linked to retail expansion

Forced to choose between preserving a historic 1930s building in Point Reyes Station and adding three apartments to the housing stock, county supervisors chose housing.

The supervisors voted 4-0 on Tuesday to grant the owner of Redwood Oil Co., a family-owned business of 24 gas stations and convenience stores, permission to convert a 215-square-foot cashier’s stand in a gas station into a substantially larger convenience store as part of the project. The decision gave the owner, Julie Van Alyea, substantially more space for the project than allotted by a Planning Commission decision in April.

Supervisor Dennis Rodoni, who represents western Marin, recused himself from the vote.

Among the nine conditions that had been imposed by the Planning Commission was one that said the project’s commercial component could not exceed 15% of the structure’s floor area. Van Alyea appealed the decision, setting up the hearing on Tuesday.

The supervisors didn’t specify how big the largely concrete mini-market will be allowed to be. They simply limited the size of the retail sales area to that shown on a drawing submitted by Van Alyea the day before the hearing. The drawing lists the total square footage of the project as being 5,500 square feet, but it doesn’t specify what percentage of that would be commercial space.

“We do not yet have calculations to the retail sales area or a percentage of the total floor area that is going to be used for retail sales,” Marin County Planning Manager Jeremy Tejirian said Wednesday. “This information will be provided with the building permit application for the project.”

The project also includes the creation of five apartments, including two deed-restricted dwellings for households at 50% to 80% of the area median income. That means a household of four in Marin would be limited to income of between $93,300 and $149,400 per year.

“This is affirmatively furthering fair housing in an area that certainly needs it,” Tejirian told supervisors.

The building previously housed two tenants, so there will be a net gain of three apartments. Tejirian noted that the existing apartments were unpermitted.

Van Alyea’s attorney, John Kevlin, said there is “no guarantee that these housing units will get built without the larger project making the project feasible.”

“If the board wants the five units, it’s critical that the larger market be approved,” he said.

It’s unlikely that this was the first time supervisors had heard that message. The hearing Tuesday began with all four voting supervisors reporting that they had met with Van Alyea and her attorney — as well as representatives of the Point Reyes Village Association, which opposes the project — prior to the meeting.

A number of association members spoke in opposition to the project. They said they welcomed the new housing, but not the conversion of the building into a large convenience store.

“To hold housing hostage to this mini-mart is disagreeable to say the least,” said Ken Levin, former president of the association.

Dana Davidson said, “We’ve done a survey of local businesses, and over 96% are opposed to the plan for the new gas station.”

Richard Drury, an attorney representing the the association, said, “What we’re concerned about is the proposal to have a massive convenience store in the middle of Point Reyes Station, which is completely out of character with the community.”

Initially, Van Alyea also appealed the Planning Commission requirement that the project retain the building’s front porch or provide a new “period-appropriate porch, consistent with character-defining features of the building and surrounding historic district.” The new design submitted by Van Alyea the day before the hearing, however, includes a porch.

Steve Antonaros, president of the community association, noted that the proposed porch would not be elevated and said it is unsatisfactory.

“A porch is elevated,” said Antornaros. “Right now, it is rendered more like a covered, concrete walkway.”

The building will be converted by removing interior walls and constructing a one-story building within the structure.

“They’re ripping out the guts of the building,” Antornaros said. “It’s tantamount to a demolition.”

Residents also raised questions about the effect the project would have on traffic and whether a gas station that was once on a state list of hazardous waste sites was safe for residential use.

The supervisors were not constrained from more severely limiting the size of the commercial space, even though Van Alyea sought concessions under state density bonus laws. The density laws provide projects that include housing and meet certain criteria immunity from most local constraints.

But state laws governing projects in California’s coastal zone, which includes Point Reyes Station, hold equal weight.

“The state density bonus law does not limit the county’s discretionary authority when reviewing applications in the coastal zone,” Immanuel Bereket, a county planner, told supervisors. “Instead, the county must give equal weight and consideration to both sets of laws.”

The Planning Commission justified its limitations on the project on the basis that it would adversely affect the character of downtown Point Reyes Station. Several residents who spoke at Tuesday’s meeting expressed similar sentiments. Only one speaker voiced support for the project.

Jenny Silva, who heads the board of the Marin Environmental Housing Collaborative, said concerns about preserving community character are responsible for killing many housing projects in the county.

“We all have memories of old buildings,” Silva said, “but the natural way a community evolves is that buildings change to accommodate the changes in populations. Otherwise, you end up in a museum.”

More typical were the comments of Chris Hulls, vice president of the Point Reyes Village Association.

“What makes Marin special as a county is we’ve avoided the homogeneity that has happened to so much of the country and world at large,” Hulls said.

Hulls said a detail like a wooden porch on a building might seem like a small thing to most people.

“In isolation any one little thing doesn’t matter,” Hulls said, “but alter a hundred of them and the entire town changes. I think this is really a defining moment for our town.”

When it came time to vote, however, the supervisors said they didn’t share the Planning Commission’s opinion that a remodeling of the building threatened the town’s character.

“I’m not sure how 875 square feet is different from 1,200 or 1,400 or 1,700 in terms of impacting the character of the town,” Supervisor Katie Rice said.

Supervisor Eric Lucan said, “That’s just not a finding that I am seeing.”