Historic Stable

Planners to mull historic stable

By Joel Reese

A county zoning administrator next week will consider approving the proposed design for renovating the ancient livery stable in Point Reyes Station.

Armed with a cautious endorsement from the Point Reyes Station Village Association, contractor Marshall Livingston of Inverness and Sue Conley of Point Reyes Station will go before a zoning administrator on Thursday, Sept. 14, in Room 319 of Civic Center.

The pair, along with architect Jon Fernandez have proposed renovating the stable and neighboring haybarn as offices, retail shops, art studios, and light industry.

The county has already approved a use permit for the project, as well as a lot split between prospective owners Livingston and Conley.

Livingston, who has an option to develop the livery stable, said he has worked closely with the Village Association and believes an amicable compromise has been reached.

Agreement on parking "I think we made some good agreements, and we worked together very well," he said.

Livingston said some improvements were made to lessen the project's impact on the community. For example, he said, an innovative pressure distribution septic system will be used, which will allow for more parking on the site.

The project will require 50 or so parking spaces, with more than half of those wrapping the property's perimeter on Third, B, and Fourth streets.

However, Livingston and Conley have agreed to pay for four spaces each in a town parking lot, should such a lot ever get built.

Conley's building, the two-story haybarn, will hold her food-marketing business downstairs and some small studios and offices upstairs. She said her business will also sell packaged and prepared food, such as her own cottage cheese, local meats, and sandwiches.

Benefit for town "We think the businesses will be very good for the town," Conley said. "With my business, the main concern is promoting local agriculture and providing support for farmers, and Marshall wants to make space for businesses that look into the community and aren't aimed at tourism."

But while Livingston and Conley say they are pleased with the way the project has ended up, Tom Quinn, chairman of the association's design review committee, is less enthusiastic.

In an August letter to the county, the association made several recommendations regarding appearance including paint color and choice of siding. In addition, the association is asking that no tables be set out in the landscaped areas, and that the permits for the entire project be reviewed in three years. Traffic in neighborhood

Quinn has several reservations of his own. For starters, he said the project and the traffic it will bring will have a strong impact on the surrounding residential area.

"It's a whole different story when it's across from an old neighborhood than when it's on main street and it's a block away," he said. "That's the whole rub. It's not anti-Marshall, it's not anti-Sue, it's anti-where-it-is....

"This neighborhood is a treasure, and I would hate to see it endangered by a slip of the pen," he said.

Ignores town plan Quinn also claimed the county has practically ignored the wording of the 1986 Point Reyes Station Community Plan, which requires that "all new structures and uses provide off-street parking facilities commensurate with the nature of the occupancy."

Quinn noted that he worked on the town plan, and said: "When you work hard to put in language and it's simply ignored, it's like, why bother?"

But Quinn acknowledged the wrangling over parking has sparked discussion about a parking lot for Point Reyes Station that could be funded by businesses unable to meet offstreet parking requirements.

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