Point Reyes Light - August 17, 2000
Review of housing project will look at traffic, drainage
Two dozen West Marin residents on Monday asked that the environmental-impact report for a proposed affordable housing project in Point Reyes Station consider its effects on traffic, parking, storm runoff, water quality, and general quality of life in town
Non-profit developer EAH has proposed building 36 new homes, including 27 affordable rental apartments and seven cottages to be sold below market-rate, on about 19 acres bordered by Mesa Road, Commodore Webster Way, and West Marin School.
The project will require rezoning parts of the property and amending the countywide plan, Point Reyes Station Community Plan, and Local Coastal Plan.
The environmental-impact report will consider the project's effects on the natural environment, as well as related issues like noise, lighting, and appearance. It will also compare the proposal to alternative development of the property, said Tim Haddad, the county's environmental planning coordinator.
Report not the final answer At a Monday night meeting in the Dance Palace to determine the scope of the EIR, Haddad told the crowd that the report alone will not determine how or whether the project will move forward. "An EIR is not the solution for a development project," he said. "It is informational."
Still, residents asked for as much information as possible, especially about the project's potential effects on storm runoff, drainage, traffic, and parking downtown, but also about noise and light pollution, architectural styles, and water quality.
David Sox, a Coast Guard environmental protection specialist, said his main concerns are whether storm runoff will flow into the Coast Guard housing facility downhill and Lagunitas/Papermill Creek, and whether the runoff might carry effluent from the new homes' septic leach fields.
Valley residents take part San Geronimo's Elena Belsky, a champion of conventional septic systems and opponent of the Valley's French Ranch subdivision, said the EIR should consider the Marin County Civil Grand Jury's determination that there are no county regulations or adequately trained officials to monitor the type of "large-flow" septic systems proposed to serve the new apartments and houses.
She also noted that grand jurors suggested that the county place a moratorium on building new septic systems while developing a comprehensive watershed management plan. Fellow French Ranch opponent Mark Warner of Forest Knolls, asked that complete hydrology report on the property be included in the EIR.
Western Saloon owner Judy Borello reminded everyone that the basement of the Old Western has flooded throughout the 30 years she has owned it. She also noted that parking downtown is scarce and her bartenders sometimes have trouble finding spots.
Drainage & parking Michael Mery, in relaying the concerns of two property owners downtown, said he expected the EIR to address problems with storm runoff and flooding. He noted that flooding is a perennial issue that has been overlooked too long. "There is no drainage plan for this area, or any other area in town," he said.
Wiebke Buxbaum, a member of the Point Reyes Station Village Association's design review committee, suggested the EIR consider alternative locations for the septic leach fields and asked for careful consideration of the town's parking needs. "The town already has a parking deficit," she said.
Mesa Road resident Jeanette Pontacq insisted the EIR consider the impacts of new development on Point Reyes Station as a whole, not just its effects on the 19-acre Giacomini family property. She said the new houses downtown will only add to the dangerous amount of traffic on Point Reyes Station's side streets.
"Right now on Mesa and Cypress [roads], we're having trouble with too much traffic and speeding traffic," she said. "I know the people moving into this development will do the same thing as other people living here, using Mesa and Cypress as a shortcut."
Construction & architecture Restaurateur Pat Healy asked that the EIR address noise and light pollution from the proposed homes, and innkeeper James Stark suggested that the EIR offer sustainable construction features such as non-toxic building materials, water catchment and collection devices, gray water systems, and passive solar energy.
Mesa Road resident - and Marin County Administrator - Mark Riesenfeld asked to have an archictectural historian offer an opinion of whether EAH's new construction would clash with appearance and scale of the town's historic core.
The EIR consultant, Sacramento-based EDAW Inc., has been asked to provide an "issues-based list" of concerns as an appendix to the Environmental Impact Report that indicates the pages where they have been addressed.
Haddad said the EIR will take about eight months to complete and will be the subject of two more public hearings before the county accepts it as finished.