Point Reyes Light - December 24, 2003
Bolinas utility drops fight over cafe sign
By Andrew Pridgen
Directors of Bolinas Public Utility District last Wednesday granted Coast Café owner David Liebenstein continued "unrestricted water use" for his Wharf Road restaurant.
Liebenstein came under fire last August, particularly from then-Director Paul Kayfetz, when a new sign reading "Coast Café. Think Globally, Eat Locally" went up on the restaurant’s roof. Kayfetz, who opposed the sign as too big, then questioned whether Liebenstein was violating the district’s water-use regulations.
Kayfetz also claimed that Liebenstein had expanded his café’s seating without getting permission from the county.
At an August meeting, Liebenstein was furthermore accused of using a website to give directions to the café located in reclusive downtown Bolinas. Liebenstein responded by warning utility directors that if they forced him to "jump through hoops" over his water permit, "I will put up a website."
BPUD exits the fight
Following debate about the café during several BPUD meetings and following the retirement of Kayfetz, directors last week discussed at length the seating and sign yet again.
Essentially, the issue was whether to "turn matters of the Coast Café over to the county," district manager Phil Buchanan said after the meeting.
He noted that Director Jack McClellan had advised townspeople unhappy with BPUD’s decision not to deal with the café sign issue to contact county government rather than force BPUD into deciding the matter.
As for the amount of water Liebenstein’s uses, Buchanan acknowledged, "There was quite a discussion about whether we had enough information to [require Liebenstein to] possess an expanded permit."
If [Liebenstein] were to do something to his property that triggered a building or use permit the board "would have another look at it," Buchanan predicted.
Epitome of an inequity
The district manager said Liebenstein’s still-unrestricted water permit "highlights one of the inequities of the water-permit process in Bolinas."
The Coast Café is the latest incarnation of a longtime Bolinas establishment, Buchanan explained. He said there is "documentary photo evidence that predates the Bolinas Community Plan created in the late 1960s" that shows the restaurant provided outside seating as it still does in the summer.
"Liebenstein also made a fairly compelling argument about the changes he made, which would typically impact water use, that were actually a net reduction," Buchanan said.
He noted the restaurateur recently replaced two older bathrooms with newer facilities which use less water.
"Factually it’s a bit of a morass," Buchanan admitted. "The board was very divided whether we should bring the county in on the Coast Café, which we generally do not do," Buchanan noted.
Turning in people to the county "stokes up a climate of fear the board didn’t want to get into," he said. "The best thing, [directors] decided, was to withdraw from the permit process and for now leave the restaurant the way they found it."
The Blue Heron
Ironically, at the same meeting Wednesday, Bud and Gwenn Spangler, former owners of The Shop café where Liebenstein’s cafe is now located, applied for and were approved a water-use increase for their nearby restaurant with bed-and-breakfast lodging, the Blue Heron Inn.
The couple’s maximum quarterly water-use allowance, which had been 4,200 cubic feet per quarter, was increased to 6,500 cubic feet. "Their old limit is an impossible number with which to run a professional operation," Buchanan said. "They’ve done a good job. They’ve got a good long-standing reputation serving the downtown."
Sewer-hookup fees go up
The board also reviewed a two-year-old resolution that sets the fees for hooking up to Bolinas’ downtown sewer system.
While board policy is "no new sewer hookups, period," Buchanan noted, two exceptions may be made within the next year: a proposed $3.8 million new firehouse/medical facility and a home on the Little Mesa that is having problems repairing a septic system.
"The new firehouse’s proposed connection is a completely unique situation," said Buchanan. "To me it’s a no-brainier. We should do whatever we can to help this project go forward. The [10,000-square-foot facility] will only get 50 percent more water than an average residential-use permit. While the building will be right across [Mesa Road] from the existing sewer facility, it is outside the downtown area."
The general manager explained the new firehouse/medical clinic would be responsible for also paying for pump basin, alarms, water and sewer controls in addition to the district’s fees.
The other possible connection might allow a Little Mesa home with a septic system that the county says is "failing" to hook up to the nearby sewer line. "The board will be inclined to making an exception, allowing the home hookup as it has a septic in an area right next to the beach, Buchanan said.