A proposal to expand the Bolinas Garage faces a small army of critics who claim the garage has created downtown parking problems while devolving into an ugly junkyard.
They worry that a large-scale project will only aggravate the problems.
Garage owner Daran Moghadam, who leases the Wharf Road property, said those problems are what he's trying to fix. "That's the main reason we're doing the project," he said. "I can't see how anyone would have a leg to stand on with a complaint."
Moghadam wants to add an additional 1,446 square feet of storage space to the existing building and raise the garage's ceiling. That way, he said, mechanics can put some cars on lifts, leaving more room for cars that now get parked outside.
He also wants to put up a 5,605-square-foot, 25-foot-tall prefabricated metal building to house the salvage yard. He also hopes to add 18 new parking spaces on the property.
"The whole place is a junkpile out here," Moghadam acknowledged, adding that part of the fault lies with people who dump their old couches and such on the property. "What I'm really trying to do is beautify the town. This is a garage renovation and restoration project."
Moghadam said the building needs major repairs, and the soil on the property is contaminated and needs cleaning up.
"Structurally, it's rotting - the back part of the garage," he said. "See that puddle on the ground there? That's how bad the roof leaks. We have totally substandard working conditions here."
His critics are skeptical. Notwithstanding the proposed improvements, "the present [property] ownership is not capable of controlling the operations that are there," said real estate broker Peter Harris, whose office is across Wharf Road from the garage.
Harris said Moghadam has gradually turned a modest filling station and auto shop into a large towing and salvage operation. He said many of the parking spaces at the garage have been fenced off and filled with junked cars.
Harris and others who work downtown complained this week that parking spaces on the street are monopolized by the auto shop and people visiting other businesses on the property, leaving few spaces for other merchants.
"I can look out my window right now and count four" cars parked by the auto shop, said Lucy Bolduc of the Bolinas Family Practice medical clinic. The need for parking "is really critical in this downtown area," she said.
"I'm disturbed," Harris added. "The county should have been out here abating the use of the property for automobile salvage. [It's] a blatant violation of the county use code."
Moghadam wants the county to let him continue his gas station, repair shop, towing business, and auto-storage yard. He and the garage property owner, Vali Mortazaie, also want to legalize other existing uses, including an office and the Yours, Mine and Nancyrose's Too gift shop.
Also up for review are plans to fix bicycles, boats, and appliances, and to start selling beer, wine, and food. An apartment and common kitchen on the second floor would continue in use.
Aside from the parking crunch, Harris said, the garage has perhaps created an unsafe living environment - not just for the people living in the upstairs apartment, but also for a handful of people who live on the property in their cars.
"There are probably eight to 10 people living on the property at any point," he guessed. "It's a very dangerous living situation. It's a volatile mix of fuels and cars and living spaces. I think it's a hazard, and it's definitely a violation."
Directors of Bolinas Public Utility District have also found fault with the project. In a Nov. 15 letter to county planners, BPUD manager Phil Buchanan said directors are "strongly opposed to beer sales at this location. There are four other places selling beer within a block of the Bolinas Garage."
While BPUD directors aren't opposed to renovating the building, they believe "the size of the proposed prefabricated metal building is out of scale with its surroundings," Buchanan wrote.
Directors of the Bolinas Community Center nextdoor to the garage are also opposed. "The community center has been working with the county Sheriff's Office to curtail drinking, particularly adolescents, on and adjacent to our property," wrote Community Center President Fred Styles in a letter to county planners. "The approval of an additional beer sales outlet adjacent to the center will exacerbate an already serious problem."
The proposed metal building "is apparently to be used to meet county off-street parking requirements," Styles continued. "However, egress and exit to the building through gasoline pumps and stored vehicles will be difficult and hazardous.
"Also, we question why the excessive height (27 feet) of the proposed building is necessary if it is to be only used for surface-level parking."
Countered Moghadam, "They're all a bunch of whiners." He wondered whether five places selling beer would be worse than four, and said he doesn't see any crime in selling "sandwiches."
He added that the building improvements will be similar in design to the existing Spanish-style stucco garage.
Townspeople have long complained that the garage attracts some unsavory characters, and Moghadam said the renovation would attract a better class of tenants. "Right now we have to rent to whoever will put up with the place," he said.
He said he hopes to replace the three existing underground gas tanks with one large one that can dispense three kinds of gasoline. Since fees are paid per tank, he said, the project will allow him to lower the price of gas, which is typically the highest in West Marin.