The National Park Service is in the final stages of
negotiating a deal with dairy ranchers Rich and Darlene Giacomini that
would set the stage for Point Reyes Station’s downtown to extend
200 feet further to the southwest.
In January, the Park Service announced that it planned
to trade nine acres of land on the western side of the Giacominis’
ranch for five acres at the foot of Point Reyes Station’s C Street.
The swap will place an unbroken, eight-acre swathe of land at the edge
of town back in the ranchers’ hands.
The deal would make possible residential development
of the site, where a maximum of about 20 houses could be built, or the
creation of a feed lot at the edge of town.
Both possibilities have town residents worried. "I
don’t think swapping a bit of ranch that could go on ranching or
could form a housing development is in the spirit of when the park got
all the environmental groups together to support the original purchase
[of the ranch]," said Tom Quinn, a downtown homeowner, at a meeting
last week of the Point Reyes Village Association.
Giacomini this week confirmed that he had agreed to
the trade and said he expects it to be finalized in the next few months.
As to the property’s future, he said no decisions have been made,
and that his family had not begun looking into new uses for the land.
"I wouldn’t rule out doing anything,"
he said. "This is America. You’re allowed to keep your options
open."
From ranch to wetlands
The prosperous dairy ranch at the foot of Tomales
Bay was sold to the Park Service in 2000 for $5.75 million. Originally
a saltwater marsh, the land was bought by the Giacomini family in 1944.
Encouraged by the federal government, which wanted to increase wartime
milk production, and subsidized under the Land Reclamation Act, the
Giacominis built dikes surrounding the ranch to keep water from inundating
their pastures at high tide.
Under the terms of the sale, the Giacomini family
held on to a handful of small properties at the ranch’s periphery,
and can continue dairy operations through 2007. At that time, most of
the ranch will become part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
The Park Service plans to restore the pastures to
coastal wetlands. Point Reyes National Seashore Supt. Don Neubacher
said that park biologists believe the two pieces of land the Park Service
would acquire – along Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, near Inverness
Park – are critical to the restoration project.
But the possession of eight contiguous acres (right
now the Giacominis own three parcels along C Street separated from one
another) would increase the land’s potential for "dry"
dairy ranching – where hay is brought in to feed the animals, rather
than putting them out to graze – or development.
If lots are developed at the minimum permitted size
(one-quarter acre), and if the entire stretch of land proves buildable,
an additional 20 houses could in theory go up beyond C Street. If larger
lots are created or if parts of the residentially-zoned property –
which slopes sharply in some areas – are difficult to develop,
however, fewer houses could be built.
Residents fear more agriculture
A greater concern for some town residents is the prospect
of continued agriculture. The eight-acre property falling to the Giacominis
would encompass the prominent loafing barn – known to town residents
as "the big barn" – that shelters the Giacominis’
cows. The barn is now owned by the Park Service; if it reverts, as planned,
to the Giacominis, it will be easier to keep cows on the property.
This worries the ranch’s neighbors, who looked
forward to the disappearance of agriculture – and with it the powerful
odor of manure that routinely wafts through downtown Point Reyes Station
– when the Park Service bought the property six years ago. One
resident in the audience at last week’s Village Association meeting
called the methane fumes that wash over nearby homes "degrading."
"If the swap was made, suddenly we have a ranch
that might go back into the ranching business," Quinn said. "There
could be a veal operation there, feed could be brought in without wetland
pastures, and there could be continued use of the big barn. We want
the barn gone."
Wiebke Buxbaum, chair of the Village Association’s
Design Review Committee, said that, at first blush, continued ranching
seems unlikely, since the land could be put to better profit by turning
it into residential lots.
"The common-sense viewer who sees this map the
first time wouldn’t ever see agricultural use here, because they
can make so much more money by doing something else with it," Buxbaum
said.
Public comments on the land exchange will be accepted
by the Park Service through Feb. 26. Those who wish to send comments
can address them to Chief, Pacific Land Resources Program Center, Pacific
West Region, National Park Service, 1111 Jackson St., Suite 700, Oakland,
CA 94607.