Point Reyes Light- March 2, 2000

Lucas approved for prairie-style office park at Big Rock

Beaming like star-struck fans at a Hollywood premiere, Marin County Planning Commissioners this week unanimously approved a new Lucasfilm office complex for 300 workers at Big Rock Ranch on Lucas Valley Road.

The five-building complex will be restricted to 56 acres, or five percent of the 1,117-acre ranch. Its centerpiece is a sprawling "prairie-style" office building and underground parking garage that would be screened from Lucas Valley Road by its location on the property.

Other elements include a smaller commons building, an archives and maintenance building, a daycare and fitness center, and gate house clustered around a seven-acre reservoir. Total area of the all the buildings is about 184,600 square feet.

Trails on 2,300 acres

As a condition of county approval, Lucasfilm has committed to placing the remainder of Big Rock Ranch, as well as the McGuire and Loma Alta ranches across Lucas Valley Road, under permanent agricultural conservation easements with public trails crossing the three properties.

The easements will protect a total of 2,296 acres from development while providing panoramic views for hikers scampering along the 11 miles of proposed trails, said Lucasfilm president Gordon Radley.

"We're proud of working with the county to preserve Lucas Valley as we know it not for ten years, not for 20 years, but in perpetuity," he said.

Although many Lucas Valley residents took part in rancorous masterplan hearings on the project over five years ago, the plans approved Tuesday by planning commissioners received only praise from the few Nicasio residents who attended the afternoon hearing.

Lucas a good neighbor

A former member of the Nicasio Land Owners Association's design review committee, Frank Bourne, told commissioners that filmmaker Gearge Lucas has been a contributing member of the community whenever help is needed. "I feel he's shown a genuine concern for us in supporting the beautiful place where we live," he said.

County supervisors unanimously approved Lucasfilm's masterplan in 1996 for both the Big Rock Ranch, plus a larger office complex on neighboring Grady Ranch. The Grady plans were not part of the proceedings this week.

Since the masterplan approval, Radley said, Lucasfilm has slightly reduced the number of acres under development, which will prevent the removal of 200 trees, avoid any construction on three archeological sites, and save some of the property's wetlands and native grasslands.

High marks for design

Radley also boasted to commissioners that the main office building has been praised by an environmental building group for meeting its standards for energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, and water quality safeguards.

"Wow," said commissioner Jan Alff Wiegel in reaction to the proposal. "We really have come a long way. It looks like a fabulous project."

Crediting filmmaker Lucas with selecting the overall scheme and approving every detail of the project, architect Kevin Hart said the prairie-style office building hearkens back to early works by Frank Lloyd Wright with emphasis on horizontal lines, natural earth tones, and harmony with its surroundings.

The public trails dedicated by Lucasfilm will eventually link the San Geronimo Valley and Novato to an over 400-mile trail proposed to encircle the Bay Area, said Bill Long, a board member of the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council.

"We're hoping this [gift] will inspire others to be as enlightened as Lucasfilm," he said.

Lucas & Giacomini

With George Lucas sitting placidly in the front row next to former county supervisor Gary Giacomini, commissioners responded exuberantly to the proposed development and the praise it had generated.

"We've had nobody speak against the project, and that may be the most articulate statement made," said Commissioner Ross Herbertson.

Commissioner Patty Garbarino offered Lucasfilm the best of luck with their project. "I hope the roof won't leak, like some other Frank Lloyd Wright buildings," she cautioned.

Last year, Lucasfilm successfully bid to develop a digital arts center at the Letterman Medical Center in San Francisco's Presidio. The County of Marin is currently expecting the company to submit plans to build offices for 340 workers on the 1,000-acre Grady Ranch.

As a condition of county approval, Lucasfilm is required to pay over $340,000 to improve lower Lucas Valley Road and its intersection with Highway 101.

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