Point Reyes Light - November 11, 1999

Last chance for affordable-housing project

By Gregory Foley

Members of the Point Reyes Village Association and non-association residents will take part in separate votes this Thursday, Nov. 11 to measure local support for the latest - and apparently final - revision to the plan to build affordable housing in Point Reyes Station.

After receiving a cautious nod of approval from the Village Association's Design Review Committee last week, the planners from the non-profit Ecumenical Association for Housing will present the project's design to the association's full membership and the community at 7:30 p.m. in the Dance Palace.

Because postoffices are closed Thursday, which is Veteran's Day, residents who buy The Light in stores may want to remind mail subscribers about the meeting.

EAH architect Michael Rex will explain the revamped plan to develop 27 rental units, seven for-sale homes, and an organic farm on the 19-acre Giacomini site just north of Mesa Road and Commodore Webster Drive.

Two polls

EAH senior project planner Lamar Turner, Supervisor Steve Kinsey, and Rex will then field questions regarding the project. The Village Association's approximately 60 voting members will ultimately be polled by secret ballot on whether they endorse the current EAH plan. Non-Association residents and property owners within the Point Reyes Station Planning Area will be polled by secret ballot in a separate tally.

The proposal under consideration calls for a total of 36 units with 73 total bedrooms, a 33-percent reduction from EAH's original numbers. The plan also includes designating a parcel along Mesa Road for future commercial use, as well as a separate parcel for public parking and restrooms that would be sold to the county.

While the Village Association holds no official authority over the project, Turner has said he won't proceed with the plan without town support. He has repeatedly stated that the financing won't work for a smaller development on the site, and that without some show of support, his organization will simply drop the project.

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