Point Reyes Light - November 21, 2002

County ignores protest from dysfunctional group

By Ivan Gale

Planning commissioners on Monday rejected an appeal by the Tomales Bay Association to overturn Bolinas-based organic grower Warren Weber’s plans to remove dikes on his property east of Olema-Bolinas Road adjoining the Bolinas Lagoon.

Granted permit

Weber had been granted an excavation permit by the county to complete the terms of a settlement agreement with the US Army Corps of Engineers after they determined he had possibly violated the Clean Water Act and the Harbors and Rivers Act for his unauthorized diking of land for row-cropping.

The crumbling Tomales Bay Association led by president Ken Fox, currently faces extinction due to a shortage of leadership on the board as well as personality conflict within the ranks.

Fox said the excavation estimate submitted by an engineering consultant was inadequate. He also maintained granting the permit violated the laws and regulations of Marin County since the disputed parcel constitutes protected Bolinas Lagoon wetlands.

The commissioners were perplexed that Fox tried to counteract measures that could help the environment, measures that essentially have not yet been determined. Commissioner Hank Barner said the real amount of work to be done would occur when the Corps supervised and executed the fill removal.

Fox asked commissioners to override Federal law and prevent Weber from fulfilling his obligations from his settlement agreement with the Corps.

"Are you not asking us to supersede the Corps in advance?" asked commissioner Allan Berland adding the commission’s authority was "very limited" even if they chose to follow Fox’s advice.

Anti-organic

Some commissioners said it was evident the real reason the association chose to battle Weber’s Star Route Farms was because of Weber’s use of wetlands for organic farming.

The association, once vanguards of the environmental movement in West Marin, has, in the past, lobbied that the county should protect its wetlands, 95 percent of which have already been lost in the state.

Fox, on behalf of the association, said he believes that Weber’s diking and subsequent row-cropping activities that ensued after his 1981 purchase should constitute a "change in use" in violation of the Bolinas Community Plan.

In the past, both the county and Supervisor Steve Kinsey have not found Weber in violation of county regulation.

Weber at the meeting said good stewardship of the land was something he took very seriously, and he hoped the commissioners would allow him to fulfill the terms of his agreement with the Corps.

Fox said his organization was not against farming and that he supported Weber’s efforts of sustainable agriculture. The issue, he said, was one of protecting wetlands.

"You people need to enforce your regulations," he told commissioners.

Testimony was also heard by Barbara Salzman, president of the Marin Audubon Society. She said she was dissatisfied with the Corp’s environmental documents including the excavation assessment. She told commissioners, "I urge you to at least get adequate information."

Dogtown resident Cela O’Connor, a member of the Tomales Bay Association still aligned with Fox, said county laws had been violated.

"Before you people shove this off to federal jurisdiction, you should be dealing with your own laws," O’Connor said.

Bolinas resident Rudi Ferris pointed out that a condition of Weber’s settlement agreement stated that there must be no laws violated prior to conversion of the contested dikes. Arguing that Weber had indeed illegally converted wetlands, he urged commissioners to vote in favor of the Tomales Bay Association.

Since there had been no determination that Weber violated such laws, however, the argument did not resonate with commissioners.

Other arguments elsewhere

To stay on point commissioner Ross Herbertson, just prior to the unanimous ruling in favor of Weber, said he hadn’t heard a single testimony in favor of keeping the dikes which was the only issue they were there to decide on.

"For the other questions this is not the venue," said Herbertson. "I don’t see how removing the dikes compromises the county’s responsibility to its wetlands."

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