Point Reyes Light - November 29, 2001

Olema Campground expansion outlined

By Daniel Freed

County planning commissioners on Feb. 25 will hold a public hearing to consider a masterplan amendment, a precise development plan, and a coastal permit for expanding Olema Ranch Campground.

Also on the agenda will be a vote on whether the proposal will have an insignificant effect on the environment.

Planning for the expansion of campground facilities has been underway since 1989. Owner Horst Hanf unveiled the proposal that year during a Point Reyes Village Association meeting. The proposed changes, as outlined this week by Neal Osborne of the Planning Division, include:

• Building 20 bungalows with attached kitchens on the southern end of the campground.

• Adding 48 campsites and a bathhouse-restroom to the northwest portion of the campground, bringing the total number of sites and bungalows to 222. However, the campground has also agreed to eliminate four or five campsites along its northern property line to provide habitat for threatened red-legged frogs and western pond turtles.

In addition, the campground now has agreed to reconfigure existing tent sites along Olema Creek. The tent sites are within the 100-foot buffer zone that now exists along the creek, but they are legal because they were created prior to the buffer zone’s creation. The reconfiguration would allow tents within the buffer zone but relocate campers’ parking spaces away from the creek.

• Installing four mobilehomes for employee housing

• Upgrading its gas station by replacing a 1,000-gallon, above-ground fuel tank with a 10,000-gallon, below-ground tank that dispensed multiple grades of fuel. The current station provides only high-octane gasoline.

• Eliminating the restroom at the base of the campground’s 34-foot-high tower.

• Constructing a 1,916-square-foot addition to campground’s convenience store building in order to provide space for the registration office and enlarged public meeting rooms.

• Remodeling a 1,436-square-foot workshop into a clubhouse with a lounge, exercise room, sauna, and massage room,

• Creating a new entrance.

• Providing a total of 265 parking spots.

• Relocating signs.

• Increasing the staff from eight winter and 11 summer employees to 11 winter and 14 summer employees.

• Planting a mixture of native plants in order to "enhance the habitat value of the area between the new bungalows, the new campsites, and Olema Creek."

County planning staff have told the campground to make a variety of changes in its proposal to mitigate any environmental damage it might otherwise cause.

Written comments on the plan can be sent to the Community Development Agency until Dec. 21.

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