Point Reyes Light- October 1, 1998
Coastal residents air gripes with Park Service
West Marin residents Saturday told the Park Service that communities bordering the Golden Gate National Recreation Area should have more say in determining park policies.
Park staff plan to meet with West Marin residents again at 7 p.m. this Thursday, Oct. 1, in the Dance Palace.
Prior to Saturday's meeting, several community members had complained that some GGNRA officials have been "unresponsive," noted Supervisor Steve Kinsey, who moderated the gathering in Stinson Beach.
"We all need a better understanding of what the basis is for Park [Service] activities and to learn how we, as a community, can help participate and in some instances guide park policy."
Many of the 40 residents who spoke up during the meeting said they want to take part in all Park Service projects, including those outlined in the GGNRA's 1980 General Management Plan.
Although the plan emerged after five years of public hearings, it needs to reflect current public opinion and will be updated, GGNRA Supt. Brian O'Neill promised during the meeting.
In addition, O'Neill said, he and Point Reyes National Seashore Supt. Don Neubacher, who oversees GGNRA lands north of Bolinas, want to be "partners" with West Marin residents through an "ongoing, sustained dialogue."
There was plenty of dialogue during Saturday's three-hour meeting as residents discussed several park proposals, including:
Remodeling the historic Rancho Baulines into an environmental center for the Point Reyes Bird Observatory. The proposal would require evicting long-time tenant Mary Tiscornia.
Eliminating the towns of Tocaloma and Jewell and turning them into parkland, starting next year. The three-year phasing out of those towns would force most residents there to move.
Destroying the historic Margaret McKennan teahouse along the Bolinas Lagoon.
Restoring Big Lagoon in Muir Beach, a project that is several years overdue.
Several residents objected to Park Service plans for Rancho Baulines, which is earmarked for an environmental-education site in the 1980 management plan.
Bolinas resident Barbara Kayfetz said that while she harbored no ill will towards Point Reyes Bird Observatory staff, she feared that a PRBO environmental center at the Rancho would draw more motorists to Bolinas, which is already congested with traffic on weekends.
"Bolinas is the closest place for gas and sandwiches," agreed Bolinas resident Dale Polissar. "You're likely to get considerable resistance from the community."
Supt. Neubacher responded that the environmental center would probably not generate more traffic. "The plan calls for it to be educational in nature," he said. "This doesn't mean that major changes will occur. It will not be a visitor center and will not be used as a stopover for tourists."
In addition, he said, PRBO staff would be the primary occupants at the Rancho, and that a 50- to 100-space parking lot was "not envisioned."
Dogtown resident Hilary Corliss-Smith argued that Rancho tenant Tiscornia has been treated unfairly by park staff and should be allowed to stay at the ranch. "She should be put on a pedestal" for her hospitality to equestrians in West Marin and for enabling kids in Bolinas to ride locally, Corliss-Smith said.
Supt. Neubacher said that horses wouldn't necessarily disappear from the Rancho's pastures. However, he added, public access to the Rancho has been "limited" during Tiscornia's tenancy and that the 1,397-acre ranch merits more public use.
No changes will occur at the Rancho without a lengthy public process, which will stretch over the next two years, Neubacher said.
Tiscornia, however, hopes to renew her option to continue leasing the Rancho and wants to ensure that the public is consulted about the property's long-term use. Tiscornia filed a lawsuit against the US Interior Department in July, and expects a response from the federal government this week, her attorney said before the meeting.
Like Tiscornia, other park tenants wish to continue living on parkland. Tocaloma residents Nancy Wolf and Debra Burnett asked park staff to reconsider terminating their leases, as was planned in the 1972 legislation that created the GGNRA.
"We have put our personal money into these properties and have maintained them," said Wolf, who teaches at Inverness School. "I believe that we can open dialogue to establish partnerships with the park, which would be precedent-setting for the GGNRA."
Supt. Neubacher agreed to arrange a meeting with the affected residents but cautioned against high hopes.
Afterwards, he told The Light that while tenants who reserved their homes for life will be permitted to stay in Tocaloma and Jewell, only "special circumstances" would permit park staff to extend the leases of other tenants.
"I really have empathy for these residents," said Neubacher. "Many of them made these use-and-occupancy lease agreements 25 years ago, and 25 years comes up way too fast."
However, he added, much of the public favors the towns' incorporation into the GGNRA.
In a reversal of their earlier position, many Stinson Beach residents no longer wish to save the historic Margaret McKennan teahouse, resident Carol Wagner announced at the meeting.
After about 20 members of the Stinson Beach Historical Society visited the teahouse in McKennan Gulch two weeks ago, their "passion" for restoration ebbed, she said.
The building is run-down, Wagner acknowledged, and is surrounded by cigarette butts and used toilet paper.
Stinson Beach residents would now like the Park Service to proceed with plans to destroy the building and install a wayside exhibit, said resident Andrea diMarco.
"The exhibit should have a facade that replicates that of the teahouse," diMarco said. "Inside, the exhibit should reflect the [site's] local history, birds and seals, and watershed. Also, there should be some sort of toilet because people are already using the area to do their business."
Muir Beach resident Gordon Bennett complained that park staff have yet to honor their "public commitment" to restore the town's Big Lagoon.
Last year, park staff decided to use funds, which were set aside in 1991 for restoration of the lagoon, to buy Waldo and Rich Giacomini's Ranch in Point Reyes Station. In return, they promised to use revenue generated at Muir Woods to complete the Big Lagoon project, he added.
So far, GGNRA staff have not contributed "a single dollar" toward dredging the 10-acre lagoon, which has shrunk to two acres through sedimentation, Bennett told The Light Monday.
"The Park Service is making a big show about being able to keep their funding commitment in the Tomales Bay area, but they don't want anyone to know that they were only able to do this by breaking another funding commitment in Muir Beach," he said.
During Saturday's meeting, GGNRA Supt. O'Neill said the Muir Woods money wasn't forthcoming because some congressmen felt that the dollars would be better spent on improving park "infrastructure."
However, he added, GGNRA staff are "repackaging" the Big Lagoon project and hope to move forward soon.
"The superintendent knows that I will kill him if this doesn't come through," quipped Doug Nadeau, GGNRA chief of Resource Management and Planning.