A visitors’ center may soon be built in Point
Reyes Station, if plans go forward for construction off Mesa Road next
to the EAH affordable housing project.
County supervisors last week contracted C3 Design
Alliance of San Francisco for $77,500 to design a project that at present
includes restrooms, a leachfield, and parking spaces.
But further additions to the project, officials said,
may include a visitors’ center, a children’s play area, a
pathway through Toby’s Feedbarn, and a community bulletin board
– on lot sized about two-thirds of an acre.
Officials said the entire project, including design,
parking, restrooms and any other construction or landscaping, will cost
$450,000. Liza Crosse, aide to supervisor Steve Kinsey, said that about
$200,000 of that money has been secured, and that the earliest the construction
will be complete is late spring. Officials have yet to secure the
remaining funds.
At least two community meetings will take place during
the project’s design, said Crosse, adding that the first meeting
will take place sometime in November. While members of the community
will not be asked whether they think a half-million-dollar visitor center
is a good idea for Point Reyes Station, they can give their opinions
of what should be done in the final construction.
Community vs. visitor
Crosse said that a visitor’s center, if built,
would not necessarily disrupt the small-town fabric of Point Reyes Station.
There are people who are "thinking Bear Valley
and a great big barn," she said, but stressed that a facility in
Point Reyes Station would be a "good thing, with a lot of consideration
given to the community."
It has been one of Kinsey’s goals, Crosse said,
to get the residents of Point Reyes Station a project that is most useful
to the community.
Visitor serving
The 0.62-acre parcel, along with another 2.28-acre
site, were part of a deal between the county and EAH, the affordable-housing
developer in 2002. Both sites were given to the county in exchange for
$800,000 from the county, and a matching $800,000 from Marin Community
Foundation. The $1.6 million influx came at a critical time in EAH’s
budgeting process, allowing them to move ahead with an otherwise foundering
project.
While the planning is moving along for the smaller
lot, the future of the 2.28-acre plot continues to be unclear. Officials
said that the site cannot be developed for at least two years after
the completion of the affordable housing. "The master plan,"
according to county Principal Planner Tom Lai, calls for "an overnight
lodge." Lai added that the county "still needs to work out
specifics." This includes community input at still undetermined
public hearings.
The California Coastal Commission originally issued
EAH a permit to build its affordable housing project on the condition
that a "visitor-serving" project be part of the development.
According to project manager for EAH, Alberto
Vasquez, the housing project is more than 92 percent complete, and he
hopes that construction on the apartments will be finished by the beginning
of November.