County planning commissioners Monday unanimously endorsed Nicasio-based filmmaker George Lucas' proposal to build two more high-technology complexes on ranchland east of his Skywalker Ranch.
Commissioners two weeks ago announced support of the project but waited for county planning staff and Lucasfilm to iron out a few wrinkles.
County Supervisors will consider Lucasfilm's application for masterplan and use permits on Tuesday, Oct. 29.
Lucas wants to build more than 600,000 square feet of buildings for developing computer entertainment, interactive multimedia, and educational products on the former Grady and Big Rock ranches along Lucas Valley Road.
Development will be limited to 108 acres. The remaining 2,048 acres at Grady and Big Rock - plus 1,208 acres on Loma Alta and McGuire ranches to the south - would be preserved as a combination of agricultural easements and public and private open space.
Two weeks ago planning commissioners applauded Lucas for retooling a severely flawed project in 1992 and working with planners to satisfy county environmental standards. Lucas had begun to push the project nearly a decade ago.
Among the final issues to be resolved was how many people would be allowed on the premises of the two proposed office-building complexes daily.
The number of employees and guests allowed at the new sites is capped at 640, but it became clear two weeks ago that Lucasfilm and planning staffers were using different meanings for the term "guest."
Lucasfilm had thought the word referred to visitors staying at guest houses overnight. Planning staff insisted that a guest is anyone who's not an employee or a service worker (such as a telephone repairman).
Nor was it clear if Lucasfilm would be allowed flexibility on which ranch those 640 people would work. The project's environmental-impact report studied effects of having 340 people at Grady and 300 at Big Rock.
And although the limits of 340 people at Grady and 300 at Big Rock remain, the daily averages would be calculated quarterly, allowing fluctuations for certain events during a three-month period.
Lucasfilm attorney Doug Ferguson told planning commissioners that although Lucasfilm's top brass wanted the option of distributing the 640 employees and guests however and whenever they wanted, the company is willing to work within the cap.
In comparison, he said, the Skywalker Ranch project carried just 24 conditions when it was approved. "There are probably more conditions [in the expansion] than any other project that has ever been approved in this county," Radley said, "They've dotted every 'I' and crossed every 'T.'"
"We're going to be bird-dogging them all the way," said county planner Dean Powell on Wednesday. "There are all these little stop-gaps that the county has to be involved in."
Here's a sample of the conditions imposed on Lucasfilm:
Planner Powell said some of the conditions, such as those dealing with landscaping and erosion control around creeks, will be monitored for as long as five years, and many of the construction and grading requirements will be monitoring on a daily basis.