Point Reyes Light - October 11, 2001

Dillon crowd denounces Coptic monastry

By Patrik Jorgensen

Supervisor Steve Kinsey on Saturday assured a large crowd of Dillon Beach-area ranchers and residents that the proposed Coptic monastery near the Oceana Marin subdivision will not be permitted unless it is redesigned.

Stressing that West Marin ranchlands must remain in agriculture, the supervisor said that he would not support changing the zoning of designated agricultural lands owned by Saint Antony Coptic Monastery to make allowances for a one-acre religious retreat.

"How could re-zoning be in the best interest of long-term agriculture?" Kinsey asked.

Speaking to some 100 residents at Tomales Town Hall – most of whom were project opponents belonging to the ad-hoc group Concerned Citizens of West Marin – Kinsey said that the county Planning Division has not received a formal application from the monks to build the monastery. He noted that approval of any development on the site could take three to four years, and urged residents to have faith in the county’s permit process.

County will enforce regulations

As for worries that Marin planners might allow the Saint Antony monks to put up structures without proper permission – as occurred at their existing monastery site in San Bernardino County – Kinsey said: "The day you have a complaint, include me and I promise you won’t see a delay in enforcement."

Saint Antony Copts have proposed to build a 20,000- to 30,000-square-foot building complex with a monastery, book store, and publishing business on the 464-acre Christopher Ranch. The ranchland lies within the Coastal Agricultural Production Zone, and is zoned A-60, which limits development to one residence per 60 acres. According to the Marin Countywide Plan, religious retreats are not an allowed use under A-60 agricultural zoning.

Jaqueline Janssen, spokeswoman for the Concerned Citizens of West Marin, the meeting sponsors, fielded anonymous questions from the audience. Kinsey was asked to describe an instance in which re-zoning of the Christopher Ranch property might be possible.

"Only through a community plan with public support," the supervisor said. (He cited the proposed EAH affordable housing project in Point Reyes Station as an example of a development with adequate merits to initiate re-zoning.)

Acknowledges planning error

One resident asked if Kinsey agreed with Marin planner Tom Lai’s mostly favorable response to the project when it was first proposed by Saint Antony consultant Gary Giacomini in September 1999. Lai in response to the pre-application said in a letter to Giacomini "that there are distinguishing characteristics of this use that make it appropriate for the Christopher Ranch."

Kinsey remarked that Saint Antony’s proposal has changed since then, but acknowledged that the initial response was a mistake.

"I do not agree," he said, adding that "agriculture is a keystone element of our county’s history and needs to be preserved."

One project opponent wondered if Giacomini – as a former county supervisor – used his influence at Civic Center to get county planners behind the project early on. Kinsey said he believed that county staff may indeed have been swayed.

"Giacomini gave 24 years of his life to the county," Kinsey said. "I can imagine some staff people probably did go out of their way to facilitate or expedite [the pre-application]."

Local rancher opposed

Rancher Martin Pozzi – who lives adjacent to the Christopher Ranch – said that he is "committed to continuing agricultural use" of his land," but complained that it is getting more and more difficult. He explained that restrictions on development of agricultural lands have contributed to ranchers’ financial woes, and sometimes force ranchers to unwillingly sell their property. He wondered why Saint Antony’s might be allowed to build extensively on land that ranchers typically cannot.

"It’s too hard to get just one house," Pozzi said. "People give up their property, and now we’re confronted with major development."

Pozzi also criticized a lawsuit brought last summer by Saint Antony’s against several neighboring ranchers and landowners because they closed access to a farm road the monks claimed to have an easement over. He said the suit has threatened his ability to run his ranch at a profit. "It becomes almost impossible. It’s costing more than my total farm income to defend my property."

Traffic problems

Oceana Marin resident Alex Sladowski had other financial concerns about the proposed development. He said he believed that added traffic through Oceana Marin – where the monastery owns a home and hopes to use an access point to the ranch – could lower the value of the residential properties. "If this was only a true religious thing, I wouldn’t mind, but it’s a business," he said.

Some residents said they questioned the motive behind Saint Antony’s offer to dedicate the majority of the ranch to permanent open space and allow public access to the coast. Kinsey said that "coastal access is a fundamental value for California, but it would not be a basis for re-zoning."

Kinsey added he would like the discussion to focus on preserving West Marin’s ranching community. "We shouldn’t talk about what to keep out, but what to keep in," he said.

Wants monks to sell land

The supervisor in the end agreed with a suggestion that Dillon Beach residents work with the Marin Agricultural Land Trust to attempt to buy back the land from the monks "and put it back in the hand of local operators."

Rancher Pozzi after the meeting expressed skepticism about Kinsey’s devotion to agriculture. He said that the previous owners of the Christopher Ranch had several deals to sell the property fall out of escrow because the buyers could not get county approval to build a single-family residence from which to operate a working ranch. Ranchers "have to live on the land to make it work," Pozzi said.

As for the proposed monastery, "the county should have stopped it in two seconds," he said.

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