Point Reyes Light - October 16, 2003
Supes vote to allow big house in Nicasio
By Ian Fein
County supervisors unanimously approved the revised Pritzker-family development proposal Tuesday, ending a lengthy battle over the 845-acre property in Nicasio north of Four Corners.
Project shrank
The approved project features a total residential development of 14,720 square feet –less than half of what was originally proposed by the Chicago-based family that owns Hyatt hotels.
"When this project was first proposed [more than two-and-a-half years ago] it was like a flare going off over the Nicasio Valley," Supervisor Steve Kinsey said before motioning for the plan’s approval. "It shed light on a lot of hot issues. Due to the concern and passion of the West Marin residents, and the cooperation and commitment of the applicants, this project is now something I will support."
The Pritzkers eliminated four buildings from a revised proposal submitted in July to break a three-to-three deadlock by county planning commissioners on the project’s approval.
The family also clustered the proposed buildings in the southern meadow of the property. In addition, the family waived any future development rights. As a result, 99.75 percent of the property will never be developed.
Before yesterday’s approval, neighboring property owners and county planning commissioners voiced concern about the Pritzker’s balance of agricultural and residential land use.
The Pritzkers said they will increase the number of grazing cattle from 30 to 70 animals, and the approved project includes nearly 13,000-square-feet of agricultural development.
At Tuesday’s hearing, applicant Nicholas Pritzker told supervisors his family was "committed" to the agricultural use of their land.
To reassure the county, the Pritzkers offered a permanent agricultural conservation easement on 95 percent of the property, forever ensuring that another rancher could use their land for agriculture should the family cease its own ranching.
Mistakenly addressing the board as "commissioners," Pritzker, chairman of the Hyatt Development Corp., said that his wife Susan grew up on a farm and is "very interested in sustainable agriculture and organic farming."
Permanent home
Pritzker also talked of his four children, their ties to the Bay Area, and that he and his wife plan to relocate from Chicago and make Nicasio their permanent home.
Ultimately the critics of the Pritzker plan welcomed their new neighbors to the community, but used yesterday’s hearing as a platform to lobby for changes to the current agricultural zoning regulations in West Marin.
ARP-60 zoning, which encompasses much of West Marin’s ranchlands, allows residential development of one housing unit per 60 acres.
The existing Countywide Plan, however, calls for such land to be strictly agricultural. Some feel this creates a loophole for landowners who want to develop their property.
"I think the real antagonists here are the 1994 Countywide Plan and our zoning code," Marin Agricultural Land Trust director Bob Berner told supervisors Tuesday. "We must address these inconsistencies as soon as possible."
Kinsey said he shares such concern, and challenged Community Development Agency staff to present their "best thinking" about what kind of zoning would make the most sense in an updated Countywide plan.
"I’m talking about within the next few months," Kinsey said, "by December or January, not 10 years from now."
One of the most vocal opponents of the development project, Chileno Valley resident Sally Gale, told supervisors to implement the "most-protective agricultural zoning."
"In regards to these applicants, it must be said that they seem to be within the law, and that one cannot fault them for trying to build what they want to build," Gale said. "One can only hope that as they live here, if even on a parttime basis, that they will learn about us and adopt some of our fervor for the protection and continuation of our agricultural way of life."
An organic gift
As an olive branch of sorts, Gale presented Pritzker with a box of organic tomatoes from her garden.
"You’re not going to throw those at me, are you?" Pritzker joked.
"No," Gale replied, "but that would be fun."