After listening to five hours of public testimony, county planning commissioners late Wednesday unanimously agreed they like Nicasio-based Lucasfilm's proposed expansion.
However, after a prickly exchange between Lucasfilm attorney Doug Ferguson and commissioners late in the hearing, commissioners put off voting on the project's masterplan.
The commissioners want their staff and Lucasfilm to clear up confusion over how many people are allowed to be on the premises of two proposed office-building complexes on a daily basis.
Filmmaker George Lucas wants to build more than 600,000 square feet of facilities for developing computer entertainment, interactive multimedia, and educational products on the former Grady and Big Rock ranches.
Development will be limited to 108 acres. The remaining 2,048 acres at Grady and Big Rock - plus 1,208 acres on two smaller ranches - would be preserved as a combination of agricultural easements and public and private open space.
Lucasfilm had thought the word referred to visitors staying at guest houses overnight. Planners insisted that a guests is anyone who's not an employee or a service worker (such as a telephone repairman).
Nor is it clear if Lucasfilm will be allowed flexibility in where those 640 people will work. The project's environmental-impact report studied effects of having 340 people at one site and 300 at the other, commissioners noted.
issue had been raised months ago.
"This seems like a pretty big issue to be bringing up at this late hour," said Commission Chairwoman Morrow Cater. "I don't understand why this is happening
this way."
Commissioner Arlene Evans suggested her commission support their staff's interpretation and consider granting a certain number of special events where more people are permitted on the proposed sites.
She said the commission "should be careful" about reopening public scrutiny of the environmental-impact report, which commissioners have already approved. An organized and persistent group of Lucas Valley residents has attacked the Lucasfilm expansion project at every turn.
Evans said Lucasfilm's interpretation smacked of a "hidden agenda" that caused her to "squirm in my seat...This was in the EIR and [Ferguson] urged us to certify [it]. I think this is happening late in the game."
As it happened, Evans and each of the other six commissioners had earlier heaped praise on Lucas' project and rejected his critics' argument that building a high-technology firm on Grady Ranch requires a change in county land-use policy.
Although they were annoyed at the timing of the dispute, at least three commissioners agreed with Lucas' appeal that planning documents concerning occupancy are unclear.
"We're leaving a lot of things vague, and it makes me very nervous," said Commissioner Deborah Rowland.
Commissioners unanimously agreed to postpone approval until 10 a.m. Monday, Oct. 7, and directed planning staff to sort out the confusion and make a recommendation.
He did, however, complain during a dinner break that he's frustrated at dealing with Marin County government. "After 10
years, we've managed to get it to a public hearing," but, he said, "it's been a long and arduous process. It's a very frustrating place to do business."
He pooh-poohed his critics arguments that a company like his should be built along the Highway 101 commercial corridor.
"We're not the kind of company that operates out of a high-rise along the freeway. We're creative people."
Lucasfilm would continue without him, the filmmaker said. "It doesn't make any difference if I'm here or not. We're going to live on for a thousand years. If you come back [to West Marin] in a thousand years, you'll see the Point Reyes National Seashore, Lucasfilm, and subdivisions."
In any case, he added, if another company were to move into the site after Lucasfilm, people still wouldn't be able to see the buildings from the road, the company would still be paying a million dollars in taxes, and more than 3,000 acres of land would be permanently protected.