The owner of Point Reyes Station's Grandi Building, Ken Wilson, last week received a suspended jail sentence and a court order to pay a $50,000 fine for dumping sediment from his Sonoma County vineyard into a creek that serves as a spawning ground for coho salmon.

Officials with the Regional Water Quality Control Board, who had imposed the fine, originally estimated that Wilson allowed 18,000 cubic yards of dirt - equivalent to 3,600 dumptruck loads - to wash into a tributary of the Gualala River.

Wilson had contended before the water board that the erosion occurred during an abnormally rainy El Niño year, and that only 500 cubic yards fell into the creek from his 47-acre vineyard near Healdsburg. The sides finally agreed on a figure of 1,841 cubic yards.

"Fish and Game officials have characterized this as the worst erosion and sediment-discharge event from an agricultural operation," said Jeffrey Holtzman, Sonoma County deputy district attorney, who prosecuted Wilson on behalf of the state Fish and Game department.

"El Niño and heavy rains should not be used as an excuse for non-compliance [with Water Board regulations]. An event like this underscores the need for more preventive, protective measures regarding erosion," Holtzman said.

Wilson last Thursday pleaded no contest to polluting the creek, and Sonoma County Court Commissioner Stephanie Joy issued him a suspended jail sentence of 90 days. In addition, Wilson agreed to a two-year probation and promised to pay the $50,000 fine imposed by Regional Water Quality within 30 days.

"The jail time is there to ensure that Wilson will no longer pollute," Holtzman said, adding that Wilson must pay the fine as a condition of his probation.

Wilson must also pay $11,000 to cover legal expenses incurred by state Fish and Game and by the Sonoma District Attorney's office.

The developer, meanwhile, is making some progress with his Point Reyes Station project. After promising to fix up the crumbling Grandi Building for more than two decades, Wilson has submitted the majority of documents and reports required by the county before he develops the building

Wilson has proposed several uses for the Grandi, including a hotel, community meeting hall, theater, restaurant, and retail and office space, said Marin planning-services coordinator Scott Davidson.

"Last March, we sent him a list of about 20 items that he had to pull together, some items more complicated than others. He has responded to most of them," Davidson said.

The "complicated" items include Wilson's retrofit and sewage-disposal plans for the building, he said.

"We want to make sure that the seismic retrofit does not detract from the building's historic character and have asked him to coordinate with an architectural historian," he said.

The sewage-disposal issue may be "beyond Wilson's control," Davidson said. "Right now there's jurisdictional uncertainty as to who will approve the system, the state or the county."

Wilson has proposed installing a combined sand-filter and underground septic system for his property. He plans to install a new underground septic system in the open lot between the Grandi and the Cheda buildings. He also hopes to augment an existing underground septic system downhill of Café Reyes, where he also hopes to install a sand-filter system, Davidson said.

"We're asking for clarification as to how many people the Grandi project would accommodate, so we can get a better handle on the town's additional sewage and parking needs," Davidson said.

County staff plan to grant Wilson's request to extend until Oct. 1 the deadline to submit the rest of his paperwork, the planner said, noting that the county will heed any suggestions from the Point Reyes Station Village Association as to the Grandi's uses.

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