The Bolinas Community Land Trust has completed its purchase of the Tacherra ranch, marking a milestone in a broad-based effort to build permanent, affordable housing for about 60 longtime residents who were displaced from condemned housing at the site.
The trust signed a purchase-and-sale agreement for the 46-acre property two years ago but had been negotiating since then over the extent and cost of remediating the land, part of which had been used as an unpermitted dump for years.
The parties closed the deal on March 6 at a price of $3 million, according to Larry Baskin, the court-appointed receiver who had been managing the property until the sale. The ranch had been appraised at $3.75 million, but the land trust received a credit of $720,000 to cover the costs of soil testing and cleanup.
“We are thrilled to create this opportunity for Bolinas families to put down long-term roots by securing affordable homes,” said Jeffrey Clapp, co-director of the land trust. “This effort is about ensuring that Bolinas remains a place where working families can truly belong.”
The trust has been eyeing the ranch as a site for permanent affordable homes for many years, and it purchased a 20-acre portion of the property in 2018. It opened a temporary R.V. park, now known as Bo-Linda Vista, in 2023 to house the displaced residents. Forty-six people from 23 households are living there while they wait for permanent housing.
Most Bo-Linda Vista residents have lived in Bolinas for years, and some have been in town for decades. Their children make up nearly 25 percent of the student body at the local school, and they are key contributors to the local workforce.
Now that the land trust has secured all 66 acres of the ranch, it plans to build as many as 27 new homes there, with priority given to residents of Bo-Linda Vista. The housing will be located on a roughly six-acre area where the substandard housing previously stood.
Some of the housing will stand on three acres next door to the Tacherra ranch, on land recently donated to the trust by John Osterweis, a financial manager and philanthropist. “Bolinas, like a lot of other places around the country, has a housing crisis, and there isn’t sufficient affordable housing for people who are vital to the community,” Mr. Osterweis told the Light. “We had some extra pastureland, and it was very useful for the B.C.L.T. project so I was happy to donate it.”
The trust will now begin predevelopment work, consulting with the county to determine the allowable scope of construction and to obtain the required permits. It plans to consult with community members before settling on a design and hopes to have the homes ready within three to five years. Habitat for Humanity San Francisco, which is collaborating with the trust on a downtown project, will provide technical support.
On Saturday, the land trust is throwing itself a 40th birthday party, and it will have much to celebrate, said Annie O’Connor, a co-director who played a key role in the Bo-Linda Vista project.
“This acquisition is the largest in the B.C.L.T.’s history, and it affirms something that we’ve always believed—that community ownership of land is one of the most powerful tools we have for keeping a community full,” she said.
The county condemned 23 ramshackle structures on the former Tacherra ranch in 2020, declaring them unsafe and unfit for habitation due to failing septic systems, unhealthy drinking water, faulty electrical connections and other violations. The residents moved out three years later and the structures have since been removed.
The ranch purchase was made possible by bridge loans from two anonymous local families and the Pincus Family Fund, which was founded by Mark Pincus, a tech entrepreneur who lives in town. The land trust is seeking another $13.3 million to complete the infrastructure for the permanent housing and to continue operating Bo-Linda Vista until the permanent homes are built.
Although the precise layout and design of the homes has not yet been determined, they will be single-family houses, not multi-unit apartment buildings, Mr. Clapp said. “We are really focused on keeping them in character with the rest of the Bolinas mesa,” he added.
When the new construction is complete, the 23 R.V.s at Bo-Linda Vista will be removed, restoring the meadow at 130 Mesa Road, a property that abuts Mesa Park and the fire station.
The project has received strong support from both state and county officials, who have provided millions of dollars in funding, as well as Bolinas residents. But the effort has not been without opposition. A group called Bolinas for Compassionate Land Use appealed the permits to the California Coastal Commission and then filed suit after they were approved.
Azucena Vazquez, who lives at the R.V. park with her husband and two daughters, is eager to see the project move into its next phase. “After everything we’ve been through, this project is important to me, my daughters and my husband because we want to feel like nobody can displace us,” she said. “We’ll have a real home and a safe space.”
After the receiver and any outstanding taxes are paid, the Tacherra family will receive their share of the sale proceeds, Mr. Baskin said.
Jim Tacherra, the third generation of his family to farm at the ranch, will continue grazing cattle there with the B.C.L.T. as his landlord. Mickey Murch, who lives on nearby Gospel Flat Farm and grows vegetables on a section of the former Tacherra ranch, will also stay on.
In fact, the land trust envisions an agricultural cooperative at the site, with more farmers growing crops there. In addition, a community garden at Bo-Linda Vista may be expanded and opened to other Bolinas residents. There is already a pond on the ranch that would provide water for any future crops or forage, Ms. O’Connor said.
The ranch purchase closes a chapter on a saga that lasted years as family members sorted through legal and financial disagreements and accumulated code citations from the county. It has been 14 years since Mr. Baskin was appointed as a receiver to take over management of the property, settle its debts and sell it on behalf of the Tacherras.
“I’m happy that the land trust finally acquired the ranch and is going to use it for a good purpose,” he said. “It was a difficult, lengthy transaction because of the unique nature of the property and its occupants. But in the end, the transaction closed, the title was transferred, and I have nothing to do with the property. I’m happy about that.”