The Bolinas Post Office must vacate the building that has been its home for decades after the postal service failed to address a decades-long asbestos problem, the property owner announced last week.
Owner Gregg Welsh put the service on a month-to-month lease in early 2022, hoping to force it to remove floor tiles he said contained asbestos. Now his attorney, Patrick Morris, says the postal service has overstayed its lease.
An attorney for the postal service, Kathleen Gurrola, could not be reached for comment.
Faced with losing a local landmark—and having to find a temporary post office—community members are seeking ways to buy the property, which Mr. Morris said could be purchased for $5 million. A meeting last Wednesday drew 200 people to the community center to discuss the issue and potential future uses for the property.
Mr. Morris said the postal service had installed the floor tiles at least 40 years ago and discovered the asbestos in 1998, but has done nothing to abate the problem. He sent several letters to an attorney for the service warning that the post office has overstayed its lease. Last week, he wrote to a group of community organizers, saying he would sell the property for $5 million.
“It appears that [the postal service] has simply moved on with business as usual, continuing to expose the public, you all, and the workers, to possible asbestos exposure, while not taking any steps to remedy the situation,” Mr. Morris wrote.
The news further galvanized a grassroots effort to purchase the property, which houses the post office and liquor store building and the neighboring Waterhouse Building, shuttered since a fire in 2020. Residents organized as the Bolinas Civic Group reached out to Mr. Welsh after group member Jennie Pfeiffer sent a letter to government officials and the press regarding the deteriorating state of both buildings.
Roosevelt Sargent, who has served as the postmaster in Bolinas since 2017, said he was unaware of any asbestos in the post office, and that cosmetic construction done there in December and January was aimed at repairing vandalism from a homeless encampment.
The construction caused the office to momentarily shut down, an episode that Mr. Sargent said proved the necessity of a local office, especially when storms hit.
“When disaster strikes, you would usually go to a neighboring office,” Mr. Sargent said. “Stinson is too small. Olema is the closest, but they received many complaints about how far it is. A trailer [to work out of] works for renovations, but not long-term.”
Mr. Sargent is encouraging residents to register their street address with him so he has a database that accurately reflects the town’s needs.
The future of the post office was one of several hot topics at the community meeting last week. It was the first such gathering in Bolinas in over three years, and it was emotional for many. Topics included proposed downtown parking rules, the effort to cut eucalyptus trees in town, and changes at the local land trust.
The Waterhouse Building has generated particular angst in town since a fire in the summer of 2020 displaced five residential tenants and seven businesses, including a hair salon, a real estate office and the Bolinas Book Exchange.
Soon after, Mr. Welsh hired a company, McCauley Construction, to remediate the damage and restore the building. The company later sued Mr. Welsh for breach of contract, and in 2021 it placed a lien on the property. The suit is still pending in Marin County Superior Court, and Mr. Morris said Mr. Welsh has no access to insurance money and no other funds to address the deteriorating building.
Tenants had expressed concern about the state of the multi-use building even before the fire, saying it had fallen into disrepair. At last Wednesday’s meeting, some residents envisioned its future uses.
Melinda Stone asked the audience to describe their dreams for the building. A multi-purpose learning center for kids, community housing, a community garden, a somatic sanctuary with a sauna, a swimming pool: these and other suggestions were followed by applause and hums of approval.
Bolinas resident Jutta Hahne said she would like to see the building returned to the community as a place where businesses and residents can live in harmony. This sentiment was the most popular of the evening, with many residents echoing that they’d like to see the book exchange restored and the Bolinas Community Land Trust create livable rentals there.
Some other topics were more polarizing. Members of the Bolinas Eucalyptus Project expressed their concern over the large grove at the intersection of Olema-Bolinas and Mesa Roads, while a monarch enthusiast made his case for caution around tree cutting. Proposed parking rules were discussed at length, to the dismay of many vehicle-dwellers eager to participate in their first community meeting.
One man who lives in a van on Brighton Avenue told the Light that he “wanted to boo” off the stage a representative of the Bolinas Community Public Utility District’s parking subcommittee.
Others mused on how long it had been since the town had come together and shed tears over those residents lost during the pandemic.
“We haven’t been together for three years,” said Mark Butler as he struck a singing bowl with a mallet, ushering in a moment of silence for those no longer with the community. For nearly a minute, the community howled at the moon as an act of defiance against anguish and loss.
A series of other announcements included a temporary pause of Feed of the People, a five-night-a-week free meal program for residents, due to a lack of funds. The Bolinas Community Land Trust announced the promotion of administrative director Annie O’Connor to co-director of the organization, alongside Arianne Dar. Ms. O’Connor said the trust is considering closing Bo-Gas, which she said is operating at a deficit. The trust is increasingly uncomfortable with running a gas and diesel station in the time of climate change, she said. A community meeting on the matter will be held on March 5 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at the community center.