Inverness resident Bridger Mitchell failed to sway the California Coastal Commission to review a permit issued by the county for a 23-foot tall office building in downtown Point Reyes Station, a height he argued was not allowed for accessory structures under the county’s current Local Coastal Program. In an appeal he filed with the commission after the county granted Cowgirl Creamery a permit to build the new 800-square foot office space in October, Mr. Mitchell said the county cited building codes not certified by the Coastal Commission in its approval and that accessory structures can only be 15 feet high. Commission staff disagreed, writing in a staff report on the appeal that the county’s coastal program incorporated building code from the 1930s allowing for height differences with a permit. Mr. Mitchell, who is the board president of the Environmental Action Committee of West Marin, though he filed his appeal as an individual, countered in a response letter (read by a representative at the commission’s meeting last week in Santa Monica) that they had misread the old code. He worries that the county’s decision, which his letter said “boldly challenges [the commission’s] authority to enforce the Coastal Act,” could prompt counties along the coast to rely on codes not approved by the commission. After hearing a brief synopsis of the staff’s report, the only commissioner to opine on the matter before a unanimous vote declining Mr. Bridger’s request was Steve Kinsey, the chair of the commission as well as West Marin’s county supervisor. “From my perspective, this is an example of the degree to which an appeal process can distract both our coastal commission staff and the local planning staff from significant planning issues. This is 159 pages [of a staff report] to take a 20-foot by 20-foot accessory building in the heart of Point Reyes Station, with looming buildings on each side of it, and turn it into a relatively substantial time sink for our staff.”