The California Coastal Commission has rejected an effort to shut down an emergency R.V. park that is providing temporary housing to nearly 60 Latino residents who were living in substandard conditions on a Bolinas ranch.
The commissioners unanimously rebuffed a request last Thursday from opponents of the project who claimed that it threatened wetlands and violated the county’s coastal development rules. They voted after hearing pleas from R.V. park residents who said they would have no place to go if their park closed. The residents have named it Bo-Linda Vista, or “Beautiful Bolinas View.”
“We are not hurting any flora or fauna that live here,” said Ingris Lopez, who lives in the park with her husband and two children. “We just want to live in peace. We work here. Our children go to school here. This is the place where we have built our lives. We love Bolinas.”
Following the recommendation of their staff, the commissioners ruled that the appeal, brought by a group called Bolinas for Compassionate Land Use, raised no substantial issues. The commission said the project provided badly needed shelter in a region where affordable housing is scarce.
The temporary park is located next door to the fire station at 130 Mesa Road, on a 20-acre parcel owned by the Bolinas Community Land Trust. It was once part of the adjacent Tacherra ranch, a working family farm that has provided meat, vegetables and eggs to the community for over a century.
The trust has signed a purchase-and-sale agreement to buy the remaining 46-acre ranch parcel next door, where it plans to replace 23 red-tagged structures with permanent farmworker housing. The project has received substantial financial backing from the county and the state and enjoys broad community support.
But opponents of the plan challenged the project’s coastal development permit approved by the county’s Community Development Agency early last year.
“This is a big project,” Edward Yates, the attorney representing Bolinas for Compassionate Land Use, told the commission. “It involves grading, paving, infrastructure and installment of 27 huge R.V.s in an area that is sensitive habitat.”
Mr. Yates said the county had failed to conduct a required environmental review before granting a permit. He also argued that the county erroneously characterized the R.V. park as a campground and had violated the Williamson Act, a law that gives landowners a tax break if they keep their property in agricultural production. He asserted that no more than two or three farmworkers lived in the park.
Leslie Vasquez, a commission staffer, said the area is near previously disturbed wetlands but lacks natural water or waterways. As for whether the project could be properly considered a campground, she dismissed that as a technicality that did not warrant overturning the permit.
Dan Carl, the commission’s deputy director, said the project advanced the county and commission’s objective of providing more affordable housing for farmworkers.
“We actually believe that this should be applauded as a success story of coastal zone compassion,” he said.
Dozens of Bolinas residents wrote letters to the commission in support of the project. The only letter submitted in opposition was sent by Mr. Yates, who is representing Cheryl Ruggiero, the Bolinas resident who signed the appeal on behalf of Bolinas for Compassionate Land Use.
The land trust hopes to complete its purchase of the Tacherra ranch by the end of the year and replace the structures with permanent farmworker housing within five years.
Annie O’Connor, the executive director of the land trust, said workers from several local farms and ranches live at Bo-Linda Vista.
“Very few people are able to make a living in agriculture and farm work alone, so it is difficult to quantify in absolute terms what sector any one individual or household belongs to,” she told the Light after the hearing.
The ranch has been in receivership for years after a legal and financial dispute between family members. The court-appointed receiver managing the property sold the 20-acre parcel on Mesa Road to the land trust in 2018 to help pay off debts and tax liabilities. Jim and Susan Tacherra, who still live on the ranch, support the land trust’s plans.
After the hearing, Mr. Yates told the Light that his client had not decided whether to further contest the project in court.
Last Thursday, Bo-Linda residents addressed coastal commissioners in Spanish.
“The people in this community are very special to me and my family,” said Magdalena Garcia, a mother of children aged 16, 12 and 3. “We have created a bond of friendship. My children were born and raised in this beautiful place.”
At the end of the proceedings, commissioner Linda Escalante congratulated Ms. Garcia and Ms. Lopez for addressing the panel. Speaking in Spanish, she urged them to share the video of the meeting with their children.
“Participating in this process is not easy,” she said. “If I were your child, I would be very, very proud of your hard work on behalf of your community.”