District 4 supervisor candidates differentiated themselves on several issues last Wednesday during a well-attended community forum hosted by the Point Reyes Station Village Association at the Dance Palace. Gathering for the last time in West Marin before the primary election on June 7, the eight hopefuls highlighted how their diverse professional and civic backgrounds would uniquely prepare them to assume the seat of Supervisor Steve Kinsey, the district’s 20-year representative on the board.
The candidates include Alex Easton-Brown, a retired social scientist in Lagunitas; Mari Tamburo, a musician from Mill Valley; Brian Staley, a construction manager in Woodacre; Al Dugan, a risk management consultant in Novato; Wendi Kallins, the Forest Knolls founder of Marin Safe Routes to Schools; Tomas Kaselionis, a disaster operations supervisor for the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Novato; Dominic Grossi, a fourth-generation Novato dairy farmer; and Dennis Rodoni, an Olema contractor.
A runoff is slated for Nov. 8 if one candidate fails to earn over 50 percent of the votes.
Over 100 people listened to candidates respond to questions ranging from affordable housing to increased traffic and tourist loads to the future of ranching. The forum was moderated by KWMR community-affairs coordinator Katie Eberle and the Light’s Samantha Kimmey.
Candidates offered a variety of views on how to address West Marin’s dwindling affordable housing stock, which has left many residents struggling to stay put. Several candidates, including Mr. Dugan and Mr. Grossi, called for 20 percent of all new development to be set aside for affordable housing, while Mr. Easton-Brown upped the ante to 25 percent. Others—like Ms. Kallins, Ms. Tamburo and Mr. Kaselionis—championed the efforts of groups like the Community Land Trust Association of West Marin to purchase existing properties for affordable housing.
Mr. Grossi and Mr. Rodoni, meanwhile, promoted easing county requirements for permitting second units and completing semi-developed “infill” projects already reserved for affordable housing. Several candidates—in particular Mr. Grossi—emphasized the need for Marin to build more workforce housing, especially for ranch workers in West Marin.
Others, like Mr. Staley, placed much of the blame on the surge in short-term vacation rentals. Mr. Kaselionis argued that a balance must be struck by looking at how to tax and set time limits for vacation rentals.
The night’s biggest stir arose in response to a yes-or-no question: “If elected, would you support a county ordinance regulating short-term vacation rental services, AirBnb and [vacation rentals by owner]?” All candidates answered “yes” except for Mr. Rodoni, who answered “no.” He later clarified the dissention, stating that he would support regulations “only after we’ve done enough research and have statistics to identify what the problems are.”
“It’s very easy to say ‘yes’ to that question,” Mr. Rodoni said. “But until you know the facts, it’s wrong to say ‘yes.’”
The rise in vacation rentals coincides with growing tourism in West Marin; in response to a question on that topic many candidates said the county should secure funds for infrastructure improvements to handle crowded roads and parking areas. Mr. Dugan said the county should conduct car counts during peak traffic times. “We have to know exactly what’s being loaded onto the infrastructure, which has a limit to it,” he said.
Mr. Staley and Ms. Kallins advocated for incentivizing bus routes to and from West Marin attractions.
“I guarantee you that West Marin Stagecoach, as it exists now, will not serve tourists,” said Ms. Kallins, who added that she has long addressed public transit through her work with Safe Routes to Schools. “We need to come up with a way in which we have one shuttle that brings people out, and other mini shuttles that take them to various locales.”
Mr. Grossi and Ms. Tamburo suggested that sales taxes could help pay for improvements, while Mr. Staley looked toward an increased transient occupancy tax as a way to secure funding. Mr. Easton-Brown, on the other hand, said he would pressure government agencies to curb the amount of visitors allowed into tourist destinations.
“We have to stop promoting our local attractions,” he said.
Infrastructure again took center stage in responses about how the county should prepare for rising seas, with candidates split on whether they would support the state measure that would raise revenues for wetlands restoration around San Francisco Bay. Mr. Rodoni, Ms. Kallins, Mr. Grossi and Ms. Tamburo said they support the measure, which would levy a $12 parcel tax.
“It’s a drop in the bucket, but it needs to be done,” said Ms. Tamburo, who also stressed the need for pervious, “green” roadways.
The others rejected the measure, which Mr. Staley described—along with county efforts to address rising seas through the Local Coastal Program—as “essentially reactive, not proactive.”
Mr. Grossi disagreed, saying the county’s work on sea-level preparation is taking a proactive approach. “Buildings are going to have to be up on stilts, if you want to build in certain places,” he said. “It’s trying to keep future building out of these low flood zones.”
That question marked the first occasion in which Mr. Staley and Mr. Grossi differed on the Local Coastal Program. They also disagreed on the future impact of amendments to the program approved by supervisors in August, which would change rules for development on agricultural lands. Mr. Staley criticized new size allowances for housing and processing facilities—both of which he described as “enormous” amounts of square footage—and slammed a clause that exempts land converting to vineyards from environmental review, calling it “obviously an enormous giveaway to wineries.”
Under the new amendments—which still require approval from the California Coastal Commission—ranchers would be allowed a maximum 7,000 square feet for a farmhouse or a cluster of one farmhouse and up to two intergenerational homes, and up to an additional 540 square feet for a garage and 500 square feet of office space—totaling up to 8,040 square feet. Structures used for processing activities would be allowed up to 5,000 square feet.
“[Ranchers] are a very important aspect of our community,” Mr. Staley said. “But I don’t think we should give them the keys to the city.”
Mr. Grossi shot back, stating that the total 8,040 square feet for housing would be “a very minimal amount,” as would a 5,000-square-foot processing unit, which he called “very small” and not something that all ranchers would build.
“Not every rancher wants that, and they’re certainly not all going to do it,” he said. “It just becomes a possibility for ranchers to diversify.”
But both erred over how much land would be allowed for vineyards per the new amendments. Mr. Staley claimed that all agricultural parcels that converted to vineyards would be exempt from environmental review, while Mr. Grossi countered by claiming that the county had only granted one acre of vineyards for use as a “test pilot”—neither of which were correct points, according to senior county planner Jack Liebster.
He clarified that under the amendments, no viticulture conversion would be allowed without first obtaining a coastal permit, which would require environmental review—as would other new activities, such as expanding or constructing new wells, terracing land for crop production, installing irrigation systems and growing marijuana.
“An idea was put forward to have some kind of small amount [of vineyards] allowed,” Mr. Liebster said. “But that’s not what was adopted by the board.”
Mr. Staley and Mr. Grossi likewise crossed over the Salmon Protection and Watershed Network and its litigation against the county to compel wider setback requirements in the San Geronimo Valley. Mr. Staley noted that while SPAWN has “certainly scared people in the process of suing,” he understood the nonprofit’s efforts to work “within the confines of [county] regulations,” which, he claimed, may be superseded by new state regulations of septic systems.
“It is critical that the county set aside monies for the people who will be impacted,” he said. “The costs are going to go up enormously [for many homes on septic systems].”
In a similar vein, Mr. Rodoni emphasized both the need to protect streams and endangered fish populations, and the county’s responsibility to help homeowners do so.
“If we take a property right away, we have to be willing to compensate for that, or we have to do something like what [the Marin Agricultural Land Trust] does, where we take a portion of a property right away to keep the homeowner away from the creek,” he said. “But I don’t think it should be just the mandate from the county.”
Meanwhile Mr. Grossi labeled SPAWN an “extremist” group that had harmed the community through lengthy and costly lawsuits. Many other candidates—including Ms. Kallins and Mr. Easton-Brown—agreed that SPAWN’s litigation had caused deleterious local effects.
SPAWN was not the only organization branded “extremist” by Mr. Grossi; he said the same about a trio of environmental groups that filed a lawsuit in February to force the Point Reyes National Seashore to assess the impacts of cattle ranching on the environment prior to issuing any 20-year lease extensions to historic ranching families. Many fear the suit imperils the continued existence of ranching in the park, a major contributor to Marin’s economy.
Other candidates also roundly denounced the suit. They emphasized the economic and social importance of ranching in the seashore, and the need for diversification. On these points, Ms. Kallins hailed the continuation of sustainable ranching as the weightiest task facing West Marin’s supervisor.
“If there’s a test case in this county, it’s how to ranch sustainably,” she said. “That’s what we need to show the world.”
Others—like Mr. Easton-Brown, Mr. Dugan and Mr. Kaselionis—pegged county financial mismanagement and unfunded pension liabilities as the county’s direst issues. Mr. Easton-Brown slammed Marin for its frequent reliance on outside consultants for projects that, he contended, county staff should handle. Many candidates—including Ms. Kallins, Mr. Grossi, Mr. Dugan and Mr. Kaselionis—said the county should change its budget funding allocation model to distribute money based on need, rather than on population.
“The county is doing a pretty poor job of telling you exactly where they’re going to put [budget funds], and when they’re going to do it,” said Mr. Kaselionis, who sought to separate himself from the field by emphasizing his experience bringing quick infrastructure to disaster-struck areas through his work with the Coast Guard and FEMA.
And while many candidates said they would balance the needs of all the county’s districts evenly, one stated he would take a West Marin-first approach to securing funding and services.
“There’s no issue with me about bringing home the bacon to West Marin,” Mr. Rodoni said, referencing $3.5 million he secured while on the board of the North Marin Water District for water infrastructure improvements in West Marin.