Sheriff’s deputies may soon be able to enforce state and county vehicle regulations on the privately maintained roads in Bolinas, following a discovery early this year that they did not have the power to do so, despite longstanding practice. 

Last week, the county’s deputy zoning administrator approved a coastal permit to designate a long list of roads—primarily the unpaved ones on the Big Mesa—as subject to the provisions of the state vehicle code, the first of several remedial steps the county will take. 

The California Coastal Commission has until Oct. 8 to review the permit and appeal it should it find any problems. 

“The enforcement of regulations including parking limits, and the authorization to remove abandoned vehicles will improve public health and safety, in addition to improving visitor access,” a county staff report prepared for the zoning administrator stated. 

Once the coastal commission signs off on the permit, county staff will bring an ordinance before the Board of Supervisors that amends the county’s traffic code to add the list of streets.  

Senior county planner Inge Lundegaard said there may be similar ordinances in the works for other non-county maintained streets in Point Reyes Station, Stinson Beach and elsewhere.

Bolinas residents have been clamoring for more stringent vehicle regulations of late, citing downtown parking congestion exacerbated by people living in or parking their vehicles often for months at a time. Next month, they will vote on a measure to determine whether to ask the county to consider a new parking ordinance for downtown—the culmination of a collaboration between the utility district and Supervisor Dennis Rodoni that began last year. 

It was this effort to increase regulation in one part of town that unearthed the fact that another was lawless. And after discovering that sheriffs cannot legally enforce code on the non-county maintained roads primarily on the Big Mesa, closing that loophole has been the priority for all parties. 

In the meantime, the Bolinas Fire Protection and Community Public Utility Districts continue to make do without law enforcement for issues such as blocked public rights-of-way. 

“We get phone calls pretty frequently from people looking to deal with a vehicle that is either blocking their driveway or parked in their road. And for the last almost two years, we have had almost no recourse to deal with that,” Bolinas fire chief Anita Tyrrell-Brown said during last Thursday’s hearing. 

Vehicle code regulates a wide spectrum of laws, including the registration and titling of vehicles, speeding, parking, traffic laws, some towing and loading rules, and safety regulations. Deputies have been able to continue to enforce a handful of violations pertaining to the code, such as driving under the influence, which is enforceable on all roads.

Ms. Tyrrell-Brown said she’s lived in Bolinas for 30 years and worked for the district for 28 years. “All of that time, the Sheriff’s Office has enforced on the non-county maintained roads in Bolinas,” she said. 

Her support was echoed by a handful of county agencies, the BCPUD and two residents who attended the hearing.

Rick Hall said that on his street, a man has been living in a trailer for months and causing him, his family and neighbors to feel unsafe—a problem the Sheriff’s Office has been unable to remedy. 

He said he didn’t know what he did for sanitation and that gas cans around him were a fire danger. “We have never had trouble with this before, because the Sheriff has been diligent about getting people to leave, arresting them, or putting them somewhere they can get help,” he said.

Another resident, Robert Hunter, illustrated a similar scenario, though he also said feelings in town were mixed. 

“[A]ffordable housing is so hard to come by these days,” he said. Yet, he added, “I don’t believe that allowing such trailers in the public highway is a solution to the affordable housing crisis. There are many alternatives. But creating affordable housing by taking away the values and rights of another, in a random way, is not the solution.” 

 

For a full list of the roads that are part of the new ordinance, visit the Deputy Zoning Administrator page at MarinCounty.org and click on the agenda for Sept. 27.