A county staffer will recommend that the Planning Commission deny Tomales Bay Oyster Company’s application to legalize its recent transformation from a wholesaler into a major retail operation in southern Marshall, according to a letter sent on June 12. The county alerted T.B.O.C. in 2012 that its operations—including the addition of over 80 picnic tables and selling retail oysters seven days a week—violated the terms of its use permit. The code enforcement case spurred the company to apply the next year for an updated permit to allow it to function as a retail and picnicking venue. That process has brought up a host of other problems, including water availability and the number of cars—sometimes well over 100—that line Highway 1 on weekends and holidays, when many tourists flock to the bayside business. Just last year, owner Tod Friend bought the parcel across the highway to restart a well and install a leach field and parking area to remedy the concerns. But the planner in charge of the project, Curtis Havel, wrote last week that the current application “appears to be inconsistent” with portions of the county’s Local Coastal Program, the Marin Countywide Plan and zoning ordinances. A staff report detailing the specifics won’t be released until August, but the letter says the potential inconsistencies include changing the primary land use from mariculture to retail; traffic and parking along the highway resulting in unsafe conditions for drivers and pedestrians; activities exceeding the parameters of the existing use permit; and visual impacts. Since Tomales Bay Oyster Company’s application is considered complete, the county would normally begin an environmental review process—for which it would request more information, like a traffic study and a parking management plan. But Mr. Havel wrote that it would be irresponsible to continue evaluating the application and eating up the company’s time and money on plans the Community Development Agency does not support. To that end, Mr. Havel hopes that a Planning Commission hearing—now marked for Monday, Aug. 24—will move along the process, in part through the drafting of a staff report analysis in advance of the hearing. In a phone interview, Mr. Havel said the agency wants to approve “a project that continues to be a worthwhile part of the fabric of the community. As much as everyone would love to have a black-and-white definition of what that is, it’s not black and white. It’s grey. I’m hoping that by taking it to the Planning Commission, we, as a community, can dispel a bit more of the grey and identify what’s really compatible with that site.”