Supervisor Steve Kinsey, who has represented West Marin on the county’s Board of Supervisors for 19 years, announced this week that he will not run for re-election in June.
“It does feel like many of the things I set out to do have been achieved,” he said. “It seems like a good opportunity for the next generation of leadership to step up.”
The open race will bring not just new leadership but the prospect of a representative who doesn’t live locally. Though West Marin has secured local representation for the past 45 years, District 4 also encompasses parts of Novato, central Marin, Corte Madera and Larkspur.
The announcement comes at a time of change for Mr. Kinsey, whose nonagenarian parents are moving onto his Forest Knolls property and who is expecting a grandchild in the spring. But it’s also a time of change in West Marin.
The county is in negotiations to turn the 36-unit Coast Guard housing complex into affordable housing, and it has nearly finalized an update to the Local Coastal Program, which guides all development on the coast.
Mr. Kinsey said he is determined to use his final year “very effectively.” (Nor is he retiring: “I fully expect to get into other meaningful employment,” he said.)
The previous District 4 representative, Gary Giacomini, praised his successor’s tenure. “The main thing I care about is that he’s vigilantly protected West Marin—the ranches and the coast—against all assaults.”
Mr. Kinsey, who previously worked as an architect, faced three opponents in his race for the supervisor seat in 1996. A run-off ensued, in which he bested Bolinas lawyer Dotty Lemieux.
Mr. Giacomini supported Mr. Kinsey in that race. “I wanted him to take my place,” he said. “He’s very, very smart. And he’s a very good politician—he’s able to get votes from his colleagues on the board.”
Mr. Kinsey has advocated for a wide array of issues. “I used to say I work on fish, farms, family and transport, and I think I have success in each of those,” he said.
When he first took office, for instance, the county’s agriculture industry was struggling. Since then, the amount of organic agriculture has skyrocketed, and over the past decade, the gross value of agricultural products in the county rose from under $60 million to $101 million.
“We’ve helped the ranchers become value-added producers rather than commodity farmers,” he said. With his help, the county hired an agricultural ombudsman to assist ranchers and farmers, convened agricultural roundtable discussions and successfully pushed a ballot measure to raise funds to purchase conservation easements for agricultural lands.
Mr. Kinsey also pushed mandatory agricultural uses for two proposed residential projects in Bolinas and Nicasio between 2007 and 2011. “I could see rich folks were buying these ranches…and fallowing land. I’m happy to have non-ag people on land, but they need to let experienced ranchers or growers use it,” he said.
In 2011, Mr. Kinsey was appointed to the California Coastal Commission, which he has chaired since 2013. As both supervisor and coastal commissioner, he played a significant role in updating Marin’s Local Coastal Program.
(Mr. Kinsey will vacate his seat on the commission when he steps down as supervisor at the end of next year, as the seat is reserved for an elected official.)
Jamison Watts, the executive director of the Marin Agricultural Land Trust, praised Mr. Kinsey—a 17-year board member of MALT—both generally and for his work on the coastal program.
“As we’ve gone through the L.C.P. process, he’s been consistently supportive of intergenerational housing and ag diversification,” he said. (Mr. Kinsey said he will step down from the board when he leaves his county post, in the hopes that a future supervisor takes his place.)
The process of updating the coastal program started eight years ago. A few months ago the county rescinded and resubmitted the entire proposal to the coastal commission due to ongoing disagreements with commission staff over some provisions.
But Mr. Kinsey believes he will see it through to the end. “I am determined, using both my county position and my role as chair of the commission, that it is finished before I leave,” he said.
Mr. Kinsey also figured heavily in the discussion surrounding Drakes Bay Oyster Company, convening the first supervisors hearing on the issue in 2007. Though he expressed support for its continuation for many years, he also voted with other coastal commissioners in support of a cease-and-desist order for the farm over coastal permitting issues.
“The loss of Drakes Bay Oyster Company probably stands out as one of my greatest sadnesses, that we weren’t able to figure out a way to keep that part of our culture going,” Mr. Kinsey said this week.
He has also been outspoken about another environmental issue: the nonprofit Salmon Protection and Watershed Network, which has filed multiple lawsuits against the county because of what it deems are inadequate protections for fish.
SPAWN and a number of other groups published an ad last year specifically criticizing Mr. Kinsey for wanting to “weaken the County’s commitment to protect our streams.”
SPAWN is now seeking almost $1 million to recoup legal fees after a judge agreed that the county did not adequately analyze the cumulative impacts of streamside development on salmon habitat.
Mr. Kinsey publicly denounced the group this summer as “saboteurs” and “not a friend of fish in the San Geronimo Valley,” and this week told the Light he believes the county does an excellent job of protecting fisheries.
Transportation has also figured as a major agenda item for Mr. Kinsey. Many roads in the district were “in a horrible state” 20 years ago, he said. Since then, the county has channeled about $15 million in repairs to Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, mostly between Fairfax and Olema.
When he took office, the West Marin Stagecoach—which currently picks up passengers along two routes, one from Inverness to San Rafael and another from Bolinas to Fort Baker—did not exist. Today, about 65,000 people ride it a year.
“The West Marin Stagecoach—he did that singlehandedly,” said Wade Holland, an Inverness resident who sits on the county’s Planning Commission.
Mr. Kinsey was the founding chair of the First 5 Marin Children and Families Commission, and said in the coming year he will advocate for a county ballot measure that would provide $10 million a year for early childhood education.
West Marin’s housing crisis has also been a key issue. He assumed a leadership role in efforts to turn the Coast Guard facility in Point Reyes Station into affordable housing; the Coast Guard, now in the midst of an environmental evaluation of the site, has agreed to negotiate selling the property to the county.
“Steve was the lynchpin in making it possible for that site to be used for affordable housing,” said Kim Thompson, the executive director of the Community Land Trust Association of West Marin.
The question now is not just who will run for the District 4 seat—but whether the winner will hail from West Marin. Mr. Kinsey called West Marin “the heart of District 4,” but its population only comprises about 15 percent of the district.
So far, only one person has publicly thrown a hat into the ring: Lagunitas resident Alex Easton-Brown, who has sharply criticized Mr. Kinsey for being “pro development” and the county generally for spending too much money. (See page 12 for more information about Mr. Easton-Brown.)
Both Mr. Giacomini and Mr. Holland expressed concern about the interests represented by the future District 4 supervisor. “It’s important…that there’s someone running who will protect West Marin’s interests the way Steve has,” Mr. Holland said. “What we’ve always had is a person from West Marin representing the fourth district…We’d hate to see it shift over the hill.”