To accommodate increased visitation in Point Reyes Station, the county plans to develop a state-of-the-art bathroom facility and an overflow parking lot funded by $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act monies earmarked for tourism infrastructure in West Marin. Under an agreement with Marin County Parks, Sherwood Design Engineers will design new bathrooms on a Mesa Road lot and a new parking area on the Donovan lot on B Street.
Long lines at the Toby’s playground bathrooms, the only permanent public restrooms in town, and a lack of parking are commonplace in Point Reyes Station, where tourism continues to rise.
“We manage 34 open space preserves and over 40 sites across the county, and those restrooms are the third most-visited site,” said Max Korten, director of Marin County Parks. “They get more visitation than any of our regional parks or playgrounds or any of our trails.”
The Mesa Road restrooms were built in 2008 and renovated last year with a $165,000 ramp, but wastewater demands far outweigh their capacity. Around 6,000 gallons of wastewater are received there a day, though the septic system can only process 900 gallons. As a result, the county pumps the site one to three times a week, and in recent years it placed portable toilets behind the facility and around town.
A community working group convened under Supervisor Dennis Rodoni has been examining the wastewater problem in Point Reyes Station since 2019, and a subgroup has focused on the idea of new bathrooms on the Mesa Road lot, which the county acquired from EAH Housing in 2005. The group determined that composting toilets or another green alternative could both serve the community’s needs and educate visitors.
“Not only will visitors use it, but they’ll learn something about rural areas and how difficult it is for us to deal with our infrastructure,” Supervisor Rodoni said.
At a presentation last Tuesday, Sherwood engineers presented four design options for toilets that are “ecological-based, green and cutting-edge.” The technologies they are considering include composting toilets, anaerobic baffled reactor systems, which are advanced septic systems, and a membrane aerated biofilm reactor, which uses less energy and chemicals and produces reusable effluent.
Sherwood is also working with the county to build parking on the Donovan lot, which the county purchased last year. Supervisor Rodoni said the lot was originally proposed as an entrance to the Giacomini Wetlands, but the county didn’t have the funds to buy it until 2021, when the owners offered it for its original appraisal price.
Because the parcel’s soils have a potential for liquifaction, development must be limited. The county is exploring the idea of the parking area having a pervious surface, which would allow rainwater to be absorbed. Sherwood is also looking at the feasibility of a small bathroom, which would depend on the property’s soil types.
The Point Reyes Station Village Association supports the plan, said Ken Levin, president of the association. He said the group would be interested in seeing welcoming and educational materials in addition to an energy-neutral, non-polluting restroom facility.
Yet at least one resident disagrees. Bob Johnston, a retired land use planning professor who lives in Inverness, said the lot’s placement in a flood-prone area should disqualify it from any development. Mr. Johnston served on the Alliance of Coastal Marin Villages for two years and said the group recommended against expanding parking capacity in West Marin.
“If you expand parking, it fills up and then you’re back to where you started,” he said. “In other words, there’s no such thing as meeting the demand; it’s just going to keep increasing.”
Other residents expressed concern about potential traffic congestion near the Mesa Road lot caused by a new restroom facility. Craig Richardson, a senior planner with Marin County Parks, said the county will work with Sherwood to analyze traffic flows and maximize efficiency as the project moves forward.
Sherwood will create a conceptual plan in September, and another community meeting will be scheduled for late October.