Longtime Bolinas resident Ralph Garside has sued Marin County, appealing an administrative judge’s mandate to demolish the structures on his blufftop property, which is crumbling off the edge of the Big Mesa.
In late August, a judge from the state’s office of administrative hearings gave 85-year-old Mr. Garside 30 days to demolish his house, garage and several accessory buildings—structures county code enforcement officers have determined to be unsafe, unsanitary and unpermitted following a series of site visits that began in 2017 in response to a neighbor’s complaint.
The August decision ordered Mr. Garside to abandon his septic system and remove all the junk and debris from his property within the same timeline, and pay $210,324 in enforcement costs and civil penalties to the county.
The county had issued a similar citation back in February to no avail, prompting county code enforcement specialist Cristy Stanley to issue an abatement notice and defer the case to the state office.
Rather than apply for county demolition permits, Mr. Garside instead appealed the order. On his behalf, a friend, Ryker William Schenck, filed a lawsuit in state district court on Sept. 25 that alleges that the code violations at issue have already been resolved and that, as a result, the August abatement order was “selective and vindictive prosecution” in violation of the 14th Amendment.
“The state of California under the office of administrative hearings is on a vendetta against homeowners statewide, and is bypassing the due process rights of these homeowners,” Mr. Schenck told the Light. “What they are doing to Ralph Garside is a federal crime.”
His suit harkens back to the original enforcement case Mr. Garside was involved in during the ‘90s, claiming the recent abatement hearing violated several federal and state laws by re-opening that case. “The preponderance of evidence proves that this abatement revisits the prior abatements and makes previous claims that were adjudicated for permits in favor of [Mr.] Garside, which included the same set of facts,” the suit states.
The suit asks the court to dismiss the August abatement order and to allow Mr. Garside to “reapply for new permits for the demolition and relocation of all said structures.”
Mr. Schenck has also filed a complaint with the Marin County Board of Supervisors against Ms. Stanley, who the lawsuit says “has stacked up numerous charges which are false and misleading.”
“[Ms.] Stanley has violated [Mr. Garside’s] due process rights of a fair and impartial hearing without prejudice and has caused health care issues for [him] as well as the infliction of emotional stress and duress,” the suit states.
A hearing is scheduled in Marin superior court for Nov. 7.
County counsel Brian Washington said he doesn’t believe the claims have any merit; some of the suit’s legal arguments pertain to criminal offenses, though this is a civil case. He said the county plans to defend its abatement order.
According to Ms. Stanley, the original enforcement case, from the ’90s, was an entirely different matter than the current case. A settlement agreement reached between Mr. Garside and the county in 1995 stipulated that he tear down a variety of illegal structures, including a staircase to the beach, a gazebo and the start of a swimming pool. Though it took several years, he brought his property into compliance.
“As part of that stipulated agreement from a previous enforcement case, Mr. Garside needed to remove all those things,” Ms. Stanley said. “There’s a completely different situation now. The house has collapsed, the garage has collapsed, there’s illegally converted living spaces, a junkyard.”
In her August abatement order, Ms. Stanley characterized the persisting violations on Mr. Garside’s property as of “very, very high magnitude,” among the most serious she has seen over her 25 years at her post.
Last week, she told the Light that her communication with Mr. Garside has deteriorated. She is pursuing a warrant for a follow-up inspection of the property, considering that he has not agreed to one. In addition to his lack of compliance with the August order, neighbors have reported to her that they are concerned Mr. Garside has started additional illegal building and tinkering on the property.
Mr. Schenck disputes any further illegal building on the property, saying that he and other friends have been clearing junk to meet the demolition order.
The property sits within the bluff erosion zone, and the main house “sits directly on the outer bluff which has eroded to the extent that it has compromised the structure,” according to a county citation from February. That document also says the main house is “not livable” due to both this major structural failure and the fact that the house lacks a legal kitchen and bathroom.
Other violations concern three additions to the house that have makeshift kitchens and bathrooms; two of these were built without permits. Mr. Garside, who was first ordered to vacate and demolish those spaces in June 2018, has since altered them and in some cases added onto them, according to the county.
Yet Mr. Garside told the Light earlier this year that he had indeed made efforts to comply with the county’s orders and that the illegal tenants were gone—along with an important source of income for him.
Another violation, Mr. Garside’s garage, to which the county stapled an “unsafe” notice last May, continues to sink with the bluff.
In addition to the citations for unpermitted building, Mr. Garside’s structures have garnered an impressive list of code violations under the substandard and unsafe buildings section: lack of hot and cold running water, lack of adequate heating, lack of minimum amounts of natural light, dampness of habitable rooms, fire hazards, general dilapidation and improper maintenance, and a series of structural integrity concerns like defective flooring, insufficient roof supports and a deteriorated foundation.
Lastly, the septic system violates numerous county codes, and provoked the county to mandate abandonment.
Mr. Garside, who as a young man inherited a fortune from a wife nearly half a century his senior and moved to his seaside dream home in 1978, now has several debilitating health issues and rarely leaves the house. Yet he has his supporters and close friends who continue to help him on the Ocean Avenue property.
During an interview with the Light earlier this year, he described his life mission as helping those in need, including the many homeless who reside in Bolinas (sometimes his generosity has been exploited, he added). His property has a reputation for attracting heavy drug and alcohol users, and is the site of occasional confrontations. Yet, he asked during the interview, “If I don’t help these people, who will?”