Turning aside deep community opposition, the California Coastal Commission approved a redesign of the Point Reyes gas station that will include a full-scale convenience store and five apartments, including two affordable units.
Last Thursday, the commissioners unanimously rebuffed an appeal from members of the Point Reyes Station Village Association who raised a host of objections to the project while stressing that they support the construction of new housing in town.
The commissioners urged the owner of Redwood Oil, the company that owns the property, to tailor the store to the tastes and needs of the community and to refrain from selling tobacco and vaping products. In approving the project, they stressed the urgent need for more affordable housing in West Marin, where workforce housing is scarce and prices are sky high.
“Given where we are in the State of California with housing in coastal communities, it’s very hard for me to vote against a project like this,” commissioner Susan Lowenberg said.
The vote came after Marin County supervisors approved the project last July on a 4-0 vote. At the time, Supervisor Dennis Rodoni cited state conflict-of-interest laws and recused himself because he owns property nearby. Opponents then appealed the supervisors’ decision to the coastal commissioners, who declined to give them a full hearing.
The project’s detractors said a large convenience store was out of keeping with the village’s historic character and violated the county’s coastal development rules, which restrict convenience stores to 15 percent of a gas station’s square footage. In this case, that would have limited the store to 870 square feet.
But a state statute known as the density bonus law gives local officials the discretion to grant exceptions to mixed-use projects that set aside 20 percent of their housing for affordable units. Citing that law, county supervisors approved a 1,700-square-foot convenience store.
Of the 24 northern California gas stations owned by Redwood Oil, 21 are branded with Chevron Oil signs, and 23 have convenience stores. Opponents of the Point Reyes project characterized the store as something akin to 7-Eleven and pointed to coastal rules that discourage chain operations.
“We are not trying to stop this project or to stop development on this site, or to keep housing out,” said Kathy Hunting, speaking on behalf of the village association. “Rather, we want to protect the community character of our village and avert a substantial increase of traffic at a hazardous intersection.”
A survey of business owners conducted by the village association found that 96 percent opposed the project, Ms. Hunting said, and more than 150 people opposed it at county hearings.
Point Reyes Station resident Laura Arndt read from a petition with signatures from over 400 opponents.
“Point Reyes Station does not need a convenience store that will triple traffic at the most confusing and dangerous downtown intersection. Point Reyes does not need a convenience store selling tobacco and vaping products within 1,000 feet of our middle school and Youth Center,” she said.
But Julie Van Alyea, Redwood Oil’s president, a Marin native who lives in Kentfield, stressed her local roots and her understanding of the community.
“My intention in Point Reyes, as is at all my sites, is to tailor the market offerings to the needs and wants of the people in the area—in this case, serving tourists as well as offering local residents alternatives to some of the upscale offerings in town,” Ms. Van Alyea said.
The renovation would create two one-bedroom apartments and three two-bedroom apartments, with one of each configuration set aside as deed-restricted affordable housing.
The project would maintain the building’s current 5,500-square-foot footprint but would reconfigure the interior, which currently houses two unpermitted apartments, an unused auto mechanics bay, a print shop and Blue Waters Kayaking. The two existing businesses will be forced to relocate.
The building was constructed in 1932 and was originally located near Toby’s Feed Barn. A decade later, it was moved to its current location on Highway 1, between A Street and Mesa Road.
Redwood Oil’s original plans called for removing the building’s front porch and building a 1,900-square-foot convenience store. But the company revised its design after opponents argued that the porch was a key architectural feature. The new plan calls for retaining the porch or replacing it with a new one of similar style, as well as adding more windows and using colors and other features of period design.
“We’ve really been working hard with county staff and the community to make it a project that is consistent with current community character,” said John Devlin, an attorney for Redwood Oil.
Ms. Van Alyea told the Light this week that renovations won’t begin for another 12 to 18 months. She expects the work to take no more than a year to complete, and the gas station will remain open during construction.
“This project strikes a wonderful balance between progress and preservation,” she said. “Point Reyes Station is a very special place, and I am committed to preserving that which makes it most special.”
David Morris, a village association member who signed the appeal, was frustrated that the commissioners swept aside community concerns after just a few quick minutes of discussion.
“The coastal commission didn’t decide we were wrong,” he said. “They said it didn’t matter if we were right. Our little village is insignificant.”
While acknowledging the town’s concerns, commission chair Caryl Hart said the need for new housing in California and West Marin was too great to ignore.
“Small communities like this, they’re so beautiful and they’re so precious,” Ms. Hart said. “But sometimes, change has to happen.”
In a town where tourists line up to use porta-potties, she said, the convenience store will provide one particularly valuable amenity: two public toilets.