The Stinson Beach Village Association is appealing the county’s approval of a proposed home that the group deems too tall. At a hearing last month, Marin County Deputy Zoning Administrator Curtis Havel acknowledged that the proposed 3,206 square foot home diverged from the community’s residential character, but “grudglingly” approved a permit for applicant Steve Schow since no opponents came forward. At an earlier hearing on the project, in June, the village association protested the home’s height, which exceeds a town limit; it said in a letter to the county that the home would loom over the rest of the neighborhood and block coastal views. At that time, Mr. Havel refused to grant a variance from the height rule. But at the second hearing last month, he approved it. Though he cited the lack of opposition, association president Mike Matthews said his group would have vocalized its dismay—had it known of the second hearing. Mr. Havel attributed the drop in communication to the fact that the second hearing dealt with revisions to an existing proposal, not a new project that would have triggered the usual protocol of notifying homeowner groups, design boards and village associations. He added that the county should be “more diligent” in the future to inform interested parties about revised permit applications and hearings, though it was legally noticed. For now, the appeal—which will go straight to the California Coastal Commission—pits the association against the gated Seadrift community, where newer, larger houses are accused of threatening to disrupt what the association calls the town’s “rural atmosphere.” The association will wait to see from the commission whether the appeal will be accepted. “It puts us at war with part of the community,” Mr. Matthews said. “I don’t know how we deal with that.”