Supervisors unanimously passed a new ordinance on Tuesday that will allow them to apply new parking restrictions on county roads after assessing individual roads on a case-by-case basis. Supervisors will meet on Feb. 14 to vote on a companion resolution addressing three roads in San Rafael.
Going forward, the board can evaluate whether a county road should have no parking of any vehicles at any time; no parking of vehicles other than automobiles, motorcycles and pickups between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.; or no overnight parking of commercial vehicles more than 22 feet long.
Bob Goralka, transportation division manager for the Department of Public Works, said the enabling ordinance will “provide direction to establish new parking restrictions on streets… in a more consistent manner.” Citizens will have an opportunity to comment on specific proposals and the rules won’t be enforced until new signage is installed.
Critics of the ordinance worry rules may be directed at people living on the street in R.V.s, trailers or vehicles, but for Ed Kiernan, an attorney for the county who drafted the ordinance, that is not the intent.
“I don’t see this as a wolf in sheep clothing,” he said. “If we wanted to, I could quite easily draft an ordinance that directly addresses the issue of living on the streets. The [ordinance] focuses on a variety of uses, such as people leaving their vehicles on the street as storage.”
In 2014, the county suspended an ordinance that criminalized living in one’s car, following the repeal of a similar ordinance by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Los Angeles earlier that year. Since then, the Sheriff’s Office has instead enforced rules that require parked cars to move elsewhere after 72 hours.
Sgt. Scott Buer of the Sheriff’s Office said most of the complaints the office receives concern Brighton Avenue in Bolinas, though complaints also come in from C Street in Point Reyes Station and the stretch of Olema-Bolinas Road that leads into Bolinas.
Ananda Brady, a Bolinas resident of 35 years, told the board he was evicted last year and now lives in an R.V. and gypsy trailer on Brighton. Mr. Brady told the board he’s been “graciously accepted by almost everybody in Bolinas” and encouraged by many to remain living at the location.
He suggested the board postpone its decision until Bolinas can vote on the issue. “Once there’s a sign up, it’s ironclad,” he said. “I know the town is pretty divided; there has been a deluge of complaints. But I can’t stress enough that it’s only a parking problem [because of] the surfers.”
C Street in Point Reyes Station, which fronts the Giacomini Wetlands, has also drawn more vehicle inhabitants in recent years. David Leslie, who lives nearby with his two young children, said their presence has led him to worry about his family’s welfare.
“I feel unsafe in my own community,” he told the board. “And it’s strange because we’re one block from the Sheriff’s office. This has been a huge issue. There are one or two people who are more of a problem and ruin it for the other people. I don’t want to displace anyone. It’s a tough subject and I feel very close to it. It seems to be a human and health problem and a security issue.”
His neighbor, Tom Quinn, described his town as “Norman Rockwell in appearance,” but criticized the “vagrants” and “transients” who pass through, overfilling garbage cans and polluting the environment.
“We paint our houses, mow our lawns and pay our taxes,” he said. “Recently, in the last few years, our way of life has been stolen.”