It has been nearly two years since a San Diego developer began exploring the possibility of subdividing an 82-acre property on the outskirts of Point Reyes Station. After months of back-and-forth with county planners, what has become one of the largest residential projects proposed in West Marin in recent memory is now undergoing a third review.
In filings submitted in late December, developer Yan Cui reduced the number of parcels in the proposed Rancho Los Reyes subdivision from 69 to 67. Under the new plan, 61 parcels would be developed with market-rate single-family homes, while three parcels would be set aside for 22 affordable units.
Mr. Cui, who is in his early 70s and emigrated from Shanghai about a decade ago, purchased the property from the family of trucking magnate Toby Giacomini for roughly $3.5 million in 2023. In China, Mr. Cui made his fortune as an investment banker and is now a partner in a hotel chain based in Orlando.
The project’s prior iteration proposed 62 market-rate homes and four parcels dedicated to affordable ones. The county deemed that application incomplete, citing unresolved issues related to water, wastewater, traffic, environmental constraints and compliance with affordable housing policies.
Made up of four parcels, the property is mostly pastureland, but there is a farmhouse and a horseback riding business, Point Reyes Arabian Adventures, near its southwestern end.
The proposal continues to rely on California’s Density Bonus Law, which allows developers to build more units than local zoning permits if at least 20 percent of the project is designated affordable. Although Mr. Cui’s application asserts the project could support up to 125 units under the law, it does not request that additional density. It does seek a series of incentives and waivers that override local zoning standards, arguing they are necessary to make the project economically viable.
Recent state legislation has sharply curtailed counties’ ability to scrutinize such requests. Under the new rules, planners can no longer require developers to submit a cost analysis demonstrating the need for specific incentives.
“We’re kind of in unknown territory here with new legislation,” said Chris Desser, a Point Reyes Station resident and former Marin County planning commissioner. “It used to be three strikes and you’re out—a developer could refile, but they had to start over. The county is showing no backbone. They’re quaking in their boots about what the state’s going to do to them if they don’t follow the letter of the law.”
In their most recent notice of incompleteness, issued in September, planners requested a grading plan that outlines calculations for roadways, utilities, wastewater treatment facilities and individual building pads.
In response, Mr. Cui’s team said they would not provide grading calculations for individual lots because the project scope is limited to subdividing the land and constructing shared infrastructure, not building homes. The revised plans include grading estimates only for roads and utilities.
Grading is among the most significant environmental impacts on hillside sites, affecting erosion, drainage, landslide risk and habitat. Critics of the project argue that by excluding building pads, Mr. Cui is separating subdivision approval from the physical impacts of development, even though the subdivision is intended to enable that development.
The project is proposed in phases. The first phase would construct 22 affordable units, described as 800-square-foot, two-bedroom, single-family detached rentals that would be managed by a third party. A subsequent phase would construct the market-rate houses.
“How can a developer not calculate all the environmental impacts and disclose all of those impacts—for the whole project, not just phase one” Ms. Desser asked. “Otherwise, how could a decision-maker know what the implications are of giving an approval?”
In an email, Xiaoqing Zeng, an engineer with San Rafael-based Stetson Engineers who represents Mr. Cui, said the decision to prioritize affordable housing was influenced by public feedback. “The public has a concern of building too many new houses in Point Reyes Station,” he wrote to the Light. “That is the main consideration that the property owner has made the commitment to building affordable housing only in the first phase of project implementation.”
Several key issues remain contested, including how much housing the site can legally support. Under the Local Coastal Program, the property is zoned for one dwelling per three acres, or about 27 homes.
Mr. Cui argues that planners must instead apply a Countywide Plan zoning designation attached to the property that allows one unit per acre, a higher base density that allows for his proposed 83 units. County planners say that interpretation remains under review, but a 2023 amendment to the state’s Density Bonus Law instructs agencies to use whichever applicable zoning standard permits the highest density.
Another point of contention is the configuration of the affordable housing. All 22 units would be clustered on three parcels rather than distributed across the subdivision. County staff have asked the developer to disperse the units more evenly and consider including very-low-income housing.
“Our housing team has asked for them to be dispersed and equal, and they have continued to come back with the same kind of clustered approach because they don’t think that under state law they have to do that,” said Kathleen Kilgariff, a senior county planner. “That is something we will have to further evaluate.”
Mr. Cui’s attorney has argued that state law does not require affordable units to be physically dispersed or integrated with market-rate housing and that any such requirement would be unenforceable.
County staff have distributed the latest application to the relevant agencies to determine whether it is complete. “If it is, we would then work with our environmental team and determine the level of environmental review that would be required under CEQA,” Ms. Kilgariff said. “Right now, we are reviewing the subdivision of the land itself. We are not yet reviewing development, so that could be a whole additional set of reviews for the actual structures.”