It is not an understatement to say West Marin is at a critical juncture. With affordability only getting worse, our population aging and a massive influx of new visitors that seems to grow by the week, the decisions our community makes today will have ramifications for decades to come. For those who are interested in shaping the future of West Marin, there is no better time than now for your voice to be heard. The Point Reyes Station Village Association needs your help.
The association is an official advisory group representing the Point Reyes Station planning district that was established in 1974. It is here to advocate on behalf of all Point Reyes constituents and act as our town’s voice. Over the last 50 years, we’ve collaborated with the county to guide the future of Point Reyes, including by writing the town’s original community plan. That plan was created in 1976 and substantially updated under local leadership in 2001. It is available on our website, www.pointreyesstation.org.
We are now preparing to engage with the county on what we believe are the most existential issues we have faced in years: housing development and short-term rentals. While there are many perspectives on how to handle these topics, it is hard to argue with the reality that we locals see every day. The town is gentrifying, the streets and beaches are packed, and our local economy is becoming ever more centered around tourism. If you didn’t buy a house 30 years ago or don’t happen to be in the top 10 percent of income earners, Point Reyes Station is not an easy place to live in. This is a very different reality than just a generation ago, when we were a community that prided itself on maintaining its blue-collar roots, with an economy that served locals just as much as tourists.
The village association, which meets once a month, is seeking input on a set of guiding principles that we will use to inform our upcoming interactions with state and county officials.
Our first draft is as follows:
“First, Point Reyes Station seeks to remain a community that prioritizes the needs of those who live and work here over visitors, although both constituencies are important. Second, state and county legislation should respect local community plans, as established by the adoption of the Marin Countywide Plan. Third, our history as a ranching and railroad town should be preserved, and the elements of our community that provide this echo from the past, such as our historic buildings and open industrial lots, should remain largely untouched. Fourth, housing development should center around smaller structures, such as ADUs, that are distributed throughout the community, not around high-density apartments centered in town. And finally, the number of short-term rentals should be capped or go down from today’s baseline. Additionally, guidelines should be biased toward units that have owners residing on the property and that are only offered for vacation rental part-time.”
As a democratic organization that is open to all, we believe the more engagement we have with the community, the stronger our position will be when advocating on the town’s behalf. If you have a perspective, we will be discussing this topic at our upcoming meeting on April 13 at 6:30 p.m. at the Dance Palace. We will discuss and ratify these principles in the coming months.
I’ll end with a personal sidebar on the village association, of which I am the incoming vice president. I was born here in 1983, attended our local schools, and was fortunate enough to come back in 2020 after many years in central Marin. Even though I was a lifelong local, I was unfamiliar with how our governance worked, and assumed the association was a backroom cabal of old-timers who wanted to maintain power in a tight-knit group. I’m happy to say I was completely wrong. The Point Reyes Station Village Association, in fact, is the opposite, and it needs your help. I am one of the few members of the leadership circle under the age of 70 (it is weird to be the young guy when you are closing in on 40) and we are in dire need of new members. If you would like to join, the only requirements are that you must live or work in town or own property here. Membership is just $20 a year and is likely soon to be an optional donation, and you will have an equal vote in any and all decisions we make as a group. I can be reached at [email protected] if you are interested in participating in any capacity.
Chris Hulls, a Point Reyes Station and San Anselmo resident, is vice president of the Point Reyes Station Village Association. He wrote this in coordination with and on behalf of the association’s leadership circle.