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VIDEO. From the California Coastal Commission meeting on Thursday, September 12th, 2024 held at the Portola Plaza Hotel, 2 Portola Plaza, Monterey CA, as a hybrid meeting.
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Starts at 06:02:36
Thursday 9/12/2024 ~ Agenda Item #11:
NO SUBSTANTIAL ISSUE—LOCAL APPROVAL UPHELD
Bolinas Community Land Trust Temporary Housing Staff Report
- Applicant: Bolinas Community Land Trust
- Appellant: Bolinas for Compassionate Land Use
- Local Government: Marin County
- Local Decision: Marin County Coastal Development Permit (CDP) Number P4152 approved by the Deputy Zoning Administrator on October 19, 2023
- Project Location: Tacherra Ranch, at 130 and 160 Mesa Road in the unincorporated Bolinas community in west Marin
- Project Description: Installation of 27 recreational vehicle (RV) pads and RVs, utility connections, driveway access, and an on-site septic system, all in order to provide temporary emergency affordable housing for about 60 people, and removal of the unpermitted and substandard housing and access road, that previously housed those 60 people.
- Staff Recommendation: No Substantial Issue
Summary of Staff Recommendation
Tacherra Ranch is a working family farm that has historically provided locally produced meat, vegetables, and eggs to the Bolinas community for over 100 years. The ranch totals 66 acres, with a 20-acre portion owned by the Applicant (Bolinas Community Land Trust, or BCLT), and a 46-acre portion owned by others. Approximately 60 residents were inhabiting substandard trailers and other structures on the 46-acre property, which Marin County red-tagged in 2022 for being both unpermitted and a public health and safety hazard. To provide safe housing for residents displaced as a result of the County’s red tag, BCLT obtained a County emergency CDP (and County funding) in early 2023 to develop a temporary 27-unit recreational vehicle (RV) facility on the 20-acre site (with 27 RV pads, 27 RVs, utility connections, a septic system, and related development) with driveway access across the 46-acre site. The roughly 60
displaced residents moved into those temporary RVs in October of 2023. Because emergency CDPs only provide temporary authorization, the County then approved a regular CDP for that project, as well as for removal of the still extant, unpermitted, substandard housing and related development on the 46-acre site. In approving that regular CDP, the County identified the project as an ‘RV campground’ despite the
above-described temporary housing nature of the project, and that CDP approval is thesubject of this appeal.
The Appellant contends that the project is not a campground, but rather a mobile home park, and thus not allowed on this site by the LCP (or by the Williamson Act contract for the site). The Appellant further contends that the project would be developed on wetland and environmentally sensitive habitat area (ESHA), which is not allowed by the LCP. Staff has evaluated the County’s record and the Appellant’s contentions and recommends that the Commission find no substantial issue in this case.
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More on the California Coastal Commission on Coastside Buzz
The California Coastal Commission has 12 voting members and 3 non-voting members. Six of the voting members are “public members,” and six are local elected officials who come from specific coastal districts. All voting members are appointed either by the Governor, Senate Rules Committee, or the Speaker of the Assembly; each appoints four commissioners, two public members and two elected officials.
Each Commissioner may appoint an alternate to serve in his or her absence. The Secretaries of the Natural Resources Agency and the State Transportation Agency and the Chair of the State Lands Commission serve as non-voting members and may appoint a designee to serve in their place.
Author: Coastside Buzz
Me
This is where this farmworker housing should be–on the farm. The project also demonstrates a proper involvement of government in which decent living and health standards are required. It is ridiculous to locate farmworker housing at public expense and at great additional expense for the workers, themselves, in cities and towns miles from farms.