Bolinas affordable housing project challenged by neighbor
The Marin County Board of Supervisors will hear an appeal next month challenging an affordable housing proposal for downtown Bolinas.
At issue is a plan by the Bolinas Community Land Trust to build eight affordable apartments at its property at 31 Wharf Road. The Marin County Planning Commission approved permits for the project in a 5-1 vote on April 12.
Roland Crotts, who lives next door to the site, filed the appeal. It outlines several concerns that were previously raised by some other residents in the community.
Crotts argues the project does not fit with the character of downtown and would exacerbate the town’s water shortage and sewage capacity issues. Bolinas residents are being asked to keep water use below 125 gallons per day or face mandatory rationing because of low rainfall the past two winters.
Additionally, Crotts said the project would create a “looming effect” over his property that affect his privacy and quality of life.
The Bolinas Community Land Trust wants to construct two two-story buildings at the property. The apartments would be priced for low- and very-low-income tenants only.
Two business spaces would be available on the first floor of one building, one of which will be the trust’s new office. A fire damaged its previous location last year.
Arianne Dar, executive director of the land trust, said the appeal is disappointing but expected. Dar said the trust has worked extensively to address Crotts’ concerns, even moving the building location slightly farther away from Crotts property when it didn’t have to.
“I understand that he is upset but I do not feel that it’s a basis to deny eight families housing in a time when affordable housing is a mandate and a huge necessity,” Dar said.
The project represents one of the few opportunities in Bolinas to create multifamily, affordable housing, Dar said. She and other residents say the housing would allow local education staff, service workers and others to afford to live in the community they work in rather than having to commute long distances from more affordable areas.
“This is not going to destroy the character of downtown,” Dar said. “We’re cleaning up a vacant lot that’s been used for drug dealing and defecation and huge dumpsters sitting out front.”
John Carroll, superintendent of the Bolinas-Stinson Union School District, said a majority of its teachers commute into Bolinas from out of town, some from as far as Petaluma. A candidate the district hoped to hire as its chief business official a few years ago turned down the offer after looking at the housing prices, Carroll said.
“There is a real problem,” Carroll said. “It makes it much harder for us to hire employees because when people come out there and see what the housing costs are and the lack of housing.”
As for water, the project is moving forward under the assumption that it will use an existing connection to the Bolinas Community Public Utility District at the site. However, the connection is limited to only 224 gallons per day, which is not enough to service eight homes. The trust plans to switch its water allocation from this property with one of its smaller housing properties at the Gibson House at 20 Wharf Road, which is allowed to draw 1,143 gallons per day. If the switch is approved, the trust then intends to ask the water district to double the Gibson House allocation to 448 gallons per day in order to provide tenants with enough water.
At the same time, the trust is testing an exploratory well on the 31 Wharf Road property that could potentially replace the existing connection.
Construction drawings have yet to be drafted for the project and construction is not expected to begin until late 2021 or next year, Dar said.
“Let’s look on the brighter side on what this offers,” Dar said. “It allows eight families to stay in Bolinas affordably. It allows for people to work here.”
The Board of Supervisors will hear the appeal at its meeting on June 8. More information about the project is online at bit.ly/3w9zWFY