Frequently Asked Questions Re: Tacherra Ranch & Other BCLT Projects
1. Is the BCLT planning on developing temporary dwellings on designated wetlands on Tacherra Ranch?
No. The planned emergency RV park will not be located on wetlands. It will be surrounded by wetlands but will be compliant with the requisite setbacks. BCLT adjusted the site plan based on input from the Environmental Action Committee of West Marin to mitigate any potential negative impact on the wetlands.
2. Did the BCLT apply for this emergency permit or was it the county?
Marin County declared a health and safety emergency, moved to enforce the code violations, and hired a planning consultant to file an emergency coastal permit with the BCLT as the applicant of record. We are following the County’s lead and will design both the emergency housing project and permanent affordable housing project in alignment with our shared goal of zero displacements.
3. How do you ensure that this temporary solution will not turn into a permanent solution?
The temporary dwellings for the Tacherra Ranch Resident community have been approved under an emergency permit. A separate permit would need to be obtained for the temporary dwellings to remain on the site beyond the term of the emergency permit, and the BCLT is not interested in pursuing such a permit. We are further constrained by the water permits for 160 and 130 Mesa Rd., which grants the BCLT enough water to serve the existing resident population. These water rights will serve the emergency RV park until such time as BCLT applies to transfer the water rights to serve the same population in a permanent affordable housing development. There is not enough water permitted to serve populations residing in both permanent and temporary developments at the same time, nor does BCLT have ambition to do so.
4. It appears that the BCLT will have RVs/trailers that will have the capacity to house many more people beyond the current residents it is currently trying to provide homes for. How can the BCLT ensure that this emergency solution to help 60 or so people doesn't turn into many, many more people?
BCLT was required by Marin County to over-engineer the septic and the site plan for a maximum load resulting in the appearance that we can serve a larger number of people than currently live on the ranch. However, the BCLT is constrained by the amount of water available on-site.
We have had various point-in-time counts of the Tacherra Ranch community population, verified, and tracked across agencies, and will finalize this count as part of the purchase and sale agreements. Future demographic shifts would only occur because of births and deaths.
As an organization the BCLT is committed to providing interim housing to all the current residents of the Tacherra Ranch, but we will not be releasing any of the interim units that become vacant.
5. We all remember the severe water restrictions this town endured during the pandemic, and even though we had an excellent wet year, drought is expected to return. How will our limited water supply be impacted by this proposed solution?
BCLT has consistently demonstrated responsible management and stewardship of our scarce water resources across all properties for which it is responsible. Of the four properties the organization currently owns or manages, the average water use over the past 12 quarters was 21 gallons per day per person. In comparison, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the average U.S. citizen uses 82 gallons of water per person per day at home.
The residents of the Tacherra Ranch, who make up under 4% of the Bolinas population, have also been conservative and responsible stewards of our limited water supply using under 25 gallons per person per day on average across the last 12 quarters. Their future use of this shared community resource is based on their historic use. We are talking about the same people using the same water.
Two years ago, when BCPUD faced the worst drought in agency history, rations were not enforced due to an admirable reduction in water use by the entire community. The residents of the ranch participated fully in these efforts. If drought conditions worsened beyond historic levels and the community was rationed, the Tacherra Ranch community would be subject to the same BCPUD emergency regulation.
BCLT is committed to climate adaptation and advancing holistic solutions in partnership to meet the increasingly complex challenges our community faces. As a public benefit, BCLT has invested close to $100,000 to develop a well at 31 Wharf Rd. BCPUD is leading the effort to vet and permit the well for emergency use by our entire community. BCLT defers all questions regarding this well and potential next steps to the capable BCPUD staff.
6. Does the proposed development at the Tacherra Ranch jeopardize the water moratorium from a legal precedent standpoint?
No. This development is in direct accordance with the water moratorium and its enforcing agency. We have not asked for any special dispensations that have not previously been authorized by BCPUD regulations, and our request was in full compliance with BCPUD regulations. We applaud the BCPUD board and emeritus board members for the open dialogue they have engaged in regarding the water moratorium, and its shortcomings, and defer all further questions regarding it to them.
7. There was recently a big staff change. Can you explain what the current status of BCLT’s staff is?
Arianne Dar decided to retire, and Annie O’Connor was hired by the BCLT Board of Directors to replace her as full-time Executive Director. Leilani Fraser was promoted to Administrative Director, part-time. Maalis will be moving to a newly created role as part-time Project Manager, and the BCLT is currently looking to hire a full-time Property Manager.
We are thrilled to announce that we have hired José Leyva, a bilingual and bicultural Community Advocate, who has lived experience at the Tacherra Ranch, to work with and for BCLT and the Tacherra Ranch Community to help facilitate the co-creation of this project. We are also delighted to share that Grace Gubbins has been promoted from intern to an employee role as Communications Associate, part-time.
AlB Foreman remains the Gas Station Manager and Sue Ann Russum BCLT Bookkeeper. Our small but mighty team is further supported by expert consultants, including some former staff members, and our dedicated Board of Directors who admirably volunteer their time and skills to serve our community.
8. What are BCLT's intentions/vision for future development? In other words, how much more development would you like to see?
BCLT’s Executive Director, Annie O’Connor, is aligned with the Board and Staff opinion that following the completion of the 31 Wharf and Tacherra Ranch projects there is little organizational desire to take on new multi-family development projects.
We look forward to engaging the community in an update of our strategic plan to further refine the BCLT’s ongoing goals in preserving a healthy and livable community. We anticipate a future focus centered around the preservation of existing affordable housing, in support of a community-focused development plan, which reflects the expressed priorities of our community and seeks to limit the ability of outside organizations and individuals to dictate the direction of new development in Bolinas.
In a regular meeting of the BCLT Board of Directors on June 8, 2023, Annie shared the update that the organization has explored downsizing the 31 Wharf project. Because of the current entitlements and amount of funding invested by Marin County (CDA), our hands are tied, and the county is compelling the organization to complete the project as currently designed. Annie also reported that the Board and Staff are exploring potential partnerships to facilitate the completion of the project. We look forward to sharing more information with the community as our plans evolve.
9. Do you have the staffing/expertise to oversee the construction, procurement, and management of the Tacherra Ranch project, which is a very large endeavor?
Yes. Because we anticipate our strategic focus moving forward will not be on the development of large affordable housing projects, we will be relying upon partnerships and external expertise to oversee these technical aspects of the permanent affordable housing planned for this site. Our clear role will be to ensure local control in the initiation and ongoing management and maintenance of the project. As is true for all affordable housing endeavors, it takes a village, and we are confident in our network’s ability to bring this – and our other projects – to fruition.
10. How is it possible that of the three BCLT projects, the winners of the lotteries have ties to the BCLT?
The drawings for both the Overlook and Cedar lotteries were conducted by professionals outside of the BCLT. Some of the names in these lotteries our staff and community know well, and others were known only for their presence on our waitlist, which has been and will remain indiscriminately open to all consistent with fair housing laws.
The lottery for the two homes on Overlook was generated by a computer at the hands of Habitat Greater San Francisco (HGSF) staff. Eleanor and Dan Suda’s was the first family drawn followed by two households who were deemed ineligible through a HGSF qualification process. One of those households had joined the BCLT’s waitlist days before the deadline to apply for homeownership and had no previous connection to the BCLT or West Marin community. Lynn and Andrew Spalding, whose household was the fourth in the drawing, qualified based on income and household size, among other factors, and were offered the opportunity to purchase the home. Lynn and Andrew are current BCLT tenants but remained on our waitlist along with many others due to their interest in homeownership and were therefore eligible to apply to participate in the HGSF lottery.
For Harmony Maia’s home on Cedar Road, members of the BCLT Board worked with CLAM’s Executive Director, Pam Dorr, to design and administer an application and lottery process. Pam drew applicants at random with several local community witnesses. The first five households drawn in the lottery were deemed ineligible through the qualification process directed by a loan representative of Fannie Mae, who specializes in Community Land Trust homeownership sales. The first qualified household in that lottery was sixth in the drawing and was given a month to decide whether they would purchase the home. After much deliberation, consideration, and consultation, the family decided that the home was not a good fit for their needs.
Annie O’Connor, BCLT’s Administrative Director at the time and now Executive Director, was the seventh household drawn in the lottery and qualified for the Fannie Mae mortgage, allowing her to purchase the home. She and her late husband, Brendan O’Connor, had been on the BCLT waitlist since 2016, long before she joined the organization. Annie received the same treatment and was subject to the same requirements as every other applicant.
In a community where 75% of our residents are low-income, and over 300 households are on our waitlist, it would be nearly impossible to have a lottery winner who was not in some way connected to the BCLT, even if just through their curiosity or love of Bolinas.
11. Will the current residents of the Tacherra Ranch be able to benefit from the permanent housing that is created and how will they afford it?
BCLT is working to identify project funding that will allow for the continuation of the Tacherra Ranch community. We have already chosen to not pursue several funding sources for which the project would have been competitive due to the restrictive nature of the eligibility criteria for those funding sources that would have prevented the return of several current residents upon the completion of the permanent housing.
The goal of the BCLT has been and continues to be the full return of all Tacherra Ranch community residents to permanent housing and we will continue to seek funding sources that will allow for such an outcome.
The bottom-line is that the BCLT’s goal at the Tacherra Ranch is to create a project that is both affordable to the current residents of the Tacherra Ranch – and is restricted moving forward to those earning 80% or far less of area median income.
12. How can I get my questions answered?
We’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Your questions are warmly invited, and we will answer weekly in the Hearsay, so everyone who may share your interest can benefit. Please email your questions to info@bolinaslandtrust.org and we’ll respond as quickly as possible – thank you!