Bolinas Community Coastal Alliance

We are meeting with organizations, agencies, county officials and anyone who has an interest in seeing that Downtown Bolinas is open to all and that the use of it by different groups is balanced :

Traffic and Parking, if you can find it!

Daily during the summer, and throughout the entire year on weekends and holidays in all seasons, the small town center of Bolinas is inundated with visitors. The number of vehicles entering and exiting is geometrically accelerating. On the July 4th 2019 holiday weekend over 58 camping vehicles spent the night parked on Brighton Avenue and adjacent streets in down town Bolinas. As many as 36 spent the entire weekend parked on Brighton Avenue. On that holiday period, long term campers numbered into the 20s and the short-term RVs, buses and house cars stayed for as much as 10 days.
The question is how to manage the inundation of visitors that the downtown area of Bolinas experiences during holidays, weekends and when the sun shines brightly and the surf is up while at the same time provide good access to the beach for residents and visitors. Here are some of the challenges:
Much of the Downtown offers no parking, and off-street parking is severely limited.

•Because parking is so scarce, there is constant turning and milling of vehicles, engine noise and exhaust. Busy days result in double parking, creating bottle necks along these streets.

•Once a visitor has parked, he/she is reluctant to relinquish the parking space. Residents on the streets do not dare to leave their homes in vehicles because they anticipate not being able to park in front of or near their homes for unknown periods.

•The streets are narrow and bordered by town services and commercial and civic enterprises. Access to these is now impeded by traffic and parking.

•Approximately 2/3rd along the distance of Wharf Road, there is a turn in the road (where the Bolinas Rod and Boat club is located). From here to the end of the road, which is also the beginning of the beach, the road is a single lane, with parking on the non-residential side. Vehicles which traverse this section of Wharf Road must either execute a U-turn in a small no-parking area immediately at the entry to the beach, or back down the street and execute a U-turn in front of the Rod and Boat Club.

•Compounding the problem of overcrowding are opportunist campers in vehicles (some in multiple vehicles) who live on the public streets for days, weeks and months at a time—because there is virtually no regulation preventing such camping. Not only does this habitation reduce the availability of parking for visitors and tourists alike; turn-over of space is dramatically restricted. Although those who live in their vehicles on a day to day basis appear to be mostly low income have been problematic for the town, they are vastly outnumbered by holiday, summertime and weekend visitors who use the area as their campground. These vacationers come streaming into the town, some in their 100k+ Sprinter Vans, sometimes with a boat attached, to enjoy a few days in Bo.

Safety – the unmanaged use creates hazardous conditions

•FIRE! The use of cook stoves and grills on open fires on the village streets by campers and picnickers is a hazard. Such use of open fires in proximity to open space areas with flammable grasses, plants and trees as well as residential front yards create a harrowing situation.
•There are few street lights in Bolinas. After sundown, residents and visitors must traverse the streets, and walk to and from the beach, in near darkness.
•Sidewalks are limited. There are sidewalks only in the commercial section of Wharf Road; there are very few paved pedestrian walkway sections on Brighton Avenue.
• There are no marked walkways to separate pedestrian traffic from vehicles turning around at the end of either access street to the Brighton beach.
•Frequently, vans, campers, RVs, storage units and autos are parked bumper-to-bumper throughout the downtown area, cutting off visibility from street to curb. During the day, but especially at night, both residents and visitors experience the surprise of people or animals emerging between the parked vehicles because visibility has been blocked. One cannot see or anticipate movement toward oneself until it has occurred.
•Both residents and visitors have been harassed and threatened by transient campers, especially after dark.
• Traffic patterns inadvertently established throughout the village create a serious safety issue; access for emergency vehicles to provide help to community residents, visitors and property is seriously impacted, creating a dangerous situation in any emergency.

Health and Hygiene-too few toilets and other visitor amenities

•Sanitation facilities and access to clean fresh water are exceedingly limited. The town has one set of public flushing toilets serving the Brighton Beach area/county park (open 24/7) and one set at the town’s park on Wharf Rd (open during day light hours). These toilets serve all visitors with the exception of those patronizing eating establishments with facilities. The Community Center has one set of toilets for patrons and visitors alike. All Downtown effluent is pumped to the Big Mesa Sewer Ponds. There is a pair of porta-potties serving Agate Beach. As might be expected, planted spaces and nooks and crannies of the beach and neighboring residences are sometimes used for relieving bodily necessities.
•Surfers shower and clean their gear in the street, using gallon bottles of water brought for this purpose.
•Trash and recycling services at the entrances/exits to Brighton Beach are frequently inadequate to the amount of usage. Holiday events necessitate bringing in dumpsters and porta-potties. Their maintenance is paid by donations to the Community Center and local grant funding. The same is true for keeping the streets and beach “clean.”

Environment- Protecting the Wetlands of “International Importance,” the beaches and the land

Environmental changes in the natural community on land and in the water in and around this special area must not be ignored. Examples are:

•Sea life on the reefs at Agate Beach, once rich with sea flora and fauna, are greatly diminished within the very recent past. This is due undoubtedly to sea warming and other negative aspects of climate change, and is increased by the impact of increased walking on the reefs.
•There are noticeable changes in air quality. The increase in vehicles pollutes the air.
•The degradation of terrestrial plants and space is clearly evident in the park area on Brighton Avenue. Foot paths are etched through the botanical landscape of the park from every direction.
•The town’s pocket park on Wharf Road is being used as an area for sleeping/camping, and debris and detritus are left behind among the brush and trees.
•There is a substantial increase in of noise in the downtown neighborhoods, both during the day and at night.
As stewards of our area, we realize that it is essential to be aware, to make assessments, and to address negative environmental changes. We must act on our hopes to contain and mitigate consequences resulting from human behavior, ours and others who come to the area.

Enforcement and Emergency Services- Just not Enough!

•Public safety is provided by the Marin County Sheriff’s Department which is based in a
•sub-station in Point Reyes Station, a 20 minute drive north on Highway 1. The “beat” of the sub-station’s Deputies is the entirety of West Marin, from the towns of Tomales and Dillon Beach in the north of the county, to Muir Beach in the south, and all of the San Geronimo Valley to the East. On any given day there are 2 Deputies on-duty. This means that there is only intermittent patrol. Management of traffic and parking enforcement is a low priority and is rare.
•The California Highway Patrol serves on CA Route 1, but rarely within the village. Incidents require officers to respond from the Golden Gate Bridge or headquarters in Corte Madera, which distance consumes, at normal speeds, one hour driving time.
•The Bolinas Volunteer Fire Department responds to fire, flooding, threats of tsunamis, earthquakes, and personal emergencies and accidents, both in the town, on the beach, and on the streets and highways.
•There are also paramedics stationed in Stinson Beach, 10 minutes south, and Pt. Reyes Station, 20minutes to the north. These health and safety providers must be available for emergencies for the entire town, including visitors of course, and also for people involved in accidents on Hwy 1.
•Marin County Parks and Opens Space maintains and protects Agate Beach, the County Park on Brighton Avenue, and the Bob Stewart Trail along the Bolinas Lagoon.