Housing project at old Coast Guard site in Pt. Reyes Station moving forward

By John Ramos

Point Reyes Station in West Marin has been suffering a housing crisis for decades, but they may finally be closer to reaching a solution.

The old buildings on Commodore Webster Drive sit quiet and empty, and they’ve been that way since before the Coast Guard officially left the town in 2014. Now, 10 years on, people want to know what the holdup has been on turning it into housing.

According to the county, the reason for the holdup is that the Coast Guard never installed a septic system.

“The wastewater was kept in holding tanks and removed daily from the property,” said Sarah Jones. “And that’s not something that can happen.”

Jones is Marin County’s Community Development Director, and is developing a new community in Pt. Reyes Station is exactly the idea behind the project.  Last week, Marin Supervisors approved a development plan that will rehabilitate the old buildings into new homes that people can afford.

“In this case, it will be 54 units right in the biggest activity center in West Marin. We anticipate that this is going to be a huge benefit for the workforce there, for the residents there, for the businesses there. Because people who work in, and support West Marin will be able to live there,” said Jones.

The portion of the land containing the buildings is being transferred to the Community Land Trust of Marin, or CLAM. They, in partnership with Eden Housing, will renovate the existing units, while the county keeps a small parcel to create that much-needed septic system.

But there are also other issues with the old buildings that will push the cost up to more than $50 million.

“There’s also the mechanical, electrical, plumbing side of things,” said CLAM’s Director of Properties, Tom McCafferty.  “We’re switching away from propane, going all electric, aiming for a net-zero energy site by doing solar panels and all-electric appliances. The electrical systems are outdated; there are panels that are now defunct and need to be replaced. So, item by item, you go through it and it all adds up to a fairly large project.”

The county says once funding is completed, construction could begin as soon as this fall, with completion sometime in 2028. But CLAM’s Executive Director, Jarrod Russell, said what really helped is the tremendous buy-in that the community has shown for the project.

“It’s not common in the world of affordable housing to have this level and proportion of positive encouragement,” he said. “I mean, really, the vast majority of the community is rooting for this project. If anything, the frustration is that everybody wanted it sooner.”

That would describe Loretta Murphy, who has lived in Pt. Reyes Station for 38 years.

“When my kids were growing up here, the Coast Guard was full of people,” she said. “It was the best place to Trick-or-Treat because there were a lot of houses.”

Murphy said her kids had to move away because of the lack of available homes and the inability to add large multi-family developments in such a small town.

“We don’t have that opportunity,” she said. “So, we have to kind of cobble together a house here, a house there. The Coast Guard is a huge piece of this puzzle, and to be able to see the Coast Guard come to realization is wonderful.”