New Parking Ordinances for Downtown Bolinas February, 2025
On January 14, 2025, the Marin County Board of Supervisors (BOS) approved the Department of Public Works (DPW) request to adopt a resolution establishing the specific road segments and hours where and when the Downtown Bolinas parking restrictions will apply. Bolinas parking ordinances were introduced by DPW to the BOS at an October 15, 2024 meeting and adopted on October 29, 2024. The ordinances establish a 22’ vehicle length restriction and overnight parking permit program in downtown Bolinas. The map shows the area covered by the resolution.
The Bolinas Community Public Utility District (BCPUD) will administer the permit program in conjunction with the Marin County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO). The ordinances will be in effect once the permit program is in place and signage is up – March is the target date.
History
The downtown Bolinas parking ordinances are the result of more than four years of discussion among community members and several Marin County departments including: Public Works (DPW), Community Development (CDA) and the Marin County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) with coordination by Marin County Board of Supervisor Dennis Rodoni. In 2019, BCPUD provided local input to the process when they appointed a new volunteer committee to develop a parking plan that would be more effective than Measure X, implemented that year by a majority town vote after six years of effort by community members. A new strategy was sought when the Measure X parking ordinance fell short of meeting its goal to manage the impact of the high volume of visitors on the downtown streets. What Bolinas can do to reach this goal is constrained by the Coastal Commission’s focus on beach access as well as the Sheriff’s legal restraints regarding enforcement. The newly approved County plan appears to thread the needle and is structured so that the ordinances are clear and enforceable, with focus on portions of the downtown residential segments leading to the beach. These ordinances offer several community benefits helping to assure parking turn over, access and public safety on our downtown streets, while there remains more to do to build upon this needed step.
The new plan removes the Measure X parking restrictions from the town of Bolinas. In its place the County of Marin has approved new ordinances focused on a limited area. The focus is on the residential areas of downtown most impacted by parking and traffic during high volume periods. Unlike Measure X which covered all of the downtown streets, these new ordinances are more diverse and targeted in their purpose. The specific areas for the new ordinances are discussed below and shown on the map.
Permit Parking Program – Ordinance Section 15.36.020
A parking permit exempts a resident’s vehicle from the 2 a.m.- 5 a.m. parking restriction on their street. Persons living in households located on the residential side of Brighton Avenue are eligible for this exemption. Wharf Road permits exempt households located in the restricted area from the Museum to the beach. Permit restrictions do not extend beyond those boundaries. BCPUD issues the permits. There is no fee for the permits. They are limited in number, non-transferable and there are no guest permits. In the restricted area, anyone without a permit must park off the street either on the property or in a “non-residential” area of the street. There are no permit restrictions and available parking on a substantial portion of these two downtown streets for vehicles without a permit.
The permit program objective stated in the county’s submission to the Marin County Department of Zoning Administration in November, 2023, subsequently approved by the Coastal Commission in February 2024 and by the Board of Supervisors (BOS) in December, 2024 and January, 2025 is to, “increase parking turnover …. support access to the public beach and for homeowners and residential visitors to park near the residence.” The high volume of visitors coupled with extended stays of vehicles parked downtown contribute to the limitation of street parking availability during the day.
Permit Program Areas and time of day in effect approved by BOS resolution January 14, 2025
—Brighton Avenue Most of the planning for this 3 hour night-time permit program parking restriction centered on Brighton Avenue’s residential section, 30 addresses on the portion with a permit parking restriction. As the project map shows, there are no permit restrictions on the other side of the street, down the entire block and where the county park is located. Input from Brighton Avenue residents occurred in May 2022 when every one of the households on the odd numbered side of Brighton Avenue (and one even numbered residence) was contacted. Of the 28 contacted, 21 responded to the poll and 95% agreed with the plan. Poll results are shown on the BCPUD website with the May 10, 2022 meeting minutes of the Resident Permit Parking Plan Committee. Since the inception of the planning process in December, 2019, all BCPUD Committee meeting minutes and presentations outlining the planning process are found on the bcpud.org website.
—Wharf Road For Wharf Road, the County plan offered households south of the Museum (to the beach) eligibility for a permit and the concurrent night restriction on parking. Similar to the plan for Brighton Avenue, the non-residential area of Wharf Road – the inland side of the street closest to the beach, is excluded from a permit restriction.
Vehicle Length Parking Restrictions – Ordinance 15.36.091 establishes countywide oversized vehicle parking restrictions. The 1/14/2025 BOS resolution approves where and the hours these occur in Bolinas.
Most of the vehicles parking in town are not affected by this limit. Some are long and/or tall, but most are not greater than 22 feet in length. Vehicles longer than 22 feet are a safety hazard on downtown Bolinas streets. The vehicle length restriction attempts to mitigate this hazard. In downtown Bolinas, the two streets covered by this ordinance are the only way to access the beach. They dead end at the entrance. Pedestrians must walk among traffic as they approach the beach entrance as there are no sidewalks.
Areas for the restriction designated in the 1/14/25 BOS Traffic Resolution are:
—- Brighton Avenue Overnight Vehicles longer than 22 feet are to be restricted from parking on the non-residential side (County Park side) of Brighton Avenue from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. This is similar to Measure X however it now specifies the definition of “ over size/large vehicle.”
— Wharf Road 24/7 For this street, using the same definition, the ordinance is to be in place at all times from the Museum south to the beach where this short stretch of road begins to significantly narrow. The street dead ends at the beach making it very difficult to impossible for large vehicles to turn around. Pedestrians walking on the street as vehicles attempt to turn at the entrance is a safety concern.
Note
There are no vehicle length or overnight vehicle restrictions on Wharf Road where there are commercial activities and multi-family housing units. This area includes the Museum and goes to the Brighton Avenue intersection on both sides of the street. Permit restrictions only affect a portion of the residential area of Wharf Road.
The County has a newly enacted (April 2024) ordinance adding a 500 foot length requirement to the existing requirement to move your vehicle every 72 hours. This requirement covers all of the unincorporated areas of Marin County.
The green short term parking zone at the Market on Wharf Road remains in place as does the one on Brighton at the Post Office site.
— Summary by volunteer members of the Bolinas Community Public Utility District (BCPUD) Resident Permit Parking Plan Committee.
Resident Permit Parking Plan Committee Presentation 2021
RESIDENT PERMIT PARKING PLAN COMMITTEE PRESENTATION 2022
Summary of Meetings with MCSO RE ENFORCEMENT 8.15.23