By Jim Hanson
Point Molate is the large but little-known hilly peninsula jutting northward into the Bay at Richmond's western edge. Most people’s awareness of Point Molate is limited to a quick glimpse when traveling east over the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge; its open shoreline, verdant hillsides, and spectacular, unobstructed views are hidden treasures in an increasingly urbanized Bay Area. Now, though, the fate of this historic and ecologically important resource is being decided without public participation, in closed-session meetings with a for-profit developer at Richmond City Hall.
After the Navy closed its fuel-loading depot at Point Molate in the mid 1990s, approximately 300 upland acres of the Point Molate peninsula were transferred to the City of Richmond. Not long after, the development company Upstream and the Guidiville Band of Pomo Indians proposed a massive casino complex there. After Richmond voters rejected the idea of a casino in 2010, voting 58% to 41% against the Point Molate Casino in Richmond Advisory Measure, the Richmond City Council used its legal discretion to reject the project. Upstream subsequently sued the City for $750 million dollars, but lost its suit in federal court. It continues to appeal the federal court decision.
Richmond has proceeded to clean up remaining fuels left in the soil from the Navy's tenure. Meanwhile, Citizens for a Sustainable Point Molate located funds to reopen the Point Molate Beach Park and the City's Point Molate Citizen's Advisory Committee began looking at other development models to earn revenue for the City while preserving the site's unique natural beauty.
Early in 2016 the Trust for Public Land and the Urban Land Institute (ULI) were retained by the City Council to make economic-development recommendations to guide land use at Point Molate. In March, ULI returned with a set of alternatives. A favored alternative, the "mixed use" option, included a large park in the south watershed and the Point Molate bluffs. (The inclusion of parkland echoed the East Bay Regional Park District’s 2013 Master Plan, which calls for an area of parkland at Point Molate.) Development would be centered in the north watershed around Winehaven. They cited this option as the "clearest path to realize the highest site potential."
However, in late June, Upstream's continuing suit against the City appeared as a closed-session item on the Richmond City Council agenda. The public had no information on what was being discussed and how it could affect the fate of Point Molate. The Sierra Club promptly filed a letter with Mayor Tom Butt and members of the City Council saying that any decisions on land use at Point Molate should be made through a public land-use planning process, and that land-use decisions on Point Molate should not be made in closed session. The area has not yet gone through a zoning process. Point Molate was referred out of the 2012 General Plan for more information and public participation before designating land uses.
The developer's plan for Point Molate became known through a public records request for communications between the Richmond Planning Department and Upstream. The documents revealed that Upstream wants to build over 1,000 housing units all across Point Molate, including in the environmentally sensitive south watershed, on the scenic Point Molate bluffs, and along the north watershed shoreline. The buildings could be 75 to 100 feet tall. Upstream is also asking to excavate as much as 421,000 cubic yards of Point Molate; this is roughly equivalent to removing a 35-foot-tall by 35-foot-wide mass of earth stretching over 1.7 miles — the distance from one end of the new Bay Bridge span to the other.
In addition to the Sierra Club’s letter, Citizens for East Shore State Parks, SPRAWLDEF, the East Bay Chapter of the California Native Plant Society, Citizens for a Sustainable Point Molate, local residents, and the City's Point Molate Citizen's Advisory Committee all contacted the Council to speak against giving away land at Point Molate in a closed-session settlement. Council member Gayle McLaughlin publicly objected to the closed-session process being used to determine Point Molate's future.
Richmond, along with the rest of the Bay Area, is projected to house many more residents in the coming years. In one draft city plan, over four thousand new housing units could be built on the south shoreline along Highway 580, adding as many as 10,000 new residents to the city.
Richmond council meetings will resume following an August recess. The Sierra Club will continue to advocate against making land-use decisions in closed session. Instead, there needs to be an open public planning process on Point Molate.
Jim Hanson is a landscape architect and member of the Bay Chapter's East Bay Public Lands Committee. He is also a California Native Plant Society member and conservation chair for the California Native Grasslands Association.
To view the historic features and unique natural shoreline of Point Molate, drive east on Highway 580 toward Point Richmond. Exit at Stenmark Drive just before the Richmond-San Rafael toll plaza, and follow the signs for Point Molate. At the bottom of the first rise is a City-run Beach Park with picnic tables. Follow Stenmark Drive over the rise to the next watershed to view the old Winehaven buildings. Note: until the Bay Trail extension for Point Molate is built, bicycling requires riding on the I-580 shoulder a short distance to get onto Stenmark Drive.