The Tiburon Planning Commission this month OK’d a conditional use permit for Paradise Drive resident Eric Crandall to allow him to keep four miniature cows on his 10-acre property within the affluent residential community. Crandall hopes to breed the cows and use the milk for his family. Two 600-plus pound Belfair cows—Holly and Mocha—have been living on the property unpermitted since 2021, when the family first purchased the animals at age 6 months. Some neighbors are opposed to allowing such large ruminants in the toney neighborhood known more for raising property values than raising livestock—saying the beasts are too noisy and their proximity within 600 feet of the shoreline could contaminate the bay water.
A change.org petition opposing the cows predicted property values would be aversely affected and it would lead to a slippery slope of farm critters on the block. “Cows now, what’s next… pigs, bison?” the petitioners asked.
The Crandalls, meanwhile, argued the cows’ grazing would help mitigate fire risk in the peninsula community. Community Development Director Dina Tasini helped create the ranch-management plan the Crandalls are required to follow, and she stressed in the Marin IJ that adherence to the plan was key to mitigating any bovine brouhaha in the wealthy enclave. “It’s more important how you manage the cows,” Tasini said.—JW
