But Meanwhile, ‘Zone Wars’ Go on

If there’s a flurry over George Lucas’ “Willow” in Hollywood, he’s also generating a stiff breeze in quiet Marin County with his plan to expand his Skywalker Ranch.

At issue: Whether Lucas should be able to bring his Industrial Light & Magic to the Lucas Valley.

And the issue has brought ferocious press coverage--pro and con. For example, a cartoon in the Coastal Post showed a massive spaceship--named “Lord Lucas”--blasting away at a much smaller ship named “Countywide Plan.” From the Lord Lucas vehicle comes the ballooning comment: “Keep firing. . . . Their zoning shields can’t hold up much longer.”

A headline in Marin’s daily, the Independent Journal, proclaimed: “George Lucas, We Love You.”

Then there was the headline: “George Lucas Is Not the Issue.” It ran above last week’s Independent Journal article by guest columnist Karin Urquhart. As executive director of the Marin Conservation League, she detailed the history of Marin’s environmental movement.

That movement--and the measures that resulted from it--is what is challenging Lucasfilm.

ILM, with 180 of Lucasfilm’s 300 employes, is spread out over a series of buildings (obtusely labeled A, B, C and D) on an industrial-looking street in San Rafael, a 20-minute drive to the Skywalker Ranch, and Lucasfilm maintains that bringing ILM into the valley will increase internal efficiency. The company maintains that its ILM plan will preserve the open-space image of the rural environment--previously established at Skywalker.

However--and it’s a big however--the move would require rezoning property from agricultural to light-industry use. Some locals fear that making a special case for Lucasfilm would establish a dangerous precedent.

That’s a big deal in Marin, where a land use plan--officially known as the Countywide Plan--keeps most growth confined to the urban corridor that snakes alongside the U.S. 101 freeway. The plan was adapted in the ‘50s when Marin took a look at its growth-crazy neighboring counties and didn’t like what it saw.

Also big: The talked-about 300,000-plus-square-foot building that would house ILM.

As opponents are quick to point out, it would be the single-largest building in Marin County--bigger than the Fireman’s Fund Insurance building in Novato, 2 1/2 times bigger than the administrative wing of Marin’s Frank Lloyd Wright-designed civic complex, 12 times the size of the San Rafael City Hall. To put ILM on lush agricultural land would set an unwise precedent, according to Lucas Valley homeowners such as 30-year Marin resident Ron Marinoff, who pointed out that the valley is named for Marin pioneer John Lucas--not George. A member and past president of the Lucas Valley Homeowners Assn., Marinoff has long been vocal about the expansion of Skywalker Ranch.

“It’s nothing personal,” he said. “I don’t have anything against George Lucas. He’s a nice man. He makes nice movies. Hey, I liked Walt Disney too. But that doesn’t mean I want to live next to Disneyland.”

Moreover, said Marinoff, if Marin gives in to Lucas, “then how can we turn down the next guy? And the next?”

And what happens if/when Lucas departs the valley?

“If something happens to George, what happens to the facility? He isn’t eternal.”

One of the smallest counties in California--606 square miles, pop. 227,600)--Marin also is one of the wealthiest. (Average household income in the city of Ross is $102,327.) It’s also one of the most beautiful, owing much of its beauty to its surrounding hills and its dedication to preserving open space.

As Marin County Chamber of Commerce executive director Frank Fogarty put it: “‘Unfortunately, this (the Lucas situation) isn’t just an issue--it’s the issue. I think it’s sad that it’s having a polarizing effect on the community,” Added Fogarty: “It’s a big issue because George Lucas has meant a lot to Marin. If you were to take a popularity poll, I’d bet you’d find 9 to 1 in favor of George Lucas.

“Now it’s true that George Lucas hasn’t done a good public relations job in Marin--and he never will. He’s not a public relations kind of person. He’s very private--almost mystic. He just wants to create things.”

A lot of folks in Marin find Lucas awfully special.

Avid Lucas supporter Peter Anderson, a columnist for the Marin Independent Journal, discovered that when he polled his readers. His “Vent Your Views in Marin’s ‘Star Wars’ Flap” campaign brought in--at last count--1,841 coupons. Of those, 1,392 people voted for Lucas’ expansion plan; 449 voted nay.

Supporters’ comments included:

Mrs. F. Gregory of Novato: “Back off or else the golden egg will sprout wings and fly away. . . . Let George develop ILM the way he has planned. . . . He cares and will properly create his buildings for ILM with thought to development and preserving open space. What more could you ask?”

Jack Gaughan of Corte Madera: “Trust George Lucas to do the best thing for both Lucas and the county. He will create more private open space than anyone else. Public open space should be acquired by the public.”

Dale Finn of Novato: “We should do everything we can to help Lucas stay in the area. By the way, I once saw Lucas buying veggies in the Marinwood Cala. How neat!”

Less adoring John Stanford Gorham of Mill Valley: “The supervisors should hold Lucas to the same rules as everyone else. The only one who benefits from Lucas’ fantasyland is Lucas. Believe me--he only wants to make more money. Pigs eat garbage. I say thumbs down to more development in Marin. Tell him to go back to Hollywood.”

Surprised by the sheer number of entries as well as the outcome, Anderson said he planned to take the letters, which filled two boxes, out to “The Ranch,” as it’s called in these parts.

That would mark his first official visit to what the locals have dubbed “Lucasland.” “A few years ago, I had a friend who worked at the front gate. He let me peek inside,” Anderson said.

Therein lies some of the controversy surrounding Lucasfilm plans.

Until the recent push for community support, few of the locals have had access to even see the Skywalker facility.

“They’ve been secrecy-minded to the point of paranoia,” said one resident.

Reporter Eric Ingram of the San Francisco Chronicle recalls how, over the years, he and a fellow staffer put in countless requests to gain entry to the Ranch. “They kept telling us, ‘We’re not open to the public.’ They didn’t tell us drop dead--but that’s what they meant,” Ingram said.

Then, in recent months, voila! Ingram was invited to come out to the Ranch to talk with Lucasfilm president Douglas Norby and public relations director Lynne Hale.

“But I found out that everyone in the area had been going up,” Ingram said. “I didn’t want to be part of a crowd that was being used. . . . It was a personal thing for me.” So, Ingram met with Norby and Hale at the Le Croissant Coffee Shop in San Rafael.

“And during the meeting, Norby brought up the fact that relations with the press and the company had been strained. I said, ‘You’re right--but that hasn’t been our fault.’ ”

To Ingram’s amusement, the day after his story ran in the Chronicle, he got a call from Norby. “He said it was a fair story and that George Lucas had directed him to call and pass that word along. I thought--fine, but can’t Lucas pick up a phone?”

Documents on file with the County Planning Department show that on Sept. 17, 1979, it was approved for Lucas to build “ ‘a creative retreat’ where George and Marcia Lucas and their film-making colleagues can meet, study, collaborate, write, edit and experiment with new film-making ideas.”

That retreat has since evolved into a $60-million-plus corporate facility, complete with underground parking.

(Divorced from Lucas, Marcia now makes her home in Marin with stained-glass artist Tom Rodrigues, who was formerly production manager of the stained-glass studio at Skywalker. They have a 3-year-old daughter, Amy.)

As opponents charge that Lucas hasn’t always done as he’s said he’d do with his property is exemplified by his changing plans for the land on which ILM would be housed.

Originally, when Lucas purchased the Grady Ranch property, it was because he didn’t want to see it developed. (It had been approved for as many as 130 houses.) Next, recalled Marinoff, came the civic meeting in which Lucas’ lawyer, Doug Ferguson, “stood up and said George wanted to build a honeymoon cottage there--for him and Linda Ronstadt. I just about fell over when I heard that one.”

Then came news that Lucasfilm wanted to bring ILM to the ranch.

In fact, Lucasfilm and the county met behind closed doors for about a year, attempting to come to some kind of compromise. (If Lucas would agree to purchase additional land for use as open space, he could possibly get a mitigation that would permit a variance in the county requirements, according to officials.)

Ironically, just east of the Grady property, a developer is putting up 175 highly visible residences on 100 of the acres, leaving 300 acres as open space. Norby has argued that it has been suggested Lucas provide five or six times as much open space as the developer. And that ILM would generate less traffic and fewer demands on the county’s facilities, and would not be visible from the road.

But when compromise couldn’t be reached, Norby made the issue public. Moreover, he said that if Lucasfilm were to be denied the expansion, the company might consider picking up stakes.

Norby’s comments, made at a packed San Rafael Chamber of Commerce luncheon March 16, were widely reported in the local press. The next day, a headline in the San Francisco Examiner read: “Lucasfilms’ (sic) Empire Strikes Back.” The story in the Marin Independent Journal was headlined: “Lucasfilm Threatens to Pull Out of Marin.” It quoted Norby as saying “leaving is something we will have to consider (if county officials don’t allow for expansion).”

More raging headlines followed. And local editorials. And serious scrutiny of the Countywide Plan.

The Pacific Sun’s extensive “Lucas Wars: the Saga,” covered the dispute at length, going back to early March of 1987, when Lucas’ lawyer called West Marin Supervisor Gary Giacomini and said, “Hi, it’s me again. George has changed his mind. He wants to move ILM. . . . “

The press also has gotten into middle of the battle. The target: the Independent Journal. The reason: The paper makes no bones about being solidly behind Lucas. (Lucasfilm recently had the paper’s editorial staff up for a visit.)

Rumors begin circulating about Lucas’ next move. (During a visit to Marin, a reporter was told that “the latest story at Lucasfilm” was that Lucas was considering donating his ranch to UC Berkeley and relocating to a neighboring county.)

Then last weekend came word, from Norby, that Lucasfilm doesn’t want to leave Marin. In an interview with the Examiner, Norby even denied ever saying Lucasfilm might pull out of Marin. “He maintains he was only answering a hypothetical question at the end of a long speaking engagement,” wrote David Armstrong.

In the article, Norby reiterated Lucasfilm’s expansion plans, explaining that the proposed complex would not be visible from the road and that most parking would be underground. He added: “I think that updating of the Countywide Plan is probably needed.”

Lucasfilm also believes that its county taxes need some changing--and is suing the county over what it believes are unfair assessments for 1984-85 and 1985-86. (Lucasfilm is also challenging tax assessments of 1986-87.)

What Lucas believes he should pay and what the county believes he should pay don’t even come close: The 1984-85 figures find the Assessment Appeals Board putting a $20.8-million value on the property; Lucasfilm claims a value of $4 million. For 1985-86, the board placed a $32.5-million value on the land; Lucasfilm figured $8.9 million.

“But how can it be worth $8.9 million, considering all that’s gone into it?” wonders county Assessor-recorder James J. Dal Bon.

He explained that the “uniqueness” of the Lucasfilm property contributed to the tax dispute. But what looks like an idyllic winery, reminded Dal Bon, is also a corporation: “When I sweep away the illusion, all I see is business.”

In order to fight Lucas’ lawsuit, the county approved $100,000 for consulting assistance, “to enable the staff to analyze the Lucasfilm business, equipment and real estate,” said Dal Bon, adding, “It’s the first time in the history of this county that we’ve had to ask for such funding.”

He admitted that at present his office is having to concentrate on the Lucas tax issue. “We feel like we’re the Rebel Alliance and the Empire’s descending on us,” he said.

Stressing that “a substantial amount of money is at risk right now--over $1.3 million in actual revenues (that is the result of the difference between Lucas’ opinion of the assessed value and the county’s opinion of the assessed value),” he said, “I guess if I have to make a point, it’s that we are not asking the taxpayer to bear any unusual burden relative to other taxpayers.”

He laughed as he explained that, in a way, he and Lucas are in the same business: “You see, I’m also the county recorder. So I’m a kind of film maker too. Only I film microfilm.”