Planning Commission 2/11/2013 The after party

Often times the most interesting parts of the Planning Meetings happen after the the Public Testimony.

In this 45 minute clip, The commissionors make thoughtful comments and remarks about the impact on our little 5.78 square mile community of Marinwood Lucas Valley.  They show concern about what will happen to the Dixie School district when affordable housing comes without a supporting tax base.  We spend roughly $120,000 per child to educate them through the 12th grade.

The Marinwood Village project alone will bring 60 to 150 or more children.  If all projects are built we may have as many as 1000 new students without a supporting tax base and will be forced to build new schools etc. 

The planners responded that due to AB 50,  the impact on schools cannot be considered as a reason to deny a housing project once the impact fee has been paid.

The local Dixie School District parents will have to either tax themselves or a whole new school district funding scheme will need to be created with heavy government subsidies and controls.

Also in this clip is a discussion of the Oakview project which was NOT included in the housing element .  With over 175 potential units, it would reduce our housing allocations substantially.

The planners stated that since it is their goal to create as many affordable housing sites as possible, they ommited this project since it had been in past reports. Commissionor Dickenson noted the inconsistency since other projects had been counted towards housing allocations.

We get the sense that "The Emperor's New Clothes" are being revealed as politically connected communities have successfully peeled away their allocations while leaving with us with the responsibility to build affordable housing in 0.6 percent of the land mass of the entire county.