Click photo to enlarge
Al Dugan of Novato, an opponent of Plan Bay Area's push for high-density housing. 
This Corte Madera Development is the opening salvo to Save Marin (again).


TAKE A CAREFUL LOOK at the Corte Madera WinCup massive development that is 40 units per acre. It towers next to Highway 101 in Corte Madera; you cannot miss it. This is what the Marin supervisors and the Association of Bay Area Governments have done to sell out the soul of Marin in the future.

This is only the beginning, the opening salvo.

On Nov. 14, a conference was sponsored by Institutional Property Advisors Marcus and Millichap entitled, "How Will Plan Bay Area Affect Your Development Plans?"

 ABAG president Mark Luce, the keynote speaker, told an audience of more than 400 investors, brokers, developers and property managers, "Plan Bay Area — the Priority Development Areas and Transit-Oriented Development — are what local jurisdictions have asked for."

Really? Plan Bay Area, created by ABAG, was massively flawed with over inflated population and job projections for Marin.

The ABAG population projection for Marin from 2010 to 2040 is 482 percent higher than the projection by the state Department of Finance Demographic Unit, the single source for planning and budgeting in California government planning.

What about the 400-plus comments pointing out massive flaws in Plan Bay Area and many asking for the plan to be scrapped and started over?

 Mr. Luce went on to enthusiastically describe the rush of benefits that flow to developers with the passage of SB 743. That's the bill Gov. Jerry Brown signed in late September which eliminates the right of communities to stop development on the basis of impacts on parking, traffic, schools, adequate water supply or aesthetics.

The new proposed plan for Larkspur Landing is massive. There could be as many as 920 housing units. Yes, that number is correct. This is approximately 17 percent of the current population of Larkspur. 

 Besides four times the number of residential units as are in the WinCup site development, the plan calls for 177,000 square feet of new retail, commercial and hotel space, resulting in an estimated 1,000 more cars on Highway 101 and Sir Francis Drake Boulevard during evening peak travel times.

 The goal of the triad of developers, builders and institutional investors is to turn Marin into a highly urbanized transportation corridor, linking it to San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge and to the East Bay via the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.

In a community that focuses on dwindling environmental resources, how can we suggest adding thousands of new homes to a county that doesn't have the water to support existing residents?
What could be more important than balancing 
environmental resources with city planning?

It is time to wake up, or find the place we love changed forever by the triad — for a profit. They will walk away with the profit while we have to live with the results.

How can you make a difference?

1.) Replace all the incumbent county supervisors. It is not too late for action.

2.) Speak out against development proposals not including a balance between resource, housing, jobs and realistic population growth, like the proposed Larkspur plan.

3.) This is your county. If you want a say in how it grows, then stand up and be counted.
ABAG's plan will be reviewed and revised in four years.

 Marin is a pristine jewel of the Bay Area.
The Miwok people treasured Marin for thousands of generations.

 This is not the first time Marin has needed protection.


In 1965, a small group of activists called the Golden Gate Headlands Committee stopped a massive development called Marincello, financed by Gulf Oil that wanted to add 30,000 people to the Marin Headlands.

This time around, we need to prevent the building of high-density housing up and down the 101 corridor.

The triad of developers, builders and institutional investors will not stop until Marin looks like the East Bay/Walnut Creek corridor.

See the related post and video "Marincello, the City that never was"