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A blog about Marinwood-Lucas Valley and the Marin Housing Element, politics, economics and social policy. The MOST DANGEROUS BLOG in Marinwood-Lucas Valley.
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Friday, July 19, 2013
Marin IJ's Richard Halsted on affordable housing issues in Marin
Marin IJ reporter, Richard Halsted tries to explain the controversy surrounding the affordable housing in Marin. He still doesn't quite get that most people in Marinwood-Lucas Valley are concerned about the financial impacts on schools and government services with non-profit housing. He dismisses the legimate concerns of regular people and suggests that outside "conservative forces" may be influencing the debate with conspiracy theories. Clearly, the IJ reporter needs to actually talk with our community to learn more.
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
"No Way!" for Citizen's Vote on Plan Bay Area.
Published on Jun 26, 2013
Click on a link below to jump to a segment. Video by Steve Kemp
00:00 Meeting called to order
00:37 PUBLIC COMMENTS (general)
01:44 - Leslie Jones
02:58 - Suzanne Tringali
05:17 - Judy Galletti
07:31 - Mimi Steel
10:27 - Dave Erlich
12:38 - Jim Bitter
14:29 President's Report
16:41 Draft Plan Bay Area - Miriam Chion
40:10 - question- Cap and Trade funds
44:26 - Infill developments?
45:48 - Send PBA to public vote?
48:52 - Trucks on I-580?
53:50 - Population & Jobs projections?
56:54 - Allow public vote?
59:34 - how is this being done statewide?
1:01:56 - I want an advisory vote of the people
1:04:13 PUBLIC COMMENT on draft PBA
1:04:27 - Chris Pareja
1:06:26 - Michael Ling - Non-profit housing association
1:08:17 - Larry Tong - EBRPD
1:10:37 - Matt Nichol - Six Winds
1:12:23 - Aubrey Freedman
1:14:37 - Dave Eirlich
1:16:41 - Peter Singleton
1:19:02 - Pam Farly
1:20:25 - Heather Gass
1:23:19 - Clarissa Comisaugan
1:25:48 - Charles Cagnon
1:28:11 - Maybelle Inzagu - Public Advocates attorney
1:30:06 - Kirsten Spalding - Sa Mateo county union alliance
1:31:44 - John Dowllrimple - San Mateo Union Alliances
1:34:10 - Jim Bitter
1:36:02 - Tim Frank - Director Sustainable Neighborhoods
1:38:17 - Mimi Steel
1:40:15 - Judy Galletti
1:42:40 - Lou Tavares
1:44:24 - Deborah Tavares - Stop the Crime.net
1:46:50 - Jim Bennett
1:49:19 - Celeste Paradise
1:52:13 - Alberta Brierly
1:53:29 - Liz Manning
1:54:28 - Carol Gotstein
1:57:29 - Jose Arellous
1:59:57 - Joel Burnha
2:02:49 ABAG amendments to draft PBA
2:04:30 - Trucks on I-580
2:58:52 - citizens vote of PBA
3:13:41 - HOW THEY VOTED
3:23:56 PUBLIC COMMENTS on amendments to draft PBA
3:24:07 - Hanson Han
3:26:00 - Dave Erlich
3:28:10 - Chris Pareja
3:30:23 - Deborah Tavares
3:32:42 - Jim Bennett
3:37:28 - Starchild
3:40:16 - Jim Bitter
3:41:15 - Celeste Paradise - closing song
00:00 Meeting called to order
00:37 PUBLIC COMMENTS (general)
01:44 - Leslie Jones
02:58 - Suzanne Tringali
05:17 - Judy Galletti
07:31 - Mimi Steel
10:27 - Dave Erlich
12:38 - Jim Bitter
14:29 President's Report
16:41 Draft Plan Bay Area - Miriam Chion
40:10 - question- Cap and Trade funds
44:26 - Infill developments?
45:48 - Send PBA to public vote?
48:52 - Trucks on I-580?
53:50 - Population & Jobs projections?
56:54 - Allow public vote?
59:34 - how is this being done statewide?
1:01:56 - I want an advisory vote of the people
1:04:13 PUBLIC COMMENT on draft PBA
1:04:27 - Chris Pareja
1:06:26 - Michael Ling - Non-profit housing association
1:08:17 - Larry Tong - EBRPD
1:10:37 - Matt Nichol - Six Winds
1:12:23 - Aubrey Freedman
1:14:37 - Dave Eirlich
1:16:41 - Peter Singleton
1:19:02 - Pam Farly
1:20:25 - Heather Gass
1:23:19 - Clarissa Comisaugan
1:25:48 - Charles Cagnon
1:28:11 - Maybelle Inzagu - Public Advocates attorney
1:30:06 - Kirsten Spalding - Sa Mateo county union alliance
1:31:44 - John Dowllrimple - San Mateo Union Alliances
1:34:10 - Jim Bitter
1:36:02 - Tim Frank - Director Sustainable Neighborhoods
1:38:17 - Mimi Steel
1:40:15 - Judy Galletti
1:42:40 - Lou Tavares
1:44:24 - Deborah Tavares - Stop the Crime.net
1:46:50 - Jim Bennett
1:49:19 - Celeste Paradise
1:52:13 - Alberta Brierly
1:53:29 - Liz Manning
1:54:28 - Carol Gotstein
1:57:29 - Jose Arellous
1:59:57 - Joel Burnha
2:02:49 ABAG amendments to draft PBA
2:04:30 - Trucks on I-580
2:58:52 - citizens vote of PBA
3:13:41 - HOW THEY VOTED
3:23:56 PUBLIC COMMENTS on amendments to draft PBA
3:24:07 - Hanson Han
3:26:00 - Dave Erlich
3:28:10 - Chris Pareja
3:30:23 - Deborah Tavares
3:32:42 - Jim Bennett
3:37:28 - Starchild
3:40:16 - Jim Bitter
3:41:15 - Celeste Paradise - closing song
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
MARIN COUNTY is about to embark on the biggest high-density housing explosion in its history.
Marin Voice: Plan Bay Area means big changes for Marin
Linda Pfieffer, Sausalito City Council |
MARIN COUNTY is about to embark on the biggest high-density housing explosion in its history. It's called Plan Bay Area.
Yet most residents remain in the dark.
Plan Bay Area sounds good on paper. It aims to reduce Greenhouse Gases (GHG) by building high-density housing near mass transit, claiming it doesn't usurp local zoning control. But the facts tell a different story.
Local city Housing Elements must comply with the Association of Bay Area Government Regional Housing Needs Allocation. SB375 requires RHNA be consistent with Plan Bay Area's Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS).
So local governments are compelled to select RHNA sites near mass transit and allow for compact, high-density, mixed-use development at state-mandated housing sites.
Residents need look no further than the high density housing policies being crafted locally to see Plan Bay Area's influence over local control. Add SB375's streamlining of environmental protection regulations, and Plan Bay Area could give the keys to your neighborhood's open space to big development.
Plan Bay Area also promises to reduce GHGs.
Unfortunately, the plan is based on questionable assumptions regarding job and population growth, and environmental impacts.
For example, the plan's draft EIR doesn't consider California's new "Pavley" higher miles-per-gallon standards or the new federal environmental standards (e.g.54.5 mpg for cars and light trucks), which will reduce car and light truck emissions more than any of Plan Bay Area's alternatives, even if we do nothing.
The DEIR also uses outdated 2005 GHG emissions data.
Plan Bay Area fails to assess water supply and waste treatment systems required for the thousands of new homes planned.
Further, it fails to assess the risks to endangered and protected habitats, such as creek, bay, and wetlands damage from water diversions and drawdowns needed to accommodate the massive development.
The plan's high-density Priority Development Areas border sensitive eco-habitats near neighborhoods with antiquated storm drain, road and sewer infrastructure, high traffic congestion and rising sea levels.
What cumulative impact will water diversions have on wildlife? How will existing water resources supply proposed development? Without considering Marin's water constraints, how can anyone predict the magnitude of adverse impacts of Plan Bay Area?
Plan Bay Area says high density housing projects will have individual EIRs, providing sufficient environmental impact analyses. But EIRs are not required for individual city housing elements, despite constraints like traffic congestion, threatened species, sea level rise and crumbling infrastructure.
And the plan "streamlines" state environmental requirements for PDA developments, so by the time we know the impacts it will be too late.
The plan's projected growth rates for Marin County are unrealistic.
The state Department of Finance projects much lower job and population growth. And the Pitkin-Myers University of Southern California report notes, —... much lower population growth is foreseen" than state population projections.
The plan's GHG projections are flawed.
Research by the Australian Conservation Foundation indicates that the type of development proposed by Plan Bay Area will increase, not decrease. Plan Bay Area's proposed "solutions" for Marin County could produce 2.5 times the GHG emissions of single family home development and three times the GHG emissions of attached, townhouse development.
The plan's conclusion that Transit Oriented Development (TOD) reduces GHG emissions is questionable.
The methodologies used in the draft EIR should be reviewed independently. What primary research on real-world TOD projects, as opposed to simulated scenarios and computer models based on assumptions, were used to assess the accuracy, reliability, and validity of the draft EIR conclusions?
As presented, Plan Bay Area and its environmental review fail to inform the public, elected leaders and key decisions-makers as to Plan Bay Area's true economic, social, and environmental impacts.
Residents have been bombarded with pro-Plan Bay Area material. I encourage residents to read the "other side" at www.CitizenMarin.org
Supervisor Adams is playing hardball in Santa Venetia in 2008
They say you can tell alot about a person by how they treat the people that serve them. Here is a piece about Supervisor Adams in 2008 when she fired an aide for speaking his mind on a local issue of concern in Santa Venetia. Susan Adams wanted to build a new public safety building where the dog park is located next to the civic center. Instead, the Supervisors wisely choose to purchase the Marin Commons located off of Lucas Valley Road and save the county millions.
Do you remember, Susan "Cows not Condos"?
Monday, July 15, 2013
Property owners are "voted" out of their property rights- Warning to West Marin
See related video on Measure D here
A tradition of Marin Conservation is threatened
MARIN COUNTY CAN TRACE the origins of its conservation ethic back more than 100 years.
In 1912, U.S. Congressman William Kent assembled thousands of acres of forested lands on the north slope of Mount Tamalpais to help start the Marin Municipal Water District.
Kent already had donated land to the federal government that became Muir Woods National Monument and helped spearhead formation of the National Park Service. In January 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt signed legislation creating the national monument and preserving the stand of old-growth redwoods. Kent asked that it be named after John Muir.
"Kent's pioneering work in preserving large parts of Mt. Tamalpais as state and national parks laid the groundwork for the purchase of the Point Reyes National Seashore and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area some forty years later," wrote Martin Griffin of Belvedere in his book, "Saving the Marin-Sonoma Coast."
Today, 84 percent of Marin County's 332,800 acres has been either reserved as permanent open space or shielded from development by strict zoning laws. But the county's pristine beauty has faced some grave threats over the years, and there are no guarantees it will endure into the future.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, there were plans to extend Highway 17 from San Rafael across West Marin to Point Reyes National Seashore and to build five sprawling developments that would house 241,000 people.
One of the projects, dubbed Marincello, would have covered the Marin Headlands from the Golden Gate to Fort Cronkhite Beach. The Gulf Oil-backed project called for 16-story apartment houses, town houses, a resort hotel and scores of retail shops and light industrial development. Another project would have built a new city on Tomales Bay with a population of 150,000.
Marincello's supporters on the Marin County Board of Supervisors, which included millionaire developer Ernest Kettenhofen, noted that the project's density had been cut from 5.9 homes per acre to 3.5. Kettenhofen also supported building a parkway on the Bolinas Ridge crossing Mt. Tam from Mill Valley to Olema.
But the tide suddenly turned in 1968, when Peter Arrigoni, a Republican stockbroker who would later become head of the Marin Builders Exchange, ran against Kettenhofen and defeated him handily. Arrigoni, a former Fairfax mayor, became the crucial third vote when Marin County supervisors withdrew their support of Marincello in 1970 and the next year repealed the West Marin General Plan, which envisioned the massive development in Tomales Bay.
"There was a distinct change in the Marin County political climate at that time," Arrigoni said.
The capper came in 1973 when Arrigoni and two fellow supervisors voted to adopt a Countywide Plan that divided the county into three corridors — coastal/recreational, inland/rural and city-centered — and limited development to just the city-centered corridor. Owners of agricultural land were allowed just one house for every 60 acres of property.
Former Supervisor Gary Giacomini, who also cast his vote for the plan, said the A-60 zoning may not have endured if not for the creation in 1980 of the Marin Agricultural Land Trust, which acquires agricultural conservation easements on farmland. MALT has so far permanently protected more than 41,800 acres of land on 66 family farms and ranches.
MALT was the first land trust in the nation to focus on farmland preservation. It was formed by ranchers and environmentalists.
In subsequent years, Giacomini worked with Congressman Philip Burton and others to purchase thousands of acres of Marin coastal land leading to the expansion of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and the Point Reyes National Seashore.
The Countywide Plan also recommended the creation of an open space district to acquire 13 unblemished ridges totaling 21,774 acres. Today, the Marin County Open Space District manages about 18,500 acres of land.
When supervisors updated the Countywide Plan in 2007, they removed more land from the reach of developers by carving out 43,332 low-lying acres from the eastern edge of the city-centered corridor and creating a new bayland corridor.
"That was something that environmental groups had been calling for 15 or 20 years," said Nona Dennis, president of the Marin Conservation League.
At the same time, supervisors limited development on the St. Vincent's School for Boys and Silveira ranchlands north of San Rafael to 30 to 40 acres of the 1,100-acre site. Affordable housing advocates had sought a larger development.
Don Dickenson, a member of the Marin County Planning Commission and board member of the Marin Open Space Trust, sees a need for still more open space acquisitions and says the current economic downturn is creating new opportunities. Dickinson says some property owners who previously proposed development are showing interest in selling their land to organizations such as MOST, which can offer tax benefits.
"The real estate market is so tanked they can't find anyone interested in buying it for real estate development so they're looking at other options," Dickinson said.
Perhaps the biggest threat to the continued preservation of Marin's thousands of acres of undeveloped land is the embattled state of West Marin agriculture. Giacomini says that in the past courts upheld the A-60 zoning because agriculture was a viable industry, but future legal challenges could turn out differently.
"If all these ranches were to fail, you can't keep A-60 because it's a facade," Giacomini said. "It would be like reverse dominoes."
In 1912, U.S. Congressman William Kent assembled thousands of acres of forested lands on the north slope of Mount Tamalpais to help start the Marin Municipal Water District.
Kent already had donated land to the federal government that became Muir Woods National Monument and helped spearhead formation of the National Park Service. In January 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt signed legislation creating the national monument and preserving the stand of old-growth redwoods. Kent asked that it be named after John Muir.
"Kent's pioneering work in preserving large parts of Mt. Tamalpais as state and national parks laid the groundwork for the purchase of the Point Reyes National Seashore and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area some forty years later," wrote Martin Griffin of Belvedere in his book, "Saving the Marin-Sonoma Coast."
Today, 84 percent of Marin County's 332,800 acres has been either reserved as permanent open space or shielded from development by strict zoning laws. But the county's pristine beauty has faced some grave threats over the years, and there are no guarantees it will endure into the future.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, there were plans to extend Highway 17 from San Rafael across West Marin to Point Reyes National Seashore and to build five sprawling developments that would house 241,000 people.
One of the projects, dubbed Marincello, would have covered the Marin Headlands from the Golden Gate to Fort Cronkhite Beach. The Gulf Oil-backed project called for 16-story apartment houses, town houses, a resort hotel and scores of retail shops and light industrial development. Another project would have built a new city on Tomales Bay with a population of 150,000.
Marincello's supporters on the Marin County Board of Supervisors, which included millionaire developer Ernest Kettenhofen, noted that the project's density had been cut from 5.9 homes per acre to 3.5. Kettenhofen also supported building a parkway on the Bolinas Ridge crossing Mt. Tam from Mill Valley to Olema.
But the tide suddenly turned in 1968, when Peter Arrigoni, a Republican stockbroker who would later become head of the Marin Builders Exchange, ran against Kettenhofen and defeated him handily. Arrigoni, a former Fairfax mayor, became the crucial third vote when Marin County supervisors withdrew their support of Marincello in 1970 and the next year repealed the West Marin General Plan, which envisioned the massive development in Tomales Bay.
"There was a distinct change in the Marin County political climate at that time," Arrigoni said.
The capper came in 1973 when Arrigoni and two fellow supervisors voted to adopt a Countywide Plan that divided the county into three corridors — coastal/recreational, inland/rural and city-centered — and limited development to just the city-centered corridor. Owners of agricultural land were allowed just one house for every 60 acres of property.
Former Supervisor Gary Giacomini, who also cast his vote for the plan, said the A-60 zoning may not have endured if not for the creation in 1980 of the Marin Agricultural Land Trust, which acquires agricultural conservation easements on farmland. MALT has so far permanently protected more than 41,800 acres of land on 66 family farms and ranches.
MALT was the first land trust in the nation to focus on farmland preservation. It was formed by ranchers and environmentalists.
In subsequent years, Giacomini worked with Congressman Philip Burton and others to purchase thousands of acres of Marin coastal land leading to the expansion of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and the Point Reyes National Seashore.
The Countywide Plan also recommended the creation of an open space district to acquire 13 unblemished ridges totaling 21,774 acres. Today, the Marin County Open Space District manages about 18,500 acres of land.
When supervisors updated the Countywide Plan in 2007, they removed more land from the reach of developers by carving out 43,332 low-lying acres from the eastern edge of the city-centered corridor and creating a new bayland corridor.
"That was something that environmental groups had been calling for 15 or 20 years," said Nona Dennis, president of the Marin Conservation League.
At the same time, supervisors limited development on the St. Vincent's School for Boys and Silveira ranchlands north of San Rafael to 30 to 40 acres of the 1,100-acre site. Affordable housing advocates had sought a larger development.
Don Dickenson, a member of the Marin County Planning Commission and board member of the Marin Open Space Trust, sees a need for still more open space acquisitions and says the current economic downturn is creating new opportunities. Dickinson says some property owners who previously proposed development are showing interest in selling their land to organizations such as MOST, which can offer tax benefits.
"The real estate market is so tanked they can't find anyone interested in buying it for real estate development so they're looking at other options," Dickinson said.
Perhaps the biggest threat to the continued preservation of Marin's thousands of acres of undeveloped land is the embattled state of West Marin agriculture. Giacomini says that in the past courts upheld the A-60 zoning because agriculture was a viable industry, but future legal challenges could turn out differently.
"If all these ranches were to fail, you can't keep A-60 because it's a facade," Giacomini said. "It would be like reverse dominoes."
Remember Marincello- The City that never was
Our beautiful Marin County has been the leader for smart, sustainable and livable communities. How ironic that the Board of Supervisors has plans to urbanize Marin in the name of "smart growth". We already have our walkable, livable, sustainable community. It is called "home" in Marin.
A film about this episode in Marin's history, "Rebels with a Cause" is now playing in local theaters.
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Former Supervisor Gary Giacominni fights for fairness for West Marin Farmers
See today's story about in the Marin IJ
The Drakes Bay Oyster Farm fight is just the first in a series of challenges that will be faced by West Marin agriculture with Plan Bay Area. The imposition of development penalties and zoning changes could make once valuable farmland worth a mere fraction of it's former value, making farming even more difficult. For a related story about the theft of rural property go here
To many farmers, Plan Bay Area is a pile of ...
If you own Rural land , beware of Priority Conservation Areas
Almost every aspect of Plan Bay Area, imposes draconian government control over of private property.
In Marinwood-Lucas Valley, we are concerned with our Priority Development Area. It will bring 1500-4000 new housing units in the area East of Las Gallinas Ave. In West Marin and other rural areas around the Bay Area, government planners are attempting to add addition land use restrictions on landowners.
For example, a provision will increase minimum lot designations to a minimum 240 acres from the current 60 acres. This will significantly devalue the property by eliminating development rights. They are also proposing development penalties of up to $50,000 per parcel to discourage development. See the link to maps and related story here.
In Marinwood-Lucas Valley, we are concerned with our Priority Development Area. It will bring 1500-4000 new housing units in the area East of Las Gallinas Ave. In West Marin and other rural areas around the Bay Area, government planners are attempting to add addition land use restrictions on landowners.
For example, a provision will increase minimum lot designations to a minimum 240 acres from the current 60 acres. This will significantly devalue the property by eliminating development rights. They are also proposing development penalties of up to $50,000 per parcel to discourage development. See the link to maps and related story here.
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Plan Bay Area adoption set for July 18. Citizens react.
See article here
Posted: 07/12/2013 05:30:31 PM PDT
Updated: 07/12/2013 05:30:32 PM PDT
ORINDA -- A regional plan some Bay Area residents say could lead to overcrowded schools, taxed infrastructure and high-density development in cities struggling to fulfill affordable housing requirements is up for adoption Thursday.
Drafted by One Bay Area, a collaboration of agencies including ABAG and MTC, the highly debated plan envisions how cities in the Bay Area's nine counties can fulfill guidelines outlined in Senate Bill 375. That bill requires the state's 18 metropolitan areas to do their part in cutting down pollution as part of a "Sustainable Communities Strategy." One of the plan's 10 targets, according to One Bay Area's architects, is a 15 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, including those from cars and light duty trucks in the Bay Area by the year 2040; another is housing for the projected population growth in all income levels. Both are mandated by state law.
ABAG executive board president and Napa County supervisor Mark Luce said officials hope to minimize traffic congestion and provide housing choices that benefit everyone.

It is the plan's housing component, in which cities follow state housing element law that requires them to zone housing for all income levels -- but not build it -- that is drawing the ire of many residents in the East Bay. They object to growth forecasts, housing requirements in locations near jobs and transportation, known as "priority development areas," and what they say is a loss of local control.
MTC Chair and Orinda mayor Amy Worth has a different view. "Local control is preeminent in this plan. All the land use and zoning decisions are left solidly with the city council," Worth said.
Earlier this year, Danville residents pushed back on a proposal by city leaders to alter the town's general plan to encourage higher density affordable housing. In March, the city of Corte Madera withdrew its membership from ABAG in response to targets set for affordable and market-rate housing units there.
Discontent with Plan Bay Area has also been growing in Lamorinda, where the group Orinda Watch has held town hall meetings to discuss the plan's potential impacts.
The group is also ratcheting up pressure on the city council to withdraw Orinda's state-mandated housing element identifying where future housing could be accommodated. Orinda residents are decrying a city proposal to double housing density in one location in order to accommodate affordable housing, among other issues.
"The location of housing (in the plan) is not that efficient," said Orinda Watch member Chris Engle. "It's crowding people into multistory developments right next to highways."
There's been less public outcry in neighboring Lafayette, where 1,420 additional households have been projected in the final plan.
Lafayette Vice Mayor Don Tatzin and his council colleagues have pushed back on estimates in the "Regional Housing Numbers Allocation" through correspondence and discussions with ABAG officials. Their persistence has resulted in an adjustment of housing, projected jobs and other numbers officials argued were not realistic.
"If we hadn't paid attention to the (housing) numbers, we wouldn't have gotten the reduction. People have to pay attention and be willing to go back and voice their concerns consistently," Tatzin said.
About $14.6 billion in funding over the Plan's life span is available through the One Bay Area Grant program to support infrastructure in cities with "priority development areas."
Officials say they have held about 250 public meetings and workshops during the three-year planning process.
if you go
What: Plan Bay Area adoption at special meeting of MTC Commission and ABAG executive board
When: 6:30 p.m. Thursday
Where: Oakland Marriott City Center, West Hall, 1001 Broadway St.
Contact: www.mtc.ca.gov; www.abag.ca.gov
When: 6:30 p.m. Thursday
Where: Oakland Marriott City Center, West Hall, 1001 Broadway St.
Contact: www.mtc.ca.gov; www.abag.ca.gov
Special buses are leaving Marin County at 5:30 PM. For details :Get on the Bus, Gus!
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