Homeless Shelters allowed at Marinwood Village and Big Rock Deli

Homeless Shelters allowed at 

Marinwood Village and Big Rock Deli

Editor's Note: After reading the recent remarks from Supervisor Adams and Mayor Phillips concerning their commitment to a homeless shelter in the unincorporated Marin, I contacted the Community Development department at the County of Marin.  I suspect that the old Poor Farm next to Silvera Ranch is a possible location of a permanent homeless shelter and I asked for confirmation or denial.  They responded that WildCare is taking over the facility but suggested that locations at Tam/Almonte are being considered. However, we cannot conclude that a homeless shelter is out of the question at the Poor farm in conjunction with the WildCare facility much like the historic use of the property.  

Effective January 1, 2008, SB 2 (Chapter 633, Statutes of 2007) required every California city and county to engage in a detailed analysis of emergency shelters and transitional and supportive housing in their next Housing Element revision, regulates zoning for these facilities, and broadens the scope of the Housing Accountability Act to include emergency shelters as well as supportive and transitional housing. As part of this bill we are required to establish a zone or zoning districts were a homeless shelter is a principally permitted use. Planned Commercial (CP) and Retail Business  (C1) were selected during the Planning Commissions hearings and were adopted by the Board in January 2012 as part of a package of development code changes.

Below is a table which shows the number of parcels, status, range of uses and locations. Attached is a map of these zoning districts.

Zoning District Analysis for Homeless Shelter

	CP Planned Commercial	C1 Retail Business
Total Parcels	73	18
Vacant	10	4
Publically Owned	18	0
Range of Uses	Commercial, Industrial	Commercial
Locations	Distributed throughout the County. Some weight in Tam Junction	Fairfax, Santa Venetia, Tam Valley