Excellent public comments. Check out Judy Schriebman at 42:00:00
Saturday, February 19, 2022
Friday, February 18, 2022
Why Marin County is NOT asking your opinion on Housing Sites
Marin County Community Development Director, Leelee Thomas claims that "TOO MANY HOUSING SITES" for "The Balancing Act" tool. They ask for public commentary on a LIMITED NUMBER of potential housing sites. In Lucas Valley Marinwood over 75% of the housing sites are not listed on the tool. This appears to be complete B.S. and a cause for worry.
Have you every heard of a modern database that can only handle 550 records but 2300 records would crash the servers?
I think it is obvious that the Marin County Community Development department do not want to alert the public about the massive changes about to take place in their neighborhoods. This video clip was taken from the Marin City presentation on February 16, 2022 https://youtu.be/2GHdSFf26QE The 2022 RHNA proposal for Unincorporated Marin is absurd.
In another attempt to sound logical, Marin County Community Development Director indicates that low income housing will be concentrate in wealthy suburbs presumed to be racist and exclusionary. They are called "high opportunity areas".
Marin County Community Development Director promotes the lie that George Lucas could not get development because of neighborhood resistance. In fact, the project proposed moving a creek and had other environmental hazards that were hidden from regulators in an attempt to get the project approved. The developers were caught and, the development proposal died to avoid inevitable legal trouble.
The Community Development Director implies that it was "white people in Lucas Valley" that stopped the development. The is emphatically not true. In fact, many neighbors in Lucas Valley supported the project before the environmental problems were revealed. Most thought housing is better located near the highway on Silviera Ranch and St Vincents. Marin County has prohibited development on Silviera Ranch. We have much higher diversity here than most other districts in Marin including the one where the Community Development director lives.
Thursday, February 17, 2022
Why Very Low Income Housing will be Located in Lucas Valley and Marinwood
Why Very Low Income Housing will be Located in Lucas Valley and Marinwood
In this clip from the Marin County Community Development workshop, Leelee Thomas, Director explains the reasons behind locating very low income housing in middle income areas like Lucas Valley and Marinwood. Our neighborhood is designated to receive 80% of all very low income housing developments for unincorporated Marin. Wealthy areas of Marin are deemed "impractical" for this housing. Lucas Valley currently has approximately 2700 and may receive 2300+ new tax subsidized apartments as the result of our current Regional Housing Needs Assessment.(RHNA). Of course the real reason is that we are without a local political leadership and it is easy to foist this upon us. Real world concerns for water, infrastructure, schools, traffic are NOT ADDRESSED. It is an absurd plan and much more public discussion needs to take place. The full workshop video here https://youtu.be/2GHdSFf26QE
Wednesday, February 16, 2022
Tuesday, February 15, 2022
Marin housing mandate opponents map resistance strategy
Marin housing mandate opponents map resistancestrategy
A crew works on a
townhome development on Redwood Boulevard near Wood Hollow Drive in Novato on
Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal)
By RICHARD
HALSTEAD | rhalstead@marinij.com |
Marin Independent Journal
PUBLISHED: February 14, 2022 at 6:43
p.m. | UPDATED: February 14, 2022 at 7:15 p.m.
A
core group of Marin’s staunchest density opponents is strategizing ways to
challenge state housing mandates.
Catalysts
for Local Control, founded by Mill Valley resident Susan Kirsch, held a
teleconference meeting attended by about 36 people on Thursday. The statewide
organization’s stated mission is to promote “affordable housing while
preserving single-family zoning, the environment and reliable infrastructure.”
Featured
speakers included Sharon Rushton of Mill Valley, chairperson of Sustainable
TamAlmonte; Frank Egger, the seven–time mayor of Fairfax known for his battles
with developers; and Stephen Nestel, a community activist from Marinwood.
Kirsch
said that Marin City Community Services District chairman Damian Morgan was set
to speak but was unable to attend.
The
purpose of the meeting was to discuss ways of pushing back against an edict
from the Association of Bay Area Governments requiring Marin County and its
municipalities to create 14,405 new residences between 2023 and 2031.
“This
is more than the current number of homes in Mill Valley and Sausalito
combined,” Rushton said.
During
the previous cycle from 2015 to 2023, Marin jurisdictions were assigned a 2,298
residences.
Every
eight years, the state Department of Housing and Community Development projects
how much new housing will be needed in the Bay Area to accommodate expected
population and job growth.
The
Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) then decides how many of those homes
to assign to each county and municipality in the region. Local jurisdictions
are required to adjust zoning laws to make the creation of that amount of
housing possible.
Under
SB 35, which was signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2017, any municipality
or county that fails to build the amount of housing assigned to it by the
Association of Bay Area Governments is subject to a streamlined approval
process for new housing projects, which removes virtually all local control.
Another
new state law, Senate Bill 9, gives property owners the right to build
duplexes, and in some cases four homes, in most single-family-home neighborhoods.
New
state housing laws are already playing out in Marin. A five-story, 74-apartment
complex in Marin City was approved under a streamlined process in 2020. At last
count, the developer of the project, AMG & Associates LLC of Encino, was
working on eight projects that qualify for SB 35 protections.
“California
housing policy has been supporting Wall Street investor wealth but not
mainstream wage earners,” Kirsch said. “It is harming our neighborhoods and
communities and the American Dream.”
Kirsch
cited a study by the Palo Alto-based Embarcadero Institute as evidence that the
ABAG housing assignments are inflated. The study contends that this cycle’s
estimated need for new housing, calculated using a new approach mandated by yet
another new state law, Senate Bill 828, mistakenly double counted the actual
need.
Groups
such as California YIMBY and YIMBY Law dispute this argument, asserting that
the Embarcadero Institute’s problem with the numbers is a political one, not a
technical one.
Regardless,
Kirsch said one of the actions that members of the public should take if they
believe the housing assignments are unreasonable is to contact Assemblyman Marc
Levine, D-Greenbrae, or state Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, and demand an
audit of the housing need estimate.
Rushton
said, “These unrealistic housing allocations are setting jurisdictions up to
fail. Marin’s crisis in housing is not in quantity but in affordability.”
Ruston
asked meeting attendees for their help in gathering signatures to get the Our
Neighborhood Voices Initiative on the ballot. The proposed ballot measure would
neutralize state housing laws such as SB 9 by mandating that city and county
land-use and zoning laws override all conflicting state laws, except in certain
special circumstances.
The
Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), which is the equivalent
of ABAG in Southern California, voted 32 to 12 to endorse the measure. SCAG’s
jurisdiction spans six counties — Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San
Bernardino and Ventura — and 191 cities.
Rushton
said she is also putting together a local petition to urge local government
representatives to actively resist the housing mandates.
For
example, she wants them to oppose the Marin Community Development Agency’s decision
to identify 15% to 30% more housing sites than the 3,569 it has been assigned
for the unincorporated area, as a buffer in case other sites don’t pan out.
Egger
emphasized the risk inherent in building in many areas of Marin due to the risk
of wildland fires and sea-level rise.
“Everyone
wants to blame Pacific Gas and Electric for all the fires, but local agencies
are approving development in ‘wildland urban interface’ areas,” Egger said. “If
they are forcing these units to be built in WUI zones, what is going to happen
when they burn up and when we burn up? We need to put the elected officials and
agencies on notice for the liability.”
Nestle, however, said, “The time for persuasion of the decision makers is pretty much over. We citizens need to seize the day and force our local and state officials to reconsider what they’re doing. I hate to say it. I’m the passionate one. I would be like the truckers in Canada.”
Save Marinwood Note: Despite the breathless headline that implies that we are all against housing, it is not true. We are for RESPONSIBLE community planning. It is very apparent that Marin County has not considered the full impact on infrastructure, water, schools, government services and taxes with their massive growth plans. Unlike previous Housing Elements, if we fail to have housing built, developers will get their projects approved WITHOUT ANY LOCAL PLANNING. It is absurd.
D
Monday, February 14, 2022
Housing Element Workshop 2/10/22 for Marinwood/Lucas Valley
You should be aware that there were many chat comments/questions which do not appear in the video. It is not an accident. People are concerned with schools, traffic, concentration of housing, water, government services, taxes and more. Marinwood/Lucas Valley is being assigned 80% of all very low income housing units for Unincorporated Marin County. The Housing Element plan is absurd.
Friday, February 11, 2022
Housing Element Workshop January 20, 2022
This is the county version of the January 20th Workshop. Notice that they do not publish the "Break Out Sessions" where community members expressed their concerns with the plans. Marin County does not seem to want to tell us the complete picture. Their citizen feedback tool "The Balancing Act" omits 75% of the projected housing for Marinwood/Lucas Valley. The real numbers were produced a week AFTER this public presentation.
No meaningful public feedback has been allowed on this presentation. Let's hope they do a better job with the February 10th meeting for Marinwood/Lucas Valley. We will see.
Thursday, February 10, 2022
Comments on the Marin Housing Element for Marinwood/Lucas Valley
Marinwood/Lucas Valley has approximately 6000 residents in 2700 homes.
Marin County Community Development Department is considering adding 2248 low income apartments throughout the community of single family homes effectively DOUBLING the population of our community.
Affordable housing typically is owned by non profit corporations who pay little or no taxes for basic community services, infrastructure upgrades and police/fire.
In addition, some of the identified sites are designated as homeless shelters.
We may need to build three additional schools, increase our water and sewage capacity without the additional tax base or land. The burden of doubling our community size will rest with existing taxpayers.
80% of all low income housing units for unincorporated Marin will be located within our 5 square mile neighborhood.
Due to new housing laws for 2022, if these homes are not built by developers during the following eight years, Marin County will be sued by the State of California and developers will be given "by right" permission to build their projects without county oversight..
The plan is wildly impractical. It ignores legitimate concerns over water, congestion, city services and penalizes our community for the actions of developers outside of our control.
The law is absurd and must be fought so a realistic plan for growth can occur. We actually do have property on St. Vincents/Silveira Ranch which is ideally suited for development. An environmentally sensitive project could be located there with a combination of low income and market rate homes that can generate tax revenues and space for schools.
We need a plan of smart, environmentally responsible development not a hodge podge of high density apartments which will cause problems with infrastructure, traffic and government services.
Join us for our initiative to Save Marinwood.
Stephen Nestel
==============================
Key points
1.) Marin County Community Development plan is wildly unrealistic
2.) Marin County RHNA plan concentrates housing on one tiny community.
It will burden 5 square miles in Marinwood/Lucas Valley with 80% of all low income apartments of unincorporated Marin. This area represents less than 1% of unincorporated Marin County.
3.) Alternative, available site available at St Vincents' and Silviera Ranch which could be mixed income.
4.) We need to advocate for positive, practical community planning that will make our community stronger.
Wednesday, February 9, 2022
Clean Up Marinwood Plaza Committee at RWQCB 2/8/22
Clean Up Marinwood Plaza Now! Committee and Mary Sackett speak to the California Regional Water Quality Control Board on Feb 9. 2022 about the ongoing delays in the clean up of Prosperity Cleaners in Marinwood. They agree to put the issue before the board at the next meeting.
Monday, February 7, 2022
Citizens Discuss housing element on Zoom 2/10 at 5 PM.
YOU'RE INVITED!
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