Marinwood CSD Board Meeting Packet for 3/08/22

Marin County Supervisor/Planning Commission meeting 3/1/22

My Letter sent the Marin Community Planning and Supervisor Damon Connolly today

 Dear Marin County Supervisors and Community Planning Staff:

The 2022 Marin County Candidates site for Unincorporated Marin and especially Marinwood/ Lucas Valley/Silveria Ranch is absurd.  It targets just 5 square miles with 80% of the housing allocation for affordable housing in one community WITHOUT essential planning for schools, roads, government services, water, sewer and other essential services.

Why "plan to fail"?

Shouldn't a good faith effort to build affordable housing in our community also include a comprehensive plan for accommodating growth?  It doesn't.  This is why it should be rejected today.

Instead, let's address the core questions for growth AND the financial impact of adding massive amount of largely non profit housing to a single community WITHOUT ADDITIONAL TAX BASE.

Marinwood/Lucas Valley currently has approximately 2700 housing units for 6000 residents.  The proposed housing sites could add 2300 apartments and 5500 residents who ALL WILL NEED schools, water, government services, transportation, access to shopping, etc.  Shouldn't a proper plan for growth precede approval for housing?

One of the sites listed is Marinwood Plaza, our communities ONLY commercial plaza within walking distance for thousands of residents.  If the plan for 160 units is approved, this would squeeze out a vital community center to the detriment of all.  This is not including the problem of TOXIC WASTE contamination clean up suitable for residential dwelling is a long way off despite community pressure on the Regional Water Quality Control Board who will not enforce its own clean up orders on the current owners.  

Despite the harsh criticism of the RHNA process, I believe there is a real community desire for more affordable housing in a community that will be planned appropriately,  won't redevelop our neighborhoods and utilize open spaces like Silveira Ranch, St Vincents and other sites. 

While everyone I know supports the idea of more housing, not a single one wants a poorly conceived plan that forces large housing projects without considering the impacts.

Reject the current RHNA plan until a comprehensive community plan with real public input can be drafted.

 

Sincerely,

Stephen Nestel

Marinwood

PS.  The "Balancing Act" tool is NOT a serious tool for community input.  Less than 25% of the homes under consideration were ever included in the database.  I do not find "our database could not handle the data" as a credible reason from the Community Development Department.

If you want REAL success seek REAL community support.

Public comments on the 2023-2031 Marin County Housing Element DRAFT Candidate Housing Sites are due TODAY

 Public comments on the 2023-2031 Marin County Housing Element DRAFT Candidate Housing Sites are due on February 28th!  Marin County Board of Supervisors & Planning Commission will discuss the proposed sites at a joint session on March 1st at 5 PM!

County Staff is asking the Supervisors & Planning Commissioners to do the following at the March 1st joint meeting

SUBJECT: Marin County Housing Element Update

RECOMMENDATION to Supervisors & Commissioners:

1. Receive report on community outreach and feedback received related to candidate housing sites and site scenarios.

2. Review and provide feedback on staff recommendation for candidate housing sites and alternative scenarios that address the State-mandated Regional Housing Need Allocation for housing production for the 2022- 2030 planning period.

Future Housing Sites on Agenda for March 1 County prepares to update long-term plans to meet needs and state mandates San Rafael, CA – A master list of all potential locations in unincorporated Marin County that are under consideration as future housing sites will be the subject of online-only meetings on Marin 1 and March 15. The Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission, which are co-hosting the meetings, will then select sites to be evaluated in an upcoming Housing Element environmental review. During the March meetings, members of the two governing bodies could direct County staff to narrow down the list by eliminating some eligible locations. The March 1 joint session of the Board and Planning Commission will be held as a 5 p.m. videoconference only because of the topic’s high interest in unincorporated neighborhoods and the need to prevent large crowds from congregating due to COVID-19. The Civic Center’s Board chamber will be closed. That session will be a follow-up to December 7 and February 1 joint meetings between the two bodies at which staff from the Marin County Community Development Agency (CDA) presented details about the Housing and Safety Elements, which are required plans to accommodate future housing needs and address climate change. Staff has been hosting community meetings throughout the unincorporated county to share information on candidate sites and gather feedback, which will be shared with the Board and Planning Commission. “Residents in the local workforce struggle to find suitable affordable housing close to their Marin jobs, which leads to longer commutes, negatively affects the environment, and erodes quality of life,” said CDA Deputy Director Leelee Thomas. “We see this as a chance to make marked progress with racial and social equity. At this stage, we are asking our residents to participate in this process and help us identify places where we can add housing within our communities.” The County has been directed to plan for at least 3,569 new housing units in unincorporated areas during the eight-year cycle that begins in 2023. Those must be distributed among all income categories, from extremely low to above moderate. Parcels have been identified as potential housing sites in all areas of the unincorporated county. Land owned by schools, houses of worship, businesses, nonprofits, private owners and the county government is all open for consideration. While housing is allowed in almost all local zoning districts, including commercial, the update to the Housing Element will increase the maximum number of homes allowed in some areas. The consequences of noncompliance with housing requirements could be stiff. If a jurisdiction does not meet its housing goals, it becomes ineligible for state funding to serve local transportation needs and may be subject to statewide streamlining rules, which allow for housing development with limited public review process. California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) has a new division that is designed to enforce accountability with plans to meet housing needs. “It behooves us to listen, collaborate, and come with our own locally designed plan rather than risking state reprimand and losing local control on decisions,” Thomas said. The Housing Element, along with the accompanying Safety Element, needs to be completed by the end of 2022 so it can be submitted to the State of California for approval. This winter, CDA staff is engaging in community discussions, speaking at local homeowners association meetings and design review boards. Three online tools are being used to encourage residents to provide feedback on where housing could be located. Balancing Act allows residents to select sites on a virtual map and watch the allocation numbers change as allotments are distributed from location to location. Atlas allows users to see the potential housing sites and how they relate to information such as population density, environmental constraints, and equity data. The site suggestion map allows the public to suggest a site that is not already on the candidate list. It also displays all candidate sites for public comment. “Our outreach has received positive feedback, and several thousand people have visited the Balancing Act website,” said CDA Senior Planner Jillian Nameth Zeiger. “The meetings with design review boards and other community organizations have allowed us to describe the process, answer questions, and gather a lot of public comment that will be reported back to the Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission. We have more sites on the candidate list than we need for the plan, so we are looking to the public for guidance on where they think we should be planning for more housing. Balancing Act, public comment at meetings, phone calls, and emails are great ways to get involved.” Questions and comments can be emailed to staff and phone inquiries can be made to (415) 473-6269. Regular updates can be found on the Housing and Safety Elements update webpage. For disability accommodations, please phone (415) 473-6358 (voice), CA Relay 711, or e-mail the Community Development staff at least five business days in advance of the event. The County will do its best to fulfill requests received with less than five business days’ notice. Copies of documents are available in alternative formats, upon request. You have subscribed to News Releases & Advisories for Marin County. This information has recently been updated. Visit the Newsroom to view all County news releases. Not all events are sponsored by the County of Marin. County of Marin sponsored events are required to be accessible. If you are a person with a disability and require an accommodation to participate in a County program, service, or activity, requests may be made by calling (415) 473-4381 (Voice), Dial 711 for CA Relay, or by email at least five business days in advance of the event. We will do our best to fulfill requests received with less than five business days’ notice. Copies of documents are available in alternative formats upon request.

Los Ranchitos Housing Element Meeting February 16, 2022

Excellent public comments.  Check out Judy Schriebman at 42:00:00

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.

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

PJ ORouke on Cars and Suburbs

 

Marinwood Resident speaks about ridiculous Affordable Housing Proposal that will DOUBLE our population

Cataylst discussion on Housing Mandates 2/10/2022

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

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.