“For more than 50 years, the County has relied on collaborative community planning. It is unfortunate to witness some community planning bedrocks being modified...ultimately taking the first steps at wrestling away local planning. ”
The County of Marin Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted multiple changes to the Countywide Plan (CWP) with the approval of the Housing and Safety Elements and accompanying Environmental Impact Report, zoning and density changes, form-based code, and housing overlay districts on January 24th.
The vote concluded more than a year's worth of effort by the County and community members in the controversial update to the Housing Element that is required by the State of California every eight years.
We were not surprised by the outcome of the Board of Supervisors meeting–despite the Planning Commission's disapproval of the Housing Element on January 5th–due to the severe penalties the County would face if the plan was not submitted on time.
For more than a year, we participated in the public process advocating for:
Supporting Smart Growth Aligned with Plan Bay Area 2050 and Marin’s Countywide Plan
Supporting the Integrity of Adaptive Planning
Supporting Residential Housing
Supporting Proactive and Long-Term Planning for the 2030 Housing Element Update
While we need additional affordable residential housing in coastal Marin County, the placement of housing is a careful balance of people and place that was overlooked in the initial planning stages.
Where Our Advocacy Made a Difference
Despite our displeasure with the final outcome of much of the Housing Element, we would be remiss if we failed to acknowledge the impact of our advocacy that ultimately influenced the outcomes of the final Housing Element.
Protecting A-60 Zoning
“Habitat loss is a long game and difficult to notice as it takes place slowly, one seemingly insignificant development at a time, but when you add it all up, the impact is devastating. Once habitat is fragmented, subdivided, and paved…it’s gone.”
In January 2022, the County released a list of potential sites that included 560 acres of A-60 zoned parcels to rezone to accommodate the development of more than 425 housing units. This was the first time the County had ever proposed rezoning A-60 parcels other than minor administrative changes.
We worked diligently to identify the parcels that would set the worst precedent for urban sprawl and succeeded in convincing the Supervisors to remove more than 266 acres from development consideration.
The remaining acreage is mostly consolidated to the Buck Center parcel, north of Novato, which was difficult to remove as it is directly along Highway 101 and public transportation, reducing greenhouse gas impacts.
A-60 zoning is not an entitlement to agriculture, this zoning is one of the bedrocks of Marin County planning that helped safeguard 136,000 acres of agricultural lands that were slated for subdivision and development in the 1960s.
The fact that the County opened the door to rezoning A-60 parcels creates a slippery slope for rollbacks in the future that would only in urban sprawl development. Learn more about A-60 zoning here.
A-60 Sites and Final Outcomes:
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The most egregious urban sprawl parcels were located just outside Novato’s urban growth boundary.
Our advocacy to remove this site from consideration was successful.
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Though this site was not removed from the final site list, the rezoning of A-60 was constrained to a few acres along Lucas Valley Road.
This location was challenging to remove from consideration due to its location to adjacent suburban neighborhoods, services, and its proximity along a transit corridor and nearness to Highway 101.
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The largest remaining A-60 site is located overlooking Highway 101 with the greatest number of potential housing units. This site was difficult to remove due to its location and high number of potential housing units that would need to be moved to other sites throughout unincorporated Marin.
Unfortunately, this site sets the stage for future urban creep north along Highway 101 if in 8 years the County receives another set of high housing allocations.
Fortunately, this site is constrained by open space and park lands on multiple sides and may be challenging for development to take place due to lack of public infrastructure and geologic history of landslides.
Protecting Sensitive Habitat Areas & Issues with By-Right Development
“The coast is never saved, it’s always being saved.”
The initial list of sites included multiple locations inappropriate for development along shorelines, wetlands, creeks, and other environmentally sensitive habitat areas. Throughout the public process, we expressed concerns and lobbied for locations near sensitive habitat areas to be removed from consideration.
While some of the most egregious sites were removed, many sites still remain. Ultimately, we remain concerned about parcels near sensitive habitat areas that will become eligible for by-right or ministerial permitting in 8 years.
We raised these concerns at every public meeting and in all of our written comments. Fortunately, our concerns did not fall on deaf ears as our concerns were shared by the Planning Commissioners. The County attempted to create solutions by adding mitigations and requirements into the programmatic Environmental Impact Report that would trigger an environmental reviews and they updated form-based code standards.
By-right development concerns and next steps:
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Locations in the final list of sites are eligible for by-right or ministerial development in 8 years.
This means that these locations will not have to meet California Environmental Quality Act or CEQA requirements and bypass local discretionary planning controls, like the Planning Commission.
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Based on the sheer number of locations identified by the County there are more than 150 sites that are eligible for this status in 8-years.
Essentially, developers would complete a checklist for the proposed development that requires adherence to all development codes and environmental regulations.
Unfortunately, there is a loophole, if a habitat or species was not identified in the programmatic Environmental Impact Report, those regulations would not apply and there would not be a remedy for a community member to flag the issue at a Planning Commission meeting.
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Thankfully, the California Coastal Act. In the Coastal Zone which encompasses much of unincorporated coastal Marin County, the Coastal Act still applies and may not be subverted by by-right or ministerial permitting.
We all have our work cut out in the coming years to fend off additional attacks to weaken the California Coastal Act, which seem to be increasing in number.
Protecting Residential Housing
“Since the 1960s, coastal Marin County communities have pushed back on plans that would have converted residential communities into vacation communities. As a 5th generation Marin County resident raised in West Marin, lack of residential housing for my generation is a challenge that is displacing working families from the places they grew up. It’s essential to ensure we have vibrant and diverse residential communities for our current and future generations and the health and viability of our public schools, public services, non-profits, and public lands. ”
The state is selling the Housing Element updates as a win to help alleviate the lack of affordable residential housing. Unfortunately, without programs and policies in place to ensure new housing remains as residential housing, all these plans will achieve is building new houses to be converted into vacation and short-term rentals in the coastal villages.
We are already experiencing the impact of the County’s lack of regulation of short-term rentals for long-term renters and workforce community. There’s a reason there are now community land-trusts in almost every unincorporated village working to protect affordable and equitable residential housing. Strong policies and programs are long past due in Marin County. We have to deal with the source of the problem, not the outcomes of the lack of regulation.
We raised concerns throughout this process and continue to support policies and programs that will ensure any new housing from these plans will be protected for the residential community.
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The County included programs in the plans to ensure developed affordable housing is deed restricted and is currently working on a short-term rental ordinance to regulate the short-term vacation rental market.
This is a long time coming and is a very important first step to find a pathway forward in this area. Several coastal communities and popular destination communities have already put these types of regulations into place with great success for short-term operators and residents.
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Support the County’s efforts to implement the Short-Term Rental Ordinance by participating in the community meetings. Currently, the meetings are mostly attended by operators of Short-Term Rentals advocating for continued lack of regulation.
Visit the Short-Term Rental Page and sign up for alerts. Be sure to send your support of regulations by attending the meetings or writing an email.
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There is a lot of confusion out there. Over the next two years, the County is working to update the County’s Short Term Rental Ordinance to improve the availability of middle-and lower-income housing in the West Marin Area, while maintaining existing coastal access.
Several coastal communities and popular destination communities have already put these types of regulations into place with great success for short-term operators and residents.
There are common sense approaches to these policies. For example, limiting the number of units an operator can have in a community (to discourage removal of multiple residential units by one owner), requiring the owner occupy the rental for a period of time during the year, or owner occupied primary residence with an accessory rental unit.
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Prioritize housing supply and affordability, and consider regulations in light of their effects on the cost and availability of housing within individual communities.
Advance equity in access to economic opportunities, services and activities.
Recognize that Marin County has historically provided vacation opportunities to the greater Bay Area region and State.
Distinguish among types of Short Term Rental operations and operators, e.g., hosted and unhosted, single and multiple ownerships, etc.
Develop regulations that are clear, affordable, simple, and enforceable (C.A.S.E).
Assure that short term rentals are good neighbors considering noise, parking, trash and other neighborhood quality of life concerns.
What’s Next?
In the end, the work is not done, as the County just paved the way for more development than it has seen in decades. All the sites on the final site list are eligible for by-right or ministerial permitting in 8 years, and the landscape at the California legislature is leaning towards, Yes In My Backyard (otherwise known as “YIMBY”) or pro-development.
This means the toolbox of the last 50 years that has ensured smart, proactive, and collaborative development planning in Marin County that includes reliance on community plans and discretionary local planning control is at risk.
The state will be tracking barriers to development, barriers that can be shifted into opportunities for development may be on the table through legislative and regulatory changes.
We anticipate additional work tracking on these development policy and legislative changes this year. The next 10 years will require vigilance or ballot action to maintain local control for communities, while also supporting programs and policies for residential and affordable housing in our coastal communities.
Learn More:
January 24, 2023, County of Marin Housing Element Presentation
January 24, 2023, County of Marin Environmental Impact Report Presentation
