A hearing last week offered a glimpse into the changes Marin County elected officials could make to housing policy, and the challenges they face, as they update the eight-year plan known as the Housing Element. The most high-profile aspect of the planning process so far has been the list of potential sites for nearly 4,000 new units in unincorporated areas. But both the county and the public have questioned the likelihood that many of these sites will be developed, and much of the Housing Element’s strength lies elsewhere—in new policies and programs designed to encourage more housing development, protect tenants, regulate vacation rentals and make homeownership available to more renters.
“We can argue about those numbers, that the allocation may be too high, and we know that the probability of developing all that housing is probably nonexistent,” Supervisor Katie Rice said last Tuesday at a joint meeting of the Board of Supervisors and the Planning Commission. “But we all agree that we do not have the housing stock we need as a community to support our current residents today, let alone a healthy, vibrant, inclusive community going forward.”
Supervisor Dennis Rodoni agreed, telling the Light: “This discussion of policies and programs is as important as the housing sites.”
The county will release a draft of the Housing Element, including a final list of sites for rezoning and a set of programs and policies, in July. An environmental review will follow, and by December, Marin will adopt the new plan. In the meantime, the county is mandated to identify opportunities for more housing, gather community feedback and discuss the results with supervisors and planning commissioners.
Recent state laws will dictate many of Marin’s new policies. Assembly Bill 686, passed in 2018, strengthens requirements that public agencies combat patterns of racial segregation and discrimination. Because people of color are more likely to be renters, the Housing Element will need to fortify tenant protections. Just-cause eviction restrictions, which now only apply to multi-family buildings, may be extended to smaller units like houses and accessory dwelling units. The fair housing bill all but prohibits Marin—the whitest and most segregated county in the Bay Area—from adding any preference for locals to new housing, despite the suggestions of some public commenters. This means that opportunities for workforce-specific housing are limited, though exceptions exist for farm workers and their families.
Two other recent laws also put pressure on Marin. Senate Bill 9 streamlines the process of splitting residential lots, and Senate Bill 35 can take away local control for project approval if a county fails to meet its housing goals.
West Marin, with its sparse development and heavy tourism, faces a particular set of challenges to building housing. Representatives from local groups like the Environmental Action Committee of West Marin and the Point Reyes Station Village Association have expressed alarm about the sites proposed for the coast, arguing that the state’s allocation doesn’t fit the community’s character and needs. Instead, they suggest more creative strategies that revolve around regulating existing units.
Leelee Thomas, the county’s top housing official, said that since West Marin’s unique constraints will preclude development at many of the potential rezoning sites, future housing on the coast will depend on new county policy. “The programs and policies are one of the areas where there’s going to be room for us to facilitate development for West Marin that works for West Marin,” she said.
S.B. 9 and S.B. 35 don’t apply in any of the county’s coastal villages because those bills are superseded by the Coastal Act. The California Coastal Commission, charged with enforcing that act by protecting coastal resources and public access, can be an obstacle to the development of more housing. “For the most part, none of [the Housing Element] aligns with the Coastal Act,” Supervisor Rodoni told the Light. “We may see some legislation to solve that issue. I feel strongly that the coastal region needs to build some affordable housing.”
Visitation on the coast brings a variety of other obstacles to affordable housing. Public comments from West Marin residents focused heavily on the impacts of short-term rentals: how they squander spaces that could be affordable homes and how any new development should be restricted to prevent conversion into vacation rentals. About 10 percent of properties in West Marin are used as short-term rentals, according to a county analysis. Some are owned by real estate investment companies.
“Many communities along the coast have put a cap on short-term rentals and looked at limiting them over time,” said Albert Straus, founder and C.E.O. of Straus Family Creamery, who spoke at an earlier hearing on programs and policies. “These are residential zones that are being used for commercial purposes and being bought up by corporations. My question is, how is that allowable, how is that legal, and why isn’t the county doing anything to support our community?”
Ms. Thomas said the Housing Element update will instruct the county to consider the impacts of short-term rentals, raising the opportunity for a future ordinance that could sharply limit new vacation units. “I would expect it to be a wider thing, up to and including a moratorium,” she said. Less drastic solutions could involve a cap on new short-term rentals based on a percentage or lottery system. Similar limits have been approved by the coastal commission elsewhere in California.
Another issue cited by many locals is the prevalence of vacant second or third homes, but the idea of a tax on vacant homes received mixed reviews from supervisors and commissioners. Although Vancouver and Oakland have successfully levied such fees, Supervisor Rodoni raised doubts about the efficacy of taxation. “It sounds nice, but at the end of the day it doesn’t produce much housing,” he said. “I’m much more in favor of, if you have a property that’s vacant, maybe an incentive to build an ADU on the property for permanent housing.”
Few solutions exist for the challenges posed by septic systems, which West Marin largely relies upon. But Pam Dorr, the executive director of the Community Land Trust Association of West Marin, proposed a policy solution at a public workshop last month: the county could allow for prescriptive, reproducible septic systems for certain geographic areas with similar soils, so that each property owner could rely on the same set design. CLAM is also pursuing an innovative recycled wastewater system at its 50-unit Coast Guard development, Ms. Dorr said, and she commended the Bolinas Community Land Trust’s pilot program that funds the septic upgrades necessary for low-income Big Mesa residents to build new ADUs.
But in the long term, Ms. Dorr said, West Marin needs a broader solution. “Eventually moving from septic to sewer really would make some sense,” she told the Light. “The fear is around development, but it’s probably the responsible thing to do for our environment.”
Ms. Dorr cited another fundamental barrier to affordable housing development in West Marin: money. Coastal villages need housing models that are less dense than those in urban areas, and low-income housing tax credits only kick in for developments with 50 or more units. Other than the Coast Guard, CLAM’s work centers on taking small properties off the speculative market, and there are few funding opportunities for these purchases.
“Without some support on the policy side, we’re not going to be able to do our work,” Ms. Dorr said. “Right now we’re stuck trying to go out and fundraise for every single home we buy.”
As the county hears input on future policies, the potential housing sites list has narrowed to its latest form. Several of the most controversial properties have disappeared, including nine potential units at the Bolinas hardware store and a 98-home development near White’s Hill in Woodacre. Meanwhile, three new sites in the San Geronimo Valley proposed by Supervisor Rodoni have been added, intended to replace the former golf course property now owned by the Trust for Public Land: St. Cecilia’s Catholic Church in Lagunitas, a residential lot next to the Forest Knolls trailer park and the county fire station in Woodacre, whose operations may eventually move to the former golf course clubhouse.
An environmental impact report on the housing sites list began this month, examining how proposed development might affect nearby traffic, schools and quality of life, and be vulnerable when faced with environmental hazards. A draft will be available to the public in August.