A draft list of potential housing sites raised some unexpected new opportunities for West Marin to meet the state’s goals. In a list released last week, the county identified more than 75 properties on the coast that could add nearly 1,000 new housing units if they were rezoned and developed. The wide-ranging list includes public facilities, vacant lots, schools and churches, and commercial and residential lots identified as
underutilized.
“The goal was to come up with a giant list so that there’s some flexibility,” said Leelee Thomas, the county’s deputy director of housing and federal grants.
The list, compiled by private land use planning firm M.I.G., includes some sites already being planned, like the Coast Guard development in Point Reyes
Station.
But many of its suggestions will likely surprise locals, and some seemed off-target to housing advocates who said the list didn’t include their
recommendations.
In the next decade, state housing goals require Marin and its towns to plan for more than 14,200 new units, of which roughly half must be affordable and around a quarter must be in unincorporated areas. Planning for those units does not mean developing them; rather, the county must demonstrate a capacity for them by proactively rezoning land. County planners must approve projects that are consistent with the housing element—the state-reviewed portion of the countywide plan that deals with housing development—as long as they don’t pose a threat to public safety or exceed the state’s goals.
“We set the table,” Ms. Thomas said. “We’re putting everything there, and then the property owners need to work with developers.”
The possibilities to build more homes in coastal Marin are few and far between, so state officials have looked primarily to the 101 corridor for their ambitious allocations in Marin. The new list contains more than 100 sites in eastern unincorporated Marin, and the county’s city and town governments are planning for more than 10,000 units altogether.
If the county doesn’t meet its housing needs allocation, which is 20 times larger than the 2015-2022 cycle, it risks losing state funding or even being sued by the state. In June, the county joined several Marin municipalities in appealing the state’s allocation, arguing the mandate didn’t account for hazards caused by climate change, the amount of Marin’s protected agricultural landscape and the uncertainty of future water supplies. But the state denied the appeal in October, and the county remains bound to plan for 3,569 units by 2031. It must finalize its housing element by the end of 2022.
Though Marin and the state have encouraged the creation of accessory dwelling units by waiving fees and loosening permitting restrictions, the county is falling short on its allocation, especially for affordable units. So county staff, in collaboration with M.I.G., conducted a zoning analysis of unincorporated Marin to identify opportunities for more density. In West Marin, which is constrained not only by zoning but also by farmland easements that prevent development, the list mainly focused on village core areas, though there are some exceptions.
A large parcel at the foot of White’s Hill in the San Geronimo Valley, owned by the Tamalpais Union High School District and once slated for a high school, could house up to 98 new above-moderate-income units, according to M.I.G. The Nicasio yard used by the county’s Department of Public Works could become 16 low-income units. The Cottages at Point Reyes Seashore could be turned into 96 moderate-income units.
County and state-owned land can provide development opportunities that don’t rely on private landowners, and the county identified 74 potential units on public sites in West Marin, the majority of which would be for low-income renters. The Nicasio yard is one example.
In Point Reyes Station, a parcel of county-owned land in the E.A.H. subdivision on Giacomini Road could host 37 more units of low-income housing. Down the street, the county park that’s home to Toby’s Playground and the public restrooms could accommodate nine moderate-income units. In Inverness, a small, fenced county lot on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, on Ottinger’s Hill at the entrance of the seashore, could fit 12 above-moderate-income units.
Religious institutions and schools could also use the land they own to house people, M.I.G. found. While remaining on the land, Sacred Heart Catholic Church, the Point Reyes Community Presbyterian Church, the San Geronimo Community Presbyterian Church and Tomales’s Church of the Assumption could all house people by splitting up their parking areas or yards. Sacred Heart in Olema has the most potential: The list showed it could create 24 low-income units.
Schools also have some flexibility to create housing. An array of Tomales parcels owned by the Shoreline Unified School District, which housed the original school and now provides parking for buses and the history center, was identified in the list.
M.I.G. and county staff also singled out a large number of private residential and commercial properties across West Marin, including stores with no plans to close and homes whose owners haven’t expressed interest in building housing. Nearly all of Balmoral Way in Inverness, an unpaved road on the mesa that dead-ends above the bay, made the list, only because its lots are large compared to the houses.
The single largest category of candidate units in M.I.G.’s list was underutilized nonresidential, which included many properties in the village cores of West Marin.
Much of downtown Inverness and Olema could see more development, M.I.G found. The Dixon Marine Services and Inverness Store properties could each fit 10 middle-income units, and the opposite property that houses the post office and Saltwater Oyster Depot could fit eight similar units. Eight commercial properties in downtown Olema could each accommodate some moderate or low-income housing, including the Olema House hotel, with nine low-income units, and the two lots immediately north of it, which could add up to 19 moderate-income units. The Druid’s Hall and Hotel Olema across the road could also fit a handful of low-income units.
In Point Reyes Station, M.I.G. found the Green Barn could fit two dozen low-income units, and the Point Reyes Roadhouse property near the corner of Highway 1 and Levee Road could accommodate 26. In Stinson Beach, the firm found an opportunity for eight moderate-income units on the post office property.
The list of residential and commercial lots appeared arbitrary and incomplete to some affordable housing proponents. Local land trusts, the groups that have the most interest in creating affordable housing in West Marin, gave input but did not get to select the sites that made the list.
“It’s a little insulting to me that they hire a company to do something but the company doesn’t call the people who know,” said Arianne Dar, the executive director of the Bolinas Community Land Trust. She acknowledged that the list was an important undertaking but pointed out a few problems with the properties it identified in Bolinas.
For one thing, Ms. Dar said, the Bolinas Community Park on Wharf Road, identified as a site for seven moderately priced units, should remain open space. And the choice of the Bolinas hardware store’s property as a candidate for nine affordable housing units was a mistake, she said, as the land is likely unsuitable for more development and the owner was not involved.
“It’s wrong for them to include private lands where nobody’s expressed an interest,” Ms. Dar said. “It’s one thing if it’s public land. It’s quite another if its somebody’s private parcel.”
Kai Bowen, who works at the store, said housing was not an option for the property. “Whoever made that list didn’t do too much research,” he said.
When the county identifies a candidate site that is privately owned, Ms. Thomas said, “the owner doesn’t necessarily know. If we zoned it to potentially have housing there, it would just be an option for them or future owners. It doesn’t change the existing use.”
Meanwhile, Ms. Dar wondered why multiple properties her land trust had suggested to the county in the past did not make the list, including the BCPUD building, a parcel on Poplar Road and a Brighton Avenue home where a senior is eager to develop more rental units. “Why not go for the low-hanging fruit?” Ms. Dar asked.
At least one parcel on the list, a vacant lot that is part of the Tacherra ranch, is already on the trust’s radar. The land trust’s biggest project, the mixed-use development next door to Smiley’s, has secured its coastal permit, so the county is already crediting its eight affordable units to its housing goal.
Many of the Community Land Trust Association of West Marin’s recommendations did make it onto the list, but deputy director Stacey Laumann said there were a few missed opportunities.
“Some of the sites in Point Reyes Station make a lot of sense,” Ms. Laumann said, including the county park site off Toby Street, a vacant lot behind Walnut Place at B and Sixth Streets, and the Grandi building. But she added the West Marin School campus to the list of sites the county should be considering, and said West Marin would benefit from affordable housing specifically aimed at farm workers and those employed by the tourist industry, categories the housing element list doesn’t specifically address.
Ms. Laumann also said it was vital for the county to look at the constraints to housing when identifying potential opportunities. Without new programs to help manage water and septic needs, and more funds to help trusts acquire expensive private land, CLAM will continue to face major roadblocks to new housing around Tomales Bay, she said.
Ms. Thomas said that beyond rezoning, the update to the housing element will include programs meant to address these constraints and will tap into state and federal funding for affordable housing projects. This year, Marin expects to receive and match more than $1 million from the state to award to affordable housing developers.
The county will hear community input on the proposed housing sites at a West Marin-specific Zoom meeting on Feb. 16 at 6 p.m. In the meantime, residents can provide feedback by using the online Balancing Act tool to pick from candidate housing sites and create their own maps that meet the state’s requirements. In March, county planners will bring a short list of options to the Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission.
To view the map of potential sites, visit bit.ly/3g3X576. To use the mapping tool, go to bit.ly/3G2b3kp.