The Board of Supes reviewed and unanimously approved the Draft Housing Element plan on Dec. 9 at a public hearing, which addressed housing needs for unincorporated areas of Marin.
The draft, according to a county press release, includes eight existing sites in unincorporated Marin already zoned for additional housing. “The draft is not a development plan,” the press release reads. “Rather, it identifies opportunities that already exist.”
The 2015-2023 planning period identifies fewer housing units than the previously certified 2007-2014 plan. The 2007-14 plan listed a total of 791 homes necessary to meet the county’s Regional Housing Need Allocation, whereas the approved Housing Element will include 378 units. The total units, the press release reads, will include 221 at the St. Vincent/Silveira property east of Marinwood near San Pablo Bay, and 82 units across Highway 101 at the Marinwood Plaza shopping center site.
“For development on any site to move forward, a specific project has to be pursued by the property owner,” the press release reads. “No homes would be approved or built without land owners and developers being required to submit detailed plans subject to thorough review by the county and public input.”
In order to adjust to this new allocation, the plan will maintain a portion of the eight unincorporated sites in addition to a cut in the number of units listed in these sites.
California state law cites that every city, town and county must adopt a Housing Element as part of its General Plan. The county’s Housing Element has been amended and updated five times since state law went into effect in 1969. In the past two years, the Community Development Agency held 19 public meetings to discuss the housing needs of different income groups within the county. —Janelle Moncada
