Dear Friends and Neighbors: 

We want to express our gratitude to all of you who have contributed to the Friends of Hauke Park legal fund, and thank you for all the letters of appreciation. If you have not yet contributed, we gently urge you to do so as soon as possible. We can only mount a robust legal challenge with full support from the neighborhood, and we need to act NOW to have any hope of downsizing the high-density housing project proposed for 1 Hamilton Drive. 

We respectfully ask for a contribution of $1000 per household, but we gratefully accept contributions of any amount, including a downpayment on a pledge.  To donate, please mail or deliver a check, made out to "Friends of Hauke Park,” c/o David Wygant, 108 Kipling Dr, Mill Valley, CA 94941. 

What is the Status of the 1 Hamilton Project?   The City has begun soliciting developers to design, construct and manage an affordable housing project at 1 Hamilton. The City’s original proposal was to locate the project on the Hauke Park parking lot (next to the Public Safety Building), but the City has now indicated that the site could be expanded beyond the perimeter of the parking lot, allowing a larger structure. The City has informed bidders that it will rezone the 1 Hamilton site to ‘multi-family’ (in contravention of the General Plan, which it will amend), and that the City will grant full zoning waivers that will allow a structure of any height (with 4 stories suggested by the City), at least 40 housing units, and no dedicated parking.

This week, the City went even further and informed developers that it is open to creative solutions to replace the parking lot, including “stacked” parking. Stacked parking involves a multi-story mechanical structure to park cars vertically, and is typically used in congested areas such as financial districts. This stunningly tone-deaf suggestion illustrates the City's willingness to destroy the serene beauty of Hauke Park, and its tacit acknowledgment that there is no workable plan for replacing the existing parking. We urge you to consider the impact of a mechanized car lift structure so close to a sensitive biological preserve and adjacent to a park heavily used by children.  

Developers know the City is looking to them to come up with a way to add 40+ units, plus parking, into the neighborhood. One neighbor reported that he was approached by a developer who proposed ‘solving’ the parking problem by flattening the berm (mound) that runs through the center of Hauke Park, and replacing it with a parking lot. This is exactly the sort of infringement into the Park that we feared. 

How Big Is the Proposed Housing Project?   Several neighbors have asked about the height and footprint of the proposed housing structure. We prepared the mock-up below to illustrate location, height and scale. The building illustration was provided by the City’s housing consultant and represents the type of 40-unit structure that she believed would work for the 1 Hamilton site.  We superimposed the City’s illustration onto a photo of the site taken from Hauke Park. You can see that the structure dwarfs the Public Safety Building to the right.  

Please help us scale back this project by making your contribution today.  To donate, please mail or deliver a check, made out to "Friends of Hauke Park,” c/o David Wygant, 108 Kipling Dr, Mill Valley, CA 94941. (We request $1000 per household, but happily accept all contributions.)

Your contribution will be deposited into a Friends of Hauke Park bank account at First Republic Bank, and disbursed over time to pay invoices for legal services. Neighbor and CPA Grant Morris has graciously agreed to work with us to set up our accounting procedures and help monitor use of funds.

Funds will be used to retain land-use attorney Patrick Soluri of the law firm of Soluri Meserve.  We selected Mr. Soluri after an exhaustive search and believe he has the right combination of expertise and experience, at an affordable rate. If you are interested in an encore viewing of Mr. Soluri's presentation to the neighborhood, please email us at info@haukepark.org.   

Respectfully,

Friends of Hauke Park Advisory Committee

Learn more about the City's Response to Questions on RFQ - 8/16/2021