Dear Friends of Hauke Park,

Representatives of EAH Housing recently met with neighbors from Enchanted Knolls (April 11) and Eucalyptus Knolls (April 13) to discuss the proposed affordable housing project adjacent to Hauke Park. We had hoped to finally have real input into the site design process for the Hamilton site, as repeatedly promised, but the City made it clear that it considers the massive scale of the Hamilton project to be set in stone.  Further, the City has no intention of mitigating the effect on our neighborhood or our beloved Hauke Park.  Throughout the April 11 meeting, the outgoing Mayor and the outgoing City Manager attempted to suppress debate by inventing meeting rules on the fly, and bullying speakers who asked tough questions.  At one point, outgoing Mayor McCauley grabbed a microphone to scold neighbors as if he were conducting a middle-school assembly. 

Key takeaways from the meeting are:

• The City and EAH admitted that the Hamilton project will be larger than previously described, and will be well over 40 units.  Neither the City or EAH will share with us a maximum number of units under consideration.
• The City and EAH also admitted for the first time that tenant parking will likely be on the ground level of the building, which could raise the building height to a minimum of FIVE stories.
• EAH confirmed that due to questions of legality there is no current plan to provide workforce preference for housing at Hamilton. In addition, the City confirmed in written materials that it must accept tenants using Section 8 vouchers. 
• The City and EAH for the first time admitted they contemplate providing “Supportive Housing” at Hamilton.  Depending upon government funding sources, Supportive Housing may include “formerly homeless” or, as occurred at Victory Village in Fairfax, severely mentally ill tenants.
• Although the City and EAH are aware that there may be serpentine rock under the Hamilton site, and that drilling could potentially release asbestos, the City has no plan to test for or mitigate this possible hazard. The City is currently performing only surface level testing which is insufficient for sites containing serpentine rock.

As we feared from the start, the City has not been transparent about the true goal, which is to cram as many units as possible onto the Hamilton site, using a giant box structure, without any real consideration about whether our neighborhood can absorb the additional residents, parking, traffic, etc.  Further, the City has heavily promoted Hamilton on the basis that it will provide workforce housing, when in fact EAH plans to rent to tenants needing “Supportive Services,” possibly including chronically unemployed, homeless and the mentally ill.  Although we have repeatedly tried to get the City to work with us to find an affordable housing solution that works for all, the City has shut us out of the process, except for insignificant design decisions.

It is more important than ever that we demand more transparency from the City and EAH and put a stop to the deception.

The City’s actions over the last 18 months are looking more and more like an orchestrated gas-lighting exercise designed to stifle community input at a time when pandemic restrictions kept participation to a minimum. For more on the City’s deceptions about the Hamilton project, see: 

• the 40-unit deception

• the Parking deception

• the Building Design deception

• the Workforce Housing deception

• the Site Selection deception

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words from Mayor McCauley.  Much of the community uproar over Hamilton started when the City’s consultant published an illustration (illustration #1 below) showing what the project might look like. Since then, the City has assured us over and over that the project will not look like that example.  (We did not realize that the City meant it would look worse!)  But we now know that the architects for the Hamilton project, Van Meter Williams Pollack, are in the business of churning out affordable housing designs that look exactly like the original example, or in some cases, far more alarming:

The ‘40 Unit’ Deception:  Although the City has consistently talked about a 40-unit project, even depicting one in the above illustration, the City now accepts EAH’s unsupported claim that many more units are required for financial feasibility.  Further, the City’s position seems to be that EAH’s assumptions about necessary cash flow are unreviewable, even though public documents indicate that a major cash drain for EAH is the salaries of their top officers:  8 of their executives make over $240k - 3 over $300k, and the CEO makes nearly $400k. Does this mean we can expect to see these hideous box structures popping up elsewhere in Mill Valley as the City struggles to meet housing mandates?  Or is this solution only applicable for neighborhoods (east of Camino Alto) that City Council members deem more worthy of a blighted landscape?

The Site Selection Deception:  Outgoing Mayor McCauley and others continue to assert that Hamilton was selected as the “best” site after extensive analysis.  In fact, the City’s consultant determined that a Boyle Park site was the “best” site: “From an objective affordable housing development point of view, [‘Boyle Park] is the best of the 4 identified sites.” (see footnote 1)

The City focused exclusively on Hamilton only after two local developers pushed for it.  We suspect that focusing on Hamilton was a way to divert attention from other potential sites, such as the Boyle Park site and a site near the MV golf course.  The City has done nothing to dispel this suspicion and has instead doubled down on Hamilton to the exclusion of all other sites, without rational explanation.  Further, the City is only now conducting an exhaustive site analysis as part of the Housing Element Update. (see footnote 2)

The Parking Deception:  The City has assured us that a satisfactory parking solution would be a key element of the site design.  However, EAH’s parking solution is to locate tenant parking on the ground level below the apartments, thereby likely raising the height of the building to 5 or possibly more stories, in a neighborhood of single-family homes (see illustration 3 above).  In addition to increasing the mass of the building, the EAH proposal includes far fewer spaces than necessary, and far fewer than current zoning would require, and will absolutely result in spill-over to the neighborhood.  

The current Hauke Park parking spaces would be relocated to 3 or 4 separate small lots spread around the park, including the PG&E site.  This would likely lead to drivers circling in and out of each lot in succession to find a spot during busy times, increasing traffic and creating additional danger points for children and other pedestrians.  PG&E has also not yet agreed to allow their parking to be expanded.

The Building Design Deception:  The City led us to believe that we would have input into site and building design in order to assure that the project fits within the neighborhood.  However, it was clear from the EAH presentation and prior projects that there will not be a design unique to the Hamilton site.  Rather, it appears that EAH is planning to save costs by recycling an existing design. EAH refuses to share the design at this point (probably because to do so would trigger CEQA requirements), but EAH’s architect inadvertently referenced an existing design when he described the configuration of the lobby relative to the parking.  We believe that the only design input remaining for the neighborhood may be paint color.

The ‘Workforce Housing’ Deception:  The City has heavily promoted the Hamilton project as a housing solution for Mill Valley workers.  However, it is believed by many that offering a preference to Mill Valley workers will expose the City to liability for Constitutional violations.  Such a limitation is also unworkable and heartless - would the City evict tenants who change employment locations?  Apparently, EAH agrees that that a workforce housing plan is problematic because it has confirmed that under its current analysis Mill Valley workers will not be given a preference.    

Your next opportunity to voice your objections to the Hamilton project will be on May 3rd, 6.30pm at Mill Valley Community Center Cascade Room.  Please register and plan to attend.  We need your support to demand more transparency and honesty from our elected officials! 

Warm regards,

FOHP Advisory Committee

Footnotes

1.See Memo from Janet Smith-Heimer (The Housing Workshop) to Danielle Staude (Senior Planner, City of Mill Valley) dated 2.10.21, Analysis of Tax-Exempt Sites for Affordable Housing Development, page 9.

2.The City claims that Hamilton was placed ahead of the Housing Element Update because it was part of a separate ‘track’ of city-owned sites.  However, the analysis now underway includes some city-owned sites.  The City has yet to offer a satisfactory explanation of why the Hamilton project was placed ahead of the city-wide analysis it is now conducting.