Dear Members of FOHP:
This summer, while many residents of Mill Valley were vacationing, the City was busy pushing ahead the Hamilton project. In late August, the City submitted to the State its draft Housing Element, which outlines the City’s 8-year housing plan. Our attorney, Patrick Soluri, has identified two critical issues in the document, which are described below. He continues to ‘build the record’ to preserve our rights should this matter lead to litigation, but it is more important than ever for the community to remain involved. The new developments include:
1, Rezoning 1 Hamilton for 50 Units. The City plans to upzone the 1 Hamilton site from “open area” to “multi-family residential-Bayfront”. At the same time, the City will change the land use designation from “community facilities” to “multi-family-2”. These changes, which were buried deep within the draft Housing Element (page 80 of 116), will allow the City to proceed with the planned 50-unit affordable housing structure that will overlook Hauke Park. (Note: The Hamilton site is the only City-owned site included in the Housing Element site inventory. In addition, the City excluded from the inventory many sites that would require the same rezoning as Hamilton.)
2, Bypassing the Promised EIR for 1 Hamilton. Via a technical procedure that our attorney spotted, it appears that the City plans to bypass the robust Environmental Impact Report (EIR) that we have been promised for over two years. The bypass procedure works as follows. First, after upzoning Hamilton to allow 50 new residential units, the City would then conduct a general, conceptual type of EIR that considers only the impact of Housing Element policies on Mill Valley as a whole (a ‘program-level’ EIR). This general EIR would not address changes in the environment that would result from 50 new units at Hamilton. In other words, the City would bypass the specific “project-level” EIR that would normally examine planning, construction, and operation of the Hamilton project. If the City succeeds with this plan, then if and when the City gets around to doing a “project-level” EIR specific to the Hamilton project, the impact of 50 new units on neighborhood traffic, safety, parking and the environment will already have been approved, and only trivial issues will remain subject to review.
This sleight of hand by our elected officials cannot stand in an informed and engaged community such as Mill Valley. We urge you to attend the City Council Meeting Scheduled for September 19th at 6:30 pm at City Hall and continue to make your views about the 1 Hamilton project known.
Click here for information about the meeting.
You may submit written comments prior to the meeting to: Danielle Staude (dstaude@cityofmillvalley.org) and copy City Council Members (jwickham@cityofmillvalley.org, ucarmel@cityofmillvalley.org, sburke@cityofmillvalley.org, mperrey@cityofmillvalley.org).
Suggested Talking Points (feel free to copy and paste into your own emails):
Hamilton Site Selection. The City needs to address the fact that it intends to build affordable housing in the very location that already houses 100% of Mill Valley’s affordable housing: the area east of Camino Alto. Despite over two years of back and forth, the City still has not answered the following questions:
Why did the City exclude from its site inventory other City-owned sites that were rated by the City’s own consultant as superior to the Hamilton site? (e.g., Boyle Park site) At various times the City has stated Hamilton was chosen due to: walkability, proximity to transit, fire safety, and active recreation use, but none of these explains the City’s unique treatment of 1 Hamilton. The City needs to examine the history of the 1 Hamilton site, which was originally proposed as an alternative to superior sites west of Camino Alto.
How does the City justify embarking on an expensive restoration of the golf course immediately after the City’s consultant proposed a small corner of the golf course for sale or housing. It appears the City is complicit in excluding affordable housing from wealthier areas of Mill Valley.
The City contends that the Housing Element draft identifies many sites west of Camino Alto for affordable housing, but this is disingenuous. All of the sites west of Camino Alto are privately-owned. Hamilton is the only City-owned site slated for development, out of over 75 sites. The City has no control over the privately-owned sites. Including such sites in the Housing Element draft is at best a meaningless ‘wish list,’ and at worst an intentional diversion.
Hamilton Rezoning. For over two years, residents were led to believe that all of their concerns about locating a dense, multi-story affordable housing project overlooking Hauke Park would be addressed at the time the City conducted a full EIR. Now the City plans to evade a full EIR of the Hamilton project by instead conducting a general, program-level EIR that will provide only a policy level review of the most critical aspect of the Hamilton project – the planned upzoning to 50 units. When combined with two years of limited participation in City meetings, and summer scheduling of important developments, the motives and transparency of our elected representatives is in question.
Please note the date of an upcoming October meeting:
Community in-person Open House: Discussion of building footprint and conceptual design. October 13, 2022, Mill Valley Community Center. [start time TBD].
Please continue to write in and attend the meetings!
Warm regards,
Friends of Hauke Park Advisory Committee
