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Brad Sears
Look what's coming to town... It's "smart" deregulation!
San Rafael's proposed "Streamlining" is forced urbanization by impeding public engagement and lowering or eliminating reasonable affordable unit requirements for new multi unit construction. But that's not all. A windfall of State mandates effectively terminates residential neighborhood zoning within 1/2 mile of a bus route, busses that are largely empty.
With only one abstention, the newly minted ideologues at last week's Planning Commission meeting recommended amendments to the municipal code regarding affordable and inclusionary housing. Interestingly, the video and dialog concerning SB35's 99 foot height limit was edited from the Youtube video. The Commission refused to revisit the issue yearly and opted to review on a three to five year schedule after an eighteen month initial period. There was no mention of consulting the City Attorney about this measure creating potential lawsuits or precedents. A landslide of land speculation would be "Great" according to Commissioner Davidson - unintended consequences be damned and preferred.
Also note, Ethan Guy, the lead planner, justified all these amendments by using planning techniques used by Minneapolis, Honolulu, Seattle and SF -- false equivalence at best. As of this writing, the edited out discussion of 100% 99' high, low-income housing is particularly concerning because it highlights how biased and hostile toward citizens and neighborhoods the Planning Commission is. As a meeting participant, I have never been able to finish a thought without being interrupted, sigh.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLCj6fN2mVU.
Public Comment starts at 1 hour and 6 minutes
Code Enforcement is apparently unable to follow their own health and safety occupancy regulations. Overcrowding was not a part of their deliberations either. Both Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg recently pointed out the likelihood that there would be more pandemics in the future mainly because of crowding in transportation, housing, and socializing. Ms. Davidson, who is Hispanic and an advocate for ultra low low income housing, seems to believe that packing people together is not a health issue. She neglected to add how safe housing would be achieved when overcrowded apartments in the canal were the first breeding grounds for Covid behind cruise ships and San Quentin.
Numerous unbuilt projects wait in que, projects that rely on deregulation as an incentive to make them extra profitable. An example is the weed-filled lots at 1628 5th Ave and the corner of Mission and Lincoln. In the West End Village, two projects are on the market after receiving heat from neighbors and now await retroactive plums with Streamlining. When the 120-unit mega apartment complex on the corner of 3rd and Lincoln was approved, the Planning Commission stated that the applicants financial proposal is, like all similar intensive applications, secret. And that was the good old days.
Why is the planning department bending over backwards to approve these bloated housing ventures? The city is trying to grow its way out of a pension hole by creating new tax revenue rather than becoming efficient and recognizing that everything has changed, except developers greed and self interest. Besides, who doesn't love deregulation that benefits the already wealthy?
See https://marinpost.org/blog/2019/2/10/trojan-condos-in-west-end-village
Zoning is a carrot and stick balance with speculators and residents' best interests, but not now. Voters sent one council member, John Gamblin into retirement last November. Mr. Gamblin, a member of the city council for 6 years, was appointed in 2014 and served without ever having met an opponent. Parroting the developers mantra, "We need more housing" did not help his prospects when he finally met his match. Once codified, this Republican-styled deregulatory scheme masquerading as progressive pro housing is abusive and undemocratic. This systematic arrangement sacrifices public engagement and responsive politics. The amendment is pure brinkmanship on the part of the development lobby and perfect timing considering officials do not have to face their constituents face to face. Fear and isolation is their insulation.
Naturally, real estate developers avoid taxes, promote income inequality, build family dynasties, and push deregulation. Streamlining incentivizes gentrification not affordability. Using pre-Covid demographics and no urban exodus stats to sell Streamlining is crafty, too. State initiatives that failed in committee attacking suburbia are possible where less publicized local amendments are more likely to slide through.
The local Chamber of Commerce gleefully assists this fraudulently named high-density scam that eliminates local control and counters their own workforce housing priorities by providing the grease! The Planning Commission's resolution attacks flat lands and goes after the hillside protections as well. This measure takes care of high-end speculators and opens up hillside lots inaccessible to the fire department's big shiny new fire trucks. This measure concentrates housing in arteries that clog regularly; it glosses over health and safety issues with a utopian vision that has never worked.
The California Association of Realtors lobby supplied their Operation Local Growth "cut and paste" solution to this fraudulently named amendment that effectively eliminates residential zoning in San Rafael where the majority of housing is vulnerable. Their stated policy threatens elected officials and candidates that question their tactics. CAR is serious, spending $35 million losing Proposition19. Streamlining measures failed in the state legislature so CAR is using San Rafael as their guinea pig.
See https://marinpost.org/blog/2020/9/13/california-association-of-realtors-operation-local-growth
The San Rafael planning department and city council need not fret, they love the idea that developers can pay an in lieu fee ($609,000 for Loch Lomond) and skip the scruffy residents in affordable units. Sustainability and affordable housing advocates should see through the exaggerated "housing crisis" rhetoric and insist that developers meet the previous affordability ratio 20%, which was cut in half to 10% and then cut in half again to 5 % under certain circumstances..
Remember the flowery IJ editorials about how necessary the Design Review process is? That nuisance disappears along with the democratic process, accountability from elected officials, on street parking, privacy, and property values, abetted by the IJ's neglect and disregard for free and open access to archived articles and public comment.
This is a developers dream come true and will make San Rafael neighborhoods a target since the majority of housing in San Rafael is 1/2 mile from a bus stop.
Streamlining is the gift that keeps on giving long after the Mayor catches SMART to the end of the line. This is his baby. This attempt at wholesale deregulation is the most important regulatory issue before a new Planning Commission and a new city council.
"You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that: it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before"
~ Rahm Emanuel