February 6, 2018
FROM: Sustainable TamAlmonte, 215 Julia Ave., Mill Valley, CA 94941
TO: Marin County Board of Supervisors, 3501 Civic Center Drive, #329, San Rafael, CA 94903
Re: Pending Senate Bill 828 (Wiener)
Dear Marin County Board of Supervisors,
We request that you place pending Senate Bill 828 (Wiener) on your agenda and then oppose and lobby against the bill.
About Pending Senate Bill 828
Senate Bill 828 (Wiener) would change housing-element law and especially target communities with high rates of income growth (and/or) high rental and home prices. The bill would dramatically raise the Regional Housing Needs Allocations (RHNA) that cities and counties are required to plan for. It would do this by: changing the methodology that assesses a community’s housing need; requiring a jurisdiction to automatically plan for 200% more housing units than its assigned housing allocation; and by rolling over a previous unmet housing allocation and adding it to the current allocation; among other methods.
Consequences
Senate Bill 828 would ignore traditional growth patterns and dramatically increase the housing allocations that cities and counties must plan for, whether it makes sense or not.
The subsequent growth in housing development and population would increase the risk of adverse impacts on the environment, public health and safety, traffic congestion, infrastructure, utilities (water supply), public services (schools), neighborhood character, and quality of life. Moreover, there is no funding for dealing with these impacts.
Communities should not plan for more housing and population growth than that which is sustainable. Once again, we urge you to place Senate Bill 828 on your agenda and then oppose and lobby against the bill.
Thank you in advance for your conscientious consideration.
Very truly yours,
/s/
Sharon Rushton, Chairperson
Sustainable TamAlmonte