The following email protesting the conditions of the Northgate DEIR in the context of unreliable RHNA quotas has been submitted to the San Rafael Development Department. The deadline for comments is March 5th at 5 pm.
February 22, 2024
To: April.Talley@cityofsanrafael.org
Subject Line: For Public Comment re: the Northgate DEIR
Responsible Growth in Marin (RGM) and other neighborhood groups across the county and around the state are standing up to flawed Draft Environmental Impact Reports (DEIR), and this is honorable, necessary, and beneficial.
The flawed DEIR studies that pretend a massive project won’t have detrimental impacts on air quality and greenhouse gasses, noise, traffic, evacuation routes and safety, public open space, and building heights are examples of a loss of common sense—or some would say, an example of public insanity.
The flawed thinking of DEIR is bad enough, but San Rafael and other jurisdictions face an even bigger problem: inflated, unreliable, and invalid Regional Housing Need Allocations (RHNA) numbers.
Elected officials and community leaders from around the state are waking up to the state's lack of reliable housing policy and demanding accountability.
The evidence is piling up. The CA state audit said the RHNA process was flawed. The HCD response admitted RHNA methodology was an "ad hoc" process. Citizen Marin president Amy Kalish describes the multiplier effect of misguided RHNA policy. Going further back, former Albany City Council member Michael Barnes documented how RHNA is rigged. The Embarcadero Institute provided evidence the RHNA numbers were inflated.
Former Palo Alto City Council member and mayor Eric Filseth calls on the state to be accountable. He points out that by some estimates, jurisdictional statewide spending on RHNA tops $3B of public funds to work on complicated Housing Elements that are riddled with state-induced errors. What do they have to show for it?
Since 2017, instead of providing housing that is affordable to wage-earners, homelessness has increased by 31% and the median rent has increased by 38%. Housing production rates are flat, despite the flurry of over 150 housing bills. Meanwhile, the Dept. of Finance says CA's population is flat and is forecast to stay flat through 2060. Where’s the evidence of the need for these excessive housing numbers? It doesn't exist.
You have a chance to demand accountability. Stand in support of San Rafael and Marin County residents. Act in support of returning planning, land use, and zoning to local elected officials with common sense, not well-intentioned bureaucrats working as mouthpieces for the state.
Susan Kirsch, President
Catalysts for Local Control