POB 1703, Mill Valley, CA 94942; 415-686-4375
Marin County Board of Supervisors
Via E-mail: bos@marincounty.org
Re: Tuesday, October 29th (updated date) Marin Board of Supervisors public hearing about the Marin Countywide Plan Amendments and recommendation re: precedence clauses in the Housing Element and Countywide Plan
Action: Follow the court order and vote in SUPPORT of the Planning Commission
Dear Supervisors:
On Tuesday, October 29th you will make a monumental decision that will show your true colors as a bold advocate for your constituents or as a pawn of the state.
I urge you: Support the Marin Planning Commissioners' 5/2 recommendation to follow the Court order and remove the precedence clauses and delete all excessive, new language in the Housing Element and Countywide Plan.
You’re at a decision point. Stand boldly with your Marin constituents, the Planning Commission, and the Court. Do not give in to the bullying tactics of staff, HCD, and the state!
The stage is set for an easy decision: Vote in alignment with your Planning Commission.
First, WHAT IS A PRECEDENCE CLAUSE & WHAT WAS THE COURT ORDER?
A precedence clause is intended to solve for potential ambiguities or inconsistencies. In this matter, a precedence clause established priority based on level of specificity. A Marin Superior Court judge ruled the precedence clauses in the Countywide Plan are illegal and must be removed.
HOW DID WE GET HERE? A TIMELINE:
January 2023 –The Planning Commission, having been warned by Commissioner Montalbano that the County Housing Element contained unlawful precedence clauses, recommended the BOS reject it. After an intense 14-hour meeting, the BOS ignored the Planning Commission’s recommendation.
April 2023 – A lawsuit Corcoran vs. Marin County was filed, challenging the BOS approval of the County Housing Element with unlawful precedence clauses.
March 25, 2024– The Court issued the order siding with the petitioner, determined that the precedence clauses were UNLAWFUL, and ORDERED them to be removed from the Housing Element. The order read:
Within one hundred and twenty days (120) days from the date of this Order, the County SHALL remove the void precedence clauses which direct subordination of the Community Plans to the CWP.
Prior to September 23, 2024 - Rather than follow the simple court order, staff removed the precedence clauses. BUT then, apparently after meeting with HCD and circumventing the Planning Commission, they added new, vague language that, like the precedence clauses, undermines the authority of community plans, which makes communities vulnerable to unsafe, high-density building in environmentally sensitive areas.
September 23, 2024 – During the Planning Commission hearing (recording), commissioners chastised staff for usurping authority, feeding into the state’s insatiable appetite for unsafe building mandates. They voted 5/2 recommending the BOS simply follow the court order, remove the precedence clauses, and delete the new, unnecessary language. Marin IJ article (9/27) here.
October 15, 2024 – the BOS will vote with or against the Planning Commission.
A BOS Vote in SUPPORT of the Planning Commission’s recommendation means:
- The Court Order has meaning.
- The county Planning Commission has authority and citizen input is valued.
- The Housing Element and Countywide Plans prioritize benefits to constituents.
- The democratic principle holds firm that locally elected officials and appointed commissioners make decisions on behalf of constituents.
A BOS Vote that REJECTS the Planning Commission recommendation and sides with staff means:
- The BOS is willing to sidestep a court order, due to be carried out by November 10, leaving itself open to another lawsuit.
- The BOS is knowingly undermining its own appointed body of planning experts to kowtow to staff influenced by bureaucrats in HCD.
- The Housing Element is reduced to a framework for outside builders, developers, and investors to make local land use decisions, with disregard for community input.
- Local control is replaced with the often discredited and inefficient top-down engine of state planning.
The same motivation to fight for local control that led to my campaign for the Marin Board of Supervisors in 2016, burns with urgency in me and growing numbers of elected and community leaders throughout the state. You might only be half awake to know the state is on a rampage to usurp local control by recklessly blaming counties and cities for a housing crisis they neither caused, nor can they fix without state funding.
Legislators, the governor, the attorney general, and HCD are on a mission to eliminate local control. Legislators passed 32 new housing bills in 2024, on the heels of hundreds of previous bills that lack evaluation and results. The spurious RHNA process creates unattainable quotas that, if left unchallenged, will bankrupt jurisdictions. The attorney general and HCD rely on tactics of fear, retaliation, and intimidation to silence community leaders who would dare speak out against their statewide masterplan. Do not be silent!
Be the ones who dare!! Stand with your Planning Commission. Agree with the court. Advocate for your constituents!
Sincerely,
Susan Kirsch, President
Catalysts Institute for Local Control
cc: Richard Halstead, Dick Spotswood, Naomi Friedland