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Mill Valley City Hall
Please Attend Important Mill Valley City Council Meeting re: SB-827 & SB-828
Council Chambers, 26 Corte Madera Ave.
Mill Valley, California 94941
6:30 PM PT
Please attend an important Mill Valley City Council Meeting on Monday, February 5th at 6:30 PM and voice your opinion about pending State legislature, Senate Bill 827 and Senate Bill 828. Both bills were introduced by Senator Scott Wiener and promote top down planning, excessive high-density housing development, and unfunded mandates.
WHAT: Mill Valley City Council Meeting
WHEN: Monday, February 5, 2018 at 6:30 PM
WHERE: Council Chambers, 26 Corte Madera Ave., Mill Valley , CA 94941
The agenda has been posted to the City of Mill Valley website:
http://www.cityofmillvalley.org/custom/emailManager/calEventDisplay.asp?ID=1541&date=2/5/2018
Here's the agenda item: "7. Discussion Regarding Recently Enacted and Pending (SB 827) State Legislation Affecting Land Use Control and Housing Development Matters. Recommended Action: Receive presentation, discuss and provide direction to staff."
** If you can't attend the meeting, then please send in comments to the City Council via the City Clerk - cityclerk@cityofmillvalley.org
Many community and environmental groups are very concerned about SB-827 & SB-828, which are explained below. If you agree, then please ask the City Council to oppose and lobby against the bills. Instead, support locally grown strategies that will work within our communities to meet all of Marin’s housing needs.
ABOUT PENDING SB-827:
Senate Bill 827 (Wiener) would allow developers to build much denser, taller housing developments near major transit hubs. The bill would remove the ability to impose local regulations concerning residential density, floor area ratio, setbacks, design guidelines, and parking, and may preclude environmental review if a residential development is within a ½ mile radius of a *"Major Transit Stop" or a ¼ mile radius of a **"High-Quality Transit Corridor". Moreover, the bill would mandate that minimum height limits of such housing range from 45 to 85 feet. A local ordinance could increase the height but not go below the specified minimums.
* A "Major Transit Stop" is defined as a site containing an existing rail transit station, a ferry terminal served by either a bus or rail transit service, or the intersection of two or more major bus routes with a frequency of service intervals of 15-minutes or less during the morning and afternoon peak commute periods.
** A "High-Quality Transit Corridor" is defined as a corridor with fixed bus route service that has service intervals of no more than 15 minutes during peak commute hours." The part of Bus Route 4 that passes through the City of Mill Valley, Almonte, Tam Valley, and up to Spencer Ave in Sausalito is considered a "High-Quality Transit Corridor".
ABOUT PENDING SB-828:
Senate Bill 828 (Wiener) especially targets communities with high rates of income growth (or) high rental and home prices. The bill would dramatically raise the housing quotas 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 IF THE BILLS WERE ADOPTED:
SB-827 would override local zoning ordinances, general plans and specific plans and pose a significant threat to local control, local democracy, and public engagement. The bill would benefit developers who profit from unlimited high-end housing production, without solving the need for affordable housing. Furthermore, it would displace existing residents.
SB-828 would ignore traditional growth patterns and dramatically increase the housing quotas that cities and counties must plan for, whether it makes sense or not.
The subsequent housing densification and population growth would increase the risk of adverse impacts on the environment, public health and safety, traffic congestion, infrastructure, utilities (water supply), public services (schools), views, sunlight, privacy, neighborhood character, and quality of life. Moreover, there is no funding for dealing with these impacts.
Thank you in advance for your participation.