An architectural rendering shows an affordable housing project proposed at 1 Hamilton Drive in Mill Valley. It would have approx. 45 homes. (Rendering by Van Meter Williams Pollack LLP).
To do so, City staff and councilmembers have identified 401 Miller Ave., the complex that’s home to Sol Food and Simple Mills, as well as the large property on East Blithedale Ave. owned by Comcast building. City officials added that property owners interested in the redevelopment include Mill Creek Plaza, Sloat Garden Center, the former Jolly King Liquor store site and the former KFC/Taco Bell building. There are additional plans along other parts of Miller Avenue. The city also plans for 16 residences developed under SB 9, a state housing law that allows property owners to split lots for up to four dwellings.
And then there’s 1 Hamilton Drive (see rendering above), the city-owned property adjacent to the Public Safety building that houses the Mill Valley police station and the adjacent home of the Southern Marin Fire Dept. station. The land closest in proximity to those buildings has long been identified as a home for possible affordable housing, and city officials have engaged with EAH Housing in the hopes of bringing new housing to fruition, and thus expanding opportunity for people to live in the 94941.
1 Hamilton has faced consistent opposition from residents in the Enchanted Knolls neighborhood and adjacent areas, but councilmembers have sought to dispel the notion that a development at 1 Hamilton Drive would be the lone effort to address the City’s efforts to create conditions for more affordable housing. Hamilton Drive-area residents have pushed City officials to explore other neighborhoods and housing opportunities before doing so in their part of town, which has a history of multi-use and some affordable developments.
Councilmembers have countered that the Hamilton Drive site shows the most promise as a City-owned parcel in proximity to transit corridors and commercial areas, but that all other options are on the table. “This is not going to be the only site we will look at for affordable housing,” Councilmember Urban Carmel added in September, noting that other sites, like the Edgewood Reservoir, the Miller Avenue commercial corridor and areas around the Mill Valley Golf Course and Boyle Park tennis courts, are potentially on the table.
Unconvinced that the city’s aforementioned intentions were serious, Friends of Hauke Park, the organization that has opposed the density of housing in the Enchanted Knolls neighborhood and its neighbors, filed a lawsuit this week against the city, citing “
continued discrimination against East Mill Valley neighborhoods in its housing policy and misuse of CEQA.” Specifically, the lawsuit, filed by Patrick Soluri, an attorney with the law firm of Soluri Meserve, pointing to a “longstanding policy of steering public housing away from Mill Valley’s most affluent neighborhoods.”
“FOHP has spent over two years explaining to City officials that capitulation to wealthy and powerful NIMBYs is not legitimate housing policy,” Soluri wrote in a press release, citing the 1 Hamilton proposal.
The lawsuit specifically targets the City’s Housing Element update and questions about whether the City’s site selection “complied with its duty to affirmatively further fair housing throughout the City. The purpose of this lawsuit is to set aside the City’s arbitrary and capricious inventory of affordable sites housing so that all suitable sites throughout Mill Valley are identified without improper political influence, and further to set aside the City’s misuse of CEQA so that a final decision on suitable sites is made after meaningful CEQA review,” Soluri added in a statement.
“The City Attorney’s office is reviewing the petition and will be advising Council on how to proceed,” said City Manager Todd Cusimano. “We are confident that the City’s Housing Element meets state law requirements and that the City’s action to adopt it was in compliance with CEQA.”
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Please keep trying to block this. Construction
Despite other suggested alternatives, strong local opposition, density, environmental and traffic issues, this project seems to be barreling forward. It’s sad that FOHP had to file a lawsuit but citizens have to speak up when planners are going in the wrong direction. The results last for decades and adversely affect everyone in Mill Valley. There are other solutions and this massive project needs to be stopped.
P.S. Anyone who replies that this is NIMBY by the neighbors should know that 100% of Mill Valley low income housing is already in this area.
Mill Valley literally chose to keep a tennis court intact (Boyle Park neighborhood) and set this development on an area with asbestos that will be directly across from sensitive wetlands. The reason there was no prior development to hurt the wildlife and Richardson Bay ecosystem was because environmental protections were put in place. Newsom set these aside for development and now the fragile ecosystem will be harmed and the wildlife diminished in the area of Mill Valley with the lowest income and highest concentration of people of color. Putting this development here will effectively concentrate low-income residents away from the wealthiest. The wealthiest residents will not see loss of wildlife, etc. Not surprised Mill Valley chose to keep a tennis court intact over a wildlife habitat. Let’s hope the neighborhood residents are not sickened by the asbestos that will be disturbed by the project and if they are, Erin Brockovich helps them sue the city, EA Housing, and everyone else involved in ramming this project through.
If you are a tourist hoping to enjoy Hauke Park and Richardson Bay, you better select another destination. The four-story development will greatly diminish the wildlife and serene atmosphere of the trail and the Richardson Bay ecosystem. You will no longer see all the wildlife there is now. It has already diminished greatly in the Enchanted Knolls neighborhood, but since were are comprised of the lowest-income residents, no city council member has listened. What will be left is just a picture window, but no real wildlife anymore. This area used to enjoy environmental protection, but a state law lifted these protections. Strange since this is a time of great climate change in which the environment needs protection. The development will also disrupt asbestos and will dispurse it in the area, so you might want to vacation and eat elsewhere. If the middle school is also extended here, there will be construction for years, again disrupting any ability to enjoy this once peaceful area. After construction, there will be 40 families living across from the park. It will never be as quiet or clean again. Try another city in the Bay Area to visit.