Mill Valley Has Moved With Alacrity, Finishing a Series of New Regulation Changes to Attract New Businesses

Mill Valley has finished a series of regulation changes to attract new businesses.

On April 20, the City Council approved a rewrite of the commercial zoning code that included streamlining the application process and lowering fees.

Last November, the council eliminated most parking requirements for new businesses, which also were a deterrent to filling downtown vacancies.

“The removal of the parking mandates with the data that showed us that they were no longer necessary, the updates to the commercial code and the reduction in fees to start a new business, all required a lot of work,” Councilmember Katherine Jones said.

“We changed the way we permit new businesses,” Councilmember Urban Carmel said. “We are significantly reducing the financial burden for businesses to open in the city of Mill Valley.”

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people say, ‘I want to open up a business here but putting eight or 10 grand into city coffers before I sell even one item is just a huge hurdle for me,’” he said.

The commercial zoning updates included more modern uses and development regulations in the city’s four commercial zones, such as encouraging ground-floor offices, fitness centers, boutique shops and eateries. City officials said the goal was offering goods and services distinct from what is available online and encouraging sidewalk traffic.

Requirements for new businesses and the accompanying application process also were streamlined. For all but the largest projects, the prior Planning Commission review for a conditional use permit was replaced with a shorter administrative review overseen by city staff. Fees for new business permits also were slashed.

The current conditional use permit fee is $7,389, a staff report said. A Southern Marin Fire Protection District design review was an additional $342.

Under the new fee structure, the conditional use permit – which would not be required by most downtown businesses – would be reduced to $5,647. Amending a conditional use permit would cost $3,445 and be administered by a zoning administrator.

A newly created administrative use permit or temporary use permit — for special events — would cost $1,954. Any additional research by city planners would be billed at $181 per hour.

City officials said they expect most new businesses would apply for the administrative use permit.

“How often do you hear that being said by a city government, that we’re dropping fees by 75% to do basically what you were doing before?” Carmel said. “By the way, also increasing the speed with which we can get it done. I did not expect the CUP fees to drop, but those are also dropping by 25%. Again, that’s pretty unusual.”

City officials said they expect most new businesses would apply for the administrative use permit.

“How often do you hear that being said by a city government, that we’re dropping fees by 75% to do basically what you were doing before?” Carmel said. “By the way, also increasing the speed with which we can get it done. I did not expect the CUP fees to drop, but those are also dropping by 25%. Again, that’s pretty unusual.”

“We’re working collaboratively to rightsize the fees to the work that’s actually being done,” Vice Mayor Caroline Joachim said.

“This is a really key part of making us an investment-ready operating environment,” Councilmember Stephen Burke said.