(via North Coast Land Holdings)
MARIN COUNTY, CA — The final environmental review for a proposed development that would bring hundreds of housing units to the former Golden Gate Theological Seminary property is now available to the public, Marin County officials announced Monday. The proposal for the site on the county’s unincorporated Strawberry peninsula is available for public viewing and open for feedback through Jan. 26.
The old seminary site renovation would be the county’s largest private development project in many years. The 127-acre property off Seminary Drive is owned by North Coast Land Holdings LLC, which purchased the land after the seminary moved in 2015. Marin County has released the final environmental impact report for a large-scale redevelopment of the former Golden Gate Baptist Seminary property in Strawberry, kicking off a 45-day public comment period that ends Jan. 26.
The 684-page environmental review, released Dec. 12, identifies three significant impacts that cannot be fully mitigated: vehicle miles traveled, greenhouse-gas emissions and construction noise.
The proposal includes construction of a new residential care facility with up to 100 independent and 50 assisted living and memory care apartments for older adults, and 337 single- and multi-family residential units that would replace a majority of the existing housing. Seventy of the proposed residential units would be reserved as below-market-rate housing.
Additionally, 70 percent of the project site area would consist of open space, trails and opportunities for recreation such as playing fields and playgrounds.
The developer is also seeking approval for a daycare and fitness center that would be open to the public.
The final environmental impact report released for review includes responses to about 160 public comment letters, including oral testimony at a public hearing, on issues such as land use, project alternatives, geotechnical concerns, storm drain systems, and traffic and transportation impacts, according to the county.
The initial draft report for the property showed that the proposed project would result in significant and unavoidable impacts related to greenhouse gas emissions, temporary construction noise and vehicle miles traveled, according to the county.
After additional study and analysis, which included consideration of public comments, the final report identified no new impacts, and none of the conclusions in the draft report significantly changed, according to the county.
Marin County Community Development Agency staff will bring recommendations regarding the certification of the final report and approval of the project to the County Planning Commission in March. The commission will then make a recommendation for a Board of Supervisors decision. A final review by the Board of Supervisors is expected by late spring.
North Coast Land Holdings, LLC has submitted an application for development on the former Golden Gate Baptist Seminary property on the Strawberry Peninsula in Mill Valley. The proposed project includes construction of a new residential care facility with up to 100 independent and 50 assisted living and memory care apartments for senior citizens and 336 single- and multi-family residential units that would replace a majority of the existing residential housing. Fifty of the proposed residential units would be reserved as below market rate housing. In addition, a pre-school (3,000 square feet) and fitness center (17,000 square feet) that would both be open to the public are proposed, and an existing maintenance building would be replaced. More than 70 percent of the 127-acre campus would be preserved as open space, athletic fields, paths and plazas. No change to the scope of the existing use permit allowing up to a maximum of 1,000 students for higher educational use is being proposed. A 15,800 square foot addition is proposed as part of the renovation of the Administration Building, resulting in a 41,000 square foot building.
The Marin County Community Development Agency has completed the Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the North Coast Land Holdings, LLC. Project, which includes a Response to Comments document for comments received on the Draft EIR.
The Final EIR is available for review below in the “Environmental Review Documents” section near the bottom of this webpage. The Draft EIR is also linked below in the “Environmental Review Documents” section of this webpage. Clarifying revisions were made to the Draft EIR prior to finalization; the revisions are included in the Final EIR and do not trigger recirculation of the Draft EIR. The 60-day public comment period on the adequacy of the Draft EIR began on July 16, 2024 and ended on September 16, 2024. During that period, a public hearing was conducted by the Marin County Planning Commission on September 9, 2024 where additional oral and written comments were received.
The Final EIR will be available for a 45-day public review period, beginning on Friday, December 12, 2025 and ending on Monday, January 26, 2026. Please email your comments to the Environmental Planning Division before the end of the review period deadline. The email address is listed on the Notice of Availability linked below. Any mailed comments must be postmarked on or before Monday, January 26, 2026 to the attention of Rachel Reid, Environmental Planning Manager, at 3501 Civic Center Drive, Suite 308, San Rafael, CA 94903. This extended review period is being provided as a courtesy to allow interested parties additional time to review and understand responses provided in the Final EIR prior to consideration of the Final EIR for certification.
Following the close of the public review period, the Final EIR will be considered by the Planning Commission at a future hearing date(s), wherein the Planning Commission will make a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors on the certification of the Final EIR and planning entitlements for the project. All comments received on the Final EIR will be considered prior to this Planning Commission hearing. A subsequent notice will be released in advance of the Planning Commission hearing date.
To view the final report, visit www.marincounty.gov/departments/cda/planning/environmental-planning/current-ceqa-projects/north-coast-land-holdings-llc-environmental-impact-report.
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The fight over one of the largest residential projects in Marin County began heating up dating back to 2020.
Developer North Coast Land Holdings proposed redeveloping the former Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary campus adjacent to Mill Valley in 2020 and has been working on the plan since.
North Coast then wanted to build 337 residential units, including replacements for existing units, on the 100-acre site as well as renovate the existing campus. Those homes would accommodate about 850 residents, including those living at a proposed senior residential care facility. Up to 50 of the units would be affordable for low-income families.
The project also involves creating a day care and fitness center, as well as outdoor recreation spaces, and renovating spaces used by Olivet University, a private Christian university on site. The seminary, which once taught more than 900 students on the campus, left for Southern California in 2014. The site is on unincorporated land near the Strawberry neighborhood.
The project highlights the county’s efforts to meet its state-mandated housing targets, Sarah Jones, Marin County director of community development, told the Chronicle. Marin County’s housing goal is to permit 14,210 units by 2031, while the housing target for unincorporated Marin County, which includes the North Coast development, is 3,569 units.
“This type of project is something that is unprecedented in our unincorporated county,” Jones said. She said the state is prioritizing adding a variety of housing to well-off neighborhoods with abundant resources, “as this project would do.”
Additional housing projects have been created with county housing targets in mind, where underperforming shopping centers have been considered as sites to create new neighborhoods.
The report, which took more than three years to finish, highlights the project’s impact, including traffic and noise. Neighbors have objected to the size of the project, lobbying against it since it was announced.
Famed architect Mark Cavagnero, who designed the project, did not return calls seeking comment, but he told the Chronicle in 2019 that the fight has “been a big, big, big taste of NIMBYism the likes of which I’ve never experienced.”
“There is no property anywhere near this size anywhere in southern Marin, if not all of Marin, that would be available and zoned for housing,” Cavagnero said at the time. “This is important not only for the housing we can build — workforce housing, affordable housing, senior housing — but also on an exemplary basis.”
The county’s principal planner for the project, Michelle Levenson, confirmed that Mark Cavagnero Associates is still the architectural firm working on the construction plans.
Riley Hurd, an attorney for the Seminary Neighborhood Association, which has long opposed the project, called the proposed construction timeline of four years “nothing short of comical,” adding that he “wouldn’t be surprised if this was a minimum of a 10-year construction project.” He said a longer construction timeline would mean great environmental impact. Levenson said she stands behind the timeline in the report.
The 411: The Seminary at Strawberry is located at 201 Seminary Drive. MORE INFO.Want to know what’s happening around town? Click here to subscribe to the Enjoy Mill Valley Blog by Email!
I would like to know how to have an application sent to me. I have lived in Marin for over 25 years in the same place, have a business as a designer and photographer and work part time as a designer at Crate and Barrel, Corte Madera.
Thank you.