Posts Tagged ‘affordable housing’
On January 12, City Council Considers Reapproving Bayfront Terrace Project With a Modified Project Footprint for the Site of 1.60 acres & No Additional Changes to the Design – Hearing is at 5:30pm at City Hall
On January 12, City Council Considers Reapproving Bayfront Terrace Project With a Modified Project Footprint for the Site of 1.60 acres & No Additional Changes to the Design – Hearing is at 5:30pm at City Hall. In a previous post, “We have an opportunity to change the life trajectory of 44 families,” Councilman Urban Carmel added. “Nothing can change your life trajectory more than the place you grew up in. This is really exciting and gratifying – I can’t imagine a better moment.”
Read MoreMarin IJ: With Golden Gate Village Renovations Moving Forward, Renovations of 88 residences in 14 Buildings at the Public Housing Complex Opens Up Opens Door to Trade Union Jobs
“I live in the community,” said Juanita Douglas, executive director of Tradeswomen. “Once we realized this revitalization program was coming, I thought the local community should be allowed to work on it.” Douglas applied and received a grant from Burbank Housing, the Marin Housing Authority redevelopment partner, to offer the pre-apprenticeship training her organization pioneered in 1979. Her team surveyed Marin City residents and received a strong response, including from an unusually high percentage of women.
Read MoreOn the Heels of Marin County’s Largest Proposed Housing Development in Years, Spirit Residential Group, Also in Strawberry, Eyes a 150,655-square-foot building on a 6.6-acre parcel at 70 North Knoll Road
The 127-acre project at 201 Seminary Drive would transform the site into a mixed-use development with 336 single- and multifamily residential units — including 70 affordable units — and a 150-unit senior residential-care facility. The project also includes a 17,000-square-foot fitness center and a 3,000-square-foot preschool, both open to the public. While more than 70% of the campus would remain as open space, athletic fields, paths and plazas, the project would add about 530 new residents and about 250 new workers. Developer North Coast Land Holdings LLC also proposes maintaining the academic campus for up to 1,000 students under an existing 1953 conditional use permit.
Read MoreAfter Years of Wrangling, Public Comment Opens on Marin County’s Largest Housing Development Project in Years‘, Moving Forward Amid Likely Neighbor Pushback in Strawberry
The 127-acre project at 201 Seminary Drive would transform the site into a mixed-use development with 336 single- and multifamily residential units — including 70 affordable units — and a 150-unit senior residential-care facility. The project also includes a 17,000-square-foot fitness center and a 3,000-square-foot preschool, both open to the public. While more than 70% of the campus would remain as open space, athletic fields, paths and plazas, the project would add about 530 new residents and about 250 new workers. Developer North Coast Land Holdings LLC also proposes maintaining the academic campus for up to 1,000 students under an existing 1953 conditional use permit.
Read MoreMarin IJ: Marin Officials Question Projections in Regional Growth Plan – Draft Plan Bay Area 2050+
While the number of Marin households is projected to grow from 108,000 to 131,000 by 2050, the job growth is projected to be stagnant, with a job base remaining at 126,000 over the same time period, the plan says. Across the region, the plan anticipates a population growth of about 7.7 million to 9.6 million, which is nearly four times the forecast provided by the California Department of Finance. Mill Valley Mayor Max Perrey said city officials agree that MTC and ABAG need to revise their projections and develop better mitigations to address impacts to wildfire risk, water supply, emergency services, air quality and flooding, among other issues. “The regional growth forecast the plan relies on differs from the state’s official projections, and it doesn’t take into account the changing economy, both the impact that AI will have on the workforce as well as vacancy rates for commercial space, which continues to persist,” Perrey said. “It also has a large dependence on major future funding streams that have not been secured for projects, which presents funding risks for infrastructure, for services and hazard mitigation measures.”
Read MoreCity of Mill Valley Launches “Lease to Locals” Pilot Program to Incentivize Workforce Housing and Long-Term Rentals
“Mill Valley is deeply committed to affirmatively furthering fair housing and to enabling our workforce the opportunity to live here,’ said Mill Valley Mayor Stephen Burke. “This includes our ongoing work with Front Porch and its Home Match program, as well as Bayview Terrace, our proposed 45 unit affordable housing project, and now this pilot effort with Placemate. We are also grateful for the partnership and support provided by the Community Housing Foundation of Mill Valley.” The Lease to Locals program is intended to unlock existing housing by providing homeowners a financial incentive to house the local workforce through a long-term rental. The program is launching as a pilot and will be evaluated after six months for longer-term funding opportunities. Placemate Inc., an organization with a proven track record in addressing workforce housing shortages in destination communities, will administer the “Lease to Locals” program.
Read MoreOn the Heels of a Successful Measure L to Address Infrastructure Needs, City Pivots to Implement an Extension of the Municipal Service Tax for Another Decade to Continue Repairing Roads & Clearing Flammable Brush
Now the City Council and staff are pivoting to an extension of its Municipal Service Tax for another decade to continue repairing roads and clearing flammable brush. That assessment came after City Manager Todd Cusimano reported on the tax, known as the MST, at the City Council meeting on Oct. 20 as part of a strategic discussion that looked at future street repairs and local revenue streams. “We will have to continue with the MST,” he said. “If we do this right over the next 10 years, we’ll be talking about potentially not having to have one of these taxes.” “This is not a forever tax,” added Councilmember Urban Carmel. “This is really the end game, I think, for the next round.”
Read MoreFor Several Years, City Hall Pushed for Inclusionary Housing. Now They’re Pivoting, With Requirements That Seek 15% or 20% of Medium-to-Larger Projects
About 14,700 people live in 6,600 homes in city limits, said city planner Danielle Staude. New housing is a challenge and costly in Mill Valley because the city doesn’t have many available parcels, and most of what is available is on irregular lots and hillsides, which add costs to developers. Apart from church- or city-owned properties, only two lots are suitable for an apartment of 20 or more residences.
Read MoreSF Gate: ‘We Are the Problem’: California is Trying to Undo Decades of Liberal Policies – A New York Times Bestseller Co-Authored by a California-Born Writer Sparked Real Housing Progress in the State
“I’ve been involved in abundance long before it was called Abundance,” Wiener, a progressive and longtime lawmaker from San Francisco, told SFGATE. Wiener has been in the California Senate since 2016, and before that, he was on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He has another bill, Senate Bill 79, that is likely to head to the governor’s desk for his signature, which would allow for the construction of more housing units and taller buildings near major public transit stations. Abundance, Wiener continued, is “a very straightforward” idea that politicians should make it easier and faster to “build the things that make people’s lives better and more affordable.” He added that Klein and Thompson’s book has “had a lot of momentum and got a lot of people to think about this issue, and it puts into words and paper what a lot of people have been thinking.”
Read MoreSF Chronicle: San Francisco Went Too Far in the Wrong Direction – It’s Leading the Way Again, and It Could Benefit Marin and the Larger Bay Area
Something has been in the air in San Francisco for more than a year now — and for once, it’s not fog or hype about what’s next in tech. Instead, it’s clarity. After years of national headlines portraying the city as a symbol of dysfunction, San Francisco is quietly undergoing a course correction rooted not in ideology but in common sense. We’ve witnessed investments in law enforcement, a successful tax cut measure to support both small and large businesses, and, most recently, an end to the practice of distributing drug paraphernalia on our streets.
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