San Rafael, CA – The second of three Marin County Planning Commission hearings about long-range housing plans for unincorporated areas of the county is scheduled for August 25, and the Draft Housing Element for 2015-2023 is now available to the public.
County staff has been engaged in a community discussion about potential housing sites and development densities per acre for nearly two years and has hosted more than a dozen public meetings on the subject. As it continues the public outreach process, the County encourages interested residents to view the documents on the County’s Housing Element webpage, including answers to frequently asked questions.
The purpose of the Housing Element is to achieve an adequate supply of decent, safe and affordable housing for Marin’s workforce, residents and special-needs populations, with a particular focus on the unincorporated areas. It assesses housing needs for a variety of income groups and lays out a program to meet those needs. All towns, cities and counties must complete Housing Elements by state law.
The Marin County Community Development Agency (CDA) is drafting an update that is required to plan for significantly fewer housing units than the 2007-2014 update, which accounted for 773 units. The planning requirement for the 2015-2023 housing element has been lowered substantially to a minimum of 185 units at a range of incomes. If adopted on time, the County anticipates the next eight-year Housing Element to include significantly fewer units than the current Housing Element.
The Planning Commission discussed the 2015-2023 Housing Element update of the Countywide Plan on July 28 and considered sites to plan for housing at a range of income levels. The August 25 meeting is to start at 10 a.m. in the Planning Commission Chamber, Suite 328 of the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael. In addition to the Draft Housing Element, Marin CDA has distributed a staff report in preparation for the August 25 hearing, which will include consideration of a feasibility analysis to establish that lower-income housing can be developed at lower densities per acre than the current 30 units per acre default density. Finally, the Planning Commission will consider recommending submittal to the state Department of Housing and Community Development for preliminary review.
To receive the latest updates, sign up to receive email notifications. Input from community workshops, along with the feedback received from the 2014 Marin Housing Survey and other sources, will be provided to County decision-makers during the update process.
Questions and comments can be emailed to staff directly at
housingelement@marincounty.org. For more information, call the Planning Division at 415-473-6269