Housing mandates raise concerns
Mill Valley officials are considering a resolution that would oppose Senate Bill 35 and other possible statewide housing laws that remove local control.
SB 35 removes discretionary review and allows property owners to develop accessory dwelling units, also known as “granny” or “in-law” units, “by right” through a ministerial review process to address the state’s housing crisis.
It also removes requirements to replace off-street parking when a garage, carport or parking is converted into an in-law apartment; expedites the conversion of garages;
and sets the size of a onebedroom apartment at 850 square feet and a two-bedroom addition at 1,000 square feet.
Vice Mayor John McCauley said SB 35 undermined years of work he and city planners did to bring more low-income housing to the city. He said their efforts considered the city’s narrow streets and inadequate infrastructure, which would be an issue while evacuating residents in the event of a wildfire or other natural disaster.
“So now instead of a single home, you’ve got essentially three homes on one lot,” McCauley said at the council meeting on Thursday. “So that means you can have two, four or five cars, push them
off onto the street. And most importantly, there is no restriction on how much to charge.”
He said the state law does not require property owners to rent out apartments at below market rate.
The council did not approve the resolution. Instead it directed staff to include language requesting funding from the state to build low-income housing, and bring it back to the council for future adoption.
The council also agreed to include members of the Diversity Inclusion Equity Task Force in the working group after many called in to opposed the resolution.
They argued it would be a barrier to increasing diversity in the predominantly White and wealthy city.
“We agree that this issue is worth further discussion, but let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater,” said Bernard Catalinotto, a member of the Mill Valley Community Action Network. “We disagree that it should be used to categorically oppose every state law concerning local control of housing.”
The item was included in the agenda at the request of McCauley, who said he was
contacted by the California Cities for Local Control, a group of officials lobbying for discretion on housing development.
Councilman Urban Carmel worked on the local ordinances with McCauley while they were both on the Planning Commission. Carmel said a lot of work went into finding a balance to bring equity to housing while also keeping density in mind.
“We have permitted, I think, something like on the order of 15 to 20 new units every single year,” he said. “You multiply that by 10 years, you get 150 to 200 units. That’s substantial.”
He said the city has been working to solve its housing
issue through accessory dwelling units. However, he admitted that promoting affordable or low-income housing has not been a consistent goal for the city over the decades. He said the last 100% affordable housing complex built was Pickleweed Apartments in 1983.
“So it was a long period of time where there wasn’t very good progress here,” he said. “And that’s why Mill Valley is predominantly White, and we are trying to change that.”
City Manager Alan Piombo said the staff would not be able to have the documents ready for the first meeting of February, but the issue will return to the council
soon.
The resolution also takes a stand against incoming housing mandates imposed by the Association of Bay Area Governments. Mill Valley met its 129-home quota for affordable housing in the last cycle, 2015-23. But according to the new Regional Housing Needs Assessment methodology, it must add 830 homes to meet its goal for the 2023-2031 cycle.
“That’s about a hundred units a year,” Carmel said. “That’s what the state is trying to put on … and that’s unworkable. It’s unsafe.
About 33% of the city is in a “very high” fire hazard zone, according to a city staff report. Carmel said the state is wrong in assuming that all cities are equally suited to handle such a density boom.
“It will make Mill Valley a disaster to live in,” he said. “You will not be able to get out of this town, and that’s the kind of thing which is unhelpful. Time must be spent working against these things to try to get reasonable policies.”