Planning board clears new housing element

The Mill Valley Planning Commission has passed a resolution recommending that the City Council adopt the new housing element.

“It's been over two years of outreach and working toward the housing element update, so it's a big milestone,” said Danielle Staude, a city planner.

Under the state housing mandate, the city must permit 865 more residences during the next eight-year planning cycle. The housing element plans for 961 dwellings, including 570 for lowand very-low-income households, 149 for moderate-income households and 342 for above-moderate-income units.

The potential sites for housing 401 Miller Ave., the Comcast building on East Blithedale Avenue, the 1 Hamilton Drive site and the Presidio neighborhood. There are also smaller sites that will be covered by the city's planned rezoning overlays to allow for higher density development.

The overlay zoning districts would allow for development with more residences, less parking and increases in building height on the identified sites. There would be small-lot overlays for properties of less than a half-acre, overlays for sites for over a half-acre and an overlay for office conversion.

Properties that were eliminated included Safeway, the Alto Center shopping plaza, the CVS parking lot and the golf and tennis courts.

“We quickly understood rezoning was going to have to occur or something was going to have to be done in order to find and facilitate units,” Staude said.

The 1 Hamilton Drive location would involve 40 to 50 low-income dwellings on city property. The project has not yet been approved by the City Council.

Commissioner Greg Hildebrand abstained from the commission's vote on Tuesday, saying a land use amendment for the 1 Hamilton Drive project could be postponed for a later date.

Hildebrand said the property should not have its land use classification modified until the environmental impact evaluation was concluded. Some residents have raised concerns about the possibility of asbestos contamination at the proposed site.

“I just feel like it's important to have that caution on that one item,” Hildebrand said.

Staude said the housing element also places a particular focus on a requirement of an analysis of fair housing availability. Staude said the item “has helped facilitate discussions about how we are adding new housing in order to address various needs with the community.”

“The barrier is the lack of supply of affordable housing,” she said. Providing a range of those options, she said, is a “No. 1 priority.”

Staude said the City Council would likely hold a hearing on adopting the housing element this month or next.