Mill Valley moves forward on affordable housing plan

Despite strong community opposition, Mill Valley will continue exploring options for an affordable housing development on a municipal lot.

The City Council has designated part of 1 Hamilton Drive as exempt surplus eligible for housing proposals. At its meeting on Monday, the council authorized the city manager to draft a negotiating agreement with the San Rafael-based nonprofit EAH Housing as a partner in the project. The vote was unanimous.

Danielle Staude, a city planner, said a preliminary analysis of the site concluded the property could support a 40-apartment building on a three-quarter-acre section of the 11-acre property. The property includes the city’s public safety building, Hauke Park playing fields, a parking lot, vehicle charging stations and a community garden. The playing fields are not being considered for development.

The project has yet to be designed, but the idea of it opened a community rift that includes dueling petitions for and against the housing.

A petition against the project launched by the Save Hauke Park group has collected more than 1,200 signatures. Opponents of the proposal are worried about traffic, parking and the possibility that 40 apartments might require too large a building for the neighborhood.

Residents said that Miller Avenue, which recently underwent an $18 million facelift, and sites such as Boyle Park would be better suited for high-density housing.

“You’re pitting neighborhoods against each other,” resident Gary Batroff told the council. “You’re pitting people who are in favor of affordable housing versus those who want affordable housing at any cost.”

Councilman Urban Carmel said Miller Avenue is complicated because it’s in a floodplain and the lots are small and expensive. But he said officials will continue to explore other locations as well.

“This is part of a larger plan to do more affordable housing in Mill Valley,” he said.

Several residents lodged complaints that the decision dedicating the site for an affordable housing was done without enough community support during the COVID-19 pandemic when participation in city business was lower than usual.

Mayor John McCauley said the discussion began two years ago and denied the claim that the council has not been transparent in the process. The city has been considering city-owned parcels to use as leverage for developing affordable housing as part of its general plan to promote housing diversity, he said.

Residents also took issue with the fact that only EAH Housing responded to the city’s request for proposals on the project.

Resident Gabrielle Tierney called it a “red flag.”

“I think your housing advisory committee is biased towards larger development and speed versus a right-sized solution,” she said.

Council members said the approval does not commit the city to any project because none has been designed. The look and size of the project would be developed with comments from the community, they said.

Proponents of the plan were equally as vocal and applauded the council for its work toward more affordable housing. A petition in favor has garnered more than 900 signatures.

Resident Tracy Haughton called Mill Valley a “society fractured by property wealth,” saying the three daughters she raised in town can no longer afford to live there.

“I am in support of this project because it will allow us to welcome local workers to live in our town and that would cut down on traffic and pollution, and it is simply the right thing to do,” she said.

Naima Dean, a city librarian and member of the Mill Valley Force for Racial Equity and Empowerment community group, said affordable housing serves the “other 1%.”

“We have an opportunity here to be creative, collaborative and innovative, and to be a model not only in Mill Valley but throughout the county, where we have issues with housing that are only growing,” she said.

Laura Hall, chief executive officer of EAH, said she got married in Mill Valley and has lived there for 30 years.

“On behalf of EAH Housing, we’re excited and honored to have the opportunity to potentially partner with the city and collaborate with our neighbors on a shared vision — shared vision for new and affordable homes in Mill Valley,” she said.

Staude said the terms of the agreement with EAH are expected to be brought back for council consideration before the end of the year.