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Findings and Recommendations 7 findings
F1
Political will for the construction of new housing is constrained by County-wide vocal citizen opposition.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
Each planning department should begin regularly scheduled meetings at which developers can speak, early in the process, with all relevant members of staff to discuss impacts of proposed development and potential solutions to problems.
F2
The costs of land and development make it too expensive to build low-income affordable housing in Marin.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
Each planning department should develop a proactive community outreach strategy for any project that might be considered potentially controversial (including going beyond legal noticing minimums and initiating outreach efforts as early as possible in the development cycle).
F3
Developers routinely respond that they do not try to build housing in Marin because of the difficulties imposed by the local regulatory requirements and citizen complaints.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
Each planning department should use succinct “plain-speak” to convey issues in their outreach.
F4
Responsibility for housing in Marin is fragmented with little overall coordination among different agencies in the County as well as the Cities and Towns.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
Each school district should investigate building teacher and staff workforce housing on their land.
F5
Active planning for the creation of low-income affordable housing does not occur within our cities, towns, and the County.
Related Recommendations (1)
R5
Each utility district should adopt waivers for hook-up fees for low-income housing projects and accessory dwelling units.
F6
Over 60,000 people commute each day to jobs in Marin, many living outside the County.
Related Recommendations (1)
R6
Each jurisdiction should adopt procedures so that low-income housing projects are fast- tracked through the planning and permitting process.
F7
Proposals to build low-income affordable housing create immediate neighbor opposition. Efforts to mediate with neighborhood groups are often too late in the process and have been ineffective.
Related Recommendations (1)
R7
The County should create and fund the position of Regional Housing Coordinator. The Coordinator's responsibilities should include: working with funding sources and developers, identifying underutilized properties, working with jurisdictions to create specific plans, and creating a County-wide Civic mediation program for all civic project community dialogues.
Conclusions 12
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CL1Concentrate on Local Traffic Congestion Issues
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CL2Deliberative Polling®
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CL3Fast-track Low-income Affordable Housing Applications
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CL4Identify Underutilized Parcels
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CL5In-Lieu Housing Fee Recalculation
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CL6In-Lieu Housing Fees Pooling
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CL7Junior Accessory Dwelling Units
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CL8Reduce Commute Hours Traffic
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CL9Reduce Costs Of Utility Connections
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CL10Regular Developer Meetings
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CL11School Districts’ Teacher Housing
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CL12Stimulate Public-Private Partnerships The Grand Jury is under no illusion that implementing these solutions will magically transform our housing affordability situation overnight. Some of these solutions may not work well in Marin. Some of these solutions require a combination of new policies and new skills. Nevertheless, we suggest that it is time to establish agreed-upon baseline metrics for housing affordability, perform tests of these solutions, re-measure these efforts against the baseline, and fine-tune the solutions to optimize results. Implementing these solutions require public agencies and officials to change “business as usual.” Approaching tough issues (such as housing) with the question “What do we want our County to become?” (rather than “What don’t we want?”), we believe our leaders will be able to guide our citizens more comprehensively and efficiently. April 6, 2017 Marin County Civil Grand Jury Page 19 of 31 Overcoming Barriers to Housing Affordability