Marinwood Association

I have posted below an email that the Marinwood Village Newsletter received from Marinwood resident, Lucia Miller.

Lucia is a descendant of James Miller who built Dixie School. Lucia gave me permission to post her email commenting, “I went a little overboard, but, hey, I care about this”.

Lucia makes the point that it is important that we create a Village Center which fosters a “sense of community and a place to walk or bike to, to ‘hang out’ with each other.”

What kind of Market and Village Center do you think we should create for our community?

Please feel free to comment on Lucia’s ideas and add additional ideas of your own.

As we all have learned by now, this type of public discussion works best if we are all courteous and focus on discussing ideas.
Frank Nelson

Hi Frank:

Thanks for your updates and newsletter!

I may not be able to attend the Wednesday meeting.
So, just wanted to add my two cents:

Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s are two of the most desirable groceries, but BOTH are opening in Novato.
This means we Marinwood residents STILL must drive in traffic and park to shop in either Novato or San Rafael.
We need a store similar in price to Trader Joe’s with quality and organics like Whole Foods that we can WALK to.
We need Marinwood residents to get out of their cars and walk or bike to the new town center.
Suburban Sprawl is really destroying California and the world environment, look at National Geographic’s article on California this month.
It is totally depressing how we are destroying our beautiful state!
We continue to live oblivious to our impact on the world, driving every where, and polluting with our cars.
If Marinwood can create a town center with most of our needs met, we can seriously cut down on such wasteful living.
We can create a sense of community and a place to walk or bike to, to “hang out” with each other.
I am trying to work with Marin Bicycle Coalition and MES school to start Safe Routes 2 School, to build bike lanes and crossings that are safe for residents to walk or bike around our neighborhood, get off their butts and out of their cars.
Suburbanites tend to be lazy and think of driving first.

Recycling programs are a drop in the bucket compared to the impact of people getting out of their cars and walking/biking to their neighborhood stores and restaurants and friends’ houses.
Suburban sprawl is so inefficient, so taxing to the ecology and so isolating for people. Bad for people’s mental health.
We need urban density and this is our chance, in the design of the new town center.
If residents just end up driving to it, it will just create more pollution and congestion.
If the design encourages bike parking and safe bike/walking paths, residents will be encouraged to exercise and meet their neighbors along the way.
It could really build community and healthier life styles with less impact on our fragile environment!

I really hope that our grocery can be a place that is of quality, but priced for those of us who cannot afford higher end markets.

We LOVE Whole Foods, but we cannot afford it!

Many of us are struggling to get by, and need a Trader Joe’s type grocery with it’s quality goods and reasonable prices.

That’s my two cents!

thanks for reading,
Lucia Miller
descendant of James Miller,
1st wagon train over the Sierras and Pioneer and builder of the Dixie School
86 Grande Paseo
Casa Marinwood
Marinwood

Monthly Community Meeting

The first Community monthly meeting for 2006 will take place on
Wednesday, January 25th at 7:30 pm in the back classroom of the
Marinwood Community Center. Several of the Community Reps
will be present so this will be a great opportunity to get information and
ask questions about the Marinwood Village Planning Process.

Possible discussion items for the Monthly Meeting:
1. The closing of Bell Market
2. The Specific Plan. What is it and why is it important?
3. Recruitment of a full service Market
4. Retail space and residential units
5. Recovery of a portion of Marinwood Ave.
6. Design features for the Village Center

Photo appears in email version of Newsletter showing
Meeting with the President of Whole Foods

Monday, January 23rd, 5 Community Reps meet with Walter Robb (seated at far right),President of Whole Foods and a Marinwood resident. During our discussions, Walter confirmed the potential for locating a viable full service grocery store at the Plaza site and stressed the importance of creating preliminary drawings which illustrate designs
for a Village gathering place which compliments the environment and the Community.

SORRY, Novato gets Whole Foods.

We discussed several stores which might be good
candidates for the site.

                 CREATING THE MARINWOOD VILLAGE CENTER

The Community Reps are busy trying to make the Marinwood Village Center a reality. On Monday, January 16th, five of the Community Reps met with property owner Jerry Hoytt,  and the manager and the owner of Oliver’s Market to discuss bringing Oliver’s Market to our new Village Center. There was also discussion about ways to create an interim market (between now and when the new Village Center is built) to occupy the building which Bell Market vacated on January 12th. The owners of Bell Market have donated all the refrigeration equipment to the store building owner. The Community Reps, with the backing of the owner, are busy trying to recruit a store manager to operate an interim market in a store space which is all ready to go.

I have included four photos below which, I hope, will give you a sense of the work that is involved in creating, what we hope, will be a unique Village Center.

On Thursday, January 19th, the seven Community Reps will meet with Supervisor Susan Adams to discuss the work that still needs to be done to incorporate the Village Center concept into the County Wide Plan. The goal is to have the Marinwood Plaza site reflect the following land use requirements:
1. A mixed use development (retail and residential units).
2. Sufficient retail space for a full service grocery store plus additional community serving retail.
3. Incorporation of a portion of Marinwood Ave. into the Village Center design.
4. A Village style design for the entire project.

We are attempting to create a convenient way for you to ask questions and share your ideas. This can be done by going to the Marinwood Association web site at www.marinwoodassociation.org 

Within the site you can go to Frank’s Blog at   http://marinwoodassociation.org/v-web/bulletin/bb/viewforum.php?f=9
and click on the latest Topic and enter your question, idea or comment.

We will also continue to conduct outreach programs to give you a chance to meet with the Community Reps and participate in the planning  discussion. Recently we met with the Casa Marinwood and the Roundtree communities.

January 17th, Tuesday, we will meet with The Miller Creek HOA Board at 7pm in the back classroom of the Marinwood Community Center.

January 18th, Wednesday, we will make a short presentation to the LVHA Board at 7 :30pm in the meeting room of the Lucas Valley Community Center.

If you would be interested in hosting a neighborhood “coffee”, Community Reps are available to attend, make a presentation describing the Village planning process and respond to questions. If you would like to know more about how to set up your own neighborhood “coffee”,  send us an email to  marinwoodplaza@comcast.net

PHOTO # 1
This photo was taken in the front area of the recently vacated Bell Market. From left to right:
Community Services District Directors and Community Reps Bruce Anderson and Dave Mitchell,
Oliver’s Market Business Manager Tom Scott, Ralph’s real estate manager Gary Whittaker, Oliver’s
Market owner Steve Maas and property owner Jerry Hoytt.

PHOTO #2
Same individuals as shown in PHOTO #1.
Community Services District Board President and Community Rep Dave Mitchell is making
his points.

PHOTO #3
Shown from left to right: Community Rep John Hammond, Property owner Jerry Hoytt,
Oliver’s Market owner Steve Maas, Oliver’s Market Business Manager Tom Scott.
John is the chair of the Market Recruitment Committee for the Community Reps.

PHOTO #4
Shown from left to right: Community Services District Director and Community Rep
Bruce Anderson (making his points), Oliver’s Market Business Manager Tom Scott, Property owner (back)
Jerry Hoytt, Oliver’s Market owner Steve Maas, Community Services District Director and
Community Rep Dave Mitchell

January 2006 – Update

BELL Market is closing January 12 at 6:00 PM.

No more rumors, it is true. Frank Nelson has the latest and you can discuss it at Frank’s Blog

Annual Meeting and Election of Officers – January 25, 7:00 PM

The annual meeting of the Marinwood Association and the election of officers will be held January 25 at the Marinwood Community center. Association members who have paid their 2006 dues are allowed to vote. You may use the form below to mail in your $10 dues or they can be paid at the annual meeting to allow you to vote.

This next year a number of activities begun in 2005 will begin to show results. At the annual meeting an update of the status of the Village Center will be provided. In addition the exciting new steps underway to create safer routes to our schools will be presented.

Of course we still need funds - Dues, donations and ads

Please be sure to visit our first advertiser. Check it out at www.marinwoodassociation.org It is not too early to pay your 2006 dues ($10) or make a donation to the Marinwood Association (Any amount – we received a $500 donation this past year). You can make a direct donation or buy one of the cute Marinwood thingies located here or place an ad on our web site. The money is being used to finance a number projects within Marinwood. Did you know the community was responsible for contributing almost $6,000 to the Marinwood Village Project? Your funds in action! But we need more. We had to dip into reserves to make our commitment and are seeking to not only replace the amount we paid the county but also finance the other worthwhile activities such as creating safer routes to our schools and protecting Miller Creek.

Comments – Email - Join Association - Attend Meeting
We are making it easy for you to give us feedback on the various activities underway. Under some items above is a line of clickable text. Just click on “comments” to go to our online forums and post your note. Click on “Email” to send us an email. Click on “Join Association” to find out how to pay your annual dues of just $10. Click on “Attend Meeting” to find out what meetings are scheduled.

“The views expressed in this newsletter are those of the author and may or may not reflect official positions established by the Board of Directors of the Marinwood Association.

Tear off and mail with your check

To: Marinwood Association
c/o Geoffrey Mack
2742 Heatherstone Drive
San Rafael, CA 94903

From: ___________________________

Email address ______________________

Street Address______________________

______________________

Phone number ______________________

Dues $10 For all the many representations and planning efforts provided and to support our community’s efforts at self improvement I/we hereby submit payment of our 2006 Marinwood Association membership dues in the amount of $10.

Donation $__________Marinwood Association is a non-profit organization.