Marinwood Association

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

You may have recently received some e-mails from the ” Marinwood Village Task Force.” These communications were neither authored nor authorized by the Marinwood Association.

The meeting mentioned in the e-mails and in flyers distributed in the community is not sponsored nor otherwise connected with the Association.

The Task Force appears to be an independent group. It is not affiliated with the Marinwood Association. So far as we know, it is not affiliated with the Marinwood CSD or the County.

The Marinwood Association is still committed to getting a market at the shopping center and continues to work with the County to that end.

We are currently seeking community volunteers for the next phase of the planning process. If you want to actively participate in this next phase, please review the document at http://marinwoodassociation.org/dce_scope.html and send us a note at DevelopmentCommittee@marinwoodassociation.org.

We will continue to keep you informed of any progress.

Walter K. Dods

Marinwood Association, President

Meet the new Developers

You are invited to attend a community update as part of the Marinwood Association’s annual meeting. You will hear directly from the new developers of the Marinwood plaza, Supervisor Susan Adams and others about the challenges and future plans affecting Marinwood.

Wednesday

January 30, 2008

7:30 pm

Marinwood Community Center

Attached is a flyer. Please help us distribute it to gain the widest possible audience. Download from here http://marinwoodassociation.org/MA%20Annual%20meeting%20flyer%20-1.doc

Print as many copies as you can and leave them for your neighbors or send an email to bruce@home2150.com if you are able to distribute some in your neighborhood and we will deliver a couple of hundred.

The Mariinwood CSD Board of Directors has taken the first steps in establishing a local development commission. The CSD Board voted to ask the Board President to form a working committee to determine how such a commission would be organized, how it would operate and what its areas of responsibility would be. The proposal approved by the board is to create a Marinwood CSD Development Commission based on the following guidelines:

Marinwood CSD Development Commission

Membership: 7 member public commission appointed by CSD Board of Directors

Support: CSD General Manager, senior staff, Legal counsel and consultants as necessary

Description: A Commission focused on the economic and physical development of Marinwood to meet monthly to conduct its business. The commission will report recommendations and activities to the Marinwood CSD Board at the CSD Board’s monthly meeting

Duties:

1. Review current and latent CSD powers and recommend any necessary changes to the board.
2. Serve as community representatives to the Marinwood Community planning process working in collaboration with the County Development Department and willing local developers. Initial focus will be Marinwood Village Center, St Vincent’s, Silviera Ranch and the Oakview developments.
3. Identify and track pursuit of grants and programs that could support the mission of the Marinwood CSD.

Your CSD board, by taking this first step is reacting to a set of challenges facing Marinwood. Visit our wiki  to read an expanded version of the challenges. These challenges include:

• creating safer routes for walking, biking and driving;
• protecting the Miller Creek watershed;
• preparing for a major emergency
• deterring an increase in crime;
• creating additional community space for activities;
• creating a vibrant shopping area that serves the community’s needs;
• creating opportunities for our local public workforce to live in the same community they work in;
• enhancing the appearance of our community;

This list is not meant to be exhaustive, of course Marinwood has a couple of major challenges in the pending litigation over a land slide and the pending negotiations with San Rafael to provide emergency services to San Rafael’s northern most reaches but the details of those issues are complicated and are being addressed by our elected officials. Other challenges may also come to mind, if so feel free to let the author know.

Many in our community are already involved in projects aimed at meeting these challenges. We are blessed with many intelligent, active volunteers in Marinwood. It will take more to meet all the challenges.

A few of the challenges can be met with the completion of a village center as described in the Marinwood Village Center concept document. That concept was developed in a facilitated process over a period of two years by a task force consisting of the property owner, the county development department and ten members of the community.

Some of the challenges can only be met through additional taxes or fees. Example: The Marinwood CSD has as a latent power the ability to provide surveillance services to its residents. If it chooses to implement that power the funding likely will include an assessed tax or fee component.

Some of the challenges can only be met if various county, state and national agencies participate. Example: The county public works department and Liz Lewis were instrumental in obtaining an $85,000 grant to form the Marinwood Watershed Stewards program and produce base-line documentation on the entire length of Miller Creek.

And to meet the challenges we will need the support of our County Supervisor. Example: The process of creating the Marinwood Village Concept was partially funded from Supervisor Adams’ community fund.

Some of the challenges can be met by outside assistance or grants. Example: The creation of a beautiful welcoming theme in the new traffic circle could be funded by an art grant.

The key is to have the right entity in place to ask for and accept the funds or assistance needed to meet these challenges. It is the goal of the new working committee to make sure Marinwood has that entity in place – a Marinwood CSD Development Commission.

Action Item

The formation committee needs to hear from you. What are your thoughts? Do you want to participate in the committee or the eventual commission? Contact the 2008 Marinwood CSD Board President, Bruce Anderson at 492-1699 or email bruce@home2150.com with your comments or just post them here for all to view.

Susan Adams, supervisor Distict one has just published the following upadate in her newsletter. To view the entire newsletter visit http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/BS/main/sups/sdistr1/docs/Nov_07_Newsletter.pdf

Ownership Negotiations Continue on Marinwood Village

Supervisor Susan Adams continues to be optimistic that the sale and new ownership of the proposed Marinwood Village site will soon be completed. The two sides (Monahan Pacific and Hoytt Enterprises) are reported to be very close to completing a deal.

Once the property changes hands the planning phases will soon follow. An idea that has been put forth by Monahan Pacific is that there could be a phased approach to developing the property. A first phase of the proposed development of the Marinwood Village could include the construction of a new grocery store utilizing some of the existing structure and rehabilitating it. The Marinwood community leadership group, the county staff and Supervisor Adams have been having productive discussions with Mr. Tom Monahan, who is also a resident in the Lucas Valley. Mr. Monahan understands the community’s eagerness to have a market return to the neighborhood as soon as possible and would work with the county to find the fastest track toward facilitating this.

A subsequent phase of the proposed project would include the build out of the mixed use retail and housing element with the pedestrian and bike pathways, green building approaches and implementation of the conceptual principles that were developed through the community based process. There will likely not be 100 units on the property. A more recent assessment is looking at approximately a 70 unit range.

The public will have opportunities to review any specific proposal through community public meetings, the County Planning Commission, and finally through the approval process at the Board of Supervisors. Please stay tuned…

Today’s IJ had a front page article on the traffic in Marinwood. As part of their online approach to news the IJ does a news survey and is asking the public to respond. When I checked on the survey early this morning the count was 51% for no action. I think the IJ needs to hear from us. Please go online and read the article and vote.
Article can be found here http://www.marinij.com/marin/ci_7501860

Hi again and sorry for the multiple e-mails. It appears that the e-mail notification program didn’t like the fancy attachment and simply stripped it off. Rather than figure out how to solve that problem (which could take me days…) please visit the blog to see the flyer:

http://marinwoodassociation.org/

Thank you.

–Geoff

Take a look at the flyer below for an upcoming special event being held by the Miller Creek Watershed Stewards. I expect this to be an inspirational meeting and plan on attending. Please forward this e-mail to anybody that you think may be interested. Mark your calendars and I’ll see you there.

–Geoff

Ever wonder what Lucas Valley looked like 100 years ago?

Come to a special presentation by Chuck Striplen of the San Francisco Estuary Institute and learn about the history of Miller Creek.

Miller Creek Watershed Stewards Community Meeting

Tuesday, November 13^th

7:00pm to 8:30pm

Dixie Elementary School, Multi Purpose Room

1175 Idylberry Rd, Lucas Valley

Free admission and refreshments!

For more information contact Mike Elgie at melgie@lucasvalley.net or Craig Murray at craig.murray@comcast.net or visit Miller Creek Watershed Stewards online.

Dixie School District is not a sponsor or responsible in any way for this event.

What is in this Edition of the Marinwood Association Newsletter:

• Miller Creek Watershed Stewards Meeting
• New Blog / Newsletter
• Marinwood Village Update
  
• Donations

Miller Creek Watershed Stewards Meeting

The Marinwood Association has chosen to sponsor an important new community organization called the Miller Creek Watershed Stewards. The MCWS have set about an ambitious agenda for our community to protect and preserve the quality of the watershed in our little valley, from Big Rock to the Bay. They are having their first public meeting on October 11 and they need you and your family.

Stop by. Have a cookie. And learn about the MCWS and what you can do to make a difference in the quality of our little valley for generations to come.

Thursday, October 11th, 7:00-8:30pm
Dixie Elementary School (Multi-Purpose Room)
1175 Idyllberry Road

You can download the flyer here. Feel free to make a few copies and help distribute the flyer. Get the word out!

New Blog / Newsletter

In addition to the continuing work with the Marinwood Village, Safe Routes to Schools, and all of the other important work we do, we have been working hard to bring the latest and greatest information-age tools to the Marinwood Association Newsletters. Here are some of the new features:

• All Newsletter postings are now hosted on our blog, here. Be sure to bookmark it!
• You are now subscribed to receive e-mail updates whenever a new entry is made to the blog.
• You can have access to additional features by registering. This will allow you to add comments to the blog, select which of the types of blog entries you are interested in, and more. Just go to the blog and click the link that says “subscribe.”

I hope you enjoy the improvements. If you have any comments, please “subscribe” and leave them in the comments section of the blog.

Marinwood Village Update

It has been quite some time since we have provided an update regarding the Marinwood Village. In this case no news is good news. We are still hard at work with the county and the developer. Stay tuned. We will be in touch when there is news to report.

Donations

It is that time of year again. If you haven’t done so already, please make a donation to the Marinwood Association. Suggested donation amount is just $10 per family per year, but we will gladly accept whatever amount you can afford to pay.

Make check payable to: Marinwood Association

Send check to:

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

FROM POLITICS TO PROJECTS

At a special meeting on Tuesday, September 26, 2006, the Marin County Board of Supervisors accepted the Marinwood Village Concept Plan and authorized the Community Development Agency to use the plan as the framework for future development of precise building and site designs, and for environmental review.

The Community is now one step closer to getting a market.

The next set of planning challenges will require a new approach by the Community and the Community Reps. We now have to turn the Concept Plan into a precise plan. The precise plan must reflect the vision of the
Concept Plan and, once again, must gain the acceptance of the community and the approval of the Board of Supervisors.

The Community Reps have begun to reorganize and prepare to meet these challenges. There will be a name change. The Community Reps will now be referred to as the Marinwood Village Advisory Task Force.

The Resolution passed by the Board of Supervisors at the September 26th special meeting endorses the community planning process and authorizes the county planning staff “to continue to work with the property owner and the members of the community on refining
the concept into a Master Plan/Precise Development Plan”.

The work of the Task Force will now shift from creating and gaining community acceptance for the Marinwood Village Concept Plan to a project management approach. We will continue to work closely with the property owners and the county planners.

As we move forward, the Task Force will focus on all the separate projects that make up the Marinwood Village Concept Plan, for example:
• recruiting a market
• types of housing units
• architecture
• traffic circulation and parking
• the plaza/community gathering area
• green building principles
• bike and pedestrian paths
• landscaping, etc.

To help us reorganize and divide up responsibilities for each of the projects and to provide opportunities for continued community involvement in helping to create the Marinwood Village,
we are in the process of designing a new format for the Marinwood Village Newsletter.

The new Publisher and Editor of the Marinwood Village Newsletter is Task Force member Geoff Mack. Geoff is busy creating the new format. You might want to let your neighbors and friends know about the
new look for the Newsletter so they can get on the email list and receive a first edition. Subscribing to the Newsletter is a good way to stay informed about the progress toward the creation of the precise plan for the Marinwood Village project.

If you received this Newsletter, you are already on the email list.
New subscribers can email Geoff at geoffmack@gmail.com and request to be put on the email list.

Hear is a summary of some of the features of the revised Newsletter:

1. Regular specific project updates, for example:
• Market recruitment
• Design
• Green building
• Traffic circulation and parking
The updates will include information explaining how you can participate in working on the various projects.

2. There will be a regular section devoted to Casa Marinwood. The feeling is that it is justified to devote regular space to Casa Marinwood because this is the community which is most affected by the project.
The better job we do at addressing the concerns of the community which is situated next to the site, the better chance we have of meeting the needs of the entire community and ending up with a quality project.

3. The Newsletter will be interactive with the Marinwood Association web page. You will be able to click on links to get additional information about the projects, make comments and suggestions, and participate in discussions.

4. Letters to the Editor

5. Photos will be used to assist in communicating information, especially design information.

6. Special features: Information about and interviews with participants in the planning process, for example, individual residents, Supervisor Susan Adams, Task Force members, property owners, market owners, architects, developers, county planners, traffic engineers, etc.

SIERRA CLUB SUPPORT

On September 13th, the Marinwood Community Reps made a presentation to the Sierra Club Marin Group at their monthly Executive Committee meeting. The Reps described the Marinwood Village Concept Plan and discussed the community-based planning process
(wherein the community assumes a leadership role in the planning process) and the importance of continuing the community-based process as the Marinwood Village project moves forward into the design stage.

Following the Community Reps presentation, the Executive Committee
voted, unanimously, to support the Marinwod Village Concept Plan
and the community-based planning process.

Following is a copy of the Sierra Club Marin Group’s letter of support.
A representative of the Sierra Club Marin Group will be present at the Board of Supervisors meeting on September 26th
to express support for the plan and the process.

Sierra Club Marin Group
Box 3058 San Rafael CA 94912
sanfranciscobay.sierraclub.org/marin
c/o Gordon Bennett 40 Sunnyside Dr Inverness CA 94937
415-663-1881/gbatmuirb@aol.com

September 15, 2006

Marin County Board of Supervisors
3501 Civic Center Drive Suite 315
San Rafael, CA 94903

Re: Marinwood Village Concept Plan (9/26/06 Agenda)

Dear Board Members:

The Sierra Club Marin Group supports the Marinwood Village Concept Plan for the following reasons:

1. The Plan is consistent with the infill housing and sustainable community goals of the draft Countywide Plan.

2. The Plan provides that 50 percent of the housing units would be for sale or rented at levels affordable to lower and moderate-income households.

3. The Plan calls for adherence to Green Building Principles, including materials and energy use.

4. The Plan specifically provides for pedestrian, bicycle and public transportation connections to the site to reduce greenhouse gas caused by dependence on the automobile.

5. The Plan does not require building on environmentally sensitive lands.

The Marinwood Village Concept Plan, if properly implemented, could provide a model for how to create sustainable communities. The Marin Group believes that process safeguards should be put in place to ensure that the completed project will fulfill the vision of the Concept Plan. Further, the Marin Group believes that the key to fulfilling the goals of the Concept Plan is to strengthen the community-based planning process in a way that will enable the community residents to participate fully in the design process.

Sincerely,

Gordon Bennett, Chair