In a note at the bottom of a recently published commentary, IJ political columnist Dick Spotswood mentioned the “State of the City” gathering held in Mill Valley. He called for other neighborhoods to host similar meetings. As president of the Santa Venetia Neighborhood Association Board of Directors, I can say this has been occurring for many years in Santa Venetia.
The SVNA has held annual “State of the County” meetings for years. Marin County supervisors, including Susan Adams and Damon Connolly, have addressed residents at our community meeting every January for over a decade. Our newly elected District 1 Supervisor Mary Sackett is scheduled to attend Tuesday’s meeting with her first “State of the County” address. We welcome all residents of Santa Venetia to bring questions and concerns and join us. Go to theSVNA.org for more information.
— Gina Hagen, Santa Venetia
In his recently published letter to the editor, David Sullivan shared a good and true response to the Marin supervisors on their ordinance requiring residential and commercial construction to be all-electric.
During the massive storms we had earlier this month, the power went out for long periods of time for more than 18,000 customers in Marin. If that were to happen in an all-electric future, we would all be sitting in dark, cold homes with no ability to create heat or hot water.
Natural gas for central heating, as well as in my fireplace, has been very efficient for me. I enjoy a nice warm fire on the weekend while I watch sporting events.
I hope the movement to stop these types of rules for new construction grows. I say this as someone who has solar panels on his roof, as well as a Tesla backup battery wall. But, at this time, I have no desire to limit using my gas fireplace, my gas stove, my gas-powered dryer or my hot water heater.
The Marin County Board of Supervisors is 100% wrong on this one.
— Walter Schivo, Novato
I write in response to the Marin County Board of Supervisors’ special meeting to certify the countywide environmental impact report of the proposed housing element update (“Marin County adopts plan to permit thousands of homes,” Jan. 26).
The Miller Creek School District Board of Trustees is profoundly disappointed to see the consultants at MIG disregard the data we provided to maintain a conclusion that does not take into account that different types of housing generate different student population levels. The supervisors missed an opportunity to correct the flawed data presented by their consultants.
Instead, supervisors chose a path that makes it easier to “rubber stamp” housing developments without a realistic vetting process to assess how schools will be impacted. The district stands by its assertion that, between unincorporated Marin County and the city of San Rafael, we are looking at as many as 900 new students in the coming years, representing a 44% increase in enrollment.
Using the formula provided by county consultants will vastly underestimate the amount of new students the district can expect in coming years. Rather than look at each type of housing unit separately, they chose to lump studio apartments, large-scale mansions and affordable housing units into the same student generation level.
It is obvious that each type of housing has its own unique student generation level. The formula that supervisors accepted shows roughly half as many students as we are expecting. Supervisors chose to focus on the idea that student numbers don’t affect California Environmental Quality Act considerations, instead of making the obvious inference that hundreds more students means significant construction will be needed on school sites.
The school board asks the supervisors for a formal correction and an acknowledgement that underestimating the number of new students will have profound consequences for the district.
— Brooks Nguyen, Miller Creek School District Board of Trustees president
