City shifts land issue to county
In a series of maneuvers aimed at distancing itself from the proposed annexation and development of land owned by the St. Vincent's School for Boys, the San Rafael City Council last night dumped the contentious land deal into the county's hands.
In a 4-0 vote, with Councilman Paul Cohen absent, council members denied the application for a 766-unit St. Vincent's Village housing development, denied an appeal by the developer over whether the application was complete and ended an agreement with the county to study land use options.
Council members cited numerous reasons why they believed the project was a mistake, including concerns about increased traffic, annexing land that was not contiguous with city boundaries, lack of support from the Board of Supervisors, waning public support and a financial burden to the city unequal to possible returns on the investment of time and resources.
Mayor Al Boro cited the deteriorating partnership between the city and the county over the project as a chief reason he voted to deny the application.
"We were going down a path that they wouldn't support," he said. "I believe it can happen, but it will happen in a different venue than San Rafael. I don't think we can deliver it."
The 836-acre St. Vincent's site, situated east of Marinwood, is adjacent to several hundred acres owned by the Silveira family that also could be developed.
Representatives of developer Shapell Industries did not attend the meeting, but penned an angry letter to city leaders accusing the council of making decisions based on politics. The developer previously threatened to file a lawsuit against the city if the council backed off the project.
"Only a heart-beat ago, this city council supported St. Vincent's, the Shapell Project, and the annexation of this land," Shapell attorney Michael Durkee wrote in the letter to the council. "Then Paul Cohen lost his election. The project did not change, only the council's treatment of it. Never underestimate the intelligence of local voters; they may just see that your only consistent conviction appears to be self-preservation."
Susan Adams, who is opposed to development of the St. Vincent's land, defeated Cohen in last November's supervisorial election in a campaign that focused largely on the fate of the project.
Earlier this year the council voted unanimously to serve notice that the city was in the process of amending its General Plan, and was considering excluding the St. Vincent's property from the land use document.
The City Council agreed in January to drop plans to annex the site, citing political disagreements over the matter with the Board of Supervisors, which must approve the annexation.
During the meeting, several environmental groups spoke in support of the position city staff took in recommending the application be denied.
Alex Forman, a Marin Municipal Water District board member and chairman of the Sierra Club's Marin chapter, said arguments that the project could provide affordable housing were false.
"We believe this project was ill-conceived," he said. "It's not appropriate for workforce housing."
Renee Silveira, daughter of land owner Tony Silveira, spoke with emotion against the process, and described the difficulty her family was having dealing with city and county decision-makers.
"It's a really sad, dismal statement of how the city and county work together," she said just before the council voted to dissolve the agreement with the county. "It seems to me to not have a discussion is really ridiculous. It's more than disappointment - it's surreal."
Contact Jennifer Upshaw via e-mail at jupshaw@marinij.com
From the Marin IJ | |
Monday, September 6, 2010