A Silveira Ranch family member blasted county planners yesterday, saying her father feels "betrayed" because a draft plan does not allow sufficient development on his property."Enough is enough - we've been on a merry-go-round for too long," said Renee Silveira, daughter of Silveira Ranch owner Tony Silveira. "There has to be a balancing, and people who are in the extreme positions need to move to the midline."Silveira spoke at a public hearing of the Marin County Planning Commission, which was considering an update of the Marin Countywide Plan, the county's land use blueprint. The draft plan restricts development to 5 percent of the 1,200-acre St. Vincent's/Silveira properties north of San Rafael, just east of Marinwood. She was joined by San Francisco planning consultant James Stark, representing St. Vincent's, a division of Catholic Charities/Catholic Youth Organization, who said the organization wants San Rafael to take St. Vincent's back into the city's general plan, as once proposed. The San Rafael City Council decided after the November 2002 elections not to annex the property. "We still believe that any future development on this land should occur within the city of San Rafael," Stark said.Silveira, of Marinwood, hinted at legal action if planners don't increase total housing densities up to the range of 1,800 units. That was the maximum recommended by a 2000 task force on the issue."Our entitlements (property values) have to be preserved," she said. "I can't tell you how difficult this is for my dad to look at this countywide plan and feel somewhat betrayed."Under the draft countywide plan, the St. Vincent's/Silveira property would be zoned to allow one home per 10 acres. A 350-unit senior care facility and an unspecified additional number of affordable housing units are also planned. Neighbors of St. Vincent's /Silveira were unimpressed by Silveira's statements. Public interest in keeping the land as open space helped fuel a 2002 upset victory for Marin Supervisor Susan Adams, who campaigned on preserving the land."We are opposed to high-density development," said Cliff Meneken of the Terra Linda Preservation Committee. "There was a referendum on the issue, and I'm wondering if the people should have greater rights than what one property owner should have."The heated testimony came before planners agreed by a 5-1-1 vote to recommend the 350-unit senior care facility - with a high percentage of affordable units - on the property. Commissioner Don Dickenson cast the sole dissenting vote; Commissioner Jo Julin abstained."This is the last best place to construct a significant amount of affordable housing," said Joe Walsh, chairman of the board of the Ecumenical Association of Housing (EAH), a nonprofit agency that uses federal housing subsidies to build affordable housing projects in Marin.Walsh, a member of the 2000 task force, urged commissioners to approve 1,800 or more mostly affordable housing units. "We only do market rate (homes) when we need to pencil in (money for) the project," he said.Stark, meanwhile, said officials from St. Vincent's are talking to San Rafael officials about reversing the anti-annexation decision.St. Vincent's attorney, Nadia Costa of the Walnut Creek law firm Bingham McCutchen, said she believes San Rafael is violating the California Environmental Quality Act and other laws by excluding St. Vincent's from its general plan and environmental impact report."The city of San Rafael made a very improvident decision," Costa said.But San Rafael City Manager Rod Gould later said city officials are not interested in taking St. Vincent's back."They may be talking to us, but there's no indication on the part of the City Council that I've seen to revisit the issue," Gould said.He said two St. Vincent's representatives met last week with Mayor Al Boro and City Attorney Gary Ragghianti, but "(Boro and Ragghianti) let them know there's no sense in changing course," Gould said.Stark told commissioners that if the St. Vincent's property stayed with the county, he would support the 2000 task force's recommendations of 1,800 total housing units. He said St. Vincent's needs a minimum $25 million to fund rehabilition of the school's campus, and another $25 million to compensate for an operating deficit. Silveira said her family preferred the 2000 task force's recommendation of confining development to 15 percent of the land, but disagreed with the recommended 500 to 1,800 housing units range because "my dad was uncomfortable about the nebulous range."We would have liked a definitive number - in the upper part of that range," she said. "My dad doesn't like development sprawled all over the land - he likes clustering, and he likes multi-stories." Dickenson, who questioned Silveira on her statements, said it was a "rare opportunity to speak directly with a property owner." The commissioners, who spent the entire July 12 public hearing on St. Vincent's/Silveira, had intended yesterday to wrap up discussion of the property early in the hearing. But that didn't happen, and the testimony and discussion yesterday continued through the afternoon.Silveira said her family was "pretty disillusioned" after 30 years of changing regulations - and paying taxes. Now, the county's proposed plan calls for more reduced densities."That's litigation territory," she said. "It's so extreme."
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Saturday, May 25, 2013