Marin planners set forum on San Rafael townhome project
The Marin County Community Development Agency is planning a public information webinar next week on a proposal for a 79 townhomes in unincorporated San Rafael.
The Auburn Grove project would be located on both sides of Woodland Avenue between its two intersections with Auburn Street. The developer is City Ventures.
The three-bedroom residences would range from 1,500 to 1,665 square feet in 16 detached buildings, according to the county planning office. Sixty-three of the homes will be market rate while the remaining 16 will be priced to be affordable for households at 60% of the Marin County area median income.
All of the homes would have three bedrooms, solar panels and a two-car garage, which would be wired for electric vehicle chargers. The development would include 158 parking spaces.
The project site is in a Federal Emergency Management Agency designated floodplain with a base flood elevation of 10 feet, so all of the living space would be on the second floor and above.
The parcels on which the developer is proposing to build were included in the county’s list of preferred sites for development in its housing element. All parcels included on the list of preferred sites are entitled to ministerial approval, which means that they are subject to virtually no local review and do not have to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act.
Before recent state laws to promote new housing, developers had to comply with a Marin County general plan requirement to provide a 100-foot setback from a seasonal wetland. One is located to the west and northeast of the project site.
City Ventures indicated in its application that it would seek a waiver from the requirement using the state density bonus law. The law provides waivers and variances for projects that include a requisite amount of “affordable housing.” The company proposed a 20-foot setback instead.
City Ventures is also seeking a density bonus law waiver of a requirement to provide a 10-foot setback between the homes on the northeastern side of Woodland Avenue and a Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit path. The developer is proposing a 5.5-foot setback.
The webinar is scheduled for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday on Zoom. It will include an overview of the project and a question-and-answer session with representatives of the developer and the county.
Information about the plan is available online at bit.ly/AuburnGroveHousingProject.
The webinar will be accessible at Zoom.us/join. The webinar identification number is 816 3211 1441, and the passcode is 335634. Residents can also join by phone by calling 669-219-2599.