Marin IJ
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Letters to the Editor

City's 'infill housing' mistake
The city of San Rafael is not only ignoring all of its own rules for what makes good "infill housing," but it is also blind to the importance of the marine facility it is seeking to destroy at Loch Lomond.

 Five of the conditions I've always heard as necessary for infill housing are: Close to employment, close to transportation, close to shopping, close to entertainment and recreation and in step with its surroundings.

 Anyone who is familiar with this proposal and the area in question will know that it meets virtually none of these criteria. If the city fathers want to build multi-story affordable homes and do it where it will both fit in with other buildings and be in close proximity to necessary services, I suggest that it would be a far better use for the PG&E office property on Third Street than yet another theater or hotel.

 Equally important, I've not seen mentioned the value of the boat-storage and its adjacent launching ramp. This proposal illuminates the lack of waterfront land available these days for these kind of facilities, and it would reduce the storage figures by a couple hundred more spaces. It also ignores how precious this combination is in Marin.

 To my knowlege, there are only three decent bay ramps in the county: Loch Lomond, one in Sausalito and Black Point.

 Only Loch Lomond has the unique proximity of dry storage to the ramp. Not only does this reduce the trailer traffic on San Rafael's streets, it is a very convenient and effective solution for folks who enjoy boating, but can't afford a full-time dock or the real estate to store the boat at their home. Heck, if this were a bird or mouse, the city would be declaring it an endangered species!

 I admit I don't like the idea of infill in the first place because by definition it means building more where it's already crowded, and eventually you would have to drive to West Marin to visit some public trees. But in a county where more than 80 percent of the land is protected from development and even a Corte Madera drainage pond is considered "wetlands," this crowding out of existing usage and open area at Loch Lomond and messing with its wetlands areas is not just bad policy, it's hypocritical lunacy.

 Mark J. O'Toole, San Rafael