Positions
1. Stand Up for Neighborly Novato supports working with community stakeholders to produce a Housing Element which can be certified by the State Department of Housing and Community Development.
2. Stand Up for Neighborly Novato is not recommending specific sites at this point in the process. However, Stand Up for Neighborly Novato supports selection of enough viable sites for eventual rezoning to accommodate sufficient units to satisfy Novato's Regional Housing Needs Allocation. Viable sites are those likely to be available for development and free from environmental constraints (such as wetlands, steep slopes, creeks, etc.). Development on sites with environmental constraints is not good for our natural environment and makes the site more expensive to develop.
3. Stand Up for Neighborly Novato supports locating multi‐unit housing close to public transportation, shopping and jobs.
4. Stand Up for Neighborly Novato is not advocating for any particular density across‐the‐board on all sites selected. Rather, Stand Up for Neighborly Novato supports careful analysis of the constraints of each possible site, which likely will result in a range of units for each individual site. For instance, for a site adjacent to single‐family, detached homes, the number of units likely might be lower than the number of units in a commercial area or where there are other multi‐family developments.
5. Stand Up for Neighborly Novato supports assigning a number of units for a specific site to make it viable for affordable housing development. The number of units necessary to achieve financial viability for development and ongoing property management varies significantly according to site‐specific factors such as site acquisition cost, site development costs, parking requirements, property management needs, and environmental constraints.
6. Stand Up for Neighborly Novato supports attractive and neighborhood‐appropriate design for new or substantially rehabilitated multi‐family developments. In some settings nothing higher than two stories would be appropriate. For other locations (including areas like North Redwood Blvd, where mixed use with retail and housing is an option) three stories might work better. Many examples of well‐designed affordable housing developments exist in Marin.
7. Stand Up for Neighborly Novato supports City property management requirements for developments receiving City funding to assure best property management practices for screening of applicants and timely evictions of tenants who violate the lease.
8. Stand Up for Neighborly Novato supports collaboration to recommend new Housing Element policies and programs to optimize affordable housing opportunities (such as a City jobs/housing mitigation fee, reduced City fees for second units, streamlined permit processing for affordable housing, etc.)
9. Stand Up for Neighborly Novato rejects the use of fear tactics and misleading information in this housing debate. We have read and heard mischaracterizations of our organization and affordable housing. We believe a respectful fact‐based dialogue reflects the character of Novato, will encourage opinions and ideas from all of our neighborhoods, and will contribute to a housing element that best reflects the needs of our community.