Supervisor Sears announces PDA discussion at County BOS Meeting, Feb-25, Tues, 1:30 pm

 

Supervisor Kate Sears announces PDA discussion at the Marin County Board of Supervisors’ Meeting, Tuesday, February 25^th at 1:30 pm

Dear Strawberry residents: 

 

I am writing to invite you to discuss the status of the Strawberry Priority Development Area (PDA) with the Board of Supervisors. We thought it appropriate for the Transportation Authority of Marin (TAM) to first provide input on the transportation funding issues since it has the most local expertise in that area. Understanding the funding implications of modifying PDAs is critical to making an informed decision.

 

We have scheduled an afternoon meeting to provide sufficient time for this much needed dialogue and to facilitate attendance by community members who find mornings difficult. At this meeting, the Board of Supervisors will receive information from our Community Development Agency and Department of Public Works staff about housing and transportation funding implications of having a PDA, listen to public comment and consider whether to maintain, re-draw or entirely withdraw the current PDA designation.

 

Marin County Board of Supervisors meeting

Marin County Civic Center

Room 330 

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

1:30 p.m.

 

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A funding application submitted by the County’s Department of Public Works for transportation and road improvements in Strawberry was discussed at the Transportation Authority of Marin (TAM) meeting on January 23. Funding in the amount

 of $261,000 was requested for Strawberry improvements, over and above the $175,000 already awarded to Strawberry in November 2012. The TAM board decided to defer consideration of this application until Strawberry’s PDA status is clarified.

 

There’s much at stake here. Funding opportunities to upgrade our local Strawberry roads and transportation infrastructure are few and competition for that funding among the 11 cities and towns and the County can be fierce. I hear and understand the concerns of many residents that a PDA will bring “high density” housing and additional traffic to already congested roadways.

 

Please come to this meeting to hear about the local land use regulations that govern potential development in the Strawberry community and protect the character of our communities and our future. The development going up at the Wincup site in Corte Madera shocks many of us. But, Strawberry is different.

 

Let’s carefully consider what the PDA designation means before turning our backs on funding opportunities that would make it possible to address the long-standing infrastructure, traffic, bike and pedestrian safety, and accessibility needs of the Strawberry community.

 

Thank you for reading this message, for attending the February 25^th meeting, and for sending me your thoughts at ksears@marincounty.org.