Marin IJ Readers Forum January 23, 2022 – Marin Independent Journal

True Northgate Shopping Center plans need to be revealed

San Rafael officials allow environmental impact studies to continue before Northgate Mall owners submit revised plans, which will supposedly include building a central plaza by 2025, not 2040 as in current plans (“San Rafael Begins Environmental Review of Northgate Redesign,” Jan. 15).

As team leader of the Responsible Growth in Marin group, as well as a former member of the North San Rafael Vision and Vision In Action committees, I think this is putting the cart before the horse. California environmental quality law is clear. An impact report is a study of the environmental impact of a specific project, not a series of possible projects.

There are many unanswered questions: What will be included in the “town square”? What will be its size? Will it replace all surface parking in the central area with a park and public gathering spaces?

The community has been asking for a substantial downtown in Northgate since 1996, when more than 200 residents developed the North San Rafael Vision. The vision for a “green village” in Northgate has been confirmed over the following 13 public meetings, town hall meetings with 43 neighborhood groups and school classes, 3,500 individual questionnaires and five years of work by the Vision committee in action . San Rafael spent $125,000 to develop these plans (not including staff time) and included them in the 2020 General Plan and the 2040 General Plan. This request for a central park is not just a pipe dream or wish of a few individuals, and it still falls far short of the 2040 plan norm of providing 4 acres of parkland for every thousand new residents.

Merlone Geier’s revised plans are to eliminate parking in the central area and replace it with a public park and gathering space. These plans must be revealed before the environmental report on this project.

—Shirley Fischer, San Rafael

A plan to capture more rainwater could work

In Marin Voice’s Jan. 6 commentary with the headline “County water officials stopped increasing capacity as population grew,” author Charles Ballinger laments that rainwater empties into storm sewers and discharges into the bay and ocean, lost for human consumption.

Interestingly, the winter issue of “Bay Nature” magazine has a detailed article on the natural aquifers beneath much of our drylands. Admittedly, the focus of the magazine article is the Central Valley, where pumping has depleted ancient aquifers to worrying levels. Yet I remember about 10 years ago there was a proposal for the Municipal Water District of Marin to tap into the aquifer beneath Mount Tamalpais. Sensibly, this notion has been canceled for environmental reasons.

I think Ballinger’s wish to reuse more rainwater might have application here. Storm drains could redirect some of this flooding to a leach field arrangement, passively recycling this water back into the absorbing aquifer. This would cause the water table to rise under our reservoirs.

It would certainly be an expensive capital investment, but it would be very healthy for our future. However, I think it would be difficult to prevent yourself from polluting this aquifer with all the toxic products carried by the lawns and roads of Marin.

— Hobart Bartshire, Fairfax

Marin City’s Opportunity for a More Inclusive America

As director of Indivisible Marin, a community of more than 1,200 Marin residents who are dedicated to taking action to build a more just, caring, and inclusive America, I am writing to encourage the Marin Housing Authority and Board of Supervisors to make decisions to build a more just, caring, and inclusive America. Fair, caring and inclusive sailor.

They have a crucial opportunity to do so by prioritizing a revitalization plan developed by Golden Gate Village residents over those submitted by private, for-profit developers.

Golden Gate Village is the only predominantly black public housing in Marin as well as the only one that accepts families. Under the direction of the Housing Authority, the property has fallen into a disgraceful state of disrepair. In other parts of Marin, residents have the power to defend decisions made by both officials and private developers. Why should the residents of Golden Gate Village be treated differently?

I encourage everyone to join the next Housing Authority meeting on January 25 via Zoom. Learn more about Golden Gate Village at GGVRC.org or log on to IndivisibleMarin.org.

—Susan Morgan, San Rafael