Politics & Government

Corte Madera Seeking Solutions To ABAG

The Town Council is trying to rally support from other Marin County cities to form a group that could replace ABAG and increase local control.

The Town of Corte Madera has some choices, but none of them are exactly ideal.

The Corte Madera Town Council on Tuesday night laid out its position on town's relationship with the Association of Bay Area Governments. And from what Mayor Bob Ravasio said, it's going to be hard for the town to avoid the influence of ABAG no matter what happens next.

"If we want to stay a small town, we should be able to. But how do we do that?" Ravasio asked.

ABAG's job is to develop plans for housing needs for nine Bay Area counties. ABAG's One Bay Area Plan combines expected population growth with transporation needs in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in accordance with state law. Transporation funds, upon which Corte Madera relies, are allocated to areas where housing density increases.

Vice-Mayor Diane Furst argues that Corte Madera is "built out." The town is 4.5 square miles, 1.5 of which are physically under water. Furst has said that the few lots that could be developed for housing are one steep hills and have limited or no access to utilities.

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One problem, Ravasio pointed out, is that ABAG has regularly overestimated population growth in Corte Madera in the past by as much as 7 percent. Ravasio also related that he has heard from environmental groups that the worst thing a town could do to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is to increase housing density.

"Why did we leave ABAG? First of all, frustration," Ravasio said. "We have been doing our best to accomodate growth in Corte Madera ... but we felt local control would be jeopardized in this area."

The Council voted in March to withdraw from ABAG, a process that takes 15 months so there's still time for Corte Madera to reconsider its decision or to find other solutions.

Among the options listed during a Powerpoint presentation:
    • Rejoin ABAG.
    • Continue with the withdrawal and go it alone without support from other towns.
    • Organize a subregion within ABAG that could increase local control, but would still be subject to its Regional Housing Needs allocations.
    • Organize a Council of Governments with other Marin County municipalities.

The hitch with the first three options is that ABAG would still have a certain amount of influence over future housing developments for Corte Madera.

The problem with the notion of organizing a Marin County Council of Governments is trying to rally support among the neighbors. Councilwoman Alexandra Cock reported she has heard some resistance to the idea of a Marin County COG from officials in other cities. Councilwoman Carla Condon has been working hard to drum up support and says she's heard some positive reactions, but that there's still a lot of work to do to reach a consensus.

Corte Madera has received a lot of praise for its bold move to leave ABAG, but ABAG might not leave Corte Madera alone. The risk with these options is that Corte Madera could lose its voice within ABAG and its ability to fight against the housing allocations.

David Edmondson, whose blogs frequently appear on Larkspur-Corte Madera Patch, said Corte Madera should stay within ABAG, if only to be a force for change within the agency. He suggested other small towns, like Pinole and Oakley, could suffer without Corte Madera's leadership.

Find out what's happening in Larkspur-Corte Maderawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Whatever Corte Madera's next step, "I believe we have fundamentally changed the conversation about ABAG and regional control," Ravasio said. "We have changed the way the (Board of) Supervisors is talking about this. ... The public is pushing this in other towns as well."


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