Corte Madera Could Bag ABAG

It seems not everyone is on board with the One Bay Area Plan put forth by the Association of Bay Area Governments.

The Town of Corte Madera is just the latest municipality to consider leaving ABAG. The Town Council will discuss that option during Tuesday's 7:30 p.m. meeting.

"We are taking this very seriously. ... We have at least one council member who thinks we could be better off negotiating directly with the State (rather than going through ABAG)," Corte Madera Mayor Bob Ravasio said. "ABAG has been unresponsive."

Palo Alto has also been critical of ABAG and has reportedly considered bolting.

"Does it serve us better to be outside of ABAG or to fight for change from within?" Ravasio asked. "No one's happy with the way the sustainable communities issue has been handled. We're very concerned about it. We have a great town here and we don't want growth forced on us. ... We're three square miles and we're built out. What do we do?"

Ravasio balked at the idea of building a bunch of multiple-story residential complexes. "I don't think anyone wants to see that," he said.

ABAG's assumptions about local growth might be too high, according to some local officials. Those assumptions and any associated requirements, if incorrect, could actually cause problems with planned housing developments like the one at the former WinCup property.

"I'm not sure that's where the problem begins, but it brings it into sharper focus," Ravasio said of the WinCup development. "A lot of people in town don't want that development. It never was our idea. We're doing that in response to an allocation from ABAG to increase housing. ... What really kicked things off was when we reviewed the Sustainable Community feedback and saw the huge housing growth projected for Corte Madera and the job growth for Corte Madera and we don't know where those numbers are coming from. ... ABAG is calling for job growth in Corte Madera that exceeds anything we've seen in the past 20 years."

Ravasio proposed that ABAG's projections should go through a peer review process, possibly bringing in the economics department at UC Berkeley.

The Corte Madera Town Hall will also likely be buzzing with activity as the Town Council is expected to finalize an amendment to a local ordinance that would allow residents to keep chickens and bees in the backyards.

As an added bonus to the exciting list of topics, Larkspur City Councilman Larry Chu is scheduled to drop by for an informative talk on penisons and how local governments can best deal with something that has threatened to bankrupt other municipalities.