Corte Madera To Weigh ABAG, TAM

The Town of Corte Madera has probably had its fill of acronyms, especially ABAG, MTC and TAM.

Residents can hear about all three during Tuesday's Town Council meeting at 7 p.m.

Corte Madera attracted a lot of attention when the town decided in March to withdraw from the Association of Bay Area Governments. Now, ABAG Board President Mark Luce is coming to town to offer a presentation to the Town Council.

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.

Corte Madera's move to leave ABAG doesn't become effective for another year, so officials are using that time to look at all their options, including:
    • 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.

Also on the agenda, is "Discussion and Direction to the Town Council's Representative on the Transportation Authority of Marin's Board of Commissioners regarding a funding allocation request by TAM to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission for the Highway 101 Greenbrae/Twin Cities Corridor Improvement Project."

Following last week's meeting of the Executive Committee of the Transportation Authority of Marin, Corte Madera Vice-Mayor Diane Furst will pass on the latest plans for the Highway 101 Greenbrae Interchange.

Furst unsuccessfully asked TAM's Executive Committee to delay progress on the project while the Town of Corte Madera meets with engineers to come up with alternative designs for the Greenbrae Interchange. Corte Madera staff is scheduled to meet with with Jacobs Engineering, the company behind the design, in the coming weeks.

"We're concerned about the height of the project. We're concerned about the right of way and we're concerned about the environmental impact," Furst told the Executive Committee on June 11.