Ross students pitch ideas for new housing

Even though the town of Ross just submitted its state-mandated housing plan, there is always room for second opinions.

Teams of seventh-graders at Ross School outlined their own views on housing allocation Friday before a panel of judges that included educators, public safety officials, business leaders and county computer specialists.

The teams offered eight-minute presentations on their ideas while displaying computer-generated story maps on a giant screen.

Although the ideas were different from the town’s plan to permit 111 new residences over the next eight years, Ross Mayor Beach Kuhl said he was impressed by the students’ initiative, creativity and skills.

“I really think these kids should just skip high school and college and just go be planners,” he quipped.

The Ross housing element, which was submitted to the state this week, calls for the 111 dwellings to be spread over nine areas across town, Kuhl said.

Student ideas included moving Branson School from Ross to Novato, razing the school buildings and constructing affordable homes; and acquiring the 40-acre Berg property north of Natalie Coffin Greene Park to build 111 condominiums.

Other plans were to appropriate the 11-acre Marin Art and Garden Center, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places last year, for an affordable housing mini-village, or to add extra apartments on top of downtown shops.

One team wanted to build a tiny house village composed of accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, made from shipping containers.

“It has a modern feel but the items are old,” said Aren Demirkol of the team Fizz Wizards. “The shipping containers are sustainable, because they’ve been used before.”

Richard Hannum, a Ross resident and architect who was on the panel of judges, said he appreciated the students’ hard work.

“They spent hours putting this together,” said Hannum, a member of the Architectural Foundation of San Francisco.

Blake Schmidt, the students’ teacher, told the judges to score the presentations on several factors, including whether they were comprehensive; whether they addressed issues such as fire safety, cost, environmental impact and sustainability; and how well they used computer mapping and story map technology.

Also, he asked the judges for a separate ranking based on each panel member’s personal favorites.

The three teams with the most votes would get “bragging rights” for first, second and third places, Schmidt said.

The idea of using the Marin Art and Garden Center property for housing was proposed by two teams — No Pain, No Gain, and Project JAV.

The members of No Pain, No Gain — Shepherd Child, Deven Nessel and Jonah Bilsker — said they would build an “agrihood,” or a residential neighborhood centered around farming, in the rear of the center since many local residents walk or jog in the front of the site on a daily basis.

“Consequently, the decision was made to build the majority, if not all, of the Agrihood in the back of MAGC,” the team’s story map says.

The members of Project JAV — Violet Pavelka, Alexa Slayen and Jordan Kelly — agreed that housing could be added at the center if it was done carefully.

“Building on MAGC is also better for the environment because it will not harm any wildlife,” the team’s story map said. “We believe that our somewhat controversial ideas will further benefit Ross and move it forward into the future.”

A Branson School transfer to Novato, proposed by the Emolna team, would cost more than $400 million, but would offer room for even more housing possibilities than required — about 700 condos, 2,000 single-family homes and 1,000 apartments, according to the team’s story map.

“Though Branson has been around since 1920, it has been considering a move for a couple years now,” team members Emma Reilly, Olivia Zazzara and Luna Diaz said in their story map. “And that move might come into great use for the Town of Ross in 2023-2031.”

In addition to Hannum and Kuhl, the other panel members were Ross Valley Fire Department inspector Derrick Shaw and senior inspector Robert Bastianon; Ross police Chief Raffaello Pata; Ross biotech executive and former math and science teacher Danielle Duran; Ross School board trustee Darius Mozaffarian; Ross Vice Mayor Elizabeth Brekhus; Michelle Jennings, a county engineer; and Jiku Park, a county information technology specialist.

Kuhl was the only one who said he would recuse himself from voting on the student projects.

“One of these might come before me at some time,” he said in explaining his recusal.

The event was the second year in a row that Schmidt’s seventh-graders have taken on local mapping issues. Last year’s class came up with plans for developing the state-owned property between Eldridge and Glen Ellen vacated by the former Sonoma Development Center.