Novato school district weighs employee housing site options

Six surplus sites owned by the Novato Unified School District could be turned into employee housing locations, a consultant said.

Chris White of Brookwood Partners said his firm evaluated the potential for projects at the San Andreas site in San Marin; the district office site on Seventh Street; the Hill Education Center; a transportation yard; and locations in the Hamilton area.

White, in a draft feasibility study presentation at a school district board meeting on Tuesday, outlined potential for apartment complexes ranging from one to five stories high at the various sites. Some of the possibilities included two-story townhouses, he said.

Most of the proposals would accommodate between 100 and 200 people, couples or families, White said.

Trustees, who were looking at the draft feasibility study for the first time, said they needed to see the likely financial strategies to fund each project before they could consider any possible development plans.

“It’s the financial models that will tell us whether this is all viable or not,” trustee Ross Millerick said. “What you’re telling me is that just having free land is not enough.”

Board president Julie Jacobson agreed.

“I’d like to see the cost of projects,” she said to White. “Please come back with that.”

Trustee Greg Mack said he wanted to see projects that would accommodate more than 25% of staff.

“I think we need to see 300 housing units,” he said. “We have 855 employees.”

White said he and his colleagues would respond to the trustees and community feedback and bring back financing details at the Aug. 6 board meeting.

Several community members said they were excited that the district was being proactive in addressing the effect on workers of the high cost of housing in Marin.

“I applaud this effort and celebrate what you are doing,” Jeff Bialik told the board. “You’re looking at this crisis right in the face and saying, ‘We are doing something about it.'”

At the same time, at least one Hamilton-area resident said the neighborhood was already becoming congested with new housing projects and it didn’t need to add more.

“We already have two large developments that have gone in nearby,” said Teresa Colyer, president of the Lanham Village Homeowners Association, which is adjacent to one of the district’s surplus sites in Hamilton.

“The thought of having another 200 units close to us would put even more strain on parking and traffic, which are already issues,” she said.

Jacobson said the district is sensitive to neighborhood concerns.

“It’s of utmost importance to us to be in close communication with the community,” Jacobson said.

White said he and his colleagues took the proximity of neighboring properties into account with each potential development in the study. Efforts were made, for example, to size the project lower in height if it were near a single-family home neighborhood, he said

Trustee Diane Gasson said she would rule out the district office and the Hill Education Center sites.

“They’re too congested already,” she said. “I would like the ones that are closer to transportation.” She also said she was not in favor of using the San Andreas site.

Derek Knell, the district’s director of workforce housing, said there are various ways to finance housing developments. The district could seek 55% of voter approval in a bond measure on the ballot, or officials could seek to sell off the properties they don’t want to use.

To get the best price, the properties would need to have all entitlements in place. Those are legal permissions and approvals from the city that a potential private developer would need. The district could also sell the sites “as is,” but the sale price would not be as high as it would with entitlements in place.

“Selling ‘as is’ is like throwing away district assets,” Millerick said. “It’s not a strategy I would support.”

Mack, Jacobson and Gasson serve on the district’s workforce housing advisory committee, which has been meeting this year to oversee the feasibility study plans. The committee will meet again in September after the board reviews a revised draft of the feasibility study.

“What would be helpful would be a list of estimates of costs for each of the six properties,” Mack said. “Also, a list of relocation challenges with each property and how that might work?”