Support of 1 Hamilton Drive Project and Draft EIR

The 1 Hamilton Drive project presents one of the best opportunities for the City of Mill Valley to do its part in providing needed housing for Mill Valley and Marin County. The site is one of a handful of sites in the City of Mill Valley that is suitably sized, and relatively constraints-free to accommodate higher density housing.  Approving this project will go far in the City of Mill Valley addressing its Regional Housing Need Allocation (RHNA) through this next eight-year Housing Element cycle.  

Further, 1 Hamilton presents a rare opportunity to approve and develop a 100% affordable housing project. Being 100% affordable, the housing units will be available to many people in the Marin workforce that currently travel afar for affordable rents, resulting in exhaustive commutes and increased traffic and greenhouse gas emissions.

Secondly, the Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) document is thorough, adequately covers key topics, complies with the CEQA Guidelines, and provides information and data that goes beyond the minimum requirements.  The Draft EIR:

  • Adequately covers the key topic areas that are critical to the site and area.
  • Includes studies and assessments of two topic areas no longer mandated by the CEQA Guidelines, which are: a) a traffic assessment of local intersection review of level of service (LOS) operations; and b) adequacy of parking.  Regarding LOS, the project impacts on the local intersections would not cause traffic to fall below the City’s adopted LOS intersection standards.
  • Concludes that all potentially significant impacts can be mitigated to acceptable levels through the implementation of reasonable and doable mitigation measures. 
  • Concludes that the project would result in environmental impacts that are significant and unavoidable for which there is no mitigation to reduce the impacts.
  • Has been prepared by WRA, which is a reputable, local environmental consulting firm that is knowledgeable of the Marin landscape, as well as local environmental issues and policies.

A Final EIR and a recommendation to the City Council to approve this project should happen.