Support Victory Village Now!

On January 19, the Fairfax Planning Commission will consider Victory Village, a proposed 54-unit affordable senior housing project. The Marin Environmental Housing Collaborative – MEHC – is standing up for this badly needed environmentally friendly, affordable housing.

Victory Village needs your support now. Here’s how: Attend and speak at the hearing. Email a support letter to the Town planner, Linda Neal, at lneal@townoffairfax.org. Even better, do both.

The Planning Commission needs to hear from you about the desperate need for affordable senior housing in Marin, especially in Fairfax. Many seniors, especially single women, must move out of Fairfax and Marin because, once retired, they no longer have enough income to pay Marin’s inflated market rents. Please encourage retired folks who can’t afford market rents to send a support letter and/or speak at the January 19, Planning Commission meeting.

Here are the facts:

  • Seniors and young households, which tend to have the lowest income levels, are the fastest growing groups in the county.
  • The Marin Commission on Aging (MCA) predicts that by 2020, one out of every three Marin residents will 60 or older.
  • Three out of four people over 85 will be women.
  • Fairfax’s population is aging more quickly than the rest of the county. In 2010 about 17% of Fairfax residents were 60 years or older. By 2015 that figure had climbed above 24% and more that 63% of Fairfax residents who are 65 or older have a physical disability.
  • Seniors often live on fixed incomes and suffer disproportionately from poverty and health problems.
  • All of the Victory Village apartments will be adaptable for seniors with mobility impairments.
  • Victory Village will provide affordable housing designed for seniors that Fairfax and all of Marin desperately needs.

MEHC says Victory Village is an environmentally friendly project. Here’s why:

  • Brown space will be redeveloped; green space will be protected.
  • Development will be confined to 2 acres, on a parcel currently occupied by Christ Lutheran Church and a vacant school building at the corner of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard and Mitchell Drive. The church and school buildings will be replaced by 54 apartments, 53 affordable to low-income seniors and one for the manager.
  • The remaining 18 acres of steeply sloped woodlands could be subdivided into 2 single-family house lots or will be left undisturbed as open space.
  • Nature and views will be protected.
  • There are no endangered plants or animals on the site.
  • The site will be monitored during construction to assure that plant and animal resources are protected.
  • The finished product will be well below the thresholds set by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the Town’s Climate Action Plan for greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Ridgeline views will be preserved.
  • Remember, location, location, location.
  • The development will be compatible with nearby, similar apartments.
  • The neighborhood is walkable.
  • Downtown is a short walk away.
  • The new apartments will be on a major transit route.
  • Flooding will be reduced.
  • Flood mitigation swales and detention ponds, and an improved drainage system will reduce historic off-site flooding.
  • Traffic: not so much.
  • Senior housing generates less than half as much traffic as standard apartments.
  • During the morning and evening peak hours, the project will add one vehicle every five minutes to the town’s traffic.
  • There will be no negative service or utility impacts.
  • Public services and utilities are already more than adequate to serve the project.

Well-located, environmentally friendly and affordable housing proposals are sorely needed. When one, like Victory Village, comes along, we need to stand up and shout our support as often and as loudly as we can!