Marin commission endorses housing plan revisions to address Strawberry man’s lawsuit, legacy of racial inequity

Marin planning officials have backed changes to the county’s eight-year housing roadmap that attempt to strike a balance between protecting local community plans like Strawberry’s while still meeting state mandates to further fair housing.

The Planning Commission at its Dec. 16 meeting meshed elements of two options presented by staff to come up with the revisions, which seek to comply with a court order to remove language from the county’s 2023-2031 housing element and the encompassing countywide plan that appears to give the countywide plan precedence over community plans. The commission, however, also added language to mitigate the limitations those local plans might place on the development of multifamily housing, with officials acknowledging community plans can carry a legacy of racial inequity.

Commissioner Margot Biehle said it was important that the revisions accomplish both goals.

“Marin County has a long history, perhaps not encoded now, but a long history of discriminating on the basis of race and to the extent that we can continue to rectify that, I think that is an important thing to do,” she said.

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