Marin supervisors get backlash for rejecting planning commissioner

The Tamalpais Design Review Board expressed “deep concern” over the decision not to reappoint Andrea Montalbano, or even grant her an interview.

The Tamalpais Design Review Board has sent a letter to Marin supervisors expressing “deep concern” over their decision not to reappoint county planning commissioner Andrea Montalbano, or even grant her an interview.

“We are unaware of any precedent for declining to interview a sitting planning commissioner for reappointment,” wrote Tamalpais board chair Douglas Wallace, “irrespective of the ultimate outcome.”

“This lack of respect for an individual who has volunteered countless hours of her own time to public service on behalf of Marin County is deeply dispiriting,” Wallace wrote.

Montalbano, a former member of the Tamalpais Design Review Board, said that because she was the only licensed architect on the commission, she felt she was supplying a valuable perspective.

“I have to say I was very, very disappointed when I heard,” Montalbano said. “To be rejected like that, it just felt like a real slap in the face.”

Stephanie Moulton-Peters, the president of the Board of Supervisors, said she “will look into the concerns expressed in the letter and reply back to them.”

The county Planning Commission has seven seats. Each supervisor appoints one commissioner, and the entire board chooses appointees for two at-large seats. Supervisors Eric Lucan and Mary Sackett recently made new appointments, and the overall board voted on appointments to the two at-large seats on June 6.

Montalbano, who was appointed to an at-large seat in 2022, with the unanimous support of the supervisors, has been outspoken in her views regarding the new housing element of Marin’s countywide plan.

The housing element details how the county will comply with state mandates for creating new housing. Marin County and its municipalities are required by the state to accommodate more than 14,000 new residences by 2031.

Wallace wrote that Montalbano, like most other commissioners, “was unwilling to support ceding more control over Marin’s development to the state than was legally necessary to achieve a compliant housing element.”

“Her input highlighted many Marin-specific issues that warranted consideration, including support for the continued relevance of community plans,” he wrote.

In January, the Planning Commission voted 6-1 to recommend that supervisors reject the housing element in the form it was in. One of many flaws the commissioners cited in the plan related to changes that made community plans subordinate to the countywide plan.

Previously, in cases where the countywide plan and community plans differed, it was understood that the plan with the more specific language would take precedence.

During public hearings on the housing element, county planning staff said that the community plan change was one of the additional steps the county needed to take in order to satisfy the state’s requirement to “affirmatively further fair housing.”

Planning staff said some policies in community plans limited the county’s ability to encourage and facilitate multifamily housing.

Community Development Director Sarah Jones said many community plans describe the community character as “single family,” and “low density.” She cited as examples the Point Reyes Station community plan and the Strawberry community plan.

Planning staff warned that if the state didn’t approve the county’s new housing element by Jan. 31, the county would be vulnerable to the “builder’s remedy,” preventing it from using its zoning or general plan standards to disapprove any housing project that met certain affordability requirements.

Critics of the community plan change said it was unnecessary to meet the state housing edict.

Montalbano was one of more than 1,500 people who signed an online petition calling on supervisors to reverse the change.

“Community plans are a monument to democracy because they are the outcome of grassroots, public participation,” she said at the time. “Diminishing community plans erodes the democratic process.”

As it turned out, the state rejected the county’s initial housing element despite the change. The state finally approved the housing element on June 19 after requiring the county to make additional changes related to the “affirmatively further fair housing” requirement. In the meantime, two builder’s remedy applications were filed.

Montalbano was mentioned, although not by name, in a lawsuit challenging the county’s changes to the countywide plan. The suit was filed by Bruce Corcoran, a Strawberry resident.

The suit recounts how an unnamed Marin County planning commissioner emailed Jones on Dec. 31, 2022, alerting her that the then-proposed text amendments relating to community plans were “contrary to long standing law that a general plan be internally consistent.”

Montalbano and other planning commissioners also advocated for stricter limits on the approval of accessory dwelling units in high fire risk areas where evacuation could be complicated by higher population densities.

Wallace, in his letter to the supervisors, said he found it “difficult to shake the feeling” that Montalbano was denied reappointment because of her views on the housing element.

“The fact Commissioner Montalbano was denied even an interview when reapplying for her seat creates a chilling impression that respectful dissent is unwelcome,” he wrote.

Other planning commissioners who also criticized the housing element during lengthy public hearings declined to comment on the Tamalpais Design Review Board letter.

Montalbano isn’t the first county commissioner to be passed over for reappointment. Last year, Mary Stompe protested when supervisors denied her a third term on the Parks and Open Space Commission.

Stompe saw a connection between the supervisors’ denial and her request to participate in decisions such as the purchase of properties with Measure A funds and for more detailed information, such as change orders and budgets, for Measure A projects.

Supervisor Dennis Rodoni said at the time that his office recruited residents who reflected his district’s priority “to have low income and people of color on our commissions.”

“All commissioners serve at the will of the board,” he said.