Marin planners approve Strawberry residential care center

A proposal for a five-story residential care center with 106 apartments in Strawberry has been approved ministerially without review by the Marin County Planning Commission or the Board of Supervisors.

The Marin Community Development Agency announced the decision on Tuesday.

Spirit Residential Group intends to construct the 150,655-square-foot building on a 6.6-acre parcel at 70 North Knoll Road. The project involves 71 independent living apartments with kitchens and 35 assisted living/memory care suites without kitchens.

The building will reach a height of 63 feet, 6 inches above grade and be built over a subterranean garage with 72 parking spaces.

County supervisors designated the parcel for ministerial review by including it on the list of preferred development sites in the county’s housing element. Under state law, ministerial approval guarantees approval unless serious health and safety issues can be demonstrated. Such projects are not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act, and no public hearings are mandated.

The project has generated opposition from neighbors. Linda Johnson, a member of a neighborhood group critical of the proposal, said her organization might sue to overturn the decision.

In letters sent in October, Tom Lippe, an attorney hired by Tiburon Ridge Neighbors, wrote that the project was ineligible for ministerial review because the site provides habitat for protected species. Lippe also asserted that the developer would have to obtain a permit to remove 22 protected trees and that the issuance of such a permit is a discretionary decision subject to California Environmental Quality Act review.

Lippe could not be reached for comment about the project approval.

Another opponent of the project, Scott Arwin, said it was “approved with conditions that can’t really be met.” He declined to identify the conditions.

Arwin also contended that the project is inconsistent with requirements to conform with the county’s form-based code, a list of objective building standards.

“This is a prime example of how the housing element approved by the Board of Supervisors almost three years ago has changed land use in unincorporated Marin,” said Don Dickenson, a former planning commissioner.

The building will be located at the base of a hill in an area designated in the Marin Countywide Plan as “ridge and upland greenbelt” because of the “visually prominent ridgelines.” Restrictions on building in the “ridge and upland greenbelt” were eliminated in the county’s new housing element.

Dickenson said the allowable development of the site has gone from one house subject to design review under the old rules “to the now-approved over 150,000-square-foot, five-story building over a 72-car parking garage that requires massive grading of the hillside site.”

When Spirit Residential Group submitted its preliminary application in March 2024, the Marin County Community Development Agency said it failed to meet a number of requirements under the county’s form-based code. The code was created in hopes of getting developers to build smaller structures instead of fewer larger buildings. The code gives developers a variety of building sizes and types to choose from.

However, the same law that grants the project a density bonus also allows Spirit Residential Group to request waivers from any requirement that would make the project financially infeasible. An attachment to the county’s ministerial decision lists about 50 waivers from the form-based code granted to the developer. These include waivers for height, scale, parking, retaining walls, grading slope, street widths, civic space and removal of habitat for protected species.

“Waivers granted are consistent with what is required under state Density Bonus Law,” Community Development Director Sarah Jones wrote in an email.

The Community Development Agency’s announcement of the project approval said, “The development of more housing specifically designed to serve older adults addresses a longstanding countywide need for services for an aging population.”

It noted that Marin County has one of the older average ages among California’s 58 counties, with people over 60 comprising about 30% of the population.

“Many lower-income and fixed-income seniors face the threat of eviction, displacement, and homelessness,” the announcement said.

Critics of the project asserted that the dwellings will be unaffordable for lower-income residents. The new building will include a bistro, various dining rooms, activity rooms, a theater, a salon, library and music rooms. Other site improvements will include a pool and a bocce court.