From: Charlessands
Date: November 26, 2010 2:45:32 PM PST
To: jarnold@co.marin.ca.us
Cc: sadams@co.marin.ca.us, hbrown@co.marin.ca.us, skinsey@co.marin.ca.us, cmcglashan@co.marin.ca.us, fmansourian@co.marin.ca.us, bbeaumont@co.marin.ca.us, BCrawford@co.marin.ca.us, Tlai@co.marin.ca.us, eberberian@co.marin.ca.us
Subject: Fraudulent use of SR2S and County Funds to benefit Marin Horizon School
Subject: Request to rescind SR2S funding and Marin County funding of the County’s Evergreen Ave and Melrose Ave. sidewalk proposal intended to aid Marin Horizon School comply with Board of Supervisor resolution 2005-105 dated 30 August 2005 for cause as described herein.
cc: Marin County Supervisor, S. Kinsey
Marin County Director of Public Works, F Mansourian
Marin County Counsel, P. Faulkner
Ms. Judy Arnold
President, Marin County Board of Supervisors
Dear Ms. Arnold,
You and the Marin County] Board of Supervisors are hereby respectfully requested to stop all work on subject and to rescind SR2S funding and Marin County funding of the County’s Evergreen Ave and Melrose Ave. sidewalk proposal intended to aid Marin Horizon School comply with Board of Supervisor resolution 2005-105 dated 30 August 2005 for cause as described herein.
It is unlawful to use SR2S and County funds to design and construct Marin Horizon School’ds Melrose Ave. street frontage for the benefit of Marin Horizon School, a private commercial-educational enterprise, that ordinance 19.05.01 and 015 and Title 24.Section 24.04.015 (c) Street Improvements Required Abutting Building Sites.
mandates Marin Horizon School to provide.
You are hereby respectfully requested to immediately require Marin Horizon School to provide 19.05.01 and 015 and Title 24.Section 24.04.015 (c) ADA street improvements required when its building permit was issued.
Preamble:
Marin Horizon School is a private commercial-educational enterprise located in semi-rural Homestead Valley in violation of the Tamalpais Area Community Plan.
On August 16, 2005, the Community Development Agency recommended that the Board of Supervisors impose this traffic generating business on Homestead Valley in total disregard for on Homestead Valley Tamalpais Area Community Goal # 7 “Limit commercial development or redevelopment to uses that primarily serve the Planning Area residents at a scale compatible with the semi-rural environment.
For your information the term “commercial” is a nationally recognized generic planning term for all uses engaged in commercial exchanges of materials/services for payment/fees such as: commercial-retail; commercial-office; commercial-educational (private schools) etc. which are traffic generators.
99.6 % of Marin Horizon School students commute to Marin Horizon School by vehicle from outside of Homestead Valley per R. Hammar, Headmistress.
As a result Marin Horizon School’s students, who commute to a Whole Foods secondary staging area on Miller Ave. in the City of Mill Valley outside of Homestead Valley. Marin County, want a new sidewalk constructed along this semi-rural county street for their comfort and convenience that has nearly no traffic and zero accidents.
A street that since the very early 1900s has had to accommodate only a few Homestead Valley school students on a extremely low trafficked street.
An independent traffic count reveals that in October 2010 Evergreen Ave.’s morning peak hour school traffic frequency is approximately 1.4 vehicles per minute and after noon peak hour school traffic frequency is 1.6 vehicles per minute. See Fig 1, 2, 3 and 4 attached.
This is more than double the pre Marin Horizon School morning peak hour school traffic frequency of approximately .6 vehicles per minute and the pre Marin Horizon School afternoon morning peak hour school traffic frequency of .8 vehicles per minute.
Conclusion: Marin Horizon School’s morning and afternoon morning peak hour school traffic has a significantly negative environmental impact on Evergreen Ave.’s pre Marin Horizon School morning peak hour school traffic frequency and should be mitigated in accordance with California Environmental Quality Act. (CEQA) requirements.
A significant negative impact that was conveniently not revealed to the Board of Supervisors and mitigated as required by the CEQA
Required Mitigating Action: Marin Horizon School should be required to van all of its 1-8 grade students, who live outside of Homestead Valley, to and from school.
Requiring Marin Horizon School to mitigate its own traffic’s significantly negative impact is substantially more cost effective than expending $200, 000 of County taxpayer’s dollars and $900,000 of Safe Routes to School funds to construct an environmental destructive and unnecessary sidewalk simply to reduce the costs to a private school of its complying with its USE PERMIT.
THIS APPLICATION IS NOT ABOUT SAFE ROUTES TO A NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOL TO AND FROM HOME IT’S SOLEY ABOUT REDUCING MARIN HORIZON SCHOOL MORNING COMMUTING VEHICLE TRIPS TO COMPLY WTH AND RETAIN ITS USE PERMIT.
THIS APPLICATION CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING INCOMPLETE AND UNTRUE STATEMENTS BY THE APPLICANTS’ CRAIG TACKBERRY AND ROSALIND HAMMAR. AS FOLLOWS:
1. Project description:
a) No comment
2. Project Location:
a) The applicants knowingly did not inform the reviewer that:
· Marin Horizon Inc.’s Marin Horizon School is a private educational commercial enterprise located in Homestead Valley in violation of Tamalpais Area Community Goal # 7 “Limit commercial development or redevelopment to uses that primarily serve the Planning Area residents at a scale compatible with the semi-rural environment. 99.6% of Marin Horizon School students do not live in Homestead Valley according to applicant Rosalind Hammar.
3. Demonstrated need:
a) The applicants knowingly did not completely inform the reviewer that:
· Evergreen Ave. has 7”-0” parking lanes on both sides of its 22’-0’ code compliant travel lane and has unimproved walkways on both sides of Evergreen Ave. which are partially used to park cars but could be required by DPW to not park cars in order to allow for a sidewalk complying with 24.04.450.
· On street parking is either on an improved right-of-way of asphalt or compacted gravel separated by an asphalt curb from a grassed and landscaped walkway for nearly the entire length of Evergreen Ave.
· Marin Horizon School student walkers are not local neighborhood children walking to their local neighborhood school. Marin Horizon School directs its 1-8 grade students to walk in the morning from staging areas outside of Homestead Valley, carpool or use its shuttle as a vehicle trip reduction strategy required to comply with its USE PERMIT’S limit on the minimum total number of morning Marin Horizon School related vehicle trips.
· Marin Horizon School students do not walk to school from home and back. They are transported by vehicle to a Whole Foods’ secondary parking lot staging area from where they walk up Evergreen Ave. to Marin Horizon School in the morning as directed by Marin Horizon School in accord with Marin Horizon School’ traffic reduction Traffic Management Plan in order to limit Marin Horizon School’s morning vehicles entering and leaving Homestead Valley.
a) 1-5 grade students are not directed to walk back to the Whole Food’s from Marin Horizon School in afternoon school because its USE PERMIT does not limit afternoon Marin Horizon School related vehicle trips. These students are picked up by vehicles at Marin Horizon School.
b) No Mill Valley Middle School or Tamalpais High student walkers were counted walking along Evergreen Ave. as the walking distance is to their schools too great. . See Fig. 1 and 2.
4. Risks:
a) The applicants knowingly did not completely inform or misinformed the reviewer that:
· Marin Horizon School students who walk as directed to Marin Horizon School have the option of being transported by vans as a Marin Horizon School vehicle trip reduction strategy.
· Peak school hour vehicle frequency on Evergreen Ave., a semi-rural street, is low per Marin Horizon School’s 2005 Environmental Impact Study. And independent October 2010 peak school hour vehicle count supports this statement. See Fig. 1 and 2.
· On this semi-rural road vehicles drive in the center of the road giving a minimum of 6’ feet clearance to a pedestrian or cyclist. When approaching a pedestrian or cyclists normally move to the far side to pass. If two vehicles pass they slow down to give maximum clearance to pedestrians before passing. Ref. 9 days in October 20110 observing Evergreen Ave. traffic movement.
· Marin Horizon School student walkers, who walk with their back to approaching traffic, as stated by the applicants, violate the safe road walking practice of walking facing on-coming traffic.
· The applicants knowingly misinformed the reviewer that two “close calls” occurred implying a risk to students walking on Evergreen Ave. in Homestead Valley. These two “close calls” occurred in the City of Mill Valley and not in Homestead Valley where the requested sidewalk is proposed to be located.
· The DPW applicant knowingly did not inform the reviewer that:
a) Marin Horizon Inc.’s Marin Horizon School is mandated by County ordinances to make street improvements along Marin Horizon School's street frontage on the west side of Melrose.
b) This portion of the project is a knowingly fraudulent application to use SR2S funds to benefit a private enterprise, Marin Horizon School.
c) Marin Horizon School's new building and partial demolition and reconstruction of its original building on Melrose Ave. was required a have a building permit in 2005 and is mandated to provide and pay for ADA compliant street improvements fronting its building sites in accordance with Section 24.04015 (c) and Section 19.05.010 Purpose: "Any person who constructs or causes to be constructed any building, dwelling or other structure for which a building permit is required shall be obligated to construct or have constructed or repaired street frontage improvements and driveways as specified in Title 24 of this Marin County Code, along all street frontages abutting the building site upon which the building, structure or structure is to be constructed, unless adequate street frontages improvement already exist and are in good condition
For some unknown reason the Marin County Department of Public Works did not and has not required Marin Horizon School to comply with Title 19 Sections 19.05.01 and 015 and Title 24.Section 24.04.015 (c) Street Improvements Required Abutting Building Sites.
5. Proposed Solutions:
a) The applicants knowingly did not completely inform or misinformed the reviewer that:
· The existing 2 lane paved travel way is code compliant varying from are 22’-O” to 26’-0” wide.
· Prior to Marin Horizon School being wrongly imposed on its Homestead Valley Elementary School site Evergreen Ave. was very lightly traveled by vehicles and pedestrians.
· The existing unimproved right-of-way is 50”-0” (not “approximately 11’ wide).
· Marin Horizon School ADA students living outside of Homestead Valley are provided an ADA compliant passenger loading zone at Marin Horizon School.
· Marin Horizon School’s sponsored 2005 Environmental Impact Study used by the County to justify approval of Marin Horizon School’s new school and Use Permit did not cite any of the “safety problems” described by applicant.
a) If the applicant had the County would have required the applicant to resolve all “safety issues” as a condition for approval in 2005.
· The true reason for Marin Horizon School applying for SR2S funds is as stated in the application. “It is anticipated that carpools dropping off students in front of MHS will reduce in numbers because there will be more students walking up from Miller Ave.” where Marin Horizon School parking staging areas are located for students to walk to school in the mornings only.
6. Degree of collaboration/partnerships:
a)The applicants knowingly did not completely inform the reviewer and knowingly intends to fraudulent use SR2S funds as follows:
· Marin Horizon School directs its students to walk, car pool or use a shuttle bus to school in the morning only in order to comply with its Use Permit to comply with the maximum permitted number of Marin Horizon School related vehicle trips.
· The County’s Use Permit does not require Marin Horizon School students to walk to school See Board of Supervisors resolution 2005-105 dated 30 August 2005/
· Marin Horizon Schools “Walkabout” list of participants does not include Homestead Valley or Evergreen Ave. property owners or parents of Park, Mill Valley Middle Valley and Tamalpais High Students.
· Before 14 July 2010, not one Evergreen Ave. or Homestead Valley property owner, except perhaps the unknown members of the “Homewood Valley Traffic Calming Committee, was aware of Marin Horizon School’s proposal to use SR2S and County funds to construct a sidewalk on Evergreen Ave., use SR2S funds to make Melrose Ave. street frontage improvements for Marin Horizon School that it alone is obligated to pay for or to narrow the travel lanes below Caltrans minimum widths with out any traffic or safety studies.
· The Marin Horizon Traffic Management Plan was prepared by Marin Horizons School and its traffic consultant R. Harrison and appended to the Marin Horizon School’s sponsored environmental Impact Study approved by the Board of Supervisors on 30 July 2005. See Resolutions 2005-104 and 2010-10. It was not provided by DPW as stated
· There is no such committee in Homestead Valley entitled “Homewood Valley Community Association Traffic Calming Committee”.
a) Homestead Valley Association bylaws does not permit any advisory committee to endorse any recommendation or action.
b) Including endorsing “The Traffic Management Plan developed by the County and proposed improvements for traffic calming (narrowing of travel lanes and sidewalk improvements)” as falsely stated by the applicants.
d) DPW applicant Craig Tackabery was asked if the County had developed a “Traffic Management Plan” for Marin Horizon School. On Nov. 17, 2010 he replied by email “chcked with our staff and the only traffic plans we are aware of are the ones by Harrison and Dowling, which you mention.”
· A nine day independent traffic survey in October 2010 observed few if any adults walking with their children on Evergreen as stated by the applicants.
· Marin Horizon School has failed to comply with nearly every County required Marin Traffic Management Plan compliance examination since 2005. See Community Development Agency fails to enforce 2005-105 Conditions of Approval 18A.
· Use of SR2S and County funds to aid Marin Horizon School, a private commercial educational enterprise, to reduce the number of students being carpooled by parents and stay within the traffic volumes established by 2005-105 Conditions of Approval 18A is fraudulent.
7. Potential for encouraging walking and bicycling:
a) The applicants knowingly did not completely inform the reviewer that:
· As 99.6% of all Marin Horizon School contract students live outside of Homestead Valley and commute daily by vehicle use of SR2S funds will never have any the potential for encouraging walking and bicycling.
· Nearly no Marin Horizon School students walk back on Evergreen Ave. after school. This is because the County did not limit the total number of Marin Horizon School after school vehicle trips. See Fig. 1 and 2.
8. Support from other Agencies:
a)The applicants knowingly did not completely inform the reviewer that:
· Homestead Valley Community Association (HVCC) bylaws do not permit it to support or to take a position on any community matter much less endorse narrowing of travel lanes or constructing sidewalks.
· Marin Horizon School pays a substantial sum in annual rent to Mill Valley School District which means that the Mill Valley School District has a financial conflict of interest in Marin Horizon School having a sidewalk in order to reduce commuting vehicles in order to comply with its Use Permit. The Mill Valley School District’s recommendation letter is self serving and is a conflict of interests and its Park and Middle School are to far from Homestead Valley for children to walk to and from home.
· The Mill Valley Police Department (MVPD) has no jurisdiction over any matter in Homestead Valley, Marin County and its recommendations are not relevant.
· The Mill Valley City Council has no jurisdiction over any matter in Homestead Valley, Marin County and its recommendations are not relevant.
9. Deliverability:
a) The applicants knowingly made the following false statements
· On 5 November 2010 the Marin County Director of Public Works stated at an Evergreen Ave, Sidewalk public meeting that its design was 10% complete. The applicants January 2009 application stated it is 60%.
· An Environmental Impact Study is warranted by the California Environmental Quality Act given that the project is not consistent with the following Tamalpais Area Community Plan goal, policies and objectives.
- Tamalpais Area Community Plan (TACP) Goal # 1: Maintain the semi-rural character of the community as defined by its small town residential and commercial setting and the quality of the natural environment. A 4’-0” wide sidewalk is consistent with TACP Goal # 1. A wider sidewalk is not.
- Road Way Design Character: Objective T-6: To retain the character of the Planning Area by assuring future roadway construction and improvements will have a low impact on the residential environment. A 4’-0” wide sidewalk is consistent with TACP Goal # 1. A wider sidewalk is not.
- Policy T-6.1: All roadway improvements must be designed to preserve and enhance the semi-rural character of the Planning Area. A 4’-0” wide sidewalk is consistent with TACP Goal # 1. A wider sidewalk is not.
- Policy T-6.2: All new roadway improvements must be designed to have a minimal impact on the values of the natural environment. A 4’-0” wide sidewalk is consistent with TACP Goal # 1. A wider sidewalk is not
- Title 24 Section 24:04:460: Sidewalks within village areas: Unpaved pedestrian walks at least four feet in width shall be required elsewhere. (residential areas).
- Narrowing Evergreen Ave.’s travel lanes to less than 11’-0” per lane is not consistent with Caltrans minimum travel lane width.
- Potential loss of approximately 6 residential visitor on-street parking spaces. May be mitigated by designating on-street parking spaces on the north side of Evergreen Ave. adjoining Volunteer Park as Resident Parking Only.
- Regrading of 27 private vehicle property driveways.
- Potential removal of +/- 5 protected coast redwood trees.
We respectfully request that you acknowledge receipt of this email and the action (s) the Board of Supervisors will take to avoid fraudulent use SR2S and County funds.
Regards,
Charles D. Sands, Architect and Urban Designer
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