Hanna Ranch Discussions Pushed Off to Nov. 29

Housing advocates, hotel managers and those concerned with public safety and traffic … all sorts of folks turned out Tuesday to harp on the planned development at Hanna Ranch in Novato.

With Mayor Madeline Kellner recusing herself because of her biologist husband’s work with the environmental impact report, the Novato City Council discussed the EIR for the retail/hotel/office complex for 4 ½ hours Tuesday before pushing off the conversation to the Nov. 29 meeting. It’s unclear whether the continuation is a bad omen for final council approval.

Councilwoman Pat Eklund said she was surprised the council was being asked to adopt the EIR for the undeveloped area south of shopping center without going over all the mitigation measures associated with its approval.

“There are people in this room who feel we’re being rushed on this project,” Eklund said. “ … I really think we have to have a full discussion on some of these issues that will dictate this project beyond our lifetime.”

The council then voted 4-0, with Kellner absent, to punt the topic to Nov. 29.

Urban One, a Los Angeles development firm, is seeking to construct a 116-room, 70,600-square-foot hotel in the property’s “bowl” area between three knolls and mostly out of sight from passing traffic on Highway 101. Two restaurants of 5,000 square feet each would be just north and east of the hotel.

Closer to the store, a 42,240-square-foot, two-story office/retail building would be placed on a strip of land the east side of Beverly Ehreth Ecological Preserve pond. A single-story 13,571-square-foot retail building also is planned.

Urban One jumped through significant hoops the past few months when the Novato Design Review Commission unanimously approved the site plans and look of the structures and received 5-2 approval from the Novato Planning Commission. But the EIR was not just another hoop but rather a hoop on fire.

By a 2-to-1 margin, public speakers at Tuesday’s meeting were against the development and hammered Urban One for various perceived flaws in the design and concept. Of those who spoke in favor of it, four were bicycling advocates looking forward to a bike path along the eastern edge of the property that would help north-south travel along the Highway 101 corridor. Two others in favor of the Hanna Ranch development were Novato Chamber of Commerce CEO Coy Smith and chamber President Ralph Greenwood, who both said the complex would keep tax dollars in the city and boost the economy.

Today, the 19.7-acre property just north of the highway 37/101 interchange sits unimproved, serving as an off-road motorcycling hotspot and hiking area for those who ignore the “private property” signs.

Through the civic meeting process, development plans have drawn fire for not including housing units so people who work there might live there. Several residents in favor of dispersing state-mandated zoning for affordable housing throughout the community rather than in large high-density complexes said Urban One should be responsible for offering housing for some of the people who would work at Hanna Ranch.

“Any mixed-use development today must have housing,” resident Trish Boorstein said. “It’s respectful to the community when clients share the responsibility of providing workforce housing.”

Urban One’s Dennis Allen reiterated what he has said all along — that the site is too isolated for housing.

Tim Howard, general manager of the hotel, said EIR statistics were out of whack. He said Urban One’s estimate of 130 jobs at the proposed 116-room hotel make no sense and that the estimated $365,000 in annual transient occupancy taxes generated by the hotel were a false claim.

“It’s the economics of demand and supply,” he said. “ … Where is the new demand for hotels? … I ask that you do not support this project. It’s not needed in Novato. There is not a need for more hotels.

Robert Marshall, co-owner of , agreed with Howard and said, “The economic study was not done with any accuracy whatsoever. … They are pie-in-the-sky numbers.”

Several people questioned how the EIR could be written without seeing a major flaw in the paved entrances and exits to the development. The only access to the site would be at the end of Rowland Way, behind the Costco store, and that was another concern for project opponents. Emergency access to the two highways are to be placed on the southwest side of the property, but there would not be new offramps or onramps. City planner Alan Lazure said in August that talk of new Highway 37 access would prompt Caltrans to require improvements to the road standards, which would likely cause the cost of the development to skyrocket.

The company that handled the environmental report, LSA, said the project has no major specific problems with the planned complex except that, in the big picture, it would generate “significant unavoidable greenhouse gas emissions that exceed allowable thresholds.”

During his staff report, Lazure said 69 percent of the site is to remain undeveloped. The plans call for 14 native oak trees and 43 nonnative trees — mostly eucalyptus — are to be removed. The Marin Audubon Society and the Marin Conservation League have stated concerns about the development’s impacts on the pond, vegetation and wildlife areas.

Council critic Gail Meyers said one of the stipulations in the EIR was that the project blend in with the environment. “This no more blends in with the environment than I do,” she said.