Hanna Ranch Discussion Continues at Tuesday's Council Meeting

Planners from the city of Novato are recommending that the Novato City Council approve the environmental impact report and other associated details so developers can start building a retail/hotel/office complex on the long-vacant Hanna Ranch property.

Tuesday’s council meeting is a continuation from at which discussion and public comment went on for 4 ½ hours. Novato Chamber of Commerce officials found themselves mostly alone in advocating for new choices for shoppers at the 19.7-acre site at the southern end of Rowland Way, just south of . Many people who spoke before the council that night were concerned about traffic, public safety and the lack of affordable housing attached to the project.

Councilwoman Pat Eklund said Nov. 1 that she was surprised the council was being asked to adopt the EIR without going over all the mitigation measures associated with its approval. Eklund met with planners and an assistant city attorney Nov. 4 to work out changes in the precise development plan. Among them are:

• The clarification on the type of bike trail to be constructed on the east side of the property and the addition of eight bike parking spaces
• A condition that no advertising panels be included in a proposed bus shelter at the end of Rowland Way so that the views of the Beverly Ehreth Ecological Preserve pond are not disturbed.
• The addition of drainage swales and pervious surfaces to reduce water runoff.
• The requirement of use permits for any amplified sound or lighting at the proposed amphitheater.

In addition to the new conditions, the council is being asked to approve a land-use designation of general commercial (rather than the current designation of business professional office), vacate a public right of way and vacate an unspecified “floating” easement that connects the north and south ends of the property.

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 near the junction of highways 101 and 37. Two restaurants of 5,000 square feet each would be just north and east of the hotel.

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

Urban One received positive reviews on the project when the Novato Design Review Commission unanimously approved the site plans and look of the structures and the Novato Planning Commission voted 5-2 in favor of the complex.

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.

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 is to be placed on the southwest side of the property, but there would not be new offramps or onramps.

The open session of the meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at .