Churches Relieved to be Off List of Recommended Affordable Housing Sites

The pastors at two Novato churches targeted as said they will wait for official word before providing a final reaction to a Novato City Council verdict.

That decision is expected to come Thursday night at a special meeting to discuss all the choices for rezoning parcels around the city for state-mandated housing units. The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. at and a large crowd is anticipated.

The debate on affordable housing sites has lingered for a year and come to a hilt in the past month. More residents have showed opposition for housing on the sites of the and the church than any other site on a list of eight parcels recommended by an ad hoc working group. City staff came up with a Friday and both churches disappeared from it.

Pastor Darrell Chilson of the Novato Seventh-Day Adventist Church said he was pleased to hear that city planning staff the rezoning of the church site at the corner of Simmons Lane and San Marin Drive and that he understands the City Council could still choose the site.

“That’s a very encouraging piece of news,” said Chilson, whose congregation shares a santuary with the Trinity Presbyterian Church. “I’m extremely glad to see it’s moving in that direction. … This has brought a lot of concern to us. Thinking there could be a change in the use of our property and we may not have any choice in it, that was the feeling whether that was true or not. We just didn’t want the state via the city to come in and say we’re going to use your land for our purposes and it will impede your uses of it.”

In fact, the city of Novato has eminent domain privileges as an incorporated general law city, but it has never used that authority in its 51-year history, said .

“No city that we are aware of has bought a property to sell to a developer,” Wallace said. “Our city attorney would advise us that we don’t do that. Some redevelopment agencies have done that, but not our redevelopment agency.

“There is no absolute black-and-white answer, which is what everybody is searching for. But the fact that it’s never happened in 50 years of city action, that sends a strong message.”

Pastor Joe Everly of the Quest, a church at the corner of South Novato Boulevard and Arthur Street, has said for months that he was open to all suggestions for the use of the Quest property. It had been on the recommended list earlier, but was taken off last week when a new staff report was released Friday. Everly said he was formulating a request to the city to have the land taken off the recommended list.

“Our hope is to use our property to be good news for our congregation, neighborhood and the whole community,” he said. “We’re beginning the process of discovery on this. We know that by changing the zoning, all other choices would be taken away from us, and we didn’t like the fact that we wouldn’t have a choice any longer.”

Everly said the undeveloped portion of the Quest lot is “empty and ugly” and the congregation is trying to figure out a good use for it. Discussions will continue even if the property is not chosen for rezoning by the City Council, he added.

The Quest hosted a barbecue for neighbors two weeks ago to get feedback from local homeowners and clear the air about the church’s intentions.

“It was really good,” Everly said of the neighborhood talks. “ … At least one conversation was started and there will be a great many more. When all is said and done, there will be something there that families are glad is there.”

Chilson said he was thankful that residents of Partridge Knolls and other subdivisions near his church spoke out at recent city meetings to oppose the site as a housing option.

“The populace has been extremely supportive. We know they have an interest in this, too,” he said. “It’s been tremendous.”