Public Balks at Proposal to Reduce FAR Exemptions for Garages

A proposed zoning change that would potentially reduce the size of a home being remodeled, especially on smaller lots, has sparked a public outcry from residents – many of them in the Sycamore Park and Triangle neighborhoods.

The City Council received more than 50 letters opposing the change prior to its meeting Monday night, with homeowners saying it favors wealthier property owners who can build large homes, will have an adverse impact on property values in the city, and can instead be managed on a case-by-case basis by the Planning Commission.

“This ordinance is grossly inequitable to a class of taxpayers who by no fault of their own purchased a smaller lot,” said resident Patricia Navone. “It unfairly penalizes the ‘starter’ home community, the very group the city is always claiming to want to help.”

Much of the feedback is based on a Mill Valley Patch blog posted by Bob Silvestri.

The City Council has been discussing an updated zoning ordinance for more than a year, but this provision was recently added in an attempt to remove the subjectivity out of some of the design review guidelines that the Planning Commission repeatedly comes up against, said City Manager Jim McCann.

“The commission has had great interest in trying to take the mystery out of the process and make things more consistent and predicable,” he said.

However, the City Council plans to take a closer look at the proposal, especially in light of responses from residents. Because two members of the board were missing on Monday, the Council plans to have an in-depth discussion at its next meeting on July 15.

“I think it’s obvious we have an area of significant community concern,” McCann said.

The 411

The update to the zoning ordinance involves regulating the Floor Area Ratio (FAR), which is a formula that determines the building area of a property as it relates to the height, bulk and mass of a structure. Under the current code, 500 square feet of garage space is automatically exempt for all homes in Mill Valley, meaning it doesn’t count toward the square footage of building space allowed on your property. 

The change would reduce this exemption, or eliminate it, depending on the size of your lot; the smaller your property, the less the exemption.

If you want to remodel your home on a 5,000-square-foot-lot, for instance, under the current zoning you can have a 500-square-foot-garage that doesn’t count toward the size of the rest of your home. With the proposed zoning change, only 200 square feet of the garage would be exempt, meaning the remaining 300 square feet would be included as part of the overall space allowed for a home.

Here’s the breakdown:

Lot Size:                    New FAR Exemption

4,000 sq. ft or less           0 – no exemption

4,001 - 5,000 sq. ft.        200 sq. ft. exempt

5,001 - 6,000 sq. ft.        250 sq. ft. exempt

6,001 - 7,000 sq. ft        300 sq. ft exempt

7,001 - 8,000 sq. ft        400 sq. ft exempt

If the zoning change passes, homes that have already been remodeled under the current code will be considered “legally nonconforming,” McCann said. But those who purchased homes with the intent of remodeling and haven’t started yet will be subject to the new code that’s in place.

Real estate agent Stephanie Wickham Witt said she’s currently representing a seller who is on escrow on a small lot, and had plans to expand  - which had previously been confirmed as a possibility.

“The buyer is buying it because he has been told by the seller and the powers that be that he can in fact expand it,” Wickham Witt said. … “If this ordinance would pass it would certainly reduce the value of this property for my seller.”

Walnut Ave. resident David Harris said he happily lives in a two bedroom home, with his three girls sharing a room, and is one of the many young families in the city who would like to renovate to a larger home at some point in the future. But he has no intention of building a McMansion.

“My house is not an eyesore,” he said. “My potential house is not an eyesore.”

Scott Kalmbach, a Sycamore resident, said limiting the exemptions will discourage people from putting the time and money into expanding their houses and eventually cause property to deteriorate.

“Those homes are not going to get remodeled, in my opinion, and I worry neighborhoods will start to take a turn for the worse,” he said.

Mary Thomson, a real estate agent in Mill Valley, called it a “misplaced Band-Aid approach.” 

“Assuming there even is a problem of too many oversized homes being built (where is the data to support this?) wouldn’t a more appropriate solution involve a review of the design/planning process to identify and stop individual cases where people are allowed (by design review/planning!!!) to build beyond the already approved guidelines?” 

Councilmember Ken Wachtel, who along with Councilmember Garry Lion was part of a subcommittee that studied this issue, said approving this change is far from a done deal.

“I voted against the resolution to begin with,” Wachtel said. “If it stays like that, I will continue to vote against it.” 

The City Council plans to hold a public hearing at its July 15 meeting for an in-depth look at the proposal, and encouraged the community to attend. The city also plans to reach out to neighborhoods and homeowners associations to make sure more residents are aware of the ordinance and have the option to provide feedback.

“Don’t assume it’s going to get enacted,” Wachtel said. “You provide the public input necessary to the educate the members of the council.”