Marin County allots $3.65 million to aid Golden Gate Village

Marin supervisors have authorized a $3 million loan and a $650,000 grant to benefit the Golden Gate Village housing complex in Marin City.

The loan would be to the Marin Housing Authority to help cover predevelopment costs for revitalizing Golden Gate Village. The federally-owned complex that houses about 700 low-income people is badly in need of repair due to years of underfunding by the federal government.

“This allows us to move the project forward as quickly as possible,” Marin County Executive Matthew Hymel said. “The idea is we get repaid once the permanent financing for the project occurs.”

The grant would help pay for new exterior lighting at the complex.

These contributions to Golden Gate Village, which is managed by the Marin Housing Authority, had been promised previously and come in addition to numerous other cash infusions the county has made to Golden Gate Village and Marin City recently.

“As your board may recall, you approved $5 million to support Golden Gate Village’s revitalization in your fiscal year 2022-23 budget,” Hymel told supervisors prior to their vote on Tuesday.

Hymel said the $3 million loan is coming from that budget allocation. In February, supervisors approved using the other $2 million to create an “empowerment fund” for Golden Gate Village residents. The $5 million was part of Marin County’s share of the federal $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act.

“I would point out that this is one of many efforts to support the redevelopment of Golden Gate Village,” Hymel said.

In November 2021, the county allocated $500,000 to assist in the process. Half of that money went to pay a developer who created a different plan than is now being used.

The housing authority board, which consists of Marin’s five supervisors and two residents of public housing, is proceeding with a plan to rehabilitate Golden Gate Village without adding new units.

A previous plan, created by Michaels Development Co., called for rehabilitating all 300 of the housing project’s existing apartments and building 156 new affordable residences, including 48 for seniors. Some of the new units would have been rented at market rate prices to help pay for the project.

The housing authority spent more than $900,000 developing that plan, which was dropped due to fierce opposition by the Golden Gate Village resident council.

In November 2022, the housing authority approved a new plan that calls for a limited partnership to be formed to purchase the buildings and land from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The housing authority will be the general partner.

While that plan has slowly been moving forward, there have been efforts to make provisional improvements. In June 2022, Marin supervisors allocated $600,000, which was matched by $600,000 from HUD, to make more immediate health and safety upgrades.

The additional $650,000 that was allocated by supervisors for new exterior lighting on Tuesday was matched by $650,000 in federal funds courtesy of a budget earmark by Rep. Jared Huffman, a San Rafael Democrat.

“Most of the existing lighting infrastructure is original to the construction of the site in 1960,” said Daniel Del Monte, a deputy county administrator. “Complete replacement of the lighting equipment, bulbs, and power systems that light the parking lots, streets, and pedestrian pathways are needed.”

During public open time, Anne Devero-Rosenfeld, a member of Friends of Golden Gate Village, asked if her organization and the Golden Gate Village resident council had vetted the $3 million loan agreement.

“In the interests of transparency, we would like to understand how this money is going to be spent,” she said. “It was a little unclear. It seems like there’s a provision for retroactively paying for some services already delivered.”

County Counsel Brian Washington confirmed that is the case.

“The funds can be used for expenses that MHA incurs going forward in terms of planning, engineering, et cetera,” Washington said. “It can also be used to reimburse expenses they’ve already incurred.”

Hymel said, “This is just the first step where the county is providing the funds, but the spending of the funds will go before the housing authority’s board.”

Supervisor Stephanie-Moulton Peters said, “These are standard predevelopment expenses. I’m not making this up. This is the industry practice.”

Devero-Rosenfeld also wanted to know more about the county’s future spending plans.

“We know that there’s a lot of infrastructure issues down in Golden Gate Village as well as in Marin City that are going to require replacing,” she said. “So do you anticipate more funding, because all of it can’t be funded by the redevelopment?”

Marin’s 2022-23 fiscal year budget included $4 million in American Rescue Act money to create a county service hub in Marin City. That effort has been delayed by the county’s inability to find a location for the hub, but Hymel said Monday that there has been no change in plans.

In January, supervisors allocated $784,000 to pay the San Francisco engineering firm Schaaf & Wheeler more than $784,000 for services required to develop a stormwater plan for Marin City.

That came in addition to $10 million in state funding approved to plan defenses for recurring flooding on Highway 101, which blocks the only road in and out of Marin City. That money was made available by an amendment to the 2022 state budget requested by state Sen. Mike McGuire, a Democrat from Sonoma County who represents Marin.