Dick Spotswood: Transit-oriented development rules don’t make sense here

Californians constantly hear the cry that the Golden State faces a “housing crisis.” Our state Legislature is reacting to the shortage of mid- to lower-priced housing with a flood of new laws. Some are long overdue. Others, often introduced by Sen. Scott “Mr. Housing” Wiener, Democrat of San Francisco, apply a “one-size-fit-all category” blunderbuss approach.

To expedite the process, Wiener’s strategy is eliminating the role of city and county governments from determining the location, size, mass and design of proposed multi-unit apartment and condominiums.

Often the tactic to jettison local control is called “transit oriented” development (TOD). Even professional housing proponents acknowledge that new large-scale developments mostly served by autos will lead to unacceptable traffic congestion, increased pollution and a declining quality of life for all.

It’s a quandary given that suburban and rural America’s mobility is based on the ever-flexible automobile. TOD is valid in big cities with comprehensive transit networks including San Francisco, Chicago and New York.

When applied to suburban communities, TOD is based on fallacy. There aren’t and likely will never be suburban transit networks that conveniently move most travelers from Point A to Point B.

The latest iteration of TOD-based housing legislation is state Senate Bill 79, introduced by Wiener. It would allow heights up to 75 feet in areas near transit.

As California YIMBY, the tech industry-funded housing lobbying group, writes, “SB 79 would allow property owners to choose between maintaining their existing housing arrangement – single-unit homes will remain fully legal in residential neighborhoods – or adding residential buildings to seven floors on their properties depending on the transit type and proximity.”

Can we presume that Wiener travels from his home in San Francisco’s Castro District to his Capitol office in Sacramento by transit? That would entail him walking to the nearest Muni bus or metro train stop, and possibly transferring at least once to get to a stop close enough to walk to the Salesforce Transit Center on Mission. Then, he would need to catch Amtrak’s bus to Emeryville’s depot before boarding Amtrak’s Capitol Corridor train to Sacramento, from which he could rent a bike to get to his Capitol office. His alternative is to drive or ride in a car on the freeway.

It’s the same in Marin, where much of our transit is designed to move commuters to jobs in downtown San Francisco. Since the pandemic, that’s been a route less traveled.

TOD is a bogus strategy for suburban communities. Here’s an example why it doesn’t work. Use my adult daughter’s home in Novato’s Hamilton neighborhood as a starting point. While, in reality, she works from home, let’s say her job is at 1 Main St. in Tiburon and she needs to be at work by 8 a.m. According to Marin Transit’s trip planner, she would leave her family’s home at 6:18 a.m. to arrive in Tiburon by 7:50 a.m. Of course, first she needs to drive our grandson to his Novato school before heading south.

According to Marin Transit trip planners, she’ll walk 0.8 miles to Hamilton’s Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit station, ride the train to San Rafael’s Transit Center, then transfer to Golden Gate bus Route 71 to Highway 101’s southbound Seminary bus pad. Then, she must walk over the 101 overpass to Redwood Highway Frontage Road and board Golden Gate bus Route 21 before being delivered to Tiburon’s Main Street after a 1-hour, 42-minute trip.

That same trip takes 23 minutes by car. What would you do?

Let’s change the facts and say that, in the future, TOD multi-unit housing will be constructed in a portion of SMART’s huge Hamilton parking lot. The trips from the TOD to Tiburon will still take 1 hour, 24 minutes.

TOD is a bogus excuse to increase housing density. That happened in Novato when the City Council approved “under duress” — according to Councilmember Tim O’Connor — a 56-unit TOD apartment complex with zero parking requirements. State law bizarrely presumes that the new residents will all move about exclusively by transit, walking or cycling. Hint: They won’t, they’ll drive.

Columnist Dick Spotswood of Mill Valley writes on local issues Sundays and Wednesdays. Email him at spotswood@comcast.net.