Maintaining Our Small Town Character while Facilitating Economic Development

By Pat Eklund

We need to protect our environment especially our hillsides and ridgelines while facilitating smart and slow growth

Setting an Urban Growth Boundary at the city limits allows the voters to control the city's development for the next 20 years and to focus that development where infrastructure already exists. Having an Urban Growth Boundary helps maintain Novato's small town character and preserve our community separators by preventing sprawl while spurring revitalization of our downtown and renewed the community's efforts to redevelop areas that need it.

I want to see projects that are good for our community. I have voted in favor of and against projects depending on whether they were compatible with the neighborhood and the environment. In 2009, we embarked on another update of our General Plan. We formed a General Plan Steering Committee that is meeting to discuss various issues that will be brought before the City Council in 2014. This will include a vision for one of the last areas for development + Redwood Blvd between Olive and San Marin Drive. The City of Novato received an application from a developer that wants to build another shopping center on Redwood Blvd. Do we really need another shopping center? We already have eight (8) traditional shopping centers in Novato, one of which really needs to be redeveloped by the property owners.

51% of the respondents from our 2013 community survey indicated that retail growth was the "right amount." In examining the results of our recent survey and the many visioning exercises conducted in 2010 for the Redwood Blvd, I believe the community wants more shopping choices, not another shopping center. In those visioning exercises in 2010, many members of community expressed desires for more walking and biking paths along Redwood Blvd along with more opportunities for outdoor experiences including parks and open spaces. To fulfill those expressed dreams by our residents, we might want to consider plans that would enhance the existing median along Redwood Blvd by creating a linear park (like South Park in San Francisco) where there are play structures, walking and biking paths, benches and picnic tables creating a sense of place. To create shopping choices, maybe we should build upon our downtown revitalization by continuing shopping choices along Redwood Blvd similar to 4th Street in Berkeley. This area needs to ensure that we do not jeopardize our work for over a decade to revitalize our downtown. I encourage you to get involved in these long term planning efforts since they will impact our future and quality of life.

Economic development and environmental protection go hand-in-hand. Without one, you will not have the other. To create a community where we can live, work and play, we need to focus investing in economic development that creates higher paying jobs. In a recent community survey conducted by the International City Managers Association (ICMA) for the City of Novato, 75% of the respondents indicated that jobs growth in Novato was `too slow'. Of the 825 respondents who completed this survey, 28% indicated that their household income is less than $49,999/year; 49% indicated that their household income is between $50,000 to $149,999/year; and, 23% indicated that their household income is $150,000 to $300,000 or more. This reinforces for me that we need higher paying jobs in the City of Novato so most of us will not have to commute for those jobs that sustain our quality of life.(For survey information: http://www.novato.org/index.aspx?page=1748)

In meetings with business leaders, I have been impressed by the fact that they chose to locate their businesses in Novato for the same reasons we choose to live here. These executives want to see open space, breathe clean air, and enjoy the small town character of our community. They like to look out of their office windows and see cows. If we want to encourage economic growth, we must not do it at the sacrifice of the environment. If we don't protect our environment, we won't have the main drawing card that brings and keeps the kinds of companies we want in Novato. If we maintain a balance between economic health and environmental health, we will be able to continue to provide our community with a very high quality of life. By building on the growing industries such as biotech, video games, gamification and other high tech industries that have made Novato their home, we can enhance endeavors to get higher paying jobs so we do not have to commute outside of our town for those high paying jobs. We're making progress on a variety of issues. I know we're not done yet + and, with your help, I'll continue to work side-by-side with you to make Novato even better.