Farmers market proposed for defunct Marinwood shopping center

bulldoze and start over with that place, nice first step for the community for now

Make sure Frank's bar-b-q is there, when it opens...............

I say GO GO GO.

Nice work Mr. Hoytt...get the community to clean up your mess on your private property. Why haven't YOU taken care of the graffiti and other trash, the pine needles, etc. that have built up and made that place uninhabitable over the past few years?

Bruce Andersen says "something is better than nothing". Actually that isn't always true. The reporter here did not do a very good job of getting all sides of the story.

Great use of that property. Very beneficial for the Marinwood neighborhood. Just what they need.

It would make a great SMART station and the MEA can build an office there.

Hey that straw hat Susan Adams is wearing in the photo makes her look a little like the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz. Now if only Susan Adams had a brain she'd know that her constituents are fed up with her lack of results!

While volunteers are cleaning up private property(Hoyt should be fined and forced to clean up his own property) the Marin Farmer's Market is fuming over Susan Adams support of another Farmer's market for Marinwood. Adams had no qualms about competeing entities and draining business and proprietora away from the Marin Farmer's Market. Did you think this one out Adams?

Great job by the county on the whole development planning process for the site -- the main sticking point preventing development has repeatedly been the condition for affordable housing units being forced into the development plan by the county.

That's nice and all, but how much county tax revenue (property, sales, business, etc.) has been left on the table over the last 4 years by not developing the property in a timely manner?

And I know it's not much, but I'll take a farmer's market over the current nothingness that exists there now. It would be nice to have the option to walk to a food source instead of hopping in the car.

Plus it would bring some much needed attention to the site to (MAYBE) get the ball rolling on a real development plan.

Saveourplanet wrote:

While volunteers are cleaning up private property(Hoyt should be fined and forced to clean up his own property) the Marin Farmer's Market is fuming over Susan Adams support of another Farmer's market for Marinwood. Adams had no qualms about competeing entities and draining business and proprietora away from the Marin Farmer's Market. Did you think this one out Adams?

Ah hem. Competition is bad for who? The "farmers" selling their ridiculously priced vegatables. Get real.

What a shocker – I can't believe neither the coffee kiosk nor the farmer’s market concepts will require a joint commitment for 1,000 units of low cost housing as a price of entry by the self-serving guardians of Marinwood development. Hopefully the personal agendas of certain community members & the political agendas of certain county leaders can be put aside with this latest grass roots effort. Looking forward to the success of this community market!

There's already farmers markets in San Rafael and Novato. Marinwood should just convert this spot to a park and leave it at that. Not every spot in the world is conducive to commerce. Nothing's ever worked in that spot before. Nothing wrong with a nice park.

Common Progressive wrote:

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Ah hem. Competition is bad for who? The "farmers" selling their ridiculously priced vegatables. Get real.

That's the Truth!!! Someone ruined the farmers market causing them to have to charge outrageous prices. I do better with sales at health food stores.

FatFreddysCat wrote:

There's already farmers markets in San Rafael and Novato. Marinwood should just convert this spot to a park and leave it at that. Not every spot in the world is conducive to commerce. Nothing's ever worked in that spot before. Nothing wrong with a nice park.

Sounds great but the community already has a park and the County wants affordable housing AND the property is owned by a private entity and does not belong to the community. the landowner wants to develop it to get maximum $$$.

SRC94903 wrote:

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Sounds great but the community already has a park and the County wants affordable housing....

Why does a shopping center that has always been a shopping center need massive amounts of affordable housing to be re-developed? During the good real estate times, were there no private development proposals that did not include massive amounts of affordable housing? Why is a large scale affordable housing project for this site so important to the local leadership? Other community leaders throughout Marin push back hard on this issue.

Agreed. Why must we rezone what was originally zoned commercial for a reason?

It's like the county (and its "public servants") is holding approval of development as a bribe, and the only acceptable payoff is to cram too many units into too small a chunk of land — and with 50-percent "affordable" housing! When the community was okay to compromise at 50-60 units and 20-30 percent low-income housing (and we know we need it in Marin!), that wasn't good enough. And why should we be interested in helping developers above all else again?

Many in Marinwood — and especially many of us in Casa Marinwood, who will face the greatest impact of whatever is done there be it good or bad — see another, better, and faster solution: Trader Joe's. Unlike other grocers who have failed in this spot, the well-run chain DRAWS customers due to its excellent products and great prices.

Here's a few more good reasons:

1. Marinwood Plaza is the perfect spot between TJ's current Novato and San Rafael locations. TJ's recently added a Larkspur location, so don't try to argue about too many locations or TJ's ability to draw customers to a freeway offramp.

2. A TJ's in Marinwood would be a convincing draw against the new Safeway 1-2 exits up the freeway (we go there and to the Novato and SR Trader Joe's depending on traffic but dislike the drive to either),

3. There is AMPLE parking for a TJ's, which cannot be said for its Novato or SR locations.

4. The existing building, with minimal work, would work as a TJ's,(want to talk about green? how about building re-use?)

5. TJ's 9AM-9PM hours would be a perfect fit for sleepy Marinwood.

6. A Trader Joe's would draw enough business to support other businesses in Marinwood Plaza, and provide a fast fix WHILE leaving the door open to other developments on the property (consider TJ's location on Bay Street in SF).

I dunno, sounds like it sure would do a lot for the community.

What I want to know is: Does the landowner have to seek county approval to move a new tenant in? If not, why don't all of us petition TJ's to consider adding a Marinwood location. I think it would be good for the landowner, good for TJ's, and good for the residents and citizens of Marinwood as well as Terra Linda and southern Novato — and it would happen many years before the economy comes back to the point that we'll see a big development project get going in Marinwood. And we do need something, because the Plaza is a blight and will only get worse with time if it remains empty.

If the county (and isn't that supposed to be us?) is bent on adding housing in Marinwood, then let's look at how when there is money to do so. I suspect it could be done WHILE a TJ's is in place.

Just my two cents. If someone knows how to help me start moving this idea forward, please let me know — because I'm all ears.

CMdweller

You are my soulmate. I agree with everything you said and I live in Marinwood.

The "problem" is simply a matter of Dollars and Sense. Susie Adams and the Supervisors have killed development by making unreasonable demands on the potential developers. It is NONSENSE to suggest this property with highway 101 frontage cannot be made profitable.

TJ's and other specialty retailers can shoehorn between two big Safeways and easily draw from a large pool of customers from Terra linda to Ignacio.

I always thought Susan Adams was a phony and never voted for her. Does she have any support out there? I don't know anybody that supports her - not one person. Will she ever disclose precisely why she has been so dedicated to a high density low income housing project for this space rather than a retail only project? If she had supported a local developer's legitimate retail-only project from 2007, would it have been built? Other than a one sentence line her newsletter, I don't recall her paying much attention to that project. Why did her involvement in the mixed use, high density low income housing project gets announced so soon after the announced collapse of the retail-only project? Does she care about her consitutents at all? Any ideas for a write-in candidate for 2010?

Disillusioned wrote:

I always thought Susan Adams was a phony and never voted for her. Does she have any support out there? I don't know anybody that supports her - not one person. Will she ever disclose precisely why she has been so dedicated to a high density low income housing project for this space rather than a retail only project? If she had supported a local developer's legitimate retail-only project from 2007, would it have been built? Other than a one sentence line her newsletter, I don't recall her paying much attention to that project. Why did her involvement in the mixed use, high density low income housing project gets announced so soon after the announced collapse of the retail-only project? Does she care about her consitutents at all? Any ideas for a write-in candidate for 2010?

No, I don't think Susan is the least bit in touch with her constituents. She doesn't listen to anybody. It just isn't in her DNA.