A Community Supported Plan for Miller Avenue that Works.
I support a plan for Miller Avenue that works for our community. Much of what has been done is a strong foundation for further work. More
needs to be done to make it a plan we can all support. A community supported plan for Miller Avenue that works is essential. We need a plan in
case individual property owners come to the City seeking re-development over the next 20 to 30 years. The Plan’s basic principles boil down to
assuring a neighborhood with scaled, beautiful places to live over small shops with cool places for people to walk, gather and visit, with a safer,
more walkable, bikeable street.
The idea is that a plan will be there complete with the community’s vision, if and when those properties come up for future re-development. The
plan will give the community what it wants rather than the interest-driven plan of a developer, which would probably be hodge-podge and
unconnected to our vision.
As a member of the Mill Valley Planning Commission, I have worked on the plan, mostly on the design, development density and streetscape
aspects, as it has come forward. My chief concern is that for the plan to work (with the mix of shops and with housing above) the City must have
a commitment to deliver the transit and a shuttle to keep cars from taking away the beauty and safety a plan will bring. Lower Miller Avenue could
be a delightful neighborhood: a pedestrian environment where small businesses thrive. It does not work that way now. It is a car throughway,
hostile to pedestrians and bicyclists and made for quick-stop, “drive-by” shopping. Ask yourself, when have you ever strolled along Lower Miller
Avenue for fun and amusement?
My vision for Miller will bring a beautiful neighborhood with greenery, small shops for local commerce, well-scaled and designed places to live,
bike paths and bike storage, safe and comfortable walking along sidewalk cafes and places to eat, all supporting our current neighborhood-serving
businesses that need more people walking around and more sales to survive, flourish and endure. I would like to see affordable housing come
forward in the life of the plan. Mixed use neighborhoods ~ like this small one envisioned on Miller ~ that are served by transit, shuttles and
bikeways can be part of the solution. A plan should encourage use of available current parking on Miller by business patrons rather than all day
parking. This will help support local business.
A plan with these qualities will help reduce automobile traffic on Miller and thereby reduce the present tendency of some to cut through Sycamore
and Tam Parks. A plan that reduces Miller Avenue automobile traffic will reduce traffic and parking pressure on Sycamore and Tam Parks.
Process should be productive and concise, values- based, inclusive and goal-driven. One fundamental problem is that the process got started way
back in 1999-2000 and then got shelved, as I understand it, due to lack of budget during the State “take-back” days. Then, in 2004, the Community
Advisory Committee’s (CAC) original work was dusted off and put back out for consideration. Study sessions and hearings, all open to the public,
were held and largely not well attended until various specific projects (505 Miller, La Goma, Coopersmith and Von Der Worth) came up for review.
City staff and consultants did not adequately educate the public about the need for the plan, its policy content, and the inevitability of change. As a
result, the public reacted in fear. That could have been avoided.
Now, we find citizens in spirited debates (to say the least) and a great deal of misinformation swirling about claiming that the city has designs on
land on Miller, looking to force local serving businesses out. It is unfortunate to have such misinformation feeding growing and unnecessary
consternation and fear. What we really have is a creative opportunity for us to build community on a street that can certainly serve us better and
add immensely to the fit and fabric of our community life.
Thanks so much for this chance to give you my views on these varied topics. I also welcome - and will respond to - your message at
mparton@earthlink.net
I support a plan for Miller Avenue that works for our community. Much of what has been done is a strong foundation for further work. More
needs to be done to make it a plan we can all support. A community supported plan for Miller Avenue that works is essential. We need a plan in
case individual property owners come to the City seeking re-development over the next 20 to 30 years. The Plan’s basic principles boil down to
assuring a neighborhood with scaled, beautiful places to live over small shops with cool places for people to walk, gather and visit, with a safer,
more walkable, bikeable street.
The idea is that a plan will be there complete with the community’s vision, if and when those properties come up for future re-development. The
plan will give the community what it wants rather than the interest-driven plan of a developer, which would probably be hodge-podge and
unconnected to our vision.
As a member of the Mill Valley Planning Commission, I have worked on the plan, mostly on the design, development density and streetscape
aspects, as it has come forward. My chief concern is that for the plan to work (with the mix of shops and with housing above) the City must have
a commitment to deliver the transit and a shuttle to keep cars from taking away the beauty and safety a plan will bring. Lower Miller Avenue could
be a delightful neighborhood: a pedestrian environment where small businesses thrive. It does not work that way now. It is a car throughway,
hostile to pedestrians and bicyclists and made for quick-stop, “drive-by” shopping. Ask yourself, when have you ever strolled along Lower Miller
Avenue for fun and amusement?
My vision for Miller will bring a beautiful neighborhood with greenery, small shops for local commerce, well-scaled and designed places to live,
bike paths and bike storage, safe and comfortable walking along sidewalk cafes and places to eat, all supporting our current neighborhood-serving
businesses that need more people walking around and more sales to survive, flourish and endure. I would like to see affordable housing come
forward in the life of the plan. Mixed use neighborhoods ~ like this small one envisioned on Miller ~ that are served by transit, shuttles and
bikeways can be part of the solution. A plan should encourage use of available current parking on Miller by business patrons rather than all day
parking. This will help support local business.
A plan with these qualities will help reduce automobile traffic on Miller and thereby reduce the present tendency of some to cut through Sycamore
and Tam Parks. A plan that reduces Miller Avenue automobile traffic will reduce traffic and parking pressure on Sycamore and Tam Parks.
Process should be productive and concise, values- based, inclusive and goal-driven. One fundamental problem is that the process got started way
back in 1999-2000 and then got shelved, as I understand it, due to lack of budget during the State “take-back” days. Then, in 2004, the Community
Advisory Committee’s (CAC) original work was dusted off and put back out for consideration. Study sessions and hearings, all open to the public,
were held and largely not well attended until various specific projects (505 Miller, La Goma, Coopersmith and Von Der Worth) came up for review.
City staff and consultants did not adequately educate the public about the need for the plan, its policy content, and the inevitability of change. As a
result, the public reacted in fear. That could have been avoided.
Now, we find citizens in spirited debates (to say the least) and a great deal of misinformation swirling about claiming that the city has designs on
land on Miller, looking to force local serving businesses out. It is unfortunate to have such misinformation feeding growing and unnecessary
consternation and fear. What we really have is a creative opportunity for us to build community on a street that can certainly serve us better and
add immensely to the fit and fabric of our community life.
Thanks so much for this chance to give you my views on these varied topics. I also welcome - and will respond to - your message at
mparton@earthlink.net