Tiburon commission urges council to delay rezoning site for more housing

Tiburon officials tonight will consider delaying the rezoning of a controversial Paradise Drive property for potential new housing — a maneuver recommended by planning commissioners in hopes of buying time to find alternative sites.

However, Town Attorney Ben Stock said last week that delays won’t block a developer’s right to higher density there and could limit local control of projects, which the Town Council will have to weigh when it takes up the issue at its 6:30 meeting tonight, June 7.

The Planning Commission, which has been at odds with the council over where new units should be targeted, voted 2-1 to recommend the delay at its May 24 meeting, with Vice Chair Daniel Amir and Commissioner Eric Woodward absent.

Commissioner Kathleen Defever dissented only because she said high-density development on the 9.6-acre site above Paradise Cay would be detrimental to the health, safety and welfare of residents and shouldn’t be rezoned and developed at all.

Otherwise, the panel voted 3-0 to recommend the council move forward with the rezoning plans required elsewhere. That includes adopting new objective design and development standards for mixed-use properties downtown that will allow officials to guide and maintain the look and feel of new construction through restrictions on materials, building scale and form, setbacks, paseos, courtyards, entrances, height and floor-area limits, parking requirements and other rules.

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