JUTTING INTO THE BAY between Tiburon and the Golden Gate is a modest headland with a name that sounds like it was chosen by a little girl — Strawberry.
Across the top of Strawberry’s southern peak is a swath of elevated land crowned with a college campus. Most of the 127-acre property is slated for a large redevelopment, a town within a town, with housing, senior care, childcare, recreation and public parks. With a total of 337 housing units and the potential traffic of a commuter campus, neighbors have fiercely opposed the project, until this month.
At a March 2 meeting of the Marin County Planning Commission, news arrived that a settlement had been reached between the developer, North Coast Land Holdings LLC, and the Seminary Neighborhood Association, essentially ending a 12-year campaign by residents to stop or alter the development. The commissioners seemed stunned by the news as they crumpled their prepared statements.
The agreement rests on a solution to reduce commuter traffic in and out of the college with a mandate for some students to live on campus.
A child care center on the campus.
Since 1953, when the property was first developed by the Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, the land has carried a permit that authorizes a school with approximately 1,000 students, plus faculty and staff. That academic element will remain in the new development, but with a new school. The old seminary campus is now temporarily leased by Olivet University, a private Christian college with a few hundred enrollees.
The developer’s website said that it intends to explore a long-term partnership with a top-tier internationally recognized university to occupy the campus, in compliance with the 1953 permit, but the neighbors did not want hundreds of students driving in and out of Strawberry every school day.
Back in 2017, the developer’s original proposal included a private high school, but the application was rejected by Marin County Board of Supervisors, according to a county report.
Residency requirement would cap traffic
At the March 2 meeting, Michael Gallagher, president of the Seminary Neighborhood Association, told the commission that the commuter school was the biggest factor in a projected car trip count of 4,800, and the neighbors wanted that number down to no more than 3,000.
Andrew Giacomini, representing North Coast, told the commission the developer had agreed the previous night to make voluntary changes.
“One of which is to limit the academic use to undergraduate, graduate and research undertakings,” Giacomini said. On-site student enrollment will be capped at 1,000, and the number of students allowed to commute will be capped at 325.
“Enrollees of more than 325 must all live on site,” he said. North Coast also agreed to not seek any further development for 15 years.
“We’re pleased that the voluntary concessions have been agreed to,” Gallagher said to the commission. “The Seminary Neighborhood Association and its board and attorneys are now in a non-opposition position. Of course, it all depends. Do those get translated into policies and restrictions?”
“The county is encouraged that parties have reached agreement which can help clarify expectations and provide a more stable foundation for the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors as they evaluate the project and the environmental record,” said Sarah Jones, director of the Marin County Community Development Agency, which would have an enforcement role if the new agreement were adopted.
The overall plan includes a total of 337 residential units, including 184 new units and a 150-apartment adult care facility that accommodates both independent living and memory care units. Roughly 70% of the site in the plan would remain undeveloped open space, including two new public parks.
The property is zoned for 2.47 units per acre, according to Michelle Levenson, principal planner with the county. The Countywide Plan allows for 1 to 4 units per acre.
According to the North Coast website, zoning allows for a base density of 2.47 units per acre, which translates to 249 residential units allowed on the site, and the state density bonus allows for a maximum of 546 units.
“Under the Marin County Planning Code, residences within a licensed senior care facility that provides meal service at least twice a day are not counted as separate residential units, hence the Residential Care Facility is counted as one unit,” the North Coast website said.
Tackling design challenges
North Coast purchased the land in 2014 and applied to the county to redevelop the site under a 1984 permit with an initial proposal that included a “large commuter high school.”
“Ultimately, this proposal did not move forward,” said Levenson at last Monday’s meeting. The 1984 master plan expired in 2017 and with the expiration, the 1953 Conditional Use Permit remained as the sole planning entitlement governing the site.
North Coast handed the design challenge to San Francisco architecture firm Mark Cavagnero Associates, whose regional projects include the SFJAZZ Center and the Headlands Center for the Arts.
A Mark Cavagnero Associates Architects 2019 rendering of a residential neighborhood at the proposed Seminary at Strawberry redevelopment in Strawberry.
John Fung, representing the architect, described the project to the commission as an intergenerational community.
“The plan has always been to introduce the housing in a way that’s sensitive to the land,” said Fung. “It is a beautiful location. It really needs to be respected in terms of preserving the open space character of this property.”
The buildings in the design seem to stay low, below the view, by digging into the slopes. The urban design includes pedestrian-focused streets with underground parking.
Privacy walls present opportunities for backyard living. The peaks that frame a valley are made into public parks, with commanding views of Richardson Bay and San Francisco.
A total of 50 trees will be removed, including 48 coast live oaks, one coast redwood and a bay laurel, but arbored ridgelines will be preserved. No more buildings will clutter the views along the hilltops.
Through the 1980s and 90s, the property was subdivided and sold for development by the seminary, leaving hundreds of renters in apartment buildings scattered throughout the property.
“Much of the existing residential development would be replaced,” said Levenson at the meeting. “In fact, of the 152 existing units, 139 would be replaced and 13 units would remain.”
Relocating renters
The demolition of those 139 units would displace about 320 renters.
According to the project’s draft environmental impact report, although 139 residential units would be demolished, the number of residences in the end would increase by 185 units, and population on-site would increase by about 530.
Where will the renters go?
The report said recent estimates indicate that more than 3,000 housing units are available in unincorporated Marin County, with another 3,200 units planned for the near future.
“A relatively high vacancy rate in unincorporated Marin County suggests that existing housing in the area would be sufficient to house the temporarily displaced residents,” the EIR said.
A park on the ridgeline on the Olivet University campus in Strawberry on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. The park will remain for public use in the proposed Seminary at Strawberry mixed housing development.
In addition, the county is planning to construct 5,214 housing units to help meet its state housing requirements, and a portion of this new housing would become available during the four-year project construction period.
“For these reasons, implementing the project would not necessitate the construction of replacement housing elsewhere to address displaced people or homes,” the report said.
Some low-income residents would be legally entitled to relocation of benefits and a right of first return under the law. Those benefits include payment of moving expenses; relocation assistance; and payment of the difference, if any, between affordable rent and rent for a “comparable” unit for up to 42 months.
According to the EIR, the county would require that all the demolished affordable units be replaced with the same number of affordable units at the same affordability, otherwise the project is not eligible for the density bonus.
Levenson said in an email that the developer would be required to provide 70 affordable units at “low” income levels, or 80% of area median income. As of April, a household of four earning $154,700 or less is considered low-income in Marin County.
The county has progressed 25% towards its eight-year housing creation cycle, according to a California accountability tracker.
Due to state laws such as the Housing Accountability Act, the Density Bonus Law, and the Housing Crisis Act, Marin County’s ability to deny or downsize housing projects that comply with standards is extremely limited, according to a county report. Because the project housing components are consistent with zoning in the Marin Countywide Plan, and because required replacement and affordable housing is provided, the county is legally obligated to approve the development.
March 30 is the project’s next hearing before the Planning Commission, which will make its recommendation to the Marin County Board of Supervisors.
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