The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is soliciting public comments by Feb. 20 on one corner of the renovation of the historic Golden Gate Village housing complex in Marin City. The area falls within a designated flood plain, thus federal rules require its own public comment.

Built in 1961 and designed by Frank Lloyd Wright protege Aaron Green, Golden Gate Village was created to house workers after World War II. Now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the community includes 300 low-income families.  

The full renovation project includes 296 housing units in 29 buildings. The project will not include any demolition, and no additional buildings or residential units are proposed.

The total multi-year renovation, which will be done in three phases, will cost $266.6 million. Phase 1 is slated to begin in May. The public comment period for the full renovation was open in December and extended into January, but is now closed.

Out of the combined acreage of the nearly 32-acre site, about .72 acres fall within a flood plain. There’s a top portion of the site that’s a basketball court and a parking lot, according to Onawa Simmons, branch chief with HUD. That’s the only part of the site in a 500-year flood plain, defined as an area with a 0.2% chance of flooding in any given year, representing a moderate-risk zone.

A public notice posted on Marin County’s website said that the activities taking place within the flood plain include utility connections, water and sewer, drainage, parking lot and sidewalk improvements. There are no residential structures located within the flood plain on site. 

The effect of the flood plain is minimal, said Simmons. There will be some dredging or digging, but the work will not change the site at all.

One of the Golden Gate Village public housing buildings in Marin City, Calif., on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025. The low-income housing development is owned and operated by the Marin Housing Authority and is protected by the National Historic Preservation Act. A complete renovation is set to begin in early 2026 preserving it as public housing for existing residents. (George Alfaro/Bay City News)

Written comments must be received by HUD before Feb. 20 and should be addressed to Onawa Simmons, Branch Chief at HUD, 451 Seventh St., SW, Room 6130, Washington, DC 20410 or emailed to Onawa.n.simmons@hud.gov. People should include Early Floodplain Comments in email subject line.

A full description of the project may also be reviewed at the Golden Gate Village property management office located at 429 Drake Ave., Marin City from 9 a.m. through 4 p.m. and online.

Comments can also be submitted via email to Tammy Taylor at tammy.taylor@marincounty.gov.

Golden Gate Village is located at 101 to 429 Drake Ave. and 1 to 99 Cole Drive in Marin City. 

Ruth Dusseault is an investigative reporter and multimedia journalist focused on environment and energy. Her position is supported by the California local news fellowship, a statewide initiative spearheaded by UC Berkeley aimed at supporting local news platforms. While a student at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism (c’23), Ruth developed stories about the social and environmental circumstances of contaminated watersheds around the Great Lakes, Mississippi River and Florida’s Lake Okeechobee. Her thesis explored rights of nature laws in small rural communities. She is a former assistant professor and artist in residence at Georgia Tech’s School of Architecture, and uses photography, film and digital storytelling to report on the engineered systems that undergird modern life.