The Ross Valley Sanitary District has pursued housing redevelopment for its long-vacant former wastewater treatment plant site in Larkspur, a 10.7-acre parcel.
The property at 2000 Larkspur Landing Circle is the subject of a housing proposal, according to the Marin Independent Journal. The district will retain some land around one of its pump stations even as the rest of the site changes hands. The property, which formerly housed a sewer plant, sits near a Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit station and the Golden Gate ferry terminal in Larkspur, giving the future residential project direct access to regional transit.
A Deal Years in the Making
The site's path to redevelopment has been anything but straightforward. An earlier plan called for housing and a hotel, and developers behind it sued the district over contamination at the property; the lawsuit was settled in 2018. The district later undertook cleanup of the parcel. The Environmental Protection Agency deemed the site appropriate for unrestricted use in 2021, clearing a major hurdle toward redevelopment.
In 2025, the district declared the property exempt surplus land under the state Surplus Land Act, a law intended to make public land available for affordable housing, the district's materials state. That designation followed Larkspur's adoption of a new General Plan and Housing Element, which rezoned the district's property to mixed use. The agency's site previously described the parcel as 10.7 acres, though a 2019 report from the same news outlet had put the figure at 10.3 acres.
How the District Landed on Carmel Partners
The selection process took more than a year. The district received 24 requests for qualifications by an October 1, 2025 deadline, and five developers ultimately submitted proposals on January 26, 2026. The district's board authorized its general manager to enter an exclusive negotiating agreement in March with Brookfield Residential and Carmel Partners as the preferred respondent, per the same district account.
The district later continued negotiations with Carmel Partners without BCUS Acquisitions LLC.
City Officials Frame It as a Housing Milestone
Moore described the project as a milestone toward cleaning up and rezoning a contaminated former wastewater treatment plant to support housing near transit, and said the deal gives Larkspur an opportunity to meet its housing goals. Larkspur Mayor Stephanie Andre said the city applauds the agreement between the district and Carmel Partners for transit-oriented housing at the site, calling the project a major step toward addressing local and regional housing needs. Andre said the roughly 378 new residences would account for nearly 40 percent of Larkspur's state-mandated regional housing needs allocation.
That allocation looms large over the city: Larkspur faces a state mandate to build close to 1,000 new homes by 2031, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The site's zoning permits 25 to 35 units per acre, and the district's own request for qualifications described 320 homes as a realistic capacity for the parcel before the current plan emerged. An earlier, separately approved preliminary development plan for the site called for multifamily housing and a hotel.
Nearby Projects and Traffic Plans
Bryant Sparkman, a member of the city's real estate consulting firm, said the project team selection was solid but that substantial work remains before homes break ground. The Larkspur Landing site sits near the proposed Oak Hill housing developments along East Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, which include plans for 115 apartments for lower-income households and 135 below-market apartments for education employees and county workers. East Sir Francis Drake Boulevard leads to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, and transportation planners are working on connection improvements from northbound Highway 101 to eastbound Interstate 580 that could reduce traffic along the corridor.
For now, the district's focus is on finalizing the disposition and development agreement. The district had set a goal of bringing the agreement to the board in the third quarter of 2026, and staff later anticipated bringing it to the October meeting.
