A Republican lawmaker representing one of California’s fastest-growing counties has a message for San Franciscans opposing a huge housing development in one of the city’s most exclusive neighborhoods: Get over it.
Assemblymember Joe Patterson, who represents booming Placer County, weighed in on a proposed project that’s infuriated residents of the elite waterfront Marina District, where the median home price sits at around $3 million.
The planned complex at 15 Marina Blvd., where a Safeway supermarket currently sits, would add between 790 and 858 apartments, according to the latest plans.
Developer Align Real Estate is hoping to take advantage of changes to state law that allow for denser housing projects if a certain number of affordable units are included.
But the massive, U-shaped development has sparked intense pushback from locals who think it’s out of scale in the largely low-lying neighborhood.
Hundreds of residents packed a meeting Thursday to complain about the 15 Marina development, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
“SF I got news for you… state laws are designed specifically to build BIG in the urban core,” Patterson wrote on X Friday.
“Placer County has been one of the fastest growing counties in the state for many years, while people escape the urban core because they cant afford to live there,” the rural lawmaker continued.
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Placer County, which includes parts of the greater Sacramento metro area, was the fastest-growing county in California between 2025 and 2026, according to the California Department of Finance.
The growth has occurred thanks in part to urbanites flocking to suburbs like Roseville in search of a more affordable cost of living.
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The county has welcomed more housing development to accommodate an influx of residents, such as a planned Placer One community around 30 miles north of Sacramento.
“But as we welcome sprawl into the foothills, we increase VMT, pollution, traffic for much longer commutes, etc.,” Patterson continued.
“We should be upzoning the hell out of our major cities,” he added.
San Francisco is facing a state mandate to accommodate 82,000 new housing units by 2031 as the city faces a crushing affordability crisis, with median one-bedroom apartments fetching $4,000 per month.=
