Having stomped off and given up on developing a new movie studio on property he owns in Lucas Valley, filmmaker George Lucas is waving a figurative middle finger back at the NIMBYs who made his life difficult over the last fifteen years by converting the land into (gasp!) low-income housing instead. Marin County is notoriously short on housing that's affordable to non-millionaires, and if Marin residents had their druthers, all of it would be in a dark corner of San Rafael where no one had to look at it. Now, Lucas has partnered with the Marin County Foundation and they are reportedly "looking into" the affordable housing option for the property.

The Grady Ranch property was previously zoned for residential, and getting approval through the County to build his mansion-like new digital production studio proved impossible, because of objections from nearby millionaire NIMBYs who thought it would ruin their pastoral paradise.

Now, Lucas has something else to harsh their buzz: Poor people. Or, possibly, senior citizens, but Lucas' message is clear enough. In his letter withdrawing the application for the studio he told Marin officials he'd be exploring this option, because "low-income housing ... is scarce in Marin."

[Chron]