| Time | Speaker | Text |
|---|---|---|
| 00:00:13.94 | Mayor Withey | Good evening, and welcome to the regular meeting of the Sausalito City Council for Tuesday, July 22, 2014. Debbie, would you take the roll, please? |
| 00:00:27.99 | Debbie | Councilmember Pfeiffer? Here. Councilmember Weiner? Present. Councilmember Leone? Here. Vice Mayor Theodore? Present. |
| 00:00:29.43 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Thank you. |
| 00:00:29.46 | Unknown (Chair/Vice Mayor) | Thank you. |
| 00:00:30.59 | Mayor Withey | President Here. |
| 00:00:34.52 | Unknown (Councilmember) | THE FAMILY IS |
| 00:00:34.69 | Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 00:00:35.57 | Debbie | Mayor Withey. |
| 00:00:36.48 | Mayor Withey | Here. And this evening, could I ask Chris Gallagher to lead us in the pledge? |
| 00:00:44.24 | Unknown (Councilmember) | you You get $20 from her. |
| 00:00:49.07 | Chris Gallagher | Thank you. Thank you. Please face the flag and repeat with me. Thank you. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States |
| 00:00:53.24 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Thank you. Please. |
| 00:00:56.36 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:00:56.92 | Chris Gallagher | you |
| 00:01:01.96 | Mayor Withey | Thank you. that's a call. with liberty and justice for our Thank you, Chris. 7, 8, 9, 10. The council met in closed session to discuss two items, which were real property negotiations. Is there any member of the public who has any comment on the closed session items? Seeing none, could I have a motion to approve the agenda, please? All in favor? Aye. |
| 00:01:39.91 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:01:40.03 | Unknown (Chair/Vice Mayor) | Bye. |
| 00:01:42.94 | Mayor Withey | Okay, we have two... special presentations this evening. And the first is a presentation of a certificate of congratulations from the Marin Commission on Aging. |
| 00:02:07.03 | Sybil Boutillier | Good evening, Mayor Withee, Vice Mayor Theodorath and Council Members, Civil Boutillier, Commissioner on Aging. I'd like to introduce, it's my pleasure, Lee Pullen, who is the director of the County Department of Aging and Adult Services. Thank you. |
| 00:02:26.81 | Lee Pullen | Thank you, Sybil. And good evening, Mayor Withey and members of the council. It's my pleasure to be here tonight with you. Sybil noted that I have ten minutes, but I really only need a couple to give you a bit of background of what we're doing at the county in aging and adult services and to note how we're sharing in a vision toward Marin being an age-friendly community. So within Marin County's Aging and Adult Services Department, we have two roles. One is to provide services for older adults and their families. We do that either directly or through contracts with community-based organizations. So it's things you know, like home-delivered meals and care management and family caregiver support and a number of activities that promote health and wellness for older adults. The other part of our role is to plan for the needs of this community. In fact, it's our federal mandate that we plan for services and policies for older adults. And as we do that, we are guided by our 23 member board and city council appointed commission on aging they're a very active group of involved individuals who educate and advocate they're out there serving as the voice for our shared constituents and they advise us as we plan for what's best for Marin in aging and adult services we are part of the health and human services department where our mission is to promote the health safety well-being and self sufficiency of all people in Marin. That's our mission is to promote the health, safety, well-being, and self-sufficiency of all people in Marin. That's our mission, but our vision is that Marin is an age-friendly, livable community for all. I know you've heard a little bit about age-friendly in recent months and in the last year. We share your vision that Marin is a place where older adults are able to have access to health and social services, access to transportation, where they're safe in their homes and in the community and where they have opportunities for civic engagement. And that's shared vision is why we've been so excited to support the city of Sausalito in your efforts around being an age-friendly community and we're just very proud and very excited that you did receive the World Health Organization's designation as the first age-friendly community in Marin. Yes. |
| 00:04:42.00 | Unknown | Yes. Thank you. |
| 00:04:43.65 | Lee Pullen | Thank you. And Sausalito is only one of four in the entire state. And it's through the leadership and initiative of this council of Commissioner Smith and Boutillier and your age-friendly task force. That leadership and initiative has inspired us at the county and at the Commission on Aging, and it's inspired other cities to follow your lead. So it's going to be some pretty exciting times here in the county in the upcoming year and years and thank you for initiating that. So our Commission on Aging wanted to thank you and offer its congratulations. So tonight on behalf of our chairman Jim Munson and the entire Commission on Aging we'd like to present you with our certificate to you of thanks and congratulations. It's pretty simple. I'll go ahead and read it. We spent a lot of times, a lot of words, a lot of whereas's, but we cut it down to... Congratulations, City of Sausalito, on becoming Marin County's first World Health Organization, age-friendly city. with sincere appreciation for your continuing commitment to healthy and active aging in Marin County. So thank you very much, and we would like to present this to you, Mayor Withee. Thank you. |
| 00:06:05.05 | Unknown (Councilmember) | We're aging already. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:06:11.79 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Wait a minute. You don't get off that easy. |
| 00:06:14.66 | Unknown | Thank you. Thank you. Oh, okay. |
| 00:06:25.51 | Unknown | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:06:31.95 | Unknown | Thank you. Thank you. Amen. |
| 00:06:44.57 | Mayor Withey | And on behalf of us all, thank you very much for all your hard work. It's a great honor. Thank you. |
| 00:06:58.31 | Mayor Withey | So our next special presentation is an announcement from SeaTrek, Bay Institute and the Bay Model on the new location for SeaTrek. |
| 00:07:15.91 | Bob Licht | Hello, council members and staff. I'm Bob Licht, owner of SeaTrek. And this is a great opportunity for me to thank all of you for the hard work that you put in supporting SeaTrek for the last seven months as we've made this transition from Schoonmaker to the Bay Model. And I'm happy to report that now, as of October 31st, we will be moving to the Bay Model, thanks to Chris Gallagher from the Bay Model and John Frawley from the Bay Institute, which constitutes the Bay Alliance that works with Chris at the Bay Model. We're really thrilled with this opportunity. It's the best possible situation I feel that we could actually be in. We're now going to be in partnership with an educational foundation that wants to preserve and restore the bay, and they see the advantage of getting all these people on the water like we do, because once they experience the bay, then of course to want to be stewards of the bay. So it's a wonderful combination. And we're going to build some beautiful docks down where the raccoon is right now, so the public will have easy access to getting on the water. And we'll have lots of parking, which will be north of town, which is wonderful also. And we'll have office space and all the amenities that we need in order to have a successful operation. We'll be able to get a lot of information on the water, It hasn't been made official. but it certainly seems as though all the ducks are lining up, that we will be able to stay at Schoenmacher until it's time to transition over to the Bay Model, which, as I say, we're setting the date of October 31st. And that's it. We did it. I mean, it's been a long seven months going through this and couldn't have done it without all of your help, so I thank you very much. And Chris and John are here if you happen to have any questions for them. Otherwise, I believe this is the formal announcement that we're on our way, so thank you very much. |
| 00:09:52.16 | Mayor Withey | Any questions, comments? From here? Well, good luck. Good luck. And Chris and the Bay Model, I'm glad you got things in a great shape there. So fantastic. Okay. |
| 00:10:17.67 | Mayor Withey | So let's move on to public communications. And this is the time for the City Council to hear from citizens regarding matters that are not on the agenda. So if you want to address any topic that's not on the agenda this evening, then now's Please. |
| 00:10:43.17 | Judith Lambton | Hello. I am Judith Lambton. I live in Hurricane Gulch. I'm here on a less prestigious matter than have been presented before. For the last two years, I've been dealing with a neighbor who's been renting his home on a Thank you. every night basis. The noise is incomprehensible to sleep in. Um, It's sort of an outgrowth of the Airbnb sharing economy issue, which I like philosophically. like I like the idea of the car. but it's unregulated. And I'm asking you as a council to consider an ordinance with teeth in it that either demands an on-site presence of a manager or a near-site presence of a manager to control the people. Let me give you an example. Last Wednesday night, I woke up at 3 o'clock in the morning to someone vomiting off the deck. The noise, I have it on my phone. If I could email it to you, you'd be delighted to see. Since July 4th, there's been six different families there. The way he advertises it, it's Amalfi Coast in Sausalito. He has a hot tub. It sleeps 8. So you can imagine the crowd that it attracts. I just think this is a symptom of a larger problem. And like we invented the car or like the car was invented, we now need stoplights and pedestrian crossings and safety issues. So I'm asking your counsel and your wisdom in designing an ordinance that protects those of us who have to live in this area. Thank you. |
| 00:12:23.36 | Mayor Withey | Thank you. We can't actually comment up here, but I would like perhaps to ask our city manager to clarify, make any clarifying comments on that. |
| 00:12:42.02 | Adam Politzer | Absolutely. At the moment, the city does not allow these temporary rentals in the city limits. There's already an existing ordinance. But if you send us an email with the specifics, then we can look into it as a code enforcement violation. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:13:04.38 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Could you come to the microphone? |
| 00:13:07.98 | Judith Lambton | Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I've sent materials to Rafael Miranda and nothing's happened. So I've tried to use the existing system. And what I'm suggesting is the existing system doesn't work. |
| 00:13:17.15 | Adam Politzer | Okay. |
| 00:13:22.30 | Adam Politzer | Okay. So please send that. Again, we send the email that you sent and we will look into it and start code enforcement action on that. Thank you. |
| 00:13:33.30 | Judith Lambton | Thank you. |
| 00:13:33.96 | Unknown (Chair/Vice Mayor) | Thank you. Yes. |
| 00:13:38.98 | Babette McDougall | Good evening, members of the council and Thank you. I'm Babette McDougall. I live on Girard Avenue, just above the hill here. I wanted to address the issue of the homeless shelters. I understand you're coming close to a final decision on that, and I just wanted to weigh in on some of the issues that are of particular concern to me, and that is, first of all, I live so close to City Hall that I could stand on my front deck and throw a little tennis ball and hit you right on your... solar panels. And so having City Hall as a shelter caused me to personally wonder about The infrastructure that you have on hand in case of an emergency shelter, how do you feed these folks, how do you take care of their hygiene, and all these things that come along with sheltering home. I have worked on issues of homelessness, so I know what's involved. And it's difficult. Also, the bed size of 20 beds, and I know you're looking at some difficult challenges, but I do think that 20 beds is too many beds per place. And I do think that Councilman Pfeiffer is correct when she says that you should look more at like 10 beds. I think that's more realistic for the size of our community. We're a small And we ought to think in terms of scale. That's in keeping with the size of our community. And also finally the length of stay. I think 90 days is a long time. That's almost like permanent residence for someone who's actually homeless. um, just with the transient population through the likes of Airbnb. Believe me, three months is a long time. And people who are homeless, there are deep-seated issues attached to this that are usually far more difficult. And usually by the time a third month rolls around, If that person is still with us, we are in full view of what those issues are. And we don't have the capacity to deal with these. We don't have the bandwidth. We don't have the public health infrastructure. So I'm only skating on the very, very superficial top of this. And so I know that you have studied this in more detail and you know this. But I just want you to know that as one of your neighbors, I really feel that you have to go back to the drawing board before any final decision is made here. And I think we really need to scale it down. I know we tend to think big because we're Sausalito, and we know that we can do big things But this is a different kind of issue. It's a different kind of a horse. And I think we have to be very careful in what we take on. Thank you. |
| 00:16:31.74 | Mayor Withey | Thank you. Thank you for your comments, Madam. I just wanted to remind folks that this is the time for comments for items that are not on the agenda. And this is actually on the agenda later as a consent calendar. But I didn't want to interrupt you. That's okay. I just didn't want to interrupt you. Now that's okay. I just didn't want to interrupt you. Okay, so anybody else comments on items not on the agenda? |
| 00:17:03.03 | Mira Berkowitz | Yeah, this is not on the agenda. And I want to, I'm Mira Berkowitz. Good evening, Mr. Mayor and members of the. Council. I am and I live here and I'm a patron and long supporter of the library. And right now I'm the chair of the trustees. and you are all one of our Council buddies. And some of you have come to our meeting, so you know what's going on. And we keep you informed on what's going on. So you know that two thirds of Sausalito residents are library cardholders, and in the recent community. the City of Sausalito Community Survey, The Library received a very impressive 72% of very favorable and 93% of totally favorable. We're very proud of these statistics. And as you know, that in addition to the conventional books, the library also offers e-books, audio books, museum passes, homebound delivery for people who need to have their books delivered at home. and a speaker series of Sausalito speakers. that we're having a movie night, we have an opera series, we have museum docents series. We have a very excellent website, and I encourage you to look at all the things that our librarian, who is his supercomputer geek, Thank you. what he's done with it. You can learn the language on our MagGo. The teens have links to help with their homework. The grammar school kids have homework help on this link. For the non-readers, there's an abundance of programs. There's a story hour, the reading attention, and personal attention by our very excellent children's librarian. You may have seen the art exhibit that is hanging in the library. In short, The library is not only our city living room, it's become our community center. So, in the coming years the library may need significant additional funding. to improve accessibility particularly related to the library shelves which are up on the second floor. And as currently configured, these stacks are too tall and too close together. So we may have problems there. We may need to ask for some more money. So. to come to the real point of my talk. There's a great and extraordinary library staff who can continue to lead us in the future and we want to count on you to maintain a stable a reliable and a sustainable city budget. so that the library can continue to play its important role for the citizens of Sausalito. |
| 00:19:59.52 | Mayor Withey | Thank you very much. |
| 00:20:08.84 | Chris Gallagher | So greetings, Mayor and Council members. My name is Sunshine Weissmelt. I live right across the street. I'm a fairly new Sausalito resident. I use the library all the time. The resources are absolutely fantastic. And I appreciate it so much that I'm now a volunteer at the library and help take books and other items to the homebound people. Now, I'm here to also kind of second and support what Myra Berkowitz comments were, and I'm just going to read a little bit of this. The importance of the sustainable Sausalito city budgets to the future of the library. I hope that there will not be a repeat. of the city's budget crisis from 2005 to 2010 during which time the library's book budget was slashed to free up funds for other reports. So thank you. |
| 00:21:12.73 | Mayor Withey | Thank you. Any other member of the public like to comment on any item that's not on this evening's agenda? Okay, seeing none, we'll move on. |
| 00:21:28.69 | Mayor Withey | Action minutes of the previous meeting. We have the minutes of the July 8, 2014 meeting, either a move to approve, or is there any changes requested, suggested? |
| 00:21:43.98 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | And Mr. Mayor, I just had one question and to be honest, I'm not sure, but I thought that for the, I think it was the 206 3rd Street that I moved to uphold the appeal and send it back without prejudice to the planning commission. |
| 00:22:07.12 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | This was item 3A, page 4 of 7. |
| 00:22:14.69 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | So I'm wondering if we could perhaps Go back to... the minutes and I mean the tape and confirm because I thought I had made a motion. |
| 00:22:29.51 | Unknown | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:22:29.68 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Thank you. |
| 00:22:29.69 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:22:31.21 | Unknown (Councilmember) | My recollection is you made that motion, but Then that was in second ed and I made a different motion because that motion... Um, we moved to remand and not uphold the appeal. Otherwise, there would have been problems. And I think you agreed with my rephrased motion at the time. |
| 00:22:47.58 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | I did not retract my motion. |
| 00:22:47.66 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Thank you. Okay. |
| 00:22:49.99 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Thank you. |
| 00:22:50.15 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Well, it's fine. |
| 00:22:50.97 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | I'm fine with the minutes as they are, except for I'd like to add a statement. Okay, thanks. Yeah. |
| 00:22:59.46 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Thanks. |
| 00:23:00.41 | Debbie | It's actually emotional. |
| 00:23:01.33 | Unknown (Councilmember) | I believe it was and without a second. |
| 00:23:01.37 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Okay, thank you. |
| 00:23:02.24 | Debbie | Thank you. |
| 00:23:04.25 | Mayor Withey | Right. And we have adopted a practice, I believe, of noting that a motion was made, that a second was not made. And if that was the case on reveal the tape, that probably needs to be inserted. Thank you. |
| 00:23:20.23 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Okay. |
| 00:23:20.44 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Thank you. |
| 00:23:20.98 | Unknown (Councilmember) | you |
| 00:23:23.10 | Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 00:23:23.14 | Unknown (Councilmember) | area. |
| 00:23:23.31 | Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 00:23:25.26 | Unknown (Councilmember) | So I move we approve the minutes of the regular city council meeting of July 8, 2014, with the stipulation that we just mentioned to review the tape and see if the motion was made and so noted in the minutes. |
| 00:23:38.04 | Mayor Withey | Second. All in favor? Aye. |
| 00:23:40.57 | Jeanne Fiddler | Bye. |
| 00:23:40.96 | Mayor Withey | Opposed? None. Item four is the consent calendar and We have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven items. Is there any member of the Council who wishes to ask any questions before I ask if any member of the public wishes to raise any matter? |
| 00:24:07.40 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Mr. Mayor, I'd like to actually pull some items from the consent calendar. Are you asking for questions now or are you asking for... No, if you want. |
| 00:24:14.81 | Mayor Withey | No, if you feel the need to pull them. Let's hear which ones. |
| 00:24:16.65 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Do you feel the need to pull them? Then let's hear which one. I'd like to pull B, the bike parking, C, the homeless shelter, D I think that's the VMU. program. and E, the Wayfaring Signage. |
| 00:24:39.97 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Thank you. |
| 00:24:45.18 | Unknown (Chair/Vice Mayor) | Thank you. |
| 00:24:45.23 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Thank you. |
| 00:24:45.25 | Mayor Withey | Yeah. |
| 00:24:49.10 | Mayor Withey | Okay, so. |
| 00:24:53.20 | Mayor Withey | I mean, that's a... a lot of items to pull that are on their second reading. That's not normal practice. |
| 00:25:03.95 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | I think it's normal practice when they're very controversial. We're looking at amending the Marin ship and the VMU program is very controversial. We've received a lot of emails regarding the wayfaring signage, as well as the homeless shelter. And the bike parking, you know, I mean, that's one that I could just ask some specific questions. Then why don't you do that? |
| 00:25:30.10 | Mayor Withey | Then why don't you do that? And we'll try and eliminate that one. |
| 00:25:33.61 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Okay. So I guess I would ask a question to city staff. One of the things with the bike parking is, you know, I support enforcing situations where bikes are attached to meters and crowding sidewalks. That's insane. I guess I just don't understand why we're not – I have never supported blocking off Tracy Way behind the fountain and losing that whole street to bicycle parking. And I guess I just don't understand why we have not directed city staff to research staging areas for bicycle loading since the rental bicycle companies have actually said that they would be amenable to loading the bikes up and taking them back to San Francisco so they wouldn't have to be parked here. |
| 00:26:23.12 | Mayor Withey | Could I just ask before, that isn't really the subject of this ordinance. |
| 00:26:31.56 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | This ordinance mentions |
| 00:26:37.65 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | This ordinance mentions in 15.13060, mentions designated downtown areas and mentions Tracy Way. And if we are redirecting bicycles to be parking and blocking off streets to benefit the rental bike company pockets at the expense of losing downtown parking spaces and the revenue, |
| 00:26:47.98 | Mary Wagner | And, |
| 00:27:02.88 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | at a time when this council is asking for a sales tax when we're losing parking revenue. It does definitely apply to this. I want to know why we're not researching staging areas where the bikes could be picked up and taken back to San Francisco. |
| 00:27:23.02 | Adam Politzer | No. The short answer, because we're not pulling this – we're not at this moment pulling this item, is that they are two different issues. The Pike parking ordinance that we have before the council is to address limiting where people can Pike – park their bikes, including any designated area in the zone, the downtown zone, which includes the temporary parking area, which is Tracy Way. Tracy Way in the parking area that has been established continues to be a pilot. We come back to the council every year before the tourist season and share how we're going to address the parking and bike traffic and circulation. We've moved from various areas, explored various areas from Bank of America to the parking lot itself to now Tracy Way looking for various alternatives. And we'll come back at the end of the tourist season and address this again and that would be in my opinion the opportunity to talk about the future use of Tracy Way but it is temporary and at the end of the tourist season usually in late October early November we clear the bike racks and set up a smaller area pretty much located in the existing kiosk area and I would imagine we'll do the same this offseason. |
| 00:29:01.88 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | This ordinance specifically refers to designated parking bicycle parking zones, so, and it mentions Tracy Way. So I'm fine if you want to call it for a roll call vote, and I'll just vote no. |
| 00:29:12.31 | Mayor Withey | Okay, then we'll do that. |
| 00:29:20.38 | Mayor Withey | Is there any member of the public who wants to say anything about any item on the consent calendar? |
| 00:29:31.97 | Mayor Withey | Oh, please. |
| 00:29:36.46 | Jeanne Fiddler | Jeanne Fiddler, 501 Uleman Street, Mr. Mayor, Council Members. There was a beautiful dedication ceremony by the Historical Society, I can't remember what year, but the Tracy family, and Phil Frank. And it was so beautiful. and it's disappeared under a mound of bicycles. There isn't any history there anymore. Sorry. |
| 00:30:03.43 | Unknown (Chair/Vice Mayor) | Thanks, Sean. |
| 00:30:11.06 | Steve Hoffman | Good evening, Mr. Mayor, council members, staff, and residents. My name is Steve Hoffman. I'm coming up here to talk to you tonight requesting that we pull the VMU off the consent calendar. I consider this to be a very sensitive topic, especially when we're talking about changing the fundamental character and fabric of our community. |
| 00:30:11.28 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:30:11.31 | Mary Wagner | Thank you. |
| 00:30:31.29 | Steve Hoffman | If I look at the verbiage here on ordinance, we're trying to incentivize the development. We know for a fact it's been contentious with the housing element plan. There's been the horizontal mixed use we were able to get rid of. The VMU, it seems to be quite confusing. I was here during the last week's city council meeting. We had the M group up here talking about information that was new to the public as a whole. We heard for the first time that the VMU was necessary for the RHNA numbers when previously we were told that was not the case. It seems like we're being slow rolled information. The public deserves an opportunity to |
| 00:30:31.41 | Mary Wagner | Fag. |
| 00:31:13.41 | Steve Hoffman | have this in an open forum for discussion. At a bare minimum, I would expect the city council to remove properties from the VMU program that we already know they're controversial. We know that the properties down on the south side of town Golden Gate Market, that general area. We know the properties over in Spring Valley are going to be contentious as well. When we have discussions later about the emergency shelters, we already talked about removing certain properties that we know are not suitable. Let's do the same here. These are lifelong decisions we're making here. Let's go ahead and remove some of the properties that we know will be contentious. Thank you. |
| 00:31:54.20 | Mayor Withey | microphone thank you is there any other member of the public who wants to talk about anything that's on the consent of these seven items on the consent calendar |
| 00:32:08.42 | Mayor Withey | Yes. Yes. |
| 00:32:12.79 | Babette McDougall | I've actually never raised a discussion item on a consent calendar before, so this is new to me. So do I repeat myself now, or is this a good time for us to chat? |
| 00:32:22.78 | Mayor Withey | No, you don't need to repeat yourself. I will assume that your comments were about this matter. So thank you. |
| 00:32:26.98 | Babette McDougall | you |
| 00:32:27.05 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Awesome. |
| 00:32:27.27 | Babette McDougall | Thank you. |
| 00:32:27.31 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | you |
| 00:32:27.36 | Babette McDougall | Thank you. |
| 00:32:31.39 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | And Mr. Mayor, if I could clarify, Babette, are you asking to put the homeless item off consent? I think that's what your question was. |
| 00:32:39.78 | Babette McDougall | Thank you. |
| 00:32:40.01 | Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 00:32:40.03 | Babette McDougall | your question was. Sorry, you're being addressed by your colleague. Thank you. |
| 00:32:43.88 | Mayor Withey | That is actually out of order. |
| 00:32:49.16 | Mayor Withey | Ms. Ramirez asking for clarification. So I think she gave a very eloquent explanation of what her concerns were, and that we'll assume was directed at this item. So thanks a lot. |
| 00:32:50.22 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Ms. Mayor is asking for clarification. |
| 00:33:06.79 | Babette McDougall | Okay, and then does it then get discovered? |
| 00:33:09.12 | Mayor Withey | We are going to discuss now whether it gets pulled. So, yeah, that's all we're doing. Yeah, thanks. |
| 00:33:10.59 | Babette McDougall | Thank you. So, yeah. |
| 00:33:16.61 | Mayor Withey | Any other member of the public want to talk about any of these seven items on the consent calendar? |
| 00:33:26.99 | Mayor Withey | My view is we're going to have a separate roll call vote on item number B. And I did not... see any basis in the community, from what I've just heard, for pulling any of the others other than item |
| 00:33:50.50 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Thank you. |
| 00:33:50.52 | Mayor Withey | Number D. |
| 00:33:52.10 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Mr. Mayor, if I may clarify, as I was trying to answer the spirit of Babette McDougall's question, it's my understanding that she wants to pull the homeless shelter from the consent. If I'm finished, please don't interrupt me because that is out of order. To remove the homeless shelter from the consent calendar because she would like us to discuss it. Okay. And I was trying to help. |
| 00:34:06.29 | Mary Wagner | So, fair enough. |
| 00:34:19.02 | Mayor Withey | Okay. I will correct myself, if you will let me, and say yes, that is correct. If I'm going to apply this logic, then yes, that should be also included, C and D. Thank you. but I see no reason to pull E. |
| 00:34:42.79 | Mayor Withey | Yeah, we'll have a separate roll call vote on it. |
| 00:34:45.83 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | if Thank you. E is the wayfaring sign for folks who don't know this. And I'm fine with a roll call vote if no member of the public wants to say anything. I'd like to make a comment about E. |
| 00:34:50.54 | Mayor Withey | Yes. |
| 00:34:55.47 | Mary Wagner | Thank you. |
| 00:34:55.48 | Mayor Withey | Okay. |
| 00:34:55.70 | Mary Wagner | Sure. |
| 00:35:02.99 | Mayor Withey | Go ahead, make a comment. |
| 00:35:04.16 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Well, I think we're looking at, while I support having some signage for a couple of the sites, I think this takes it to an extreme. We're looking at six and a total of 160 small signs that are going to be placed around town. I am concerned that these are not official signs, that Sausalito has an ordinance that prohibits off-premises business signs. And it's my understanding that some planning commissioners asked our legal council to write a definition of what an official business sign is and I was just wondering if the council had had legal counsel had done so |
| 00:35:53.70 | Mayor Withey | Thank you. I think you were presented with a memo on the dice tonight from City Council or maybe from our Community Development Director. And perhaps I could ask either one of them to clarify for us what? |
| 00:36:17.48 | Jeremy Graves | Mayor, members of council, Jeremy Graves, your community development director. In the memo that staff prepared this afternoon, and I emailed to all the council members and also provided the copy at your dais, and there are also copies on the table here. In summary, the staff analysis of the wayfinding signs is that there are official as well as non-official commercial components of the signs and in approving the wayfinding signs, the Planning Commission and Historic Landmarks Board referenced several sections of the city's sign regulations in taking their action. All of these sections are in Chapter 1042 of the Zoning Ordinance, and subsection 040B8 applies to those portions of the signs which are official signs, which include historical markers, traffic directional signs, and these pertain to the aspects of the sign which say restrooms, ferry landing, Caledonia. Those are of the sign which say restrooms, ferry landing, Caledonia. Those are of the official nature. A different section of the sign regulations, subsection 060 I2, allows off-premise signs to direct attention to establishments which are on a parcel which do not front a street. And then finally subsection 060S allows the Planning Commission to grant exceptions due to unusual circumstances or the nature of a use. And the Planning Commission and Historic Landmarks Board directed at this section also applies to other aspects of the wayfinding signs. And so that was the basis that the Planning Commission and HLB approved the wayfinding sign project. |
| 00:38:08.42 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Thank you. Yeah, I guess this is a situation where I just disagree with the staff's conclusions. And I agree with the Planning Commission minority that voted against this. I think that there's an aspect of billboard |
| 00:38:18.54 | Mayor Withey | I think. |
| 00:38:22.51 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | here, so advertising. |
| 00:38:26.07 | Mayor Withey | Okay. Thank you, Jeremy. So I would maintain that this not be pulled and that we have a separate roll call vote on this. |
| 00:38:38.15 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Yes, and to be explicit, I would make a counter motion to keep wayfaring signs at Princess and Forsarki Square, but not the other locations. |
| 00:38:58.42 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Just a point of clarification. I think this action, there's no action necessary. This is just a report. This is something that this council voted 5-0 for originally and it went to Planning Commission and HLB. And if you look on the agenda, it's just a report. There's no action called for in this. It's just a report to us. |
| 00:39:14.82 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | If it's just a report and there is no action, it doesn't preclude my ability to make a motion. And the reason I voted for it before was I was voting before I'd had the ability to read the Planning Commissioner's analysis of it. I think there's solid reason why two Planning Commissioners voted against it and one HLB member voted against it. |
| 00:39:33.03 | Unknown (Chair/Vice Mayor) | Thank you. |
| 00:39:34.34 | Mayor Withey | Okay. Um, could I ask the city attorney, um, Well, we will see if Council Member, if I forgets a second for a motion, but regardless, I'm not sure it's normal practice to make counter motions during the consent calendar, but perhaps you could just help me out on that. |
| 00:39:51.88 | Mary Wagner | Not in my experience, Mr. Mayor. The item, you know, we're part of your business agenda. It would be a different discussion. |
| 00:39:59.08 | Mayor Withey | Right, right. |
| 00:40:07.67 | Mayor Withey | Under our rules, we do actually say there's no separate discussion of consent calendar items, which we are certainly stretching the meaning of that sentence a little far. Anyway. Okay, I still hold that we will hold a separate roll call vote on that item. |
| 00:40:29.19 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | So I'm fine with a separate roll call vote. |
| 00:40:31.33 | Mayor Withey | OK, so if someone needs to craft a motion, then we'll come to the things that potentially could be poor. Thank you. |
| 00:40:37.74 | Unknown (Councilmember) | I'll start with I move that we approve by consent items 4A, 4F, and 4G. on the agenda. second |
| 00:40:50.05 | Mayor Withey | All in favor? Aye. Aye. |
| 00:40:55.43 | Mayor Withey | Okay, now we need to deal with the separate roll call votes. I think the first one is for item 4B. |
| 00:41:04.88 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Thank you. I move that we approve item 4B. I'll second. |
| 00:41:14.85 | Mayor Withey | Debbie, would you call the roll, please? |
| 00:41:17.92 | Debbie | Council Member Pfeiffer. |
| 00:41:19.29 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | No. |
| 00:41:20.44 | Debbie | Council member Weiner. |
| 00:41:21.62 | Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 00:41:21.64 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Yes. |
| 00:41:24.17 | Debbie | Councilmember Leone? |
| 00:41:25.21 | Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 00:41:25.23 | Debbie | Thank you. |
| 00:41:25.26 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Yes. |
| 00:41:25.48 | Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 00:41:27.09 | Debbie | Vice Mayor Theodora. |
| 00:41:28.27 | Mayor Withey | Yes. |
| 00:41:30.05 | Debbie | Mayor Withie. |
| 00:41:30.70 | Mayor Withey | Yes. The next item for separate roll call vote is item 4E. |
| 00:41:41.95 | Mayor Withey | So moved. Oh, sorry. Roll call vote. |
| 00:41:48.92 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Debbie, if I may clarify, because I made a motion to keep two of the wayfaring signs for Princess and also for the, I think it's Sarki Square down there. So with that motion, should I make that substitute motion here or is it okay that it will be reflected in the minutes? |
| 00:42:10.13 | Debbie | about |
| 00:42:11.35 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Okay. So I'm okay with just going forward with the vote. Okay. So no. |
| 00:42:19.52 | Debbie | Councilmember Weiner. |
| 00:42:20.90 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Yes. |
| 00:42:22.70 | Debbie | Councilmember Leon. |
| 00:42:24.31 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Yes. |
| 00:42:24.78 | Unknown (Chair/Vice Mayor) | Thank you. |
| 00:42:26.16 | Debbie | Vice Mayor Theodore |
| 00:42:27.62 | Mayor Withey | Yes. |
| 00:42:29.68 | Debbie | Mayor Withy. |
| 00:42:30.35 | Mayor Withey | Yes. So that motion carries 4-1. Okay, so I think we have two items left here, if my math is correct. The emergency shelters. for See you. and 4D. So maybe with a bit of guidance from city manager, There was one public comment on each of these items and If we are going to pull it, I mean, technically we could vote here not to pull it. |
| 00:43:19.22 | Adam Politzer | Yes, you can technically do that, but if you would like to move it as a business item, I would put it as the new 6B because I think there are folks here that would like to hear about SWA's proposed plans for City Hall. And I know there are people from Saucyutu Beautiful here to introduce that and support it. So if the council so chooses to have a discussion on either of those two items, I would put it after 6A. |
| 00:43:34.69 | Mary Wagner | Thank you. |
| 00:43:34.73 | Unknown (Councilmember) | and, |
| 00:43:54.81 | Mayor Withey | and, um, Thank you. |
| 00:43:56.07 | Adam Politzer | about six beads. |
| 00:43:57.10 | Mayor Withey | What about, yeah. |
| 00:43:58.12 | Adam Politzer | I would move 6B. I would just put those items before. Both of those. I believe they're both brief. |
| 00:44:01.46 | Mayor Withey | Both of those. |
| 00:44:04.60 | Adam Politzer | you know, based on prior council meetings and hearings on this, I would imagine there's not a whole lot more to discuss, but hearing public comment and understanding a council member may like to present new information, this would be the opportunity. |
| 00:44:22.23 | Mayor Withey | Okay, so can I have a motion to amend the agenda accordingly? |
| 00:44:29.17 | Unknown (Councilmember) | So moved, so that means we move item 4B to item 7B, is that correct? Or? 4C. 4C to 7B. I'm sorry, now I have six. 6B. Oh, I should wear my glasses. 6B. |
| 00:44:45.26 | Unknown | Oh, actually. Thank you. |
| 00:44:47.95 | Unknown (Councilmember) | I know. |
| 00:44:47.98 | Unknown | I know, that's why biggest fear is showing up with that. |
| 00:44:48.98 | Unknown (Councilmember) | biggest air shield. |
| 00:44:49.94 | Unknown (Councilmember) | And then number, we move 4D to 6C and move 6B to what's left, 6E. Yeah, D. D, okay. That was hopeless, sorry. |
| 00:45:03.19 | Mary Wagner | THAT WAS A WEEK. |
| 00:45:05.90 | Unknown (Councilmember) | But there's less. |
| 00:45:06.14 | Mayor Withey | And I suppose we got a second. Second. Okay, all in favor of that motion. Aye. |
| 00:45:10.85 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Thank you. |
| 00:45:10.88 | Unknown | Bye. |
| 00:45:13.28 | Mayor Withey | Okay, well. with All of that discussion about the consent calendar, we've managed to get back on time. |
| 00:45:21.63 | Unknown (Chair/Vice Mayor) | Yeah. |
| 00:45:24.97 | Mayor Withey | So, um, |
| 00:45:30.15 | Mayor Withey | Thank you. Item 6A, then, is a presentation by Sausalito... I haven't left anything off. No, I haven't. Okay. A presentation by Sausalito Beautiful and SWA on the grounds beautification proposal for City Hall. Lauren, good evening. |
| 00:45:52.56 | Unknown | Good evening, Mayor Withy and other council members. It's going to be a very exciting presentation you're going to take a look at tonight. There is a... As I put it, it's a very special piece of work that has been presented to the city. You'll hear more about it from Shelby in just a moment. But it is an ambitious plan, and in many ways, it has a lot of aspects that are very achievable. So you're going to be impressed about this report, and there are some really neat things about it. and I'm going to be able to do that. specifically in many ways, Shelby and I have been doing, give you just some brief updates. She may also bring up some of these items, but I want to jump in a little bit. Thank you. So I have been meeting with Shelby for quite a bit and it's been a great opportunity to do so. I worked with her husband for a little while when I was working on the public safety buildings when he was working on the committee there. And so now I'm working with his wife. And if they have any children, I anticipate I'll probably be working with them. We've been talking about a lot of different things in Sausalito and it's been really exciting. There are some really great projects that we've identified, we're looking into doing and are going to take some time and look at some real neat opportunities. Just real quickly, we are going to be doing some significant work here at the City Hall including some tree pruning and that's going to be noted Shelby, but we are going to be doing one phase of that work in mid-August. And it's really going to be clearing a lot of these oak trees of dead branches, dead wood, opening them up. You're going to see a lot of great changes on some of those trees. We'll do another trimming later on in the winter when it's appropriate for some of the rest of the trees. And we'll be doing that work in conjunction with the report that you're going to be seeing from SWA. We'll also be looking at a lot of ways that we can engage volunteers. When we're doing that trimming, we're reaching out to Rotary and to Lions to get some assistance there. We're going to be coordinating with SWA on a lot of the things that we can do internally. and to try to improve the appearance of this building. So they're going to be with us either as advisors or telling me to not buy things because they don't look very attractive, but we're going to be working very closely with them going forward. You're also going to hear very briefly, I'm sure, about our beautification day that we're going to set up in mid-October. We're going to identify a portion of Sausalito. We're going to get some volunteers, and we're going to try to do some work there. that will make one little section look a little bit better. And we'll go from that little section and go on to another section and continue on. We're also looking at a couple of one particular thing. You may have noticed that there is a sculpture in the front of the building over here at the Litho Street entrance. It's got a little bit of wear and tear, so we're looking at how we can go about renovating that piece of art. And we've spoken, I've spoken with the artist, we've engaged him in that discussion. Shelby has been great about making other suggestions about how we should properly do that. And so that's going to be some of the types of things that we're actually engaged in. So I'm going to let you guys get to this presentation because it's going to be really exciting. So I'm going to drop it off to Shelby Van Meter. |
| 00:49:14.34 | Shelby Van Meter | I'm really thrilled to be here tonight to introduce SWA's plan. I won't speak to all the other things we're doing because time isn't allowing us to do that and because I want them to be able to make their presentation and carry on. When the South Saluto Beautification Study Group earlier this year recommended the City Hall Landscaping Project be one of the top three high impact projects, we chose specifically City Hall because it was the one place where the residents, hundreds and hundreds of residents come probably every month. They do business, they go to the library, and all the obvious things that you know about the historical society and lectures and so on, and to say nothing of all meetings, So we felt that this was something we should do, first of all, for the residents and for the city, and that it would be a great boost to civic pride. Because coming here now, things look pretty bad, and it doesn't make us feel good about our town. So I think it'll be good for all of us when this project is implemented. We couldn't have guessed a few months ago that a great plan would have been done at no cost to residents or to the city. We couldn't have guessed that the plan would be done by the top landscape planning urban architecture firm in the country, the SWA Group, founded here or established in the 60s by Hideo Sasaki and Peter Walker, today has several offices and works internationally and is highly recognized and receives dozens of awards. About 70 employees are here in Sausalito. When tonight's presenter was asked if SWA by chance might be willing to take on City Hall Landscaping at pro bono rates, he unhesitatingly said yes. He said he wanted to be the project manager and that the firm would oversee installation along with design. Before we knew it, several designers volunteered to join the team and within a week or two they were touring the property. Though we ask for help only with landscaping and better entry statements, the team chose to include a number of other elements, as you'll see, to create a comprehensive design This is an amazing, truly amazing, and very much appreciated gift of generosity to our town So before I introduce John Wong, I do want to say I'm here on behalf of Sausalito Beautiful planning team and Sausalito Beautiful in its hatching stages, but we are calling ourselves that, and legally we are told we can do that. So let's say Sausalito Beautiful is really working hard to make this a reality. So without further ado, John Wong, SWA's managing principal and chair of its board of directors and project manager for our Little Sausalito City Hall project, will present the plan. I think he'll probably introduce his design team who are all here this evening. So it's my pleasure to introduce John Wong of SWA. |
| 00:52:23.86 | John Wong | Okay, good evening, Mr. Mayor, council members, members of the City Hall Administration. Ladies and gentlemen, my name is John Wong. I'm with the SWA Group. And our office, as many of you know, are just down the block. right behind the tennis court. And we've been there for almost 50 years. And we are a firm that primarily made up of landscape architects and planners. And we worked on projects locally, regionally, around the world. And we chose to work with nature, improve the environment, and try to make lives better for people. And so a couple of months ago, through our professional acquaintance way back, Shelby came and gave me a call one day, Would you be interested in looking into something that I've been involved in, which is the... her organization, Sausalito-Bulification. And I said, sure. and what's on your mind? And so she said, it would be great if you can help us take a look at, you know, our civic center, which is, in her opinion, that could use some help. And so asked whether we would be interested to provide some pro bono work. And I obviously being a citizen in this town for many years, I drive through Bridgeway every day. So I really appreciate this town. And I still think that any city, the front window is the city hall, the civic presence. Not just for the people who work and live here, but also for in general for the tourists, which is considered Sausalito one of the world's great attractions. So I want to make sure that we will maintain that status. So I said yes. Next thing, I have a group of support from our office. I want to just introduce Yang sang. Po-shun Chan and Caroline Kim. And they are all landscape architects and working with us and provide a THE SUPPORT. for me And, uh, Not only are we providing a concept, a plan that hopefully you will like, And also there's a plan of action As well as if this project do go through the implementation phase, we would definitely like to help you, assist you to continue to provide some input to the contractor, provide input, perhaps more details that we will need later to build the project. Like most projects, we can't go in there and many of our projects that we work in the past has started from scratch, everything brand new. In this case here, we have a site and we have a city hall that is pretty much, I believe, from 65 on, it used to be a school that turned into a complex that is to house the city functions. So our goal here is to make this place, take the best what's there now, keep it, preserve enhance it, and then add the design element that's lacking to really make this a world class civic center. So with that, I'd like to just kind of walk you through. So let me make sure I understand there's a pointer. Yep, okay. And then forward is to the right. Am I correct? Nope. |
| 00:56:09.97 | John Wong | I just want to make sure I understand which button to push. There's about six months in the end. |
| 00:56:17.34 | Adam Politzer | Thank you. |
| 00:56:17.68 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:56:28.03 | John Wong | Thank you. Okay, so is that fine? Okay. OK. With that, I'd like to walk you through some of our way of looking at this project. We start first by coming out to the site. point out that Jonathan Goleman, Mike Langford, and Lauren Umbertis They... were very kind in providing their time. to work with us to do the walkthrough, point out all the do's and don't issues, things that are, you know, that we thought that ought to be seriously looked at and then point out some of the reasons why we should maintain as well as some of the opportunities. So we really appreciate that. So the first couple of slides there point out is essentially the street which is in back here and that is Bonita. And as you can see in the Bonita is quite bare. There's a old fence. It's a chain link fence and there's some walls that's falling apart. And then we looked at this side here on the side street which is B, which is to the top. And looking at the streetscape, what the summit opportunity. We also looked at Litho. There's some street tree. There's an old stump. It's quite, you know, again, has a fence that wraps all the way around. Thank you. this fence is falling apart and is not Very good, in good shape. And then next thing here, of course, down at Caledonia, which fronting on to the Robin Sweeney Park. And we understand Robin Sweeney Park is going to go through an upgrade and a change. So we didn't touch any of that aspect, and hopefully that you will in time get that finished so that this will be even better. Right now it has a beautiful lawn and it has a row of sycamore trees, and it's still a quite pleasant front. The next thing we looked at is various entries. Obviously, as you can see from here, the entry which is to the corner over here down at the lower level on the north side, clearly furniture needs to be replaced as some pots is falling apart. The main entrance to City Hall from this picture, currently you go through a bridge, but clearly lack a little bit of greenery, both in terms of the area that there are trash locations underneath. We looked at all those aspects. This is your front door to the center here. We want to really make it more attractive. And so we are looking seriously into how to improve that. Then there's another entrance going up to the second floor in the upper area and then the library entrance. The library entrance is not too bad. I do think that the things that really need to look at is the surrounding landscape. In essence, the setting, it's a little bit tired and needs a little bit work. So we want to help to improve that. So next thing we looked at is the existing landscape. One of the things that you have is you have a lot of beautiful existing trees, the cedars, the oaks, and we want to keep that. The other thing is lax on the landscaping here is that many of the trees are so overly grown and we've been advising um, uh, the administrative staff that probably just needs some periodic thinning and pruning. and open up the tree, especially the two-seater. Currently, this is the major kind of main street, if you will, Caledonia, where a lot of the public tourists come and buy, but they can never see what's in behind. The trees totally cover. And so thinning it out, opening that up. The other aspect of this site is that there's a lot of concrete needs to be falling apart, especially in this area here, as you can see from this picture. And we would recommend over time that that's to be replaced. Then the other thing is that there's a... the very high wall which is pretty much because of the slope condition retaining to create this parking. There was a big retaining walls built, but this wall is not, again, it looks very much bare. It could use some planting either coming from the top or planting coming from below to provide much more green edge. And we also looked at also the entrance around the existing library. So those are the things that we looked at. And then... Other things that we look at are the site furniture. As I pointed out earlier, that the fence currently, this is a chain link fence, and I think we really should think about perhaps is to replace it with something a little bit more civic presence that perhaps a metal fence with a vertical picket, something that is relating to more of a public building. And especially the chain link in many places are the, that has rusted and some places need repair and so forth. And other things that we looked at is the, you know, the courtyard over here. Currently this courtyard is buried in the trees and there's some, We were thinking about how to make this entrance now perhaps more related to the big lawn. So you will see later what our proposed idea. And then some of the furniture around here are these are falling apart now. It's kind of, you know, need replacement. And then finally the landscaping, you know, in the back here both need signage as well as landscaping. And then we've been looking at also about bike parking. So all those things are we carefully looked at. And then lighting is a very important aspect. Many of you are meeting right now. We still have daylight, but in the daylight saving, this will be all totally dark. And so right now you have essentially two light, one in the parking, one in the entrance. But I think more importantly, these kind of entrances and how this look into this area, we would propose, for example, perhaps really maybe invest some up lighting to the trees. Not only we open up the cedars, thin that out, but providing some up light, really now you can start to see the facade of this beautiful structure. So there are some of those ideas that I want to go over that with you, to review with you. And so those are the things that we came out here at night, looked at it, and said, a lot of the uses are being done at night. What can we do? So lighting is a very important aspect. Thank you. So this is a kind of an overall landscape plan, and what you see here is I'm gonna walk you through area by area in terms of improvement. What you see here is essentially we maintain most of the existing tree. We add some new street tree, add some trees at the entrance, change out the pavement both at the bridge at the entrance to give this main entrance a little bit more civic presence with new signage. New landscape along the wall. and then open a stair that go out to this lawn so that from the park you can come directly in. And then open this area, this terrace, so that it'll be a part of the park itself. We landscape some of the planter, create a butterfly garden next to the library for the children area. and redo the finish of the pavement and with a new fencing on the side. So essentially, this is not a plan we come in here and kind of blast everything out and start from scratch. We are trying to work with what you have there and to keep the cost down and keep it more, maintain the character of some of the best things that we currently have on the site. So, This is the existing tree removal plan, as you can see, showed by the 4X. So we're only gonna take out these two trees, and then plus one street tree knot and a stump, which is not doing very well. So you can see here, the rest of the tree, we are recommending to essentially have an arborist come in to do some thinning, cleaning it up, open that up. Some of the trees actually in the long term will do well. It just has been so overgrown. and there are a lot of dead branches and so forth. So if you can just do that, that would be one aspect to really definitely help improve the site. In terms of proposed tree planting, as you can see here, we essentially like to add some street trees on litho. Reason for that, over here, some of the big trees are hanging out over the sidewall. It's going to be impossible for us to maintain carry of the street tree. We didn't plant any street tree here. very understanding the people who lives here. we'll look at the view as very important. So we didn't want to create controversial by planting street tree, although it would be nice to have that. And then we also provide another additional street tree with additional entry, flowering tree that kind of frame this main entrance, both city hall as well as to the upper level of this building. And then there's additional trees in this corner to carry that out for the tulip to maintain again so that again create a much stronger entry at the vehicular entrance. This is an understory planting, and what we're showing is really the two color. This color, the lighter color, actually you do have a lot of good base planting, and we want to keep them, but needs, again, a little bit of work in terms of primarily cleaning and thinning. The darker area We would like to remove because some of those are either bare or some of those have a lot of ivies. And we think in the long term we should go to a more sustainable, more plants that perhaps use lower water. And understanding we are in a drought situation, so we have to be very careful. The timing of doing this planting and so forth needs to be done. Hopefully, next season, we get the rainfall. Perhaps we need to phase that into, because currently, if we do that, we will require water. Remember, plants do require water. No matter if you use plants that are totally drought-tolerant, low water usage, they soon need water to get started. So what we like to do is also not only replace all the plants, some of them are just overgrown, tired, and been there a long time, but never – they need to be taken out. Some of them are really creating problems for some of the more adjacent plants. So this is what we propose to do for the understory. So next thing here is I'm gonna walk you through some of these items. The red line here show is the fence. Currently, you need the fencing there. Essentially, this is the left hand side is existing slide. On the right hand side, we basically show what the new fence looks like. On the street side, along Bonita, What we're proposing is to have a new fence that wraps all the way around. This is not only for safety but prevent people from falling over. But we would replace with a much more more simply designed instead of a chain link, which is, you know, says something to other people when you're looking at it, but we want this to be more of a civic ground. And so we want a vertical picket. And we also propose to have a hedge all the way around on the side. So basically just cutting out some sidewalk, and since we cannot plant a tree, we want to create a green edge. On this side here, you can see here the fence will come wrapped all the way around. And then we are also, the fence, here's the detail, is essentially a metal, it could be aluminum fence or it could be a wrought iron fence depending on the available budget. And typically for each of these area we've done a cost estimate. we show the demolition. If you put a new fence, what it costs. We did a little cost so you have a line item here. So you can pick and choose how you would improve this project based on certain schedule, timing. And the other thing is that on this project here, we're also including some costs. to repair. There's some curb at the base of the wall that are start to They're broken, they're falling apart. And what happened is that the rebar starts to show and when you have moisture over time, it starts to really deteriorate. So we should start to We need to fix it, repair it. And so those costs are included. So the other aspect, here as you can see here, this is the before, the current chain link fence. This is the new look for the new edge. Again, the hedge could be. trained to be pruned a little bit higher. Here's a section showing this is what you have now. This is what we're proposing. Some of the concrete area, here's a curb that I point out that are falling apart that we need to fix. Some of the sidewalk we also need to fix, and these are just do pass-through work that needs to be done with. And then the current sidewalk, we are also, this is the existing along the sidewalk. |
| 01:10:37.70 | Mary Wagner | along, |
| 01:10:39.15 | John Wong | and we are proposing the street trees on that side. The next area is the selective cleaning, weeding, and pruning of existing planting. I already mentioned that you have a lot of overgrown tree. The cedar needs to be opened up, thinned out. Some of these trees have a lot of deadwoods and so forth, and they just need to be cleaned out. And we provide a cost for that. The other aspect is a parking lot improvement. And we have both some existing concrete repair that we call out on the drawings. And we would like those to be come back and provide some concrete plaster to sack that. And then next item, is also how to make this wall looks a little bit more friendly. There's a couple of solutions. One idea, we could provide some plants that allow vines to hang over. The other aspect of it is actually saw cut out the edge and to provide a trench in which allow vines, and this will be self-cleaned vines that eventually cover the wall. What we like to see is that you're coming to a, a parking lot that has much more of a green background rather than just a retaining wall. So that's also – we think that would be very important to implement. Then in terms of the entrance, the entrance, there's one entrance right here and then there's an entrance here. The one for the parking lot, What we like to do is suggest to put a new sign. This is the existing condition, this is the proposed condition. And this sign will call out City Hall. or Sausalito. And then currently there's some very good tulip trees, we would suggest to plan that out so they really form the new gateway for the entrance to the parking lot. And what it does is also, you know, put a much better generous and inviting entry. The other entrance here is that we also provide a, suggesting a sign. This is what's there now. We would like to put a sign so that coming from Litho, coming into the library and so forth, we could have a sign that so that people know that currently the entrance is hidden way behind the landscaping. So there should be a sign so that to let people know that the uses and where the front door for the particular uses. The other aspect that are important to think about is the, there's a, on the south side, there's a bridge that hang over to the other side. And then also there's some area that's quite bare. We suggest that we want to have planting improvement in this area. And then along the bridge where you're coming into City Hall, this area here, we would like to again put a new fence and then provide new planting underneath the growth of oaks. The other thing that we also suggest that perhaps do some screening at this location to block out some of the trash enclosure and so forth. the, Around the the stairway, we also propose a screen, perhaps that when you walk across this bridge, you don't look down to some of the trash. And then over here, same thing, provide some sort of a screening underneath. Still maintain your trash so that it can roll out and perhaps even add a hedge in front in this location. So. on the side here, Currently this is all concrete. We would suggest that maybe take out the concrete and create a new butterfly garden next to the library, perhaps with seatings and chairs, so this will become a more inviting usable space. The... Back lower entrance here, we would just suggest that to provide some new pots. You know, currently there's nothing there. And then on this side, again, providing some new pots to really replace some of these old wooden ones that are falling apart. And then for the, your main entrance to your everyday, this is the citizen comes here every other two weeks for a meeting. Currently you just come down to a stair, 177-560 We would suggest instead of a concrete bridge, maybe perhaps replace without having to take anything out, do a thin set tile. And so that that tile starts to match up with some of the brick pavement on the other side so that you start to give this a more important set of a back door, which is currently your front door entrance for the public, and then take that all the way around to the front entrance. And then we also suggest that replacing this railing, perhaps with a screen, we have planting in this area, we could grow vines that eventually give this entrance a much more friendlier and nicer look. At the entrance, coming down the stair, we would like to plant a flowering tree with a new sign to point to City Hall. So all that small gesture as well as planting add to a new entrance for your building. And then for the other entrance over here, we would suggest just to get the new planter, replace the vines, really get that going, provide a new bench in this location, new planting at the entrance, also providing a new flowering trees. We understand this was recently just redone to get the parking in so that we want to make sure that this entrance and the other entrance start to give it a more prominence. Then finally, on the lower area, on the back, some of the landscaping, some of these plantings are a little bit tired. we would like to suggest that start to redo the landscaping at the base. So we're keeping many of the trees. Some of these old trees we will be taken out, but most of them we will keep. And then it's really looking at the planter for some of these old plants, and then we will want to replace them. And then finally, I mentioned earlier about access. This currently, this overlook, no one even knows is there. So what we suggest is open up. Perhaps is do a stairway connecting to the park. So not only that, you will have an upper seating area. It will make this even more safer too. Because now that you have more people, sometimes people can hide behind there. It's not a most safe place. So we want to open that up. Adding to opening up the trees with lighting, I think we will really help make this front door truly open to Caledonia. this is a kind of a plan showing a night um, It would be great that if the trees will have uplight And by up lighting the tree, we will basically open a new view into the city hall at night. And then finally, this is a summary of the cost estimate. We've broken it up into seven parts. One area would be, for example, the Litho Street, one area the B Street, one area Bonita, and then the parking. And then the main so-called the west side of City Hall, and then the lower side, and then the side garden. Each of these we have costs showing demolition, new planting, new lighting. And so that's kind of our proposal currently at a concept level. And we hope that if the cost estimate has been submitted along with this booklet, and so we hope that you will find either volunteers or some sort of donation from the public or maybe some funding from the city. to start to implement these various areas. Could be all done in once, which would be great. If not, they could be done over a period of a couple of years. And we're just down the block. We'll be ready to assist and help in many ways. And we hope, you know, this concept will move forward in a not too distant future. Thank you very much. If there's any questions, I'd be glad to answer them, which by the way, we also want to thank you, the mayor. And also the city manager actually came to our office and we actually have a very more detailed discussion on many of those aspects. I ran through this quite quick, so I hope you apologize. But I hope if there's any question, there's a booklet there for you to carefully review all the various detail. |
| 01:19:54.44 | Unknown (Chair/Vice Mayor) | Thank you. |
| 01:19:54.45 | Mayor Withey | Thank you, John, very much for that really great conceptual design. So I'm sure my colleagues have questions of you and or shall be. And so please. |
| 01:20:11.97 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | So I guess first of all, I want to thank you very much for this amazing work. It's amazing what can be done with so little, we're just doing the uplighting and the and the tiles and everything, it really looks lovely. My question is, you showed that it was categorized in blocks and stuff, and I was wondering, |
| 01:20:34.04 | Mary Wagner | Mm-hmm. |
| 01:20:35.39 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | that From your viewpoint, is there one that is a higher priority than the others? Have you listed them in order of what you would recommend to do first? |
| 01:20:47.32 | John Wong | Yeah, we thought about it, but we did not list it in here specifically. I think in discussion, I would say the highest priority was to, let's get this entrance, that's number one. And then the other thing is the tree and the lighting. Pruning probably is the number one is urgently needed. So from what I understand, that is also going to be done pretty soon. Because what happened is trees, like everything else, you cannot just plant it and walk away from it. It requires maintenance. And the maintenance, fortunately, is mostly just thinning and pruning. So I would say that, along with the... with this landscape and then maybe add some lighting, that would automatically dramatically improve And hopefully, maybe if people start to notice that, you will get, you know, other people who may be interested in, you know, providing support. to this concept. I do think something like that needs to be communicate it to the rest of the city. I mean, people who live in Sausalito, when people tell me that you live in Sausalito, wow, you know. But I think there's a lot of resource here. both professionally, technically, financially, you know. So I do think that you ought to, you know, get the word out there and get people to really rally behind that because this is their city. Even though I don't live here, but I work here. So I feel like, you know, that's part of my city. |
| 01:22:28.62 | Connie Evans | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 01:22:32.59 | John Wong | Thank you. |
| 01:22:32.61 | Mayor Withey | Any other questions before public comment? |
| 01:22:38.45 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Just because I know you did the work, what was the total cost estimate for the whole project if you added everything together at the current time? |
| 01:22:49.18 | John Wong | At our current time, probably about, I would say something like maybe $35,000, $40,000. |
| 01:22:56.16 | Unknown | and for everything. |
| 01:22:57.06 | John Wong | Yeah, for everything. No, oh you mean construction? You're talking about time. You're talking about labor time? |
| 01:23:04.85 | Unknown (Councilmember) | You're talking about labor time? Otherwise, we'll do it tomorrow, but I mean. No, no, no, no. |
| 01:23:07.37 | John Wong | No, no, no, no, no. Oh. |
| 01:23:09.18 | Unknown (Councilmember) | No. |
| 01:23:09.46 | John Wong | Not the three... |
| 01:23:10.04 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Three, Chuck. |
| 01:23:10.68 | John Wong | costs. |
| 01:23:11.66 | Unknown (Councilmember) | You had a slide before, it's just the print was very small. |
| 01:23:11.69 | John Wong | You had a slide before. It's just the print was very small. Our cost estimate was $301,000. Plus, you know, all these other so-called project management I don't know. This is strictly what I call hot costs, about $300,000. I think that's, I'm pretty sure, because I looked at it the other day, I think that's the number, 301 something, as I remember. And we've broken up into different parts. |
| 01:23:44.09 | Unknown (Councilmember) | did all the work, but I couldn't read it because the print was very small. So thank you. |
| 01:23:46.06 | John Wong | Yeah. |
| 01:23:49.02 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Thank you. |
| 01:23:49.69 | John Wong | And that, I think, probably if you do decide to proceed, it ought to be get someone to kind of ideally would be get a contractor. Our prices is based on our knowledge of doing work in the Bay Area. And they do varies. So I would say that plus or minus 10%, 15%, you should make some allowance for that. |
| 01:24:08.02 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:24:15.98 | Mayor Withey | Okay, why don't we take some public comment, and is there any member of the public who would like to speak to this plan and the work that's gone into it? |
| 01:24:35.39 | Unknown (Chair/Vice Mayor) | Yes. But if you could come up |
| 01:24:38.09 | Mayor Withey | If you could come up to the microphone, that would be wonderful. |
| 01:24:42.75 | Carolyn Younger | Yeah. Hi, thank you. Hi, Mayor and Council. Hi. Thank you so much. My son is nine years old, and he grew up in this park. And Robin Sweeney Park and City Hall is really the hub for our community. So to be able to support a project to beautify and enhance its environment is very welcome. The one thing that popped out at me is the idea of the stairs coming down onto the grass, is that correct? From the veranda. And... Thank you. What I think is an important detail for you to know and your planning people is that, and Mayor Leon can probably attest to this, is that our children from the time they could walk till they're probably what, seven or eight years old, they love to run between the shrubs and the stucco veranda, right? So they hide through there. And that's been such a fabulous experience for the kids for so long. Which is huge. So having said that, also the grass area, now that my son is nine and older, as he was today playing soccer out there and baseball, So my concern is the stairs will, A, take the little secret garden area away from the kids, and B, won't the stairs kind of encumber the use of the playing field that's sloped and slanted. area away from the kids, and B, won't the stairs kind of encumber the use of the playing field that's sloped and slanted and difficult to play on anyway, but that's another issue. So I'm just suggesting, would it not behoove us to have the stairwells come down around on the sides and have one elegant stairwell that comes down near the basketball court that's, and not have the veranda in the middle as the entryway to the top of the veranda? I don't know, I just wanted to share that with you. |
| 01:27:03.82 | John Wong | Thanks. Can I answer that? Maybe. Well, thank you. Thank you for that comment. There is a design right now that Robin Sweeney Parks already embarked on, and there's a new walkway that goes all the way around, except this walkway do connect to the basketball court. So we are just merely suggesting that the shrub that wrap around this podium, we're taking a little bit out, just putting the stairs in. So there's no effect on the oversize of the play field, the lawn, if you will. It doesn't change any of that. So if you approve the park that's the way it was designed, that stays remain. There's no change. We're just making that one connection. |
| 01:27:48.88 | Mayor Withey | Thank you. Yes, please. |
| 01:27:56.10 | Mayor Withey | Ha ha ha. |
| 01:27:59.66 | Babette McDougall | I'm not joking when I say that I really live right above you and can throw a ball down on the roof. I'm at the corner of Litho where it becomes a pedestrian footpath. And the neighbor across the street from us finally trimmed their very large, whatever that tree is, like a cedar tree. or a cypress tree. And I kept saying to the arborist, more over there, I still can't see. Caledonia. And he kept to the point where he was almost falling out of the tree. When he finally said, I'm sorry Mrs. McDougall, I can't do anymore. I'm going to fall and the tree will fall and it will be unbalanced. So he said, I can't do anymore. And finally when he stood over at my house with me, he said, you realize what's blocking your view, it's all those other trees on litho. And he says, you're going to have to talk to City Hall. And so when you talked about putting more trees on Litho Street, I thought, oh my gosh. So I think the whole point about volunteerism is going to really be important here because I already know that we don't have... We have Steve and one or two others who do their very best to come around and keep the town trimmed. But I don't think I've ever seen anybody trim the trees on Litho Street. |
| 01:29:17.37 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:29:19.72 | Babette McDougall | And so introducing more trees Yikes. Anyway, I love the idea. And I love the whole idea of putting a new face on City Hall. I don't know how that's going to help the homeless shelter, though. Thank you. |
| 01:29:39.11 | Unknown (Chair/Vice Mayor) | Thank you. Yes. John. |
| 01:29:51.58 | John Flavin | I'm John Flavin, I'm a resident of Sausalito. This is going to sound awfully churlish in light of everything, enthusiasm and all. And I have no disrespect for SWA or Sausalito Beautiful, but I am struck at a point in time in this city where people are growing increasingly concerned about the security in their homes. that we have conditions where we are dumping sewage and sediment into the bay. This project, I mean, is glorious, but its timing is really wrong. And I think, I would hope that you would not take city time particularly Jonathan's time at this point and divert them from that because in the scale of things, when people are worried about having people breaking, kicking their front doors in and we've got all this issue about the sewers and the downspots, I mean the storm drains, this project seems just to be... inappropriate. So I know that sounds trillish and I don't mean to be the bad. I am wearing black, but I just think this is, again, this would be like the fishing pier. We're going to spend a lot of effort and everything else. And unless you find a private donor to step forward, I would really hate to see money being spent in this area right now. Thank you. |
| 01:31:07.18 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:31:17.60 | Mayor Withey | Thank you, John. Anybody else like to comment on this? |
| 01:31:30.11 | Doug Storms | Yes, my name is Doug Storms, and I would like to thank many people, you for listening. to the community input and Shelby, what a national treasure we have. The comment about, I appreciate what the gentleman said, John, I believe, and I think all of us are concerned about in We're a wealthy community, some more than others, but we don't want to foolishly waste our money, you know, when there are other priorities. So I really think the key to this whole thing is get a good project manager. And the second thing, you've got to get somebody responsible that can oversee, that can juggle the balls. And that's worth its weight in gold. The other key is the vast resources that we have, the volunteerism. So in a nutshell, I will say if this project takes 400 hours, I have no idea how long it takes, but in project management to plant a tree, it's going to take two hours, let's say. So you add it all up, it's going to take 400 hours. And so then you go back to the community, to the Sausalito Women's Club, Beautify Sausalito, Ranger Rick or whatever, and you say, well, how many hours will your organization volunteer? How many hours are you committed to? And so if it costs, if it takes 400 hours and you have 400 hours of people committed, Now, the $301,000 may be reduced. And so I think it's... I think it's important to beautify, and this is the entrance to this beautiful place we call Sausalito, so it is worth the while. I don't think it takes millions. You need a spirit and a heart, and I think Sausalito has demonstrated the citizens. They want to do it, and I'm supportive. I know many people... are in on this, they bought off on it. and Shelby is one of the locomotives that are pulling the train. So jump aboard. |
| 01:33:47.79 | Mayor Withey | Thank you, Doug. No, please. |
| 01:33:54.37 | Shelby Van Meter | This is really just a thank you for all the people who are here tonight who support what we're trying to do in beautifying Sausalito. There are many, many here who are friends and followers and citizens who really care about not only this project, But really all the other things we have begun to do and It's really amazing because A year ago, That was a good catch. |
| 01:34:19.92 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Thank you. |
| 01:34:20.02 | Unknown | Okay. |
| 01:34:20.04 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Thank you. |
| 01:34:20.65 | Unknown | I'm not going to be a good one. |
| 01:34:21.05 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Thank you. |
| 01:34:21.85 | Unknown | Bye. Bye. |
| 01:34:23.43 | Shelby Van Meter | A year ago, |
| 01:34:23.48 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:34:23.52 | Unknown (Councilmember) | A year ago... |
| 01:34:26.32 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 01:34:26.76 | Shelby Van Meter | I'm sorry. |
| 01:34:27.28 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:34:27.38 | Shelby Van Meter | Yeah. |
| 01:34:27.82 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:34:27.84 | Shelby Van Meter | It was only a year ago that I came here and said, why does Sausalito look the way it does when other towns look better? And in that one year, through the cooperation of you, the city council, you, the city management, the heads of public works and parks and rec, |
| 01:34:27.89 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:34:42.40 | Shelby Van Meter | Amazing things have begun to happen, and we've only just begun. Having John so willing to say he would help with this, and they've done an amazing job, is an example of the kinds of things that can be done with public-private partnership. This was hundreds and hundreds of hours of pro bono work, and they've offered even more. And we know there's a lot of that available through the community, but the city still has a responsibility, as we've all discussed, as you've demonstrated, to do its part too. So I say one step at a time we have a great opportunity here and we already have some things underway that Lauren has been discussing with our representatives and so it's not at all hopeless and it's just not going to bankrupt the city. It's not going to take, I don't believe, away from the other really, really important things we have and we all know what they are. So thank you all, thank you all for coming and supporting this and |
| 01:35:13.23 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:35:13.25 | Mary Wagner | Thank you. |
| 01:35:39.98 | Shelby Van Meter | I'd love you to just stand up and say you're here because you believe in this effort that we have underway. Thank you so much. Thanks. |
| 01:35:57.17 | Mayor Withey | Thank you very much. Let's bring this back here. And maybe I don't think there's any action we're taking tonight, but I'm sure there's some ideas that we have or comments to make. |
| 01:36:15.47 | Mayor Withey | I presume there was nobody else who wanted to make public comment about this. So. |
| 01:36:24.98 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Who wants to? And I just want to thank everyone, I mean, from Shelby and Sausalito, beautiful, and all of you here today, and particularly SWA and John Wong and all the staff that have put all these hours in. And I think it's really a worthwhile project. Obviously, we have to find the budget for these things. This is something we've discussed since we've been discussing Sausalito, beautiful from the beginning. But it's a worthwhile goal to have because we can't just do – we have to do the fundamentals, we have to do our storm drains, we have to do our streets, but we also have to make it a beautiful place to live. It's investing in the community, and it's an important thing to do. So the hard work's coming in terms of finding the budget to do it, but I think between public-private, volunteerism, the city, we will find a way to make this happen and move it along. So we appreciate everyone's efforts. |
| 01:37:17.45 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Thank you. |
| 01:37:17.48 | Unknown | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 01:37:17.75 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Thank you. |
| 01:37:17.95 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:37:18.07 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Thank you. |
| 01:37:18.17 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:37:18.27 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Thank you. |
| 01:37:18.31 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:37:18.44 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Thank you. |
| 01:37:18.48 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:37:18.49 | Unknown (Councilmember) | you I want to also thank Shelby and Mr. Wong. And by the way, I don't know how your vision was, but originally there were stairs that went down there. before we put the grass area in, that used to be all asphalt. So we have made the improvement. I know the grass isn't the greatest, so we'll get to that someday. But the stairway, that's an original. You pull that out of your hat, but very well done. And I want to thank you. And we're not going to give up on this at all. Even if we have to take small increments to get this done, we will get it done, believe me. So thank you. |
| 01:38:06.91 | Unknown (Councilmember) | I think that's a very important thing to do with the project. I think that's a very important thing to do with the project. I think that's a very important thing to do with the project. I think that's a very important thing to do with the project. I think that's a very important thing to do with the project. I think that's a step function thing, and there are pieces here that we can maneuver with through time. And I think like Robin Sweeney Park, which Mike just left, so I can't ask him what the budget is for that, but my memory is the cost of that is close to a million dollars to redo Robin Sweeney Park, which is this side of all those plans. So there's a lot of capital needs to all our parks and open spaces. And I think at the end of the day, and I mentioned this to Shelby, it's going to be through we don't have the money to do it, and we won't even have the money to do it if we did a bond issue for parks or open space. But what we do need, and I think Mr. Wong said this from SWA, is a private partnership. And when people see their private money is going somewhere to something specific that they can see happening, I think the purse strings open up over time. We don't have a long history of that here in Sausalito because people were a little unsure their money would go to where they wanted it to go. But I think the plan, it all makes sense by and large to me. You know, it's a, like a lot of public space in Sausalito, it's been a long time under maintained and under improved. That's many decades, not just the last few years. Like all of our infrastructure here. So we're, all that infrastructure is competing for the same dollars that we have, and there is no fountain of money out in the park here. But I think this is great. I think there are some things we can do immediately where we do have budget to do, and then the bigger picture things, the higher cost stuff, that we can figure out over time. You know, for people who through, you know, for people who have view issues, or they'll go through a multi-planting of trees and everything goes through a multi-step process, and so I bet and other folks who live on Litho or Benita will have a chance to have their voice before anything happens and make sure we plant the right trees that grow to the right height and don't block people's views rather than create a huge maintenance deficit going forward. But I think City Hall needs some help. like every other open space in Sausalito, and it is the center point for Sausalito. I think for a long time we didn't do improvements to City Hall, even before my time here, and this is my eighth year on the Council, because we didn't want to spend money on city stuff. We wanted to spend it on the streets and the roads and the public safety building and things that didn't appear that we were shoveling money into our own little world here in City Hall. So it's great that the public sees the need for that, and I think we owe it to the public to show a better face forward here at City Hall. |
| 01:41:07.76 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Yeah, so I want to thank SWA Group and Shelby and the beautification effort. I think you guys have accomplished quite a bit here, and the pro bono work is very exciting. From the beginning, I've seen the success of this rooted in volunteerism, in the spirit of volunteerism, and a shared vision of beautification of our beautiful, the paradise we live in. And this is why this is so exciting to see. So many things in our small town were the result of volunteerism, from the art festival and all the work that Rotary and the Lions Club did, as well as the Little League field. So much is the result of volunteerism. So I really see that as being absolutely key. Like you said, there is a big price tag down here for the plans at Robin Sweeney Park at $1 million. Frankly, I'd like to narrow that and focus on some of these playgrounds we have where some of the play equipment you know, very, very old and make that a priority. So when I look at infrastructure, for me, I look in terms of safety first. What are the things that we really have got to do? This stuff, everything, it's a volunteer effort, and I support it. I want to echo the concerns that we heard tonight regarding Sausalito having – major priority issues. I think you all know our pension, unfunded pension liability is 22 million. CalPERS has put that at over 40 million if you apply today's rates. And our sewers and storm drains, I don't have to, you know, you already know the story there. So we have high priorities and we need to prioritize for that to get those things done for the environment and for, Uh, generational equity, future generations. But that said, coming back to the beautification effort, I've supported this from the beginning and the vision. I support this, but I do see this as its success being rooted in the volunteers that step up and help to make this happen. So I do want to thank everyone for their efforts here, and it's very exciting to see. So thank you very much. |
| 01:43:34.76 | Mayor Withey | Thank you. I would just add the perspective that |
| 01:43:44.68 | Mayor Withey | You know, you can't, a design project or any project, you can sort of think of very crudely as, first of all, you have the conceptual design phase, get buy-in for that, then you move towards detailed design, and then you construct. And often what happens is we are not able to find the funds to get a lot of early conceptual design done. On projects that we have no time horizon for, we can't identify a budget for, but partly how can we identify a budget if we don't even know a rough cost, you know, because we don't have a conceptual design. So why this is exciting is that we found very graciously some – a group, SWA, who were willing pro bono to provide the conceptual design work. And if we could get more conceptual design work done, then we've got more things to get our arms around and decide, is this a priority or is that a priority? Otherwise, we're just sort of talking around without any facts whatsoever. So with that, that's why I'm very excited about this. We wouldn't have been able to get – we couldn't even afford to get a conceptual design done. So therefore, of course, I must thank SWA for that pro bono work. It's very creative. It's very thoughtful. And certainly SWA are showing us all, to pick up on Council Member Pfeiffer's point about volunteerism, how a local business is volunteering to do something that they have the expertise to do, which is fantastic. And then finally, to thank the Sausalito Beautiful Initiative, Shelby and all of her team who are really making this an important priority overall in the city. So thank you all. Thank you, SWA, and thank you for the Sausalito Beautiful team very much. Thank you. |
| 01:46:08.94 | Unknown (Councilmember) | So, |
| 01:46:10.65 | Unknown (Chair/Vice Mayor) | Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 01:46:11.69 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Yeah, I think just from a clarification standpoint, the next steps will be, you know, we have this beautiful plan. |
| 01:46:11.71 | Unknown (Chair/Vice Mayor) | Thank you. |
| 01:46:11.73 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 01:46:12.23 | Unknown (Chair/Vice Mayor) | Thank you. |
| 01:46:18.16 | Unknown (Councilmember) | that will start to go through the process of digesting and putting it through the park and rec and the other appropriate bodies and then to get that process, that's a separate process, kind of all the approval process, as well as trying to work with Saucelito Beautiful and SWA to find funds and sources of funds. I will say I don't think that the city functions well if you do things linearly, and that means We only work on one project at a time. And that's why... I will say I don't think that the city functions well if you do things linearly, and that means we only work on one project at a time, and that's why we need – it's great that we have this head start on this project because, you know, it takes time for everything to get to the finish line, and we have other projects that are in the – There are sewer projects. Um, Storm drain projects that are all moving simultaneously, and that's the way you get a lot of things done in a shorter period of time. So it's not an either-or, in my opinion, about open space and public parks improvements versus others. It's a question of whether you can afford them and finding the funds and the appropriate professional and public involvement to make it happen. I have one more question. |
| 01:47:19.41 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Yeah, please. You know, I really want to thank John Wong again. And Shelby, I hope others join with me, but I'll make a $1,000 contribution, and I think others should come forward. |
| 01:47:19.43 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 01:47:33.03 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Thank you. because He already started the ball. It's for us to pick it up and carry it. So I hope others join me. But you got one. And everything starts with one. |
| 01:47:45.97 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:47:48.49 | Mayor Withey | Thank you, Herbert. to thank you again. Anybody else want to? |
| 01:47:50.55 | Unknown (Councilmember) | I'll thank you again. Yeah. |
| 01:47:54.23 | Mayor Withey | So once again, thank you. And we're going to take a five-minute break now. So thank you. |
| 01:48:15.89 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Would you care to join us up here? |
| 01:48:23.35 | Mayor Withey | Okay, Debbie? Okay, let's resume. The next matter is the new item 6B, which was for C. which is to weigh further reading, read by title only, and adopt an ordinance relating to emergency shelters, overlay zones, and development and management standards for emergency shelters, et cetera. We do not have staff presentation because this was on consent, and so I think we could take public comments straight away or for anybody who wants to talk about this particular topic. There was a few comments, one comment, public comment during the consent calendar item, and, Is there any member of the public who'd like to talk about this item? |
| 01:49:31.51 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Mr. Mayor, I just have a question for city staff that we can take public comment. |
| 01:49:32.59 | Mayor Withey | Yes. I thought I'd take public comment first, and then we can. Yes? |
| 01:49:39.69 | Connie Evans | Hi, I'm Connie Evans, and I have lived on Johnson Street for 21 years. And during that time, my house has been broken into twice, once when I was home and once when I was at work. And I just want to, I was alarmed when I found out we were going to be impacted with not only one but two homeless shelters. And I just want to know how our safety issues are going to be addressed. |
| 01:49:55.52 | Unknown | Yes. |
| 01:50:12.18 | Unknown (Chair/Vice Mayor) | Okay. |
| 01:50:13.01 | Mayor Withey | Thank you. I will have city staff respond to that in a moment. Is there any other member of the public who would like to ask a question or make a comment on this matter? Okay, so we'll close public comment. I turn a close public comment and turn my microphone off. We probably have some questions here, but I'm wondering whether staff could make a comment about the safety issue that's just been raised. |
| 01:50:54.65 | Mayor Withey | And unfortunately, the chief has just walked out. |
| 01:51:01.76 | Unknown (Councilmember) | We call Lily the Chief sometimes. |
| 01:51:03.34 | Lily Shinsing | Yeah. |
| 01:51:03.94 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Thank you. |
| 01:51:07.01 | Lily Shinsing | Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Councilmembers, Lily Shinsing, Administrative Analyst. So the SB2, which is Senate Bill 2, requires all communities in California to identify a zoning district that would allow an emergency homeless shelter by right, which means that the city can't require a use permit for the shelter. So that's what the city is doing right now. In 2012, the city council selected the public institutional zoning district as the zoning district that would have the emergency shelter allowed by right. At this point now, the council has narrowed that district down to sites owned by the city in the public institutional zoning district. So, again, the requirement by the state is to select a zoning district. If at some time a facility operator came to the city, the city council, being the owners of the property, would decide whether or not to enter into a lease with the facility operator. The facility operator is required to provide on-site security, and that's something that the city is allowed to mandate in the standards, so that would be required of the facility operator. |
| 01:52:25.95 | Unknown (Chair/Vice Mayor) | Okay, thank you. |
| 01:52:28.02 | Unknown (Councilmember) | While Lily's up there, can I ask a question just to clarify? |
| 01:52:36.58 | Unknown (Councilmember) | even there's two questions I want to ask if that's okay and they're not super long. So from the safety standpoint, |
| 01:52:39.19 | Mary Wagner | and |
| 01:52:42.70 | Unknown (Councilmember) | even though a conditional use permit wouldn't be required. I would imagine the operator, certainly in the lease negotiations with the property owner, which is the city of Sausalito, would have to specify how security would be implemented and maintained and all that good stuff. And as the property owner, you'd have to agree to that as part of the lease negotiation. Would that be a reasonable assumption to make? |
| 01:53:06.60 | Lily Shinsing | That could be done through the lease itself with the city. And then in addition, the standards that are in the draft ordinance right now requires on-site security, and there's other security standards in the draft ordinance. So the facility operator would not only have to comply with those standards that would be in the zoning ordinance, but then any additional standards that the city would put in the lease. |
| 01:53:31.07 | Unknown (Councilmember) | So there's some base standards that are already in the adopted language or in the language we're looking at tonight as well, now off consent, that pertains to security as well as whatever, as the owner of the property, the city could demand in its discussions with the operator what those security measures could be, and I would assume the chief of police and other folks would be part of those discussions. That's correct. And just to clarify, I'm not sure. that in limiting this to city-owned property rather than – because we have to designate a district or properties within a district, even though we've narrowed it down – Thank you. that there's no, even though a conditional use permit is not required here, there is no, the city is not compelled to lease property to homeless shelter operators on city owned property. It's more of a negotiated situation and it's up for the council to have to vote or subsequent councils have to vote to do such. |
| 01:54:37.39 | Lily Shinsing | That's correct. Senate Bill 2 doesn't require any cities to Um... to require property owners to allow those facilities on their properties, and the City of Sausalito owned properties would not be an exception. |
| 01:54:50.85 | Unknown (Councilmember) | And if there are any structural, even if the city decided to do that. If there are any structural changes, and any of these problems would have to have some structural changes to a certain degree to accommodate that, those would have to go through, even though you don't have to get a use permit, those would have to go through the permitting process for changes for... anything that was to be constructed. |
| 01:55:10.39 | Lily Shinsing | That's correct. If they rose to the level of a design review permit, they'd go to the planning commission. At the very least, there would be a building permit that would be required. |
| 01:55:19.71 | Mayor Withey | Councilmember Pfeiffer. |
| 01:55:21.30 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Oh, thank you. So for the homeless shelters, I know we had some discussion at the last council session last week that the language used in the mailer was open to... interpretation because it used the term emergency homeless shelters. and people who received the Flyer thought that emergency homeless shelter meant just only in an emergency, when actually what the city was talking about was a year-round facility. And I noticed that the revised mailer has in the title, it has buried in the title, it says, notice blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, to allow homeless shelters in Sausalito. But then the actual text is back to the original confusing you know, phrase of emergency homeless shelters. And I was just wondering why that was, because I thought we had had a conversation to use the language homeless shelters. |
| 01:56:21.30 | Lily Shinsing | The direction staff received from the council at last Tuesday's meeting was to include the definition of emergency shelters in the notice, which is done, and you can see in attachment one, that's, I bolded that in the notice, what the definition was, which includes the language about the occupancy of six months or less, and then the directed language about the year-round facilities. So those were the two components. Council specifically, the question was asked whether or not to change the wording to emergency homeless shelter or homeless shelter, And the direction that was given was keep it at emergency homeless shelter. |
| 01:57:00.50 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | I'll go back and look because I know I specifically said homeless shelter and it's odd to me that the title wouldn't you say it's curious that the title says homeless shelter but then all the body of the text everywhere says emergency homeless shelter it seems like You know, the title reflects what Council agreed on, but the body of this, if I was a resident receiving it, I would go straight to the body of the text and I would see emergency. you know, homeless shelter. I'm just concerned about the transparency issue again. |
| 01:57:34.49 | Lily Shinsing | The changes to the original notice were the changes that were directed by the council at the last meeting. And with the inclusion of the removal of. the Spencer Fire Station site. I removed that from the list. |
| 01:57:46.34 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Okay, so I would just disagree on that. But my next question, if I may, Mr. Mayor. Next question is, I know we talked about asking for proof of Sausalito residency at the home shelters and that legal counsel said that this was not legally possible. Is that correct? |
| 01:58:10.67 | Mary Wagner | I believe I said it's potentially problematic under the constitutional provisions, particularly the – there's a particular clause in the U.S. Constitution and the California State Constitution that would likely prohibit it. There's a two-part test that you would have to go through, and we discussed all of that at the last council meeting. |
| 01:58:33.67 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Yeah, I remember discussing it. I thought it was a little bit more, this is illegal. But what you just said was this is potentially problematic. |
| 01:58:44.10 | Mary Wagner | I believe that's consistent with what I said at the last meeting, Councilmember Pfeiffer, that there's a two-part test that would be applied. I did not find a case on point that specifically dealt with you know, homeless shelters and residency requirements, although there are other cases that deal with residency requirements. |
| 01:59:01.46 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | So we could insert this proof of Saucido residency as part of a two-part test as part of this ordinance. |
| 01:59:09.65 | Mary Wagner | No, and staff was, you wouldn't insert the two-part test as part of the ordinance. I thought it was the two-part test. |
| 01:59:14.95 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | I thought it was a two-part test for residency. No, there's a – All right. |
| 01:59:18.12 | Mary Wagner | No, there's a... All right. When a court reviews the constitutionality of a residency requirement, it would apply the federal court's two-part test. Staff was not recommending a component to include a residency requirement. |
| 01:59:35.13 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | So my next question for Council is, I know Homeward Bound, the homeless shelter in San Rafael, does require a Marin County residency, proof of residence. And there was common at Council that perhaps we could require, if a homeless shelter was created, that we could require the shelter to include that in their requirements, that there's a proof of Sausalito residency? Is that correct? |
| 02:00:05.89 | Mary Wagner | No, I think you'd have the same issue if the city were to impose a zoning regulation requiring the imposition of a residency requirement. whether you're requiring it. be imposed by the operator or you're imposing it in the zoning ordinance. I don't believe there's a distinction there. I know that the issue regarding The existing facility in San Rafael did come up, and you're correct, they do have that residency requirement for Marin County. |
| 02:00:33.64 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | So my final question is, I know that I've been an advocate for a 10-bed shelter, and my question is, we are... we are designating what i would say a large area as potential for homeless shelters and at a 20 bed size and is it correct that uh shelters there is no limit on the number of shelters that could you know be established in in those areas that's correct okay i have uh that's all my questions about the homeless. I do have one question about the transitional and supportive housing for staff. So my question here is that it's my understanding that the supportive and transitional housing Is that being limited as well to the same overlay sites as the homeless shelter area? |
| 02:01:40.88 | Lily Shinsing | No, the supportive and transitional housing per Senate Bill 2 needs to be treated the same way that we treat any other residential use in the city, which means that that type of housing needs to be allowed. in our R1, R2, and R3 zoning districts. Thank you. the same way that we would treat any other residential project. So, for example, if that type of housing was in a single-family residence, then it would be subject to the same standards that a single-family residence in a single-family zoning district would be subject to. If it was a three-unit triplex, then it would be subject to the same standards in an R3 zoning district. |
| 02:02:24.18 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | So just a clarification then. So I see that we're – so is supportive and transitional housing then going to be allowed in R1, R2, R3? Because I see it in CC, CR, and CN1 zoning. |
| 02:02:37.06 | Lily Shinsing | It also needs to be allowed in the commercial districts because those are our mixed-use districts where residential is already allowed. But it would only be allowed the same way that we would allow residential use in those districts right now, which is above the ground level. |
| 02:02:53.16 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | So is this the part that is a legal requirement? Because I understand it's legal for the, I guess, the R1 and R2. Is it also a legal requirement that we allow it in commercial as well? |
| 02:03:05.91 | Lily Shinsing | The state requires that the city treat supportive and transitional housing the same as all residential. |
| 02:03:09.31 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | the same as all residential. Gotcha. Okay. |
| 02:03:12.18 | Lily Shinsing | Thank you. |
| 02:03:13.39 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | All right. Thank you. |
| 02:03:15.28 | Mayor Withey | Okay, thank you. Is there any other questions from counsel? Okay. So let's move into the comment period and perhaps look for a motion. |
| 02:03:29.05 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | I move to postpone a vote on the emergency shelters and homeless shelters due to the misleading language that was used in the city flyer that was mailed to residents, referring to this as the emergency homeless shelter as opposed to emergency shelter and homeless shelters. |
| 02:03:52.62 | Mayor Withey | Is there a second for Council Member Pfeiffer's motion? |
| 02:03:57.99 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Okay, I have another motion. Maybe this one. I make a motion to remove City Hall, the Corporation Yard, the Police Department on Johnson, the School District on Nevada, MLK, and the Corporation Yard, I think I mentioned that, from the homeless shelter overlay, and to set the size at 10 beds, and to designate the stay at 30 consecutive days maximum, and to require two cars per four beds. two parking spaces per four beds. |
| 02:04:40.28 | Unknown (Councilmember) | So to clarify, if I'm reading the list correctly here of properties, that leaves the Spinnaker and the ferry landing parking areas is the only, is that what you're proposing? |
| 02:04:54.32 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | and the, yeah. |
| 02:05:00.43 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | You know, when the consultant was here last time, they commented that when they were working on the Belvedere housing element that they included the structure that was part of their park and rec building as well as the park next to it. And I'm looking at this from an emergency staging area, too. During the Loma Prieta earthquake, the roads were inoperable. People were using the ferry to get here and there. And to me, it is not – if you look at it from the emergency staging area, to look at that area in that light, I can see it. |
| 02:05:41.76 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Thank you. |
| 02:05:41.81 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:05:42.58 | Unknown (Councilmember) | If you would, Lily, my memory of this and my reading of it is this ordinance only pertains to emergency homeless shelters, not emergency shelters in the case of disasters. Is that correct? |
| 02:05:54.36 | Lily Shinsing | That's correct. It's specifically for homeless persons for occupancy of six months or less. |
| 02:05:59.49 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | So it was my, just a clarification question. So why is it referred to as emergency homeless shelters? Emergency. |
| 02:06:10.60 | Lily Shinsing | emergency. The state refers to this type of shelter as an emergency shelter. Nowhere in the state's legislation except for the definition of emergency shelter is the homeless component. So in order to increase transparency, we've been calling it an emergency homeless shelter, and we added the word homeless in there. |
| 02:06:32.89 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Oh, I see. So that's where the confusion came from. Okay. |
| 02:06:36.58 | Mayor Withey | Thank you, Lily. |
| 02:06:39.65 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | So that my motion still stands and it would leave the fire station at Johnson as one of the options too. |
| 02:06:53.80 | Mayor Withey | Okay, so. Can we have a motion that we can get a second for? Yeah, on comments, yeah. |
| 02:07:01.93 | Unknown (Councilmember) | I think we have to just clarify a few things. First of all, there are no plans for a shelter. Thank you. anywhere. This is purely to comply with SB2. We're doing a zoning Um, that we have to provide a zone. And it says you have to have a particular zone. This was passed in 2012 as part of our housing element, so this is no news to, we've had this for several years now, we're just implementing it. And we picked the public zone. The reason we have the public zone because it gives us the most control. We, and the other thing I want to clarify is when they say by right to have a shelter, all it means is it means they don't have to go to the planning process. But there's a second part to this. We pick the public zone because we're the owner. No shelter can go in. No one can get access, can get a lease or ownership of the property unless the city agrees to it. And that's why we put it in the public zones because we have the absolute control on it. To take some properties off means nothing and it actually makes us appear not in compliance because we're not specifying a zone. The number of beds, and we've gone through this a number of times in this implementation process, is dictated by the homeless count. Our consultants went through that. They've said that to comply with the law, we need 20 beds. Now, on the next housing element, which is coming up soon, for the next period, we will look at the next count. We have to face reality. We have as many homeless as this count shows, and we have to provide for that. We will address these things in the next cycle. I do have to say one thing we should take a look at in the next cycle of finding... property that we could really house it on. Right now, we have control, it's city property, we don't have to worry, but we will have to look at one that we might as a community want to designate, which is not gonna be an easy thing to do. But I think we now have to pass this because it's part of our element, we've committed to having this as part of the element, we need to go through again, we've been through it, we've passed it once and we have to do the second reading |
| 02:08:52.85 | Mary Wagner | Thank you. |
| 02:09:06.74 | Unknown (Councilmember) | passed this emergency homeless shelter ordinance. |
| 02:09:16.86 | Unknown (Councilmember) | I'll just echo a little bit of what Tom said, and that is that the public is the owner of these properties, and the public process would have to be followed and hearings held to enter into a lease with an operator to the public meeting, the city of Sausalito, to lease property to folks to operate a homeless shelter. That being said, I view it's a moral obligation to help those in need. And if the proper proposal came down the pike, we'd certainly consider it. But there would certainly be a lot of things that would need to be done as far as safety and accommodations and, structural elements to any of these properties, yet alone any of the other ones that would need to happen, and that also would go through the public process when and if that takes place. But as Tom said, we're really just setting the table through a lot of our zoning ordinance and certainly most of the housing element for a lot of different regulations that the state has imposed or decided to do. And this is not necessarily a bad one, that you have to accommodate people rather than have them live in the bushes. And so with that, we're putting standards in place in case we need to do that. |
| 02:10:40.81 | Unknown | I have a comment. Yes, I do have a comment. |
| 02:10:41.86 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | I have a comment. Can I ask another question? Yes, I do have a comment. So I know that when I asked the consultant about the population and they confirmed the homeless population had gone down in the last count at 23, and I believe because there is no limit in terms of how many homeless shelters can be, you know, established by law that a 10-bed shelter with the parking space requirements that I've mentioned make more sense for Sausalito. I think we do a better service to the homeless when we are working within the means of our very small town. And so that's what I'm looking at. The other comment I would make is I heard there was a comment that we had to do this 20-bed count to comply with the law. The consultant said that it wasn't about complying with the law. We know that the law gives us flexibility in terms of how large this is. The consultant said that Sacramento would view it as a constraint. That's not the same as saying it needed to comply with the law. |
| 02:11:59.48 | Unknown (Councilmember) | I make a motion that we waive further reading, read by title only, and adopt ordinance number 1222. And ordinance. an ordinance of the city council of the city of Sausalito adding chapter 15.13, to the Sausalito Municipal Code to establish Already I, this is the, I read the wrong one, sorry. 1223, an ordinance of the city council of the City of Sausalito to establish an emergency shelter overlay zone and development and management standards for emergency shelters in the emergency shelter overlay zone and to allow transitional and supportive housing as a principally permitted and conditionally permitted use in the CCCR and CN1 zoning districts and to allow single room occupancy units in the CCCR and CN1 zoning districts as a conditional use. |
| 02:12:56.98 | Mayor Withey | Do I have a second? I'll second it. Okay. Could we have a roll call vote, please? Debbie? |
| 02:13:04.35 | Debbie | Council member Fiverr? Councilmember Weiner. |
| 02:13:07.80 | Mayor Withey | Yes. |
| 02:13:09.01 | Debbie | Councilmember Leon. |
| 02:13:10.14 | Mayor Withey | Yes. |
| 02:13:11.81 | Debbie | Vice Mayor Theodore. Yes. |
| 02:13:12.86 | Mayor Withey | Yes. |
| 02:13:14.51 | Debbie | Mayor Withy. |
| 02:13:15.29 | Mayor Withey | Yes, that motion passes, floor one. The next item is item 6C, which was the former 4D, which is way further reading. Read by title only and adopt ordinance number 1224, which is to encourage and incentivize the development of residential uses above commercial uses in the commercial zoning districts. Again, we have no staff presentation. We do have Lily here to answer any questions of us. We can throw this open for questions. We can immediately take public comment. I'm open to either approach. |
| 02:13:55.28 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Thank you. I'd like to ask a couple questions before public comment, if I may. |
| 02:13:58.20 | Mayor Withey | Speak for it. Please, Stu. |
| 02:14:05.49 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | So the vertical mixed use. I have this, it's felt like a changing target for me in terms of two weeks ago, one council session not too long ago, I was told that, and this was on video, that we needed the vertical mixed use, not for RENA, but for, to meet the need to have an affordable housing program. And it was very clear, because I asked the question multiple times. It was not for RENA. It was to meet the requirement for an affordable housing program. Last week, or it may have been two weeks ago, I got a completely different answer from the consultant. It was, oh, this is for RENA. And that was completely 180 degrees different. So my question is, What changed? |
| 02:15:11.66 | Lily Shinsing | I think the consultant addressed that question at the last council meeting when the question was asked, and I think that Karen Werner stated that It was both the VMU was fulfilling both the program that's required by the housing element as well as addressing the RHNA numbers. And I believe that question was asked at the last meeting. |
| 02:15:34.69 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | You're right. I asked that question at the last meeting, but I did not get a satisfactory answer. And, you know, I'm actually, Lily, you're probably not the – I should be asking the consultant again because the answer that the consultant gave me was – it just didn't hold water for me at all. And I'm just still scratching my head over it. It was like a 180-degree flip. |
| 02:16:03.19 | Mayor Withey | Could I just make a comment here that I actually think that if you go back and review this, or at least as my memory serves, in some of the initial conversations, Karen was talking about the filling the program requirements because that's what we were talking about. We were talking about the program requirements. In last week, the other week, I don't know, was it last week? Yeah, it was last week, sorry, Times. Last week, I think Karen, my interpretation, gave a more comprehensive answer, but that's how I just interpreted her answers |
| 02:16:31.17 | Unknown (Chair/Vice Mayor) | Thank you. |
| 02:16:41.75 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Yeah, my recollection was that when she raised the affordable housing program as the reason, we all kind of looked at her and I asked her, what affordable housing program? What do you mean by that? So that was my recollection. |
| 02:16:56.08 | Unknown (Councilmember) | I mean, I think she was clear and I agree with you that at one point she was addressing the program and then yesterday, I mean last week, I have my time wrong, she addressed RENA. But the fact of the matter, we don't need the consultant. We need the VMU to satisfy the program requirement in our housing element and it affects our RENA number. We need it for both reasons. It was explained to us in different ways, questions were answered. I mean, but the bottom line is we need it for both. And it was clear from the consultant if you put together her answers and I mean, that's just the reality of it. |
| 02:17:33.27 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | So, Mr. Mayor, I have two questions. |
| 02:17:36.16 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Okay. |
| 02:17:36.46 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | One for the RHNA and one for the affordable housing. So assuming it's now for the RHNA, what is the count? Was it eight very low or low income? What was the exact RHNA count? |
| 02:17:36.53 | Unknown | THE FAMILY. |
| 02:17:51.25 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | number that it was fulfilling. |
| 02:17:52.80 | Lily Shinsing | I don't have those numbers off the top of my head. Thank you. |
| 02:17:55.70 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Okay. |
| 02:17:56.04 | Lily Shinsing | We'd have to go back and listen to the answer that Karen gave on last Tuesday's |
| 02:17:56.85 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | We- |
| 02:18:01.05 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Okay, so I'll withhold my comment for comment period. And the next question I have is, it's my recollection that the affordable housing program I remember I was surprised about this because if you look at the VMU program, it only allocates one unit per unit. |
| 02:18:25.33 | Lily Shinsing | Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. it. |
| 02:18:28.37 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | parcel project, correct? |
| 02:18:30.72 | Lily Shinsing | It's one unit for projects that are under six units, and it's 20% for projects that are six units or more. |
| 02:18:36.96 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | And it was my understanding what percentage, or if you don't know this, that's OK, but were there many parcels that would be over six? My recollection was that these were seen as very small parcels. |
| 02:18:51.91 | Lily Shinsing | I think there were very few larger parcels in the commercial districts. |
| 02:18:56.65 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Mm-hmm. |
| 02:18:57.38 | Lily Shinsing | So the majority of the parcels would, my recollection is that there would be six units or less. |
| 02:19:02.96 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | So to fulfill the affordable housing program, could be possible to narrow down the size of the VMU program so that it was only you know, it had a smaller impact in Sausalito because right now it goes, as you know, from north to south along our major corridor. And so is that possible to make this program smaller? |
| 02:19:31.15 | Lily Shinsing | If I recall correctly, that question was also asked at last Tuesday's meeting, and the consultant said that she would not advise that approach. |
| 02:19:39.78 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Yeah, she said she would not advise the approach, but she didn't say it wouldn't be. I mean, I'm looking at the law, and I've had lawyers look at the law, and it seems to me that we would be within the law to do that. |
| 02:19:53.69 | Mayor Withey | This is just developing into a back and forth with |
| 02:19:57.62 | Unknown (Councilmember) | A lot of speculations, yeah. |
| 02:19:59.39 | Mayor Withey | So maybe we could just pause, take public comment, and then come back and comment. Thank you, Lily. So someone, oh, Steve previously has already commented on this. Anybody is welcome to again, of course. Is there any member of the public who would like to talk about the VMU program and the ordinance that we're putting in place? Okay, no. Would you come up to the microphone, please? |
| 02:20:37.24 | Judy Ranzer | I'm Judy Ranzer and I live on Marin Avenue. And my question is, is THE I UNDERSTAND OVER A PERIOD OF TIME WE HAVE TO HAVE SO MUCH AFFORDABLE HOUSING by the state of California law. I mean, for our city. Is that somewhat? |
| 02:20:56.62 | Unknown (Councilmember) | You have to have the potential for it to be constructed or incorporated into an existing structure. |
| 02:21:01.98 | Judy Ranzer | But isn't there a time limit of when you have to actually have it implemented? |
| 02:21:06.24 | Unknown (Councilmember) | No. |
| 02:21:06.59 | Unknown | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:21:06.64 | Unknown (Councilmember) | you |
| 02:21:06.69 | Unknown | you |
| 02:21:06.76 | Unknown (Councilmember) | you |
| 02:21:07.01 | Judy Ranzer | Okay. |
| 02:21:07.13 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Okay. The legal ordinances, yes, but as far as when it's built or constructed or whatever, that we can't control because we don't own the properties. Okay. |
| 02:21:16.39 | Judy Ranzer | I'm not sure if you're not sure But there is nothing that's been designated up to this point. |
| 02:21:33.88 | Mary Wagner | Thank you. |
| 02:21:38.57 | Judy Ranzer | hyperbole in some ways. We're talking about what we have to do or what, you know, in order to be in compliance. But there's nothing in place at this point Those units don't exist. |
| 02:21:51.73 | Unknown (Councilmember) | It would have to, the owner of the property would have to want to do, if they came in for a new project, if it's under a certain size, it would have to have one unit. And if they came in for a certain, a project that was above six units, they'd be the 20%, but it would have to be new, a new construction, newly proposed construction or rehabilitation of their existing property. |
| 02:21:51.86 | Judy Ranzer | I'm so excited. |
| 02:21:57.87 | Judy Ranzer | Mm-hmm. |
| 02:21:58.26 | Unknown | Thank you. Thank you. Mm-hmm. |
| 02:22:16.22 | Judy Ranzer | I'VE BEEN COMING TO THE MEETINGS FOR PROBABLY ABOUT THE LAST YEAR, AND I'M ON THE E-MAIL LIST. WHAT I'M WONDERING IS HOW DOES THAT AFFECT WHAT EXISTS AT THIS POINT? AS FAR AS MULTIPLE UNITS OR I think you called them R2s, which are In other words, there's all these different designations is what I'm getting at is. How are those affected existing? How are those affected at this point? Is there an effect? Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:22:45.12 | Mayor Withey | Yeah, I'm wondering whether we could actually have the staff answer these questions. I'm sorry, it's just, I came to ask questions. Yeah, no, it's good questions, and I think it would be very helpful if we could get Lily to. |
| 02:22:49.27 | Judy Ranzer | I'm sorry, it's just, I came and asked a question. |
| 02:22:55.35 | Judy Ranzer | And I'm going to, because some of the things we get in the mail as I read them, sometimes it's... It seems similar to what I've read before, but there seems to be new information. I'm going, how does this all fit in? And sometimes with the flyers that we get that brought us here tonight, at least brought me here tonight, when I read the idea of the emergency, I thought, oh, if there's a Lomo Poeta, is this where we all gather, and was that, but then I find out that we're really talking about what we have to implement or have implemented in the future to keep us in compliance. Is that somewhat true? Yeah. Okay. All right. Thank you. |
| 02:23:37.30 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Thank you. |
| 02:23:37.45 | Judy Ranzer | Thank you. |
| 02:23:37.50 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Thank you. |
| 02:23:37.52 | Judy Ranzer | Thank you. |
| 02:23:37.66 | Unknown (Councilmember) | specific questions. |
| 02:23:37.82 | Judy Ranzer | Thank you. The |
| 02:23:38.47 | Mayor Withey | Yeah, Lily, I'm wondering whether in response to the really good question, you could just give a very brief description of what the VMU program is and what and the fact that the programs don't equal necessarily any commitment to build or anything like that. If you could. |
| 02:24:00.27 | Judy Ranzer | And I do want to comment. I am on your email list. I appreciate getting this. It's just that it creates problems for you because then I have more questions. That's good. That's good. |
| 02:24:08.08 | Mayor Withey | That's good. |
| 02:24:09.94 | Unknown (Chair/Vice Mayor) | Thank you. |
| 02:24:09.95 | Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 02:24:09.97 | Unknown (Chair/Vice Mayor) | That's good. |
| 02:24:10.66 | Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 02:24:11.41 | Lily Shinsing | Thank you. So the change with the ordinance that we're discussing right now is an effect in the commercial districts in Sausalito that currently allow both commercial and residential use. So those districts are the commercial strip in Old Town, which is called the CN1 district, the downtown, which is called the Central Commercial District, along Caledonia Street, which is called the Commercial Residential District, and then also in the Spring Valley. downtown which is called the Central Commercial District, along Caledonia Street which is called the Commercial Residential District, and then also in the Spring Valley neighborhood which is also the CN1 district. So right now under today's codes in those districts the property owner has a choice of what they – what type of use they can have on their upper levels. They have to have a commercial use on the ground floor. but they can choose between residential or commercial in the upper levels. What this program does is it mandates that any new Construction. Thank you. would have to be residential on the upper level. So the choice of the commercial wouldn't be a possibility anymore, with the small exception that's been built into the code that would allow for up to a thousand square foot commercial space with a review process by the planning commission. In addition, the ordinance would also require the affordability of at least one unit, and so that would be affordable to low-income households for a deed restriction, I believe, of up to 40 years. |
| 02:25:44.50 | Mayor Withey | So you specifically asked the question is how does it affect the residential zones, the R1, R2s, R3s? And I think the answer is they don't... It does not. It has nothing to do with those zones. |
| 02:25:52.47 | Lily Shinsing | It does not. It's the commercial districts that currently already allow residential use. And there is no obligation of the property owner to build those residential units in the future if they do not want to. and residential units that are in existence today and commercial on the upper levels would not be affected. They would be, in effect, grandfathered in. |
| 02:26:16.23 | Mayor Withey | Thank you. Super. Okay, thanks. So we were just about to close the public comment period. Is there anybody else who'd like to say anything about this? Okay, so I'm closing the public comment period, and I'm bringing it up here for comment. |
| 02:26:34.64 | Unknown (Councilmember) | I had a question for Lily, but you let her just know. Oh, please. No, no. Sorry, Lily. Sorry. So, Lily, on just the vertical mixed-use ordinance, which is very similar to what exists currently on Caledonia Street, if you're already in office use on the upstairs, you can remain unless the building owner comes in for a change while residential is required upstairs on new uses uses and that's been that way I think for close to 12 years but around that time and that's just replicating that similar concept with some exceptions in the other commercial districts one of the things I wanted to clarify is in Councilmember Pfeiffer's email there's a statement that says I believe the VMU program is linked to Plan Bay Area funding and Plan Bay Area promotes high density along transportation corridors in a strategic move the strategic move by the city for high density along our main transportation corridor in Sausalito are these two is this is linked to Plan Bay Area? No. And there's also a statement that says that ADUs would in Sausalito. Are these two, is this linked to Plan Bay area? No. And there's also a statement that says that ADUs would accomplish our arena goals. And I believe both the state and our consultants have said that that's not the case. Is that true? |
| 02:26:36.29 | Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 02:26:36.31 | Unknown | Oh, please. No, no. Sorry, little bit. Sorry. |
| 02:27:39.22 | Unknown | No. |
| 02:27:52.81 | Lily Shinsing | That's correct. And this particular program that's being achieved by this ordinance addresses the affordability requirement that the consultant was talking about several weeks ago. The ADUs, because they're not required to be deed restricted, don't qualify for that program aspect. Okay. |
| 02:28:10.17 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Thank you. |
| 02:28:11.32 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | And Mr. Mayor, I have a follow-up question since we're talking about my email. So when I mentioned VMU's link to Plan Bay Area funding, is it the case that Plan Bay Area is promoting density along major transportation corridors? Yes. |
| 02:28:31.60 | Lily Shinsing | I haven't been following the planned Bay area recently. |
| 02:28:34.86 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Okay. Let me ask a different question. Are you familiar with Senate Bill 375? That was the genesis for Plan Bay Area. Does that promote high density along major transportation areas? |
| 02:28:50.23 | Lily Shinsing | I'm probably not the best person to talk about this, to answer these questions right now. |
| 02:28:54.40 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Well, you answered the question that what I said was incorrect in my email, so I'm presuming you know what you're talking about. |
| 02:28:58.18 | Lily Shinsing | I love it. |
| 02:29:01.82 | Lily Shinsing | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 02:29:01.86 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Thank you. |
| 02:29:01.98 | Lily Shinsing | is that. |
| 02:29:02.18 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | LinkedIn. |
| 02:29:02.48 | Lily Shinsing | Thank you. |
| 02:29:02.50 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Thank you. |
| 02:29:02.51 | Lily Shinsing | Bye. |
| 02:29:02.67 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hang on a sec. |
| 02:29:03.71 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | kind of |
| 02:29:06.11 | Unknown (Councilmember) | I think we should browbeat our staff personally. |
| 02:29:08.37 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Well, you just browbeat me. You're not the status. |
| 02:29:10.24 | Unknown (Councilmember) | You're not the staff. You, I, well, I. All I did was read your email. |
| 02:29:12.93 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | and the other side. But Staff said that what my email said was incorrect. And my point is that if... staff does not feel comfortable talking about Plan Bay Area because they're not aware of Plan Bay Area in terms of the funding mechanisms that encourage high density along transportation corridors, then how can they say that the statement was incorrect? |
| 02:29:35.15 | Unknown (Councilmember) | because the statement is whether the vertical mixed-use program is linked to Plainbury area funding. And that is the question I asked, and the vertical misuse ordinance is, and as she stated later, linked to meeting our affordable housing requirements. |
| 02:29:48.40 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | No, she said that the VMU was not linked to Plan Bay Area funding, and I'm saying I believe it is, because Plan Bay Area provides funding that encourages high density along major transportation corridors, and the VMU program is along major transportation corridors. |
| 02:30:08.99 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Thank you. |
| 02:30:09.53 | Unknown (Councilmember) | belief. |
| 02:30:10.47 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | It's a text fact. |
| 02:30:12.83 | Mayor Withey | Your belief. So we are in our comment period. |
| 02:30:22.00 | Mayor Withey | Who would like to go first? |
| 02:30:28.58 | Mayor Withey | No comment. Okay, so let's go for a motion then. |
| 02:30:32.59 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Actually, I would like to comment. |
| 02:30:32.78 | Mayor Withey | I'm not sure. Aha. |
| 02:30:34.38 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Thank you. I would definitely like to comment. My recollection when the consultant was here and we asked about the ADU, which is the second unit count, that we were told that there were 40 ADU second units in the queue to be approved for very low or low-income housing, which could apply towards our RHNA. And that is a fact. So if that could apply towards our RHNA and the VMU program is being pitched as something that applies to our RHNA and if it's affordable housing, presumably it includes very low or low income units, then yes, our ADUs could apply towards our RHNA count. So then we go to the problem or the issue of... needing the VMU for the affordable housing component. And there was nothing in what the consultant said last time that said we could not reduce the scope of the VMU program to a smaller scale in Sausalito. Now, I want to get back to really my comment about what this VMU program does. The VMU program actually does impact Sausalito quite a bit. It encourages high density housing along our major corridors. It, we have many people throughout who live close to where the VMU programs have been designated who are very upset about this and they've written a lot of emails about this. Thank you. And based on what I've looked at and what the lawyers that I've talked to have looked at who are familiar with housing elements, we don't need the VMU program. We don't need it. Now, Sacramento may want it. They want it because they want more development. They want more density. But we don't need it to be certified for this housing element. So the problem is that I want to push back on Sacramento, and I'm the only one who apparently wants to push back on Sacramento. And as a result, we are stuck with the VMU program. I don't support it. I think it's the wrong thing to do. I think it's going to bring incredible congestion to our main transportation corridor, which is Bridgeway through town. and I think it's going to displace small businesses as well that are located currently in some of our existing businesses. I think areas on second floors. I understand that the current ordinance would allow existing businesses to stay. However, If I was a developer and I bought two parcels next to each other, there's an incentive for me to build a second floor or a third floor to maximize the residence, and then the state density bonus kicks in. So I see this as problematic and high impact to Sausalito. |
| 02:33:41.41 | Mayor Withey | Anybody else have a comment? |
| 02:33:43.85 | Unknown (Councilmember) | I believe that, and not to get in this back and forth, we could be here all night, but I believe the consultant did answer a lot of these questions previously. But also that, and correct me, Lily, if I'm mistaken, none of anything we've adopted here have increased the number of units that could be built on any property in Sausalito, any of the housing element things that we've adopted. There are state density bonus laws that we don't control that could be implemented, but as far as the soft-seedal zoning, we have not allowed an increase in things. We have a lot of questions about the state of the state. We have a lot of questions about the state of the state. We have a lot of questions about the state of the state. We have a lot of questions about the state of the state. We have a lot of questions about the state of the state. We have a lot of questions about the state of the state. |
| 02:34:24.90 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Thank you. |
| 02:34:24.91 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Well, first of all, this has nothing to do with Planned Bay Area. We certainly didn't get any funding. I'd like to see it in our budget if we got any funding from Planned Bay Area. And this is purely our housing element. The connection is... Yeah, I can't even. |
| 02:34:36.25 | Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 02:34:37.60 | Unknown (Councilmember) | You can fathom where it came from. On the RENA numbers, Absolutely, the consultants, and unfortunately I spent several hours of my life on this, we needed the VMU, to say it one more time, we needed the VMU for a program And if we were to change the program to something else, which we may do in the next cycle, we would fall short of our RHNA numbers. And she had the chart up with all the numbers, so we needed it both for the program and for the RHNA numbers, and we could not reduce it because we needed them. We actually had, I think it was in low-low that we were right at the bottom. We've been through this. We've had in the housing element since 2012 and worked on it. We're at the end of this cycle. It's low impact. VMU just means that there's residential on the upper floor, and we allow for some of the commercial. This is just what we've had on Caledonia Street. There are no additional units. This is a very low impact. And we could look at the program when we start, when we get back in September, which we're going to have to do. So we just need to pass this, and we've been through it quite a bit, and I don't think there's anything new that we've seen tonight. |
| 02:35:48.68 | Mayor Withey | Anybody else like to comment? |
| 02:35:51.01 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Well, one of my comments is that if this isn't passed, and we do not meet this cycle, then we get into a cycle of every four years. We have an opportunity now. to expand that and it would be for eight years. And that's a long time. And I think during that time, if we have to make changes, and it's approved by Sacramento, then we can. But right now, I think it's very important that by January 15th, actually January 2015, that that element is accepted by The state. Then we have an eight-year pass. And I think that's very important. |
| 02:36:41.77 | Mayor Withey | I've very little to add. I've spent quite a few little three minute segments talking about VMU and some of the housing element issues. Over the past three years that I've been associated with the housing element, first on the housing element task force and then here on city council, I've seen our consultants, the M group, work very hard at convincing Sacramento, well, let's be more specific what we mean. The HCD, the agency that's charged with administering the state law, housing element law. I've seen the consultant and the our staff in dialogue with HCD. to help them understand that Sausalito is a small community, it's a built out community, and I've also, I've seen HCD I wouldn't say bend the rules, but go to the very limits of what they could accept in trying to accommodate for Sorcerito's unique character. So I think that dialogue's been very productive. And I think we need to also rely on our consultants, who we've been working with for a long period of time, that they've got the best outcome here for us. If you look at it as objectively as you can, The VMU program is a very modest one. Essentially, on for instance Caledonia Street, you're changing virtually nothing you know, and in the other commercial zones, you know, you're just, you're tweaking it a very modest amount. I find linking it to Plan Bay Area, to be cynical. the best way I can think about it. And so I think we need to move ahead, get this thing adopted. As soon as we've adopted this, and we have now completed or fulfilled all the requirements for a housing element, that expires in four months, five months, you know? So we're that late in getting it done. So I think we need to move ahead. We need to get this ordinance passed tonight. |
| 02:39:32.09 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | And Mr. Mayor, I'd like to comment. |
| 02:39:34.37 | Mayor Withey | Sure. |
| 02:39:34.85 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Okay. So I guess I'm a little bit – I don't know what to say, your comment regarding Plan Bay Area, because you are our ABAG rep, and so you're familiar with Plan Bay Area, and you know that the focus is on funding along major transportation corridors, and that Bridgeway is considered a major transportation corridor. and that, I mean, even for the bike lanes, our staff has submitted a $5 million Plan Bay Area grant for bike lane improvements and infrastructure improvements. So Plan Bay Area is all about transportation corridors. And by the way, Marin City has been designated a priority development area under Plan Bay Area, and I've been asking for this to be agendized because it impacts all of us. And guess what? One of the criteria for that staff loan – that staff grant that they've applied for is that you be contingent to a Planned Bay Area PDA, which would be Marin City. So this is all about big bucks. It's about money and development. Okay, and... I'm sorry, but this is a high density impact housing element that doesn't need to happen. And I will continue to, there's a lot more I'd like to say, but I'm not going to go there. |
| 02:41:01.85 | Mayor Withey | Yeah, could we, you can of course use your one minute. |
| 02:41:05.22 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Tom, are you looking for Bay Area funding to fund construction projects in Oslo. Are you looking for Bay Area funding for construction projects in Oslo. Are you looking for a planned area? Well, there you go. You proved it. Everyone said no. I don't know how that proves your point. Except you're very good at using sort of ill-based logic to make a point, but that's another thing altogether. |
| 02:41:16.59 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:41:20.16 | Unknown (Councilmember) | I'm going to be here. |
| 02:41:20.17 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | How that proves your point. |
| 02:41:26.62 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Okay, let's move on. |
| 02:41:27.88 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | That's incredible. She's gonna say no one. It's an incredible comment. |
| 02:41:29.35 | Unknown (Councilmember) | It's an incredible comment. |
| 02:41:31.78 | Mayor Withey | Do we have a motion, maybe? you |
| 02:41:35.56 | Unknown (Councilmember) | I'm going to read that. You've got your glasses. I'm going to try to do it. |
| 02:41:39.36 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Okay, I move that we waive further reading and read by title only. And adopt ordinance number 1224, an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Sausalito to encourage and incentivize the development of residential uses above commercial uses within the CCCR and CN1 zoning districts. |
| 02:42:00.77 | Mayor Withey | Thank you. Do I have a second? Yes. |
| 02:42:02.97 | Unknown (Councilmember) | that's what we're doing. |
| 02:42:03.03 | Mayor Withey | and... Lily, call the roll, please. Sorry, sorry, Debbie. |
| 02:42:07.54 | Debbie | Thank you. Council member Pfeiffer. |
| 02:42:11.81 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Yes. No. |
| 02:42:16.82 | Debbie | . |
| 02:42:16.97 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | It's late. It is late. That's proof it's late. |
| 02:42:20.48 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Excuse me. It is not late. Our meetings go to 12. Thank you. |
| 02:42:25.07 | Debbie | Thank you. |
| 02:42:25.17 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Yes. |
| 02:42:25.60 | Debbie | Thank you. Council Member Leon. |
| 02:42:27.92 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Yeah. |
| 02:42:27.99 | Mayor Withey | Yes. |
| 02:42:28.97 | Debbie | Vice Mayor Theodore. Yes. |
| 02:42:30.07 | Mayor Withey | Yes. |
| 02:42:31.28 | Debbie | Mayor Withy. |
| 02:42:32.04 | Mayor Withey | Yes, that motion passes 4-1. Thank you. |
| 02:42:38.08 | Mayor Withey | And Lily, thank you for staying late unexpectedly. Thanks. |
| 02:42:44.89 | Mayor Withey | Okay, next matter is item 6D, which was our former item 6B, consideration of resolution to place a 1.5-cent transaction and use sales tax on the November ballot. Charlie Francis, our Administrative Services Director. |
| 02:43:14.80 | Adam Politzer | Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the City Council. Tonight's agenda item is the Sausalito Essential Services Funding Measure Proposal. It's a proposal to bring Sausalito's sales tax to the same level as the other Marin City And I just want to point out that throughout the past year, we've gone through bringing our financial reports to the City Council, whether it was the annual financial report, whether it was the mid-year budget review at your strategic planning meeting, and during the complete budget review process where we adopted the budget in June, that we've been talking about three key points, that our current levels of service are adequately funded and the budget is structurally balanced and sound. But in order to provide accelerated investment in infrastructure resources or to provide additional city services, future additional resources are needed. I think I'd just like to pause for a minute and take a look at our track record. When I talk about that we're adequately funded and structurally balanced, for the past six years we went through the worst recession since the Great Depression. We were able to keep our levels of service at the same level. We never had furloughs. We didn't have layoffs. We invested about $30 million in infrastructure over that six-year period using funds that had been set aside for the purpose of providing infrastructure, the public safety buildings that were needed for our police and fire buildings, the bulkhead, which is needed to protect our shoreline, and then, of course, streets where we paved a lot of our streets and provided other infrastructure needs. A lot of infrastructure, but there's still much work to be done. And if we want to continue that work at an accelerated pace, which somewhat we're required to do because of Thank you. new storm drain regulations. There we go. and other activities, things that we must do, things that are a right thing to do. Well, we're going to need additional resources. I'd also like to take a moment to look at that. We went back to the basics for six years, and we asked ourselves the questions, are we in the right business, and are we doing things right? And I'd just like to take a moment to point out one of the key elements of reform for our long-term financial viability, and that was our sweeping and award-winning pension reform that has manifested itself in significant results. First of all, we've lowered our annual pension costs by a million dollars from two or three years ago. We lowered our growth rate of pension costs in the future so that our current levels of services are adequately funded through our 10-year long-term financial plan. And we have eliminated multi-millions of dollars in past and future pension liabilities. All of this has been attested to by our city's actuary, John Bartell, who at a recent meeting early this year told the city that this city has done substantial amounts of, well, just let me quote him, the question was asked of him, compared to other cities, how do we sit? And his immediate response was, that's an easy question and answer. You are generally better off than most other cities. And then he went on to talk about why. And he talked about why is that we put in a second tier before the state put in the PEPRA tier, which lowered our costs. He said that you've lowered your rates of growth so that you're able to do that, and you paid off your side funds, and you're continuing to set aside money to pay off side funds. And you're on a plan, a 20-year plan, to completely eliminate any unfunded liability that may exist. So even with all of these reforms, we continue to look at our policies and legislation, and as I've mentioned through the Finance Committee and through the budget process, we're coming into MOU negotiations. The state has asked us in those MOUs that you should be requiring your employees to pay more of the employer's pension liability to get a 50% cost sharing. So we're going to be recommending that to the City Council that we continue the pension reform that we've done. And so we've got all of this back to the basics, but even with these reforms and the savings, the City needs additional funds to address our local service needs. Our community recognizes this. There we go. Two thirds of our residents have continued to feel that things are on the right track. This is not just a fantastic finding. This is a finding that says the community trusts the city council. It trusts the decisions you've made. It trusts the level of service decisions you've made. And it trusts that the city is continuing to do the right thing. And that's important because the community says, we want you to continue doing the right thing. We want you to accelerate your investment in infrastructure. and we support a general sales tax to fund a... The community says, we want you to continue doing the right thing. We want you to accelerate your investment in infrastructure. And we support a general sales tax to fund essential services. When we did the community survey, they supported it at the beginning of the survey and they supported it at the end of the survey. Residents are highly interested in local resource measures to address essential city services. And what's more interesting is the reason they want to invest and local funding sources is because they want to maintain the long-term financial viability of the city, 92 percent That is critical. That is key. We. Like the good decisions you've been making, we want to continue to see those good decisions being made and the long-term financial viability of the city is important. And these infrastructure needs are important too. We have aging storm drain infrastructure. Our streets need repairing. Some of them are deteriorating. Our uphill streets need concrete. And we have broken sidewalks and potentially unsafe sidewalks. So very important community needs that our community has said that they would support a local sales tax measure for those purposes. Other cities, Thank you. Other cities in Marin County, we'd just be bringing our sales tax up to where everyone else is, Town of Corte Madera, Fairfax, Larkspur, Nevada, San Anselmo, and Rafale all have local option sales tax, as do almost 140 other California cities. And the interesting thing about why people look at sales tax to provide for their infrastructure needs is because it's the most fair tax out there. It maximizes program diversity. It minimizes the impact on low-income people. And although there is an impact to the business community, the business community impact is basically their tax collectors, the taxpayers, are the residents, the workers, the businesses, and the visitors that come to the city. Anecdotal evidence has shown us that people don't go shopping because of a half-cent sales tax measure. And finally, it minimizes the impact on residents because most residential, non-discretionary income spending is tax-exempt anyway, like groceries, prescription drugs. I know we don't have a drug store, but many people buy prescription drugs through mail order, and it would be exempt from that too, mail order being Internet sales. So... is a demonstration that our Muni Services and Claritas Nelson have demonstrated through the reports that they give to the city that 40% of our sales tax is generated by out-of-towners. And the Sausalito Chamber has estimated that 80%, we think it's somewhere in between 40 and 80, probably closer to 60% of our sales tax comes from out-of-towners. Now, it's interesting, out-of-towners have the least amount of impact on our storm drain and our uphill streets and our a lot of our broken sidewalks, but they would be paying more than their fair share of that. That's another reason why we have a minimal effect on, and they're not going to stop coming to Sausalito because sales tax, that's the same amount as any of our competitor cities. So it's an interesting graph to show that the percentage of out-of-towners that would be paying our sales tax. Tonight we're asking you to move to adopt a resolution and pass the ordinance that would place a ballot that would consolidate an election on November 4th. And so we're here July 22nd. The deadline for doing that is August 8th. So that if we pass it tonight, that would give the city clerk time to assemble all the packages and get it submitted by 5 p.m. on August 8th. And also is our last regularly scheduled council meeting before August 8th. So tonight would be the appropriate night to take that action. There are deadlines then for submitting to the city ballot arguments for the proposal. Also a deadline for the city attorney's impartial analysis. And then there's a follow-up deadline for people to read those arguments, for people to read the city's attorney's impartial analysis, and then people who are opposed to this could submit arguments against it. The ballot would be on November 4th, and the tax would actually go into effect on April 1st. I've already been in contact with the Board of Equalization. That's the state agency that collects sales tax on behalf of cities. And if this passes, then they're lined up for the city to execute the two administrative contracts that we would need to execute in order to have this placed on the bill. So we would... Thank you. Uh, have available to us during the current fiscal year one quarter of sales tax. We're estimating about $250,000 for the first year. This is a temporary sales tax. It has a sunset date. And we have the priorities of the community, which the city council examines every year during the budget process, which the community has entrusted you to do, said that we have an 85-year-old storm drains. The storm drains are deteriorating. They're rusted through, and we need to prevent pollutants, potential pollutants, garbage and sediments from entering Richardson Bay. Our streets are on steep hillsides. They create hazardous conditions. Our crowded sidewalks must be maintained. We have trees pushing sidewalks and streets up, and we have cracked sidewalks that are unsafe for age-friendly community as well as for accessible community or disabled community. So the proposal that the staff has brought forward is a proposal for enhanced revenues. Our Sausalito constituents, our citizens, our residents place a high value on maintaining the fiscal stability, as do you. It is your first strategic plan goal to maintain, sustain, and make resilient our city's financial condition. in order to improve city services, improve the quality of life by almost a two to one margin. Our constituents said they would support a potentially temporary, I mean, a potential temporary local sales tax measure to address community needs. And we believe that that would generate approximately $1 million annually. |
| 02:54:56.28 | Adam Politzer | Well, the local funding, it's local funding. I think this is another reason why our residents would support it. It's funding that is generated locally. In other words, it's not a countywide tax. You know, an example of an additional sales tax that we have here in Sausalito is tax for TAM. And so a lot of Sausalito, TAM Transportation Association, we pay sales taxes as does everyone else in Marin County, but not always does 100% of the amount of tax that we pay come back to Sausalito, they go back to other regional needs. If we impose a local option sales tax here in Sausalito, 100% of that funding comes back to Sausalito, 100% of that funding is spent on Sausalito capital projects. Tens of thousands, I would say not tens of thousands each year, sometimes we have tens of thousands a month, don't we, out-of-towners, and pay their fair share, potentially more than their fair share, for the services and infrastructure that they impact us with. It's not applied to food purchases or groceries or medication, and so we would require the independent fiscal audits to sunset after 10 years, and it would require all funds to remain in Sausalito, in other words, spent on Sausalito projects. |
| 02:55:54.21 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:56:19.86 | Adam Politzer | So the motion that staff is recommending that you make tonight is twofold. The first is a resolution that calls for the election on number 4th, and the second one is introducing an ordinance that would allow the city to collect a transaction and use tax, which is the official name for a local option sales tax. |
| 02:56:39.88 | Mayor Withey | Thank you, Charlie. Okay, does anybody here have any questions at this stage for Charlie? |
| 02:56:54.07 | Mayor Withey | Councilmember Pfeiffer. |
| 02:56:55.87 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Thank you. So this is more a clarification just for folks listening, which is, and I've asked this before, that this is a general use type of tax that requires 50% plus one vote to pass. And as a general use tax, the money goes into the general fund, correct? And the general fund money can be spent on anything that the Council prioritizes. It doesn't necessarily have to be spent on storm drains and sewers. Is that correct? |
| 02:57:35.16 | Adam Politzer | You know, just like every other revenue source in the city's budget, it's highly transparent as to the source of the funds and the use of the funds. You know, I don't want to say that money goes into the general fund and it disappears. We track revenue from every revenue source. I can tell you how much sales tax comes for our COPS grant, how much comes for our triple flip, and how much comes for each designated purpose. So, yes, the money goes into the general fund, but the fungibility is such that we can track where it comes from and where it goes. And the city council could, through their annual budget appropriation process, say these amounts of the general purpose sales tax are going to be spent on this wide range of services each year as the city council determines the priorities are. As the as the community has put its trust in the City Council in the past and wants to in the and the community said so by a two to one margin that they would want a local measure sales tax. |
| 02:58:38.10 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Thank you, Charlie. |
| 02:58:39.96 | Adam Politzer | Thank you. |
| 02:58:39.98 | Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 02:58:39.99 | Unknown (Councilmember) | I think it's a very important question. |
| 02:58:40.01 | Adam Politzer | Thank you. |
| 02:58:40.03 | Mayor Withey | I remember Leon. |
| 02:58:54.42 | Adam Politzer | It would be imposed on April 1st and then it would be collected at that time. |
| 02:58:56.16 | Unknown (Councilmember) | April 1st. Okay. And that just because Cordo Madera kind of got themselves a little bit of the problem of collecting it too early when they impose it. But anyway, with that, There's, I believe, and you can, I don't want to answer the question, I'll just ask it. There's two parts to this. One is, I believe it was discussed in prior meetings on this subject, that there's a cap to the maximum amount of sales tax in any jurisdiction. Maybe it's statewide, you can answer that more specifically. And I believe there are at least one or two other tax measures on the – sales tax measures on the ballot already are going to be on the ballot that have been telegraphed to be on the ballot that are more countywide sales tax measures. What happens if you get to that cap and there's more sales tax measures than that cap allows? |
| 02:59:59.32 | Adam Politzer | So the sales tax set by the state is 7.5%. Of that 7.5%, the city already gets 1%. So the most that can be on a sales tax in a non-charter city, like a general law city like we are, is 9.5%. So there's that 2% difference. Right now we're at 8.5% with the city's proposal that we would be at 9%, just like the other cities, Fairfax, Madeira, I don't know, Court of Maduro. and the others that I had up here on the screen. There is a, I believe that Marin County has a proposal for strong start that they might be putting on the agenda. We'll find that out by August 8th if they indeed do that. That would add another quarter to the sales tax, leaving only a quarter difference. And we've heard talk that TAM has been considering another $0.25 to $0.50 sales tax. So what would happen is whoever gets in first gets to keep it. And so if we did not pass a local option sales tax and a countywide entity did, then we would be forever locked out of our being able to impose a local option sales tax. And the worst thing about it is they would be collecting sales tax from our residents, but not all of the money would be coming back to Sausalito. It would be spread throughout Marin County. So this ensures, and by the way, it's the most fair revenue source that we have out there of other tax options that a city would have if we would need in the parcel, it would put almost 100% of the burden on the resident and not being able to spread it, except for a transient occupancy tax, not being able to spread the burden equally amongst everyone who's a part of our community, the resident, the worker, the visitor, And the visitor, yeah. |
| 03:01:57.48 | Adam Politzer | Thank you. |
| 03:01:57.51 | Mayor Withey | Council Member Pfeiffer. |
| 03:01:58.59 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Thank you. So Charlie, certainly Sausalito has big infrastructure problems, big infrastructure needs. And I'm just curious that if we had structured this as a special needs tax with a two-thirds voting majority to pass it, we could have earmarked and protected those funds specifically for sewers and storm drains and roads and not you know put it in the general fund can you share with me why we didn't structure this as a special needs tax because you know I'm looking at this and I want to protect those funds for storm drains and sewers we've got we've raised sewer fees |
| 03:01:58.61 | Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 03:02:08.40 | Mary Wagner | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 03:02:41.46 | Adam Politzer | Thank you. |
| 03:02:44.31 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | twice in two years by hefty amounts. |
| 03:02:46.52 | Adam Politzer | Thank you. Well, first of all, that's not what our residents want. our residents were tested on, do you support a general sales tax for essential services? They support it for a couple of reasons. They support it because they trust our community, they trust the decision, we're moving in the right direction. And they also trust it because they recognize that They don't want to get bogged down in the details of all the plans. They say city council, You know that you have infrastructure needs and where the streets are and what's broken and not broken. We want you to make those decisions because to put together that kind of elaborate plan is way too much effort than what you need, especially when you have the high thresholds. And it would be irresponsible for the city who needs the money who has these infrastructure needs to pursue such an option without a strong indication that that residents would prefer it. In fact, what we have is a strong indication that residents would prefer the general purpose sales tax. |
| 03:04:00.75 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | I have a follow-up question. You know, I've talked to some residents who actually received this survey, and, you know, most folks don't know the difference between a general use sales tax or don't even know there's something, you know, that's a special needs sales tax versus a general use. use sales tax. So I'm just curious as to how can we, what we see here is we see support to to fund repairs to our infrastructure, our storm drains and sewers and roads. I'm not seeing support for it going into a big general fund where it could potentially be divvy up for other projects. |
| 03:04:46.47 | Adam Politzer | That's the advantage of a community survey that's statistically valid rather than talking to one or two or a handful or more of friends that we know that may not know the difference. I want to emphasize. It may look like it's number two on this chart, but it has the same score, 92% of our residents want to maintain the long-term financial viability of the city And, those same residents Trust this city council to make those decisions for them. They don't want to develop a plan that says it's going to be for this storm drain or this storm drain or this storm drain. They say, you know what the issues are. You know where the highest criteria is. Please make those decisions for us. We're willing to give you the resource money. |
| 03:05:36.52 | Mayor Withey | Let's throw this open for public comment. And is there any member of the public who'd like to comment on this item? Yes, sir, you, and please, as... |
| 03:06:00.16 | Jim Madden | I'm sorry. Jim Madden, live on Humboldt Avenue. I'd just like to say that I've worked with a lot of your employees in your company, Adams Groups, Charlie's, Jonathan's, Jeremy's, Mike Langford's, and Mary's, and I've enjoyed working with them. They do a great job. There's clearly infrastructure needs, the storm drains especially. I'd like to see that happen and would encourage you to allow voters to vote on whether or not on the sales tax increase. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 03:06:44.93 | Unknown (Chair/Vice Mayor) | Sean. |
| 03:06:56.96 | John Flavin | First of all, I just want to make a few clarifications. I heard Charlie say that two-thirds of the voters supported this use tax. My recollection was it was 61%. But the only reason that's critical is if you went to a special tax, that 61 falls below the requirement to pass that tax. |
| 03:07:16.18 | Mary Wagner | Thank you. |
| 03:07:17.60 | John Flavin | So there's a little opportunity here. The other thing is I believe I also heard him say that they'd spent $30 million over the last six years on capital improvements. But I think he lumped the public safety buildings in there which the taxpayers funded, not the city budget, but the taxpayers funded. the pension reductions I'm not sure how much of that resulted from the transfer of our firefighters over to the Southern Marin Fire Department. I don't know if that's part of this calculation as well. You can clarify that. But this whole thing... All I'm asking for, I guess, is let's be upfront and honest about this. Let's just tell people it is a general tax. Let's not, a lot of the market, I mean, the information I've seen go out initially, has made it very appear that this money is going to be dedicated to capital improvements. And I've heard you all say that yes, you'll be mindful of that, but you're also pressed. I know you're pressed. You're going to have to use that money in some form, some fashion, whether it's pensions, payments to this person, that per, whatever it works out to be, and you're going to be forced and you're going to make decisions that it probably |
| 03:08:15.90 | Mary Wagner | Yeah. |
| 03:08:35.17 | John Flavin | I'm saying there's a pretty good likelihood it's not going to, even the predominant part of it's going to go to capital improvement. So I just, I have a certain sense that this isn't all the, we've used this questionnaire, this survey, and yet I've never seen the questions I've asked for them, I submitted a public records request, it's beyond the 10 days, I've had no response whatsoever. So I am curious about those questions. one answer, one email that you got in about this, the person said, I participated in that survey, And I felt the questions were very leading. I used to be a trial attorney. I know how to ask a leading question to get the answer to which I want. So I just feel like there's something not quite right here. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 03:09:28.79 | Unknown (Chair/Vice Mayor) | Thank you. Is there anybody else who'd like to make, please? |
| 03:09:38.18 | Carolyn Younger | Thank you, Carolyn Younger, parent and volunteer. I've worked with Mike Langford and different communities here in Sausalito countless hours as a volunteer, and I want to really support and have you put this on the ballot so that the people of Sausalito can vote on whether they want the.5 increase in sales tax. I do believe in the general fund, and I do believe that the council will put that money where it needs to be. Thank you. |
| 03:10:15.60 | Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 03:10:17.50 | Carolyn Younger | And in part... |
| 03:10:17.76 | Unknown (Chair/Vice Mayor) | Thank you. |
| 03:10:17.88 | Mayor Withey | TODAY. |
| 03:10:17.93 | Unknown (Chair/Vice Mayor) | . |
| 03:10:17.98 | Carolyn Younger | Thank you. |
| 03:10:18.03 | Mayor Withey | Yes. |
| 03:10:18.25 | Carolyn Younger | Thank you. |
| 03:10:18.26 | Unknown (Chair/Vice Mayor) | Thank you. |
| 03:10:22.15 | Mayor Withey | Okay, seeing none, we will close public comment on this matter and bring it up here. So comment period, as usual, we have three minutes each. |
| 03:10:39.81 | Mayor Withey | Don't be shy. |
| 03:10:44.84 | Unknown (Councilmember) | I have a question for Charlie, if you don't mind. Charlie, if you could refresh my memory. John was correct, and I think it says so in your presentation, that it's 61% approved of the concept. And I think that was the number before they were educated on what the proceeds would be. I think there was some, I don't know what the phrase of art here was, but there's some, once they understood what it was going to be spent on, and I understand it's not anmarked expenditures, there's a little higher, but I think in your presentation the phrase was approximately two to one. Yes. Approximately, so that being said. |
| 03:11:08.70 | Mary Wagner | but that's not. |
| 03:11:15.81 | Mary Wagner | There's a little. |
| 03:11:27.99 | Unknown (Councilmember) | And correct me if I'm wrong, I'm searching through the budget and the priority calendar, but I think the number three priority was the study and replacement costs for city infrastructure behind beautification and Dunphy Park. but also I think that was the placeholder for this concept, if I'm not mistaken, but correct me if I'm wrong there. |
| 03:12:06.28 | Adam Politzer | Dumpy Park scored high and Dumpy Park. |
| 03:12:13.54 | Adam Politzer | So the question is, how much of the Dumpy Park infrastructure? It's more than $5. |
| 03:12:17.06 | Unknown (Councilmember) | I don't know. It's more that we go through this exercise every year, both inside the budget as well as this priority calendar process, which kind of sets the priorities of both staff time and money being spent. That is not already earplugs. |
| 03:12:31.68 | Unknown | Right. |
| 03:12:35.81 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:12:36.86 | Unknown (Councilmember) | has some flexibility in the budget, which is not usually a great deal. to be spent on capital projects. And I believe the third priority is related to the city asset infrastructure expenditure. |
| 03:12:48.25 | Adam Politzer | expenditure. |
| 03:12:49.23 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Thank you. |
| 03:12:49.24 | Adam Politzer | Thank you. Yeah, so the priorities in the priority calendar, you know, the priority calendar is on page 157 of the city budget. And so beautification projects, downtown, median, City Hall, Caledonia Street, followed closely by Dumphy Park, the schematic master plan, and then the asset inventory, study and replacement costs, and then the South City of the Misfery Landing. So then a number of historic districts are all in the priority calendar. |
| 03:13:21.46 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Okay, and just to, unless somebody else has a question. |
| 03:13:21.49 | Adam Politzer | Let's go. |
| 03:13:26.25 | Unknown (Councilmember) | We are |
| 03:13:27.47 | Mayor Withey | We are sort of in the comment period, |
| 03:13:30.03 | Unknown (Councilmember) | If you still got questions, that's fine. Oh, okay. And the last question is, inside the budget, my memory is there's approximately in the same neighborhood about a million dollars of identified infrastructure projects mostly related to storm drains that aren't funded. That's correct. Yes. |
| 03:13:51.61 | Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 03:13:51.67 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Thank you. |
| 03:13:51.85 | Mayor Withey | Page 150. And that's on page 155. |
| 03:13:52.88 | Unknown (Councilmember) | And that's on page 149. Oh, my goodness. All right, thanks. |
| 03:13:57.64 | Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 03:14:03.39 | Mayor Withey | OK, comments? If not, let's have a motion. |
| 03:14:08.52 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Well, I'd like to make one. |
| 03:14:09.75 | Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 03:14:11.54 | Unknown (Councilmember) | and that is... This comes down to a trust factor. I've been sitting on this council now for eight years. I think most of you people know my integrity. over 71% of our streets have been either touched, repaired, replaced. San Carlos, you know where that is? That was the first street that got cement in 34 years, 33 years. Richardson Street, never now it's been replaced, cement. Third Street. As I said, 71%. Thank you. And that was just playing catch-up. with all the years that they just let every street fall apart. Now the focus is on Suas. and storm drains. And we hope. that with this passage, that we will take those monies like we did with the streets, and put them towards the storm drains. Of course, two-thirds vote. That's why the state changed it, because they know how difficult it is. because 25% right away vote no anyway, no matter what it is. And that's why the state now has 50 plus 1. In a my ball game, 50 plus one means. It's a plus. The rest is how much you trust this council. And some people, will make those decisions on trust because it's very difficult for them because they don't trust themselves. So we're up here to tell you we've done a good job. we're in better shape than most others. You go over to Mill Valley, take a ride on Miller Avenue, take a ride on Blythedale. major streets. And they haven't even... Gotten to touch him. So I'm sitting up here telling you that we will use these funds not for general things, but for the sewer or the storm drains just like we said we will. |
| 03:16:30.95 | Unknown | Uh... |
| 03:16:35.03 | Unknown (Councilmember) | So are you going to go? Sure. Go ahead. Okay. We need to bring this to a vote of the people. The survey is important. It gave us a lot of data, but we're going to have the ultimate survey when it goes to the vote of the people. So we can argue all we want about that survey, but people are going to vote. It's the appropriate thing to do. It's what the legislators set up as the appropriate way to vote on this type of tax measure, and we're following what the legislature has passed. We're going to follow the exact process that the other six marine county cities did when they passed their half cent. |
| 03:16:46.22 | Unknown | GO. |
| 03:16:46.30 | Mary Wagner | Thank you. |
| 03:17:08.58 | Unknown (Councilmember) | It's the fairest way. It doesn't give, it allows the majority to to vote on this and majority rules rather than having a minority hold the majority hostage We have a very good history, certainly a recent history, of putting money toward our capital improvement projects. And I think the Residents realize that and trust us. And Um, As Charlie pointed out, IN OUR BUDGET, ESPECIALLY WITH OUR NEW BUDGET TOOLS, WE HAVE, WE WILL KNOW EXACTLY WHAT WE COLLECT FROM THE SALES TAX AND WE CAN SPECIFY EXACTLY WHERE IT GOES FOR EACH YEAR. SO WE DON'T NEED TO SEGREGATE IT IN ANY WAY THAT ACTUALLY TIES OUR HANDS AND MAKES IT VERY DIFFICULT TO USE THE MONEY IN ANY WAY. The people are going to decide on this. I think it's a good idea. It's, while we don't like taxes, it's Thank you. It brings us up. We have the 2% limit. If we don't take it, we're going to be paying sales tax for some other purposes outside the county. We're going to have people And, of course, when we go and we go to Corte Madera, we go to Larkspur to dinner, we're paying that extra half cent for their roads and streets. So when they come, they can pay for our roads and streets, including all the tourists as well. So as, you know, 50% to 60% of this will collect from others outside our residence. So it's probably the best way to do it. None of us like to pay extra in taxes, but exempts the groceries and the drugs and that type of thing, prescription drugs. So I think we need to bring it to the ballot, and I support the motion. |
| 03:18:56.09 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | So I have to say I have concerns about this. I support funding our infrastructure, but I have concerns about a general use sales tax. I would think a special needs sales tax would pass with a two-thirds vote. Everyone in Sausalito knows we need to fix our sewers and our roads and our storm drains. And in fact, when we had to rally folks for the public safety buildings, that passed. We have to look at reality. From what I've seen, the city in the last five years has raised sewer fees twice with city property owners, homeowners. My concern is that we keep going back to homeowners for almost like an ATM to fund our infrastructure, to fund our sewers and our I look at this as a general use tax going into the general fund where it could be divvied up and spent on anything. I look at our $22 million unfunded pension liability. and the GASB-69 and the other things that are happening in the next five years, CalPERS is raising pension payments by 50%. I'm concerned, I'm really concerned that these funds could be divvied up again and then the infrastructure needs will go back again to the homeowners and parcel and property taxes. I think we need a special needs tax that will protect these funds, a special needs tax that ensures these funds will be spent for storm drains, for sewers, for roads, for things that are the backbone that are hurting the environment right now. We need that funding. But it needs to be protected. And unfortunately, the way this is structured, it doesn't protect those funds. It goes into the general fund, and it's a trust me tax. |
| 03:21:10.31 | Unknown (Councilmember) | So I would add that the reason why I can get behind supporting increasing the sales tax is by and large is the least regressive of taxes, meaning it is more proportionate to your income and spending propensities than a parcel tax or some other straight fixed cost tax would be to folks, because those are regardless of how much you spend. The need we have on the capital and infrastructure side is undeniable, and it comes from 50 years of deferred maintenance, let's put it that way at best, and perhaps 50 years of not allocating, of sort of saving up to fix your house, let's put it that way. I think, and we're faced with increased requirements from the federal government on what goes into the bay, |
| 03:21:48.06 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:22:10.46 | Unknown (Councilmember) | And we have to meet those. We have to meet those on the sewer side, and that's why we had to pass the sewer tax. We didn't have the funding to cover that inside the city budget without either closing the library or slowing down Parks and Rec, or we had to make some significant cuts to do that within that revenue measure, and people supported it. I think we had 20 people vote against, register their complaint against the sewer tax, something in that neighborhood. And I think what the other mechanism here is that we're proposing to have it audited to show where the money is going to go. And not to single anyone out, but, you know, even though it was a special use tax, Peter participated in auditing the prior special use tax for the public Safety Building and how those funds were used. And I think we'll have some sort of a similar process here going forward, even though the voting measure isn't the same. I think we've done what we could to cut costs and keep the same level of services, actually increased services over the last few years during certainly the recession and post-recession. And we've increased the amount of money that comes out of the general fund six years ago. No money came out of the general fund for capital expenditures. Zero. And now we're up to pulling at least half a million dollars out of the general fund and putting that in towards the capital improvement plan. This will increase that money. So we've shown the propensity to do that because we've made some choices as a council to do that in this council and prior councils. You can always say, look at our track record, and obviously there may be different people sitting up here in December. Who knows? But that's what you're going to have to ask them the tough questions come September, October, and November 4th, or whatever it is, is how they're going to spend this money. And then it's up to them to keep their word. And that's the nature of elected officials, is that you judge on actions, and people make promises, and they have to deliver on those. |
| 03:24:15.68 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 03:24:16.78 | Mayor Withey | Um... |
| 03:24:21.44 | Mayor Withey | You know, there's been a lot of discussion created |
| 03:24:30.16 | Mayor Withey | about how the money would be used, and I think it's been very clear how we intend to use it. It's been stated that this is, if you trust the city council to do its job, and you rely on the fact that, and have seen the fact that this city council, previous city councils, once they made the decision that infrastructure was important, roads and sewers delivered and delivered significant capital expenditures. For my perspective, anybody out there has a very simple report card. They can look to judge me about how I would want to spend that money. And it's on page 150 of our budget. It's very simple. It's a table. It's covered in red ink. Charlie, I think it's 150, but I may be wrong. And it's entitled. |
| 03:25:53.02 | Unknown (Councilmember) | 149. |
| 03:25:53.98 | Mayor Withey | Unfunded capital improvement projects, okay? Storm drains primarily. That's how the money's gonna be spent. At least my vote is how that money's gonna be spent. because of the very transparent and detailed set of budget documents that we have, you can see clearly what we have the money for, where it came from to spend, and what we don't have the money for, but what we want to spend it on. put those two together and the natural logic is the sales tax. So I fully support this and I'm ready to make a motion, actually, which I believe I can do at any time in these proceedings. And I think you want two motions here, Charlie. So let me kick us off by I'm not closing comment period. If you want to talk more, you can. So I move to approve a resolution to call an election to be held on November 4, 2014, submitting to the voters an ordinance imposing a one-half-cent transaction and use paren sales, close paren tax, for general purposes to be administered by the California State Board of Equalization. And I have a second. |
| 03:27:33.53 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | and I have a substitute motion. I move to replace the general use tax with a special needs tax. |
| 03:27:47.69 | Mayor Withey | And is there a second for Council Member Pfeiffer's motion? |
| 03:27:53.52 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Mr. Mayor, I have comment. |
| 03:27:55.65 | Mayor Withey | Yes. |
| 03:27:56.66 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | So very quickly. This is a one-minute comment period. Okay, thank you. So very quickly, earlier in the presentation, we heard a comment that we needed to do this because California had a cap on sales tax and that the cap was such that if the county put their sales taxes in and those were passed, |
| 03:27:58.17 | Mayor Withey | This is a one-minute comment period. Okay, thank you. |
| 03:28:22.13 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | we could potentially reach that cap and then we couldn't, you know, Well, in 2012, you'll recall that Governor Brown had Proposition 30, which raised the sales tax from 7.25 to 7.5. So it's clear, you know, California does raise this cap. It goes up. And frankly, the only thing I've seen with regards to government and taxes is taxes are going to go up and up and up. So that's why, and when I'm looking at the pension debt we have, the retiree health care debt as well as the pension, unfunded pension liability and all the new legislation coming our way. I'm very concerned, and that's why I think we need a special needs tax to protect these funds for storm drain sewers and roads so they are not diverted. |
| 03:29:13.73 | Mayor Withey | Does anybody else want to use this comment period? Nope. Okay. Debbie, please call the roll for that first motion. |
| 03:29:18.74 | Mary Wagner | Thank you. |
| 03:29:18.84 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Thank you. |
| 03:29:26.45 | Debbie | Councilmember Pfeiffer. you |
| 03:29:27.77 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | . |
| 03:29:27.86 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Thank you. |
| 03:29:28.90 | Debbie | Council member Weiner. Yes. |
| 03:29:29.85 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Yes. |
| 03:29:30.59 | Debbie | Councilmember Leone. |
| 03:29:32.72 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Yes. |
| 03:29:35.75 | Debbie | Vice Mayor Theodore, thank you. |
| 03:29:37.12 | Mayor Withey | Yes. |
| 03:29:38.15 | Debbie | Mayor Withy. |
| 03:29:39.20 | Mayor Withey | Yes, that motion passes for one. Secondly, I also make a motion to introduce and read by title only an ordinance of the City of Sausalito, adding Chapter 3.06 to Title 3 of the Sausalito Municipal Code, imposing a transaction and use tax to be administered by the State Board of Equalization on November 4, 2014 ballot. Do I have a second? Thank you. |
| 03:30:08.80 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Mr. Mayor, I have a quick comment, which was that this is not only impacting tourists, it's also impacting residents who shop, for example, on the Internet, and of course, who buy products here. Even though groceries and pharmaceuticals are exempt, it's wrong to position this as something that's only hitting tourists. I think this really needs to go to infrastructure, and I'm very disappointed. It's not a special needs tax. |
| 03:30:36.91 | Mayor Withey | Anybody else want to comment on this? No, Debbie, please call the wrong. |
| 03:30:41.70 | Debbie | No yes |
| 03:30:44.22 | Mayor Withey | Yes. |
| 03:30:46.81 | Debbie | Yes. Vice Mayor Theodore. Yes. Mayor Whitting. |
| 03:30:48.79 | Mayor Withey | Yes. Yes, that motion passes, 4-1. Thank you. Thank you. OK, on to item number seven, city manager information for council. |
| 03:31:05.93 | Adam Politzer | Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Council Members. A very brief report. |
| 03:31:10.57 | Mayor Withey | Excuse me, thank you, Charlie, and thank you for all the staff that stayed here. Thank you. |
| 03:31:14.25 | Adam Politzer | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 03:31:16.02 | Mayor Withey | Sorry, Adam. |
| 03:31:18.61 | Adam Politzer | No, thank you for acknowledging staff's time. Just very, very briefly, we have just gone through probably one of the more busy times in my now coming on to seven years as your city manager of council meetings. Never in my time that we've had this many meetings in a row. And I think the council should be applauded, one, for the tireless effort that you guys and commitment that you put forth to deal with some really very difficult issues and to take the time to hear and listen to the public along the way. I think that you saw many people over this course of the year participate at various levels tonight. We heard from Sausalito Beautiful, from Shelby, you know, them go back years raising questions on the quality of maintenance in town, to rolling up her sleeves, working with staff to understand why we were having these challenges. And then rather than just telling us what to do, she rolled up her sleeve and got right into the mix and delivered what the council recognized as a substantial gift from the SWA with the conceptual design improvements here at City Hall. From the housing element, from the sewer fee increase to the new budget process and the next two years really being transparent and identify how we're moving forward and providing services to the community. So I think the council really does need to take a step back and look at those accomplishments I'm happy that you'll have a break in August at this moment in time. No one's proposing any special meetings in August. I encourage you to take time to be with friends and family, but also look back at these accomplishments. Traditionally, in December, we try to do a little bit of a state of the city and things that we've done, so we'll prepare that as well. But that might get lost. Some of that gets lost as time passes. So the heavy lifting that you folks did, I think, is due some recognition, and I hope the public thanks you for your time as well. Our next meeting will be September 9th, and so that does give you a nice break. The art festival will come and go during that period of time. Blues and jazz will come to an end during that time, but you'll have to look forward to the chili cook-off that will come later in September. So enjoy the rest of your summer. Thank you for your service both here at the council meetings and on the committees. You all participate at some level on committees, some more than others, and those take also a significant amount of time and also want to recognize the staff. A lot of staff look at August also as an opportunity to catch up, to really have some desk time and not be writing staff reports, not answering questions related to staff reports, but really take an opportunity to come forward. The Marin Shift Steering Committee will also have its last meeting that will happen tomorrow night. We do televise, or not televise, but we web stream these meetings so they are available for the public to watch. I think the steering committee has done a lot of great and hard work, but we'll be meeting tomorrow night as our final meeting, hopefully, and then be making a recommendation to bring back to the council in September as well to show the work that has taken place at the committee level and then let the council give us further direction So that is an item that's coming forward We did anticipate and councilmember Pfeiffer mentioned this earlier What it was our intentions that bring the PDA item tonight But staff that was involved both at the county and in Marin City weren't available One key key staff member was on vacation, so that will be on the first meeting in September as well. So as we work with the agenda setting meeting, we already know that we're going to have a I can't promise you that we won't go back to weekly meetings because as we now address the next housing element, for us to make that deadline in addition to all the other day-to-day work that the city will be bringing forward. we may need to have some special meetings in the second half of the year. So get your rest and come back ready to work. You guys have done a great job, and I appreciate serving the council and leading our team as we go forward. I'm happy to answer any questions related to city business that you would like to ask. |
| 03:36:11.51 | Mayor Withey | Thank you. Is there any member of the public president who would like to comment on the city manager's report? Seeing none. Go ahead. |
| 03:36:18.97 | Unknown (Councilmember) | Could I just ask, Adam, you may just for, you know, in case anyone either streams this again and watches this again, reiterate kind of Jennifer's comments about the incident that happened in terms of the ongoing danger as far as, I think that would be worth as many channels to get it out there. |
| 03:36:20.21 | Unknown | you |
| 03:36:35.64 | Adam Politzer | Thank you. Yeah, Councilmember Leon is commenting on the two people that were shot and killed early Sunday morning, late Saturday night, 2.30 in the morning, Sunday morning this past weekend on San Carlos. At this point, the investigation is ongoing. The chief and our city clerk here have put out information to the public both through the currents, both the chief has knocked on doors, has held several press conferences on this to reiterate that people are not in arms way. There is nobody out there running around with a gun killing people. It appears to be a domestic violence event. It's unfortunate. It's very sad. But we want to make sure that the public realizes that that neighborhood is safe. This had a very unfortunate event where people took their lives. The autopsy report is due to come out later today. The chief will put out information. It may have come out earlier this evening. The Chief will put out information to the public and we'll put that out as broadly as we can to provide those details. We'll again continue to give press. The press, unfortunately, love these type of stories and like to put them on the front page just as we saw on the IJ, regardless of the amount of facts that they have. But we'll try to continue to keep the public aware. The police department is very worth noting this. We saw this with the tour bus situation, a variety of noise complaints in neighborhoods. The police department is always willing to have community meetings. If someone wants to host a coffee or if they'd like the police department to host a coffee at the fire station in the community room or here in the Edgewater room, the police are always more than willing to have neighborhood meetings. They did it recently up in Cloud View when there was a string of events. I know the mayor was asked to attend And so again, any of the council members, if you hear of people in your community that feel unsafe and they would like to hold a coffee or meet with the chief or one of the Command officers, sergeant, captain, lieutenant, the chief would make them available to do so. It is very important in a community this small, really any community, that you feel safe at night, you feel safe in the morning, you feel safe. And I think our police department does an outstanding job of trying to maintain that, even when we know outside of our city there's a lot of bad activity that occurs. |
| 03:39:22.38 | Mayor Withey | Actually, just to clarify, I was at a Miller Ave event with the Chief Neighborhood Watch sort of event, not the Cloudview event, but it was as a result of the Cloudview burglaries that Miller Ave called a meeting together. which the chief and I can't remember who came, did a superb job, by the way, of reassuring the community and giving can't remember who came, did a superb job, by the way, of reassuring the community and giving advice about how to lock their doors, lock their cars, report anything no matter how small, just in case, you know. So it was good. It was a good event. |
| 03:40:03.45 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | And I have a quick question for the city manager regarding the resident who spoke in the beginning of the meeting regarding the short term rental and the nightmare she's been experiencing for quite some time. You mentioned that we had an ordinance that, you know made that sort of arrangement illegal or something like this. I was wondering could you send me a copy of that? And I'm also going to raise that for potential future agenda item in case we need to kind of tighten that up a bit with respect to disturbances in neighborhoods. I don't know, I'm going to take a look at the ordinance and see. But clearly something's falling through the cracks because she's been experiencing this for several months. |
| 03:40:54.89 | Mayor Withey | Okay. Council Member Committee reports. Is there anything anybody wants to update us on? Future agenda items. I'll take it that the short-term rental thing was one of the topics. Linda, you wanted to... |
| 03:41:12.44 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | Thank you. Yeah, I would add the short-term rentals and then of course the Marin City PDA. |
| 03:41:18.75 | Mayor Withey | Yeah. Does anybody else have any agenda items? |
| 03:41:19.52 | Unknown (Councilmember) | and appreciate it. Yeah, no, just getting back to the short-term rentals in the zoning ordinance, it's not allowed already. But there's two ways to go about this problem. And so the – and if you remember, we – the council three or four years ago, whatever, passed some special thing for the America's Cup allowing people to do that during a specific period of time. So it's – that being said, it's becoming more and more of a common practice nationwide, and there's two ways to attack it, and if we ever do consider, I think we need to get feedback from the public on both sides of this issue. Certainly it is disruptive for a lot of people to have this, but one way to go about just is to make sure you tax it, right, as if it was a hotel, and bring that parity back. So I know San Francisco and some other communities are certainly doing that with Airbnb. or sort of saying, okay, we're going to make you live up certain standards, and you've got to report X, Y, and Z, which is not the way our current ordinance, we just forbid it. And the same goes for vacation rental by owner, which has become another huge thing. A lot of Sausalito properties were listed for that where essentially equivalent to Airbnb, but you kind of rent the whole thing versus a room, which is more of the Airbnb is more of that. Nonsense, but that might be something we can revisit if we and see how the community feels. See if there's enough absentee property owners who feel this is, |
| 03:42:44.02 | Mary Wagner | Thank you. I'm not going to be a good |
| 03:42:54.72 | Unknown (Councilmember) | if they constitute 50% of the population or enough. But I think at the end of the day, it's something we might want to try and get our hands around a little bit better than how the current zoning, you're not going to stop it. It's just one of those realities of, but like everything in our zoning ordinance, it's all complaint-based response. We don't have people knocking on doors. So people should complain if you're people doing this next door and they're driving you crazy, if they're vomiting over the railing, and we need to respond to those. But it's something maybe we can, get on the agenda at some point just to get some initial feedback from the public on this issue. Thank you. |
| 03:43:29.78 | Unknown (Councilmember Pfeiffer) | And I just wanted to clarify, too, that I think, at least for my – the reason I raised it as a future agenda item is I'm looking at the current ordinance and how we can strengthen that. I'm not suggesting a tax. I'm suggesting that we look at ways to put teeth in it for enforcement with regards to peace and quiet for our neighbors, you know, because clearly there's something that's not working right now. I don't know if it's enforcement of the current ordinance. Maybe it's perfect as is, it's just not getting enforced. I don't know why. Or maybe there's something we need to do to ensure peace and quiet in our neighborhoods. I think it's all about maintaining peace and quiet and not having these wild parties. |
| 03:44:15.62 | Mayor Withey | Is there any other future agenda item anybody wants to note? Okay. Public comments. Let's see. Appointments to boards and commissions to start landmarks board. I think it's a little premature to advance with this tonight. I think we have, we can pick up this issue in September. Okay. |
| 03:44:42.83 | Unknown (Councilmember) | They're going to be on I-80s as well. |
| 03:44:44.86 | Mayor Withey | Right, right. Other reports of significance? I don't think we have any, so let's have a motion to adjourn. And we are adjourned. |
| 03:44:54.09 | Mary Wagner | Thank you. |
Babette McDougall — Against: Expressed concerns about proposed homeless shelters near City Hall, suggesting smaller scale (10 beds instead of 20), shorter stays, and questioning infrastructure capacity. ▶ 📄
Mira Berkowitz — Neutral: Praised library services and community role, requesting stable city budget support to maintain operations and address future accessibility improvements. ▶ 📄
Chris Gallagher — Neutral: Supported library funding stability, emphasizing importance of avoiding past budget cuts that affected library resources. ▶ 📄