| Time | Speaker | Text |
|---|---|---|
| 00:00:10.02 | Jill Hoffman | Good evening and welcome to the July 26, 2016 City Council Meeting for Sausalito, California. Could you please take the roll, Debbie? |
| 00:00:21.33 | Debbie (Clerk) | Councilmember Weiner. |
| 00:00:22.78 | Councilmember Weiner | THE END OF |
| 00:00:22.96 | Debbie (Clerk) | THE FAMILY. |
| 00:00:23.13 | Councilmember Weiner | Thank you. |
| 00:00:23.35 | Debbie (Clerk) | Council member Theodorus. Present. Vice mayor Withy. Here. Mayor Hoffman. |
| 00:00:24.45 | Councilmember Weiner | Present. care. Thank you. |
| 00:00:27.00 | Jill Hoffman | Mayor Hoffman? Present. |
| 00:00:28.08 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:00:30.05 | Jill Hoffman | Council member Pfeiffer is absent, but I've talked to her by phone and she told us to go ahead and begin. She will be joining us shortly. Um, Item number D1 through D3 will be discussed in closed session. Do we have any public comment on closed session items? Seeing no one in our audience, I'm moving on to the next, where I am going to close city council session for closed session. |
| 00:01:29.52 | Unknown | . Thank you. |
| 00:01:44.10 | Jill Hoffman | Good evening and welcome to the Tuesday, July 26th, Sausalito City Council meeting. Debbie, could you please call the roll? |
| 00:01:53.38 | Debbie (Clerk) | Councilmember Weiner. Present. Councilmember Theodores. Present. Councilmember Pfeiffer. Present. |
| 00:01:54.36 | Councilmember Weiner | President. President. |
| 00:01:56.06 | Vice Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 00:01:58.53 | Debbie (Clerk) | Vice Mayor. Vice Mayor Withey. |
| 00:02:01.24 | Vice Mayor Withey | Here. |
| 00:02:02.51 | Debbie (Clerk) | Mayor Hoffman. |
| 00:02:03.67 | Jill Hoffman | Present, could we please have Vip Karen Williams lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. |
| 00:02:15.93 | Debbie (Clerk) | Congratulations. |
| 00:02:17.04 | Vip Karen Williams | to the Lord. |
| 00:02:17.76 | Debbie (Clerk) | Thank you. |
| 00:02:17.88 | Vip Karen Williams | Thank you. |
| 00:02:17.92 | Debbie (Clerk) | Thank you. you |
| 00:02:18.32 | Vip Karen Williams | of the United States. |
| 00:02:19.03 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:02:19.06 | Vip Karen Williams | States of America. |
| 00:02:19.12 | Jill Hoffman | So, All right. |
| 00:02:19.97 | Vip Karen Williams | and to the republic. |
| 00:02:21.49 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:02:21.95 | Vip Karen Williams | Thank you. |
| 00:02:21.97 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:02:21.98 | Vip Karen Williams | you |
| 00:02:22.22 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:02:22.29 | Vip Karen Williams | Thank you. |
| 00:02:22.30 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:02:22.32 | Vip Karen Williams | on which it stands. |
| 00:02:22.88 | Jill Hoffman | you |
| 00:02:23.75 | Vip Karen Williams | One nation. under God. Invisible. and justice for all. |
| 00:02:31.42 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Closed session announcements. We did have a closed session this evening, but we have no announcements. Do we have any public comment on closed session items? I see no one. Do I have a motion for approval of the agenda? |
| 00:02:48.46 | Councilmember Weiner | So moved. Thank you. |
| 00:02:50.00 | Jill Hoffman | Second. All in favor? Aye. |
| 00:02:50.01 | Councilmember Weiner | Second. Bye. |
| 00:02:53.49 | Jill Hoffman | Motion passes. The first item on our agenda this evening is an introduction and swearing in ceremony of James Fotherby, police officer. And that will be done by our police chief Robacher. |
| 00:03:16.05 | Beth Rowe | I'm going to go. |
| 00:03:19.44 | Unknown | Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of City Council. It's a very exciting night for us at Saucyutu Police Department. Our promotions back in January left us with some vacancies to fill. and filling vacancies we take very seriously with hiring just the right people. And we think we've done that with James. James Fotherby is our new hire officer. James comes to us from England. and where he served as a special constable. I would say the name of the region, but I would probably wreck it. Ray might be able to help me out with it. He later came to the States or the colonies or however you like to call them. And here he is. He went to the sheriff's office first and became a deputy sheriff. where he was recruited away by our own Lieutenant Stacy Gregory to come to work for the Sausalito Police Department. And so here he is. James has a undergraduate degree from one of the universities in England. Again, I couldn't say the name of that one either. And so I apologize for that. But we're happy to have James here. He's a very quality guy. and we look forward to James having a long career with us at the Sausalito Police Department. So what's next for us is the badge pinning and I am happy to forfeit my privilege of pinning the badge on to James's wife, Jen. with the baby too maybe. We're finding a spot maybe for the picture part of this. |
| 00:04:47.55 | Unknown | Stacey, what do you think? I hope the baby and I are not going to take the picture, are you? . |
| 00:04:52.69 | Unknown | I can hold that test. . I think. |
| 00:04:59.97 | Mary Wagner | you |
| 00:05:00.71 | Unknown | Thank you. You don't mind. |
| 00:05:01.98 | Mary Wagner | Thank you. |
| 00:05:02.06 | Unknown | around. |
| 00:05:02.38 | Mary Wagner | Thank you. |
| 00:05:23.68 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:05:30.41 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:05:37.63 | Unknown | All right, so next, James has to take the oath of office. After pictures. |
| 00:05:48.62 | Unknown | So our city clerk Debbie Pagliaro is going to administer the oath to James. |
| 00:05:55.98 | Debbie (Clerk) | . Thank you. |
| 00:06:00.11 | Debbie (Clerk) | you I'm supposed to be using this. I, state your name. |
| 00:06:09.96 | James Fotherby | James Colter. |
| 00:06:11.35 | Debbie (Clerk) | Do solemnly affirm? |
| 00:06:13.34 | James Fotherby | Thank you. |
| 00:06:14.10 | Debbie (Clerk) | that I will support and defend |
| 00:06:16.39 | James Fotherby | and I will support you. |
| 00:06:17.81 | Debbie (Clerk) | The Constitution of the United States |
| 00:06:20.41 | James Fotherby | Constitution of the United States. |
| 00:06:22.32 | Debbie (Clerk) | and the Constitution of the State of California. |
| 00:06:25.57 | James Fotherby | Constitution, the state of |
| 00:06:27.73 | Debbie (Clerk) | Against all enemies. Foreign and domestic. |
| 00:06:32.12 | James Fotherby | foreign and domestic. |
| 00:06:33.32 | Debbie (Clerk) | that I will bear true faith and allegiance |
| 00:06:36.96 | James Fotherby | Thank you. |
| 00:06:38.47 | Debbie (Clerk) | to the Constitution of the United States. |
| 00:06:41.33 | James Fotherby | the Constitution. |
| 00:06:43.16 | Debbie (Clerk) | and the Constitution of the State of California. |
| 00:06:46.26 | James Fotherby | institution of the state of California. |
| 00:06:48.41 | Debbie (Clerk) | that I take this obligation freely. |
| 00:06:50.77 | James Fotherby | And I take this obligation for you |
| 00:06:52.61 | Debbie (Clerk) | without any mental reservation. |
| 00:06:54.87 | James Fotherby | without any mental reservation |
| 00:06:56.62 | Debbie (Clerk) | the purpose of evasion. |
| 00:06:56.66 | James Fotherby | Thank you. or previous to be there |
| 00:06:59.90 | Debbie (Clerk) | and that I will well and faithfully Discharge the duties. |
| 00:07:05.30 | James Fotherby | The Press. |
| 00:07:06.23 | Debbie (Clerk) | upon which I'm about to enter. |
| 00:07:24.86 | Unknown | then you're welcome to say something, James. |
| 00:07:31.76 | Unknown | Come say hello and thank your family and friends. |
| 00:07:33.58 | James Fotherby | Yes, thank you everyone for being here. my second swearing in ceremony and this one hopefully i'm going to be here to stay i've only been here maybe six weeks and i've already got a great feel and i'm very happy to be here so thank you everyone |
| 00:08:00.73 | Jill Hoffman | All right, well, that's as exciting as it's going to get tonight. Okay, moving right along to item two on our agenda, communications. This is a time for the city council to hear from citizens regarding matters that are not on the agenda. Except in very limited situations, state law precludes the council from taking action on or engaging in discussions concerning items of business that are not on the agenda. However, the council may refer matters not on the agenda to city staff or direct that the subject be agendized for a future meeting. Please make sure you have completed a speaker's card and turn it into the city clerk if you'd like to speak during this portion. Do we have any speaker cards? |
| 00:08:42.57 | Jill Hoffman | Yes? We have any speakers during public? Yes? Jeff, would you like to speak? Yes. You may approach the phone. Yes. |
| 00:09:16.62 | Jeffrey Chase | Blessings for everybody who... despite it all, wants to get involved in the way their city their county, their nation, their fellow tribes members, whether they're anchor out or hill people or people that live on the flats, on how people can live together. that there's lots of push in the USA for an individualism that can even become a pathology. And then some people are able to take care of their families. And that's admirable. I can watch Donald J. Trump, a person I don't admire politically, and I can see that his family and he are staying together. And for a lot of people in America, that's difficult, if not impossible to do. And then after our families, we have our little communities, the people we actually see and meet and know by name. Then after that we have a little town called Sausalito, California, population 7,000 and something. depending on the month. And I've been going through this coming here and representing myself, of course. That I know. That's a person I know. And as far as representing the Jews, I'm Jewish. A little difference there. So I'd like to read this. Paul gave me some good advice. He said, to one topic and maybe people will understand. This came out today courtesy of the Russian intelligence services about the Democratic National Committee chairman and chief financial officer. I'm registered as a Democrat. It says it may make no difference. They're talking about Bernie Sanders now and working against him, the DNC doing that. It might make no difference, but for Kentucky and West Virginia, can we get someone to ask his belief, that is Bernie Sanders. Does he believe in a God? He has skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage. I think I read that he is an atheist. This could make a several points difference with my peeps, says the Chief Financial Officer Marshall. Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist. Right? Now very often in the Jewish history, that's what we've been called as atheists. Whether we're not Christians, we're not Muslims, or we're not capitalists. that whatever the predominating or, and, and, capitalism is as all inclusive as those other two. And those other two, of course, came from the root. They are the branches. The Torah was first, then the Christians and the Muslims, and the capitalists as well. So I'm making sure there's as little confusion as possible there. Blessings on your deliberations. |
| 00:12:22.55 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Any other public comment? for matters not on the agenda, seeing none. Moving right along to the next item on our agenda, action minutes of the previous meeting. Would anybody like to move to approve those? Oh, they're none? Okay. Never mind. Moving on to the consent calendar. Removal of items from the consent calendar. Matters listed under the consent calendar are considered routine and non-controversial, require no discussion, are expected to have unanimous council support, and may be enacted by the council in one motion in the form listed below. There will be no separate discussion of consent calendar items. However, before the council votes on a motion to adopt the consent calendar items, council members, city staff, or members of the public may request that specific items be removed from the consent calendar for separate action. In order to request an item be pulled, you must have completed a speaker's card and turned it in to the city clerk. Items will only be removed from the consent calendar by a vote of the council items removed from the consent calendar will be discussed later on the agenda when public comment will be heard on any item that was removed from the consent calendar do we have any public comment on the consent calendar |
| 00:13:35.25 | Jeffrey Chase | Thank you. |
| 00:13:35.26 | Frank Alizaga Jr. | Yes. |
| 00:13:35.68 | Jeffrey Chase | Thank you. |
| 00:13:37.40 | Jill Hoffman | Yes, Jeff. Or would you, you need to come up to the microphone. |
| 00:13:42.86 | Jeffrey Chase | I love it. |
| 00:13:43.87 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. |
| 00:13:46.97 | Jeffrey Chase | Tish, tish. Um, I'm making sure that I understand this. This is A, B, C, D, E. On the consent calendar, an F. |
| 00:13:57.59 | Jill Hoffman | Yes, items A through F on the consent calendar. |
| 00:13:57.84 | Jeffrey Chase | The President. |
| 00:14:02.97 | Jill Hoffman | Item four, four, A through F. |
| 00:14:09.74 | Jeffrey Chase | Okay, this is on the emergency shelter. |
| 00:14:12.00 | Jill Hoffman | Mm-hmm. you requested that item be pulled from the consent calendar. |
| 00:14:16.94 | Jeffrey Chase | Absolutely. |
| 00:14:18.48 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. Thank you, any other? |
| 00:14:22.39 | Jeffrey Chase | Can I give an explanation on why? |
| 00:14:25.09 | Jill Hoffman | Yes. |
| 00:14:26.14 | Jeffrey Chase | Okay, I'd like to read from the actual law that you're following now to the extent that you're listing a certain number of beds. which was 23, I think. It says the legislature, this is 6558, 2.1. The legislature finds and declares it has provided reforms and incentives to facilitate and expedite the construction of affordable housing. Those reforms and incentives can be found in the following provisions. Thank you. It says here, Let's see. Thank you. |
| 00:15:11.42 | Jeffrey Chase | This is a very, very long law. It's about 12 pages. Um, |
| 00:15:19.80 | Jeffrey Chase | and I know I want to just make it quick, as quick as I can. Maybe I can explain it in my own words, instead of quoting the law, the law is a little confusing. But it does not just say number of houses. It says there is a reason that we provide shelter for people without it. The reason comes from the Israelites who were strangers in a strange land and wandered. And now they're coming up against the Midianites and the Moabites in this portion, people that won't give them water, people that won't get them. |
| 00:15:50.40 | Frank Alizaga Jr. | Food? |
| 00:15:51.48 | Jeffrey Chase | people that will come out and attack them with weapons, and then finally, people that bring Balaam with his ass to come and curse the Israelites. Of course, Satan, who's merely an adversary and an angel of God, prevents him from doing that. Nobody can curse the Israelites and get away with it very easily. It tends to blow back on them. Well, They finally bring women in to seduce them, and that's the chapter that we're reading now. It's called Pinchas or Phinehas. I suggested highly to understand this, how some people that are adversaries can be seen by an animal but not by us. and then our eyes open and we see. Now, what we see is that Marin and San Francisco, it's a very large issue that there are people without a place to lay their head, and they're arrested for being on a public sidewalk for sitting down. There are 7,000 according to a census, which is also in the portion. 7,000, and there's many millions spent. |
| 00:16:56.09 | Jill Hoffman | . |
| 00:16:56.18 | Jeffrey Chase | Thank you. |
| 00:16:56.31 | Jill Hoffman | So, |
| 00:16:56.55 | Jeffrey Chase | Bye. |
| 00:16:56.68 | Jill Hoffman | Bye. |
| 00:16:56.70 | Jeffrey Chase | I'm not seeing it in Sausalito. There's $15,000 that's been sent to San Rafael. I'm gonna suggest that that comes back to Sausalito and we can figure out, me and Adam, Adam and I can figure out how to spend this on the people here. |
| 00:17:12.55 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thank you. So we've had one request from the public to remove an item from the consent calendar. Do we have any other requests from the public to remove an item from the consent calendar? |
| 00:17:26.03 | Vip Karen Williams | Okay. Do we have any? I'm sorry, real quickly. Sure. I just wanted to make a comment on item F, the city's response to the grand jury report on Moran's hidden human sex trafficking challenge. I would like a roll call vote on that one because in this case I agree with the recommendations. So I don't think we need to pull it so much as I concur with all of the recommendations from the grand jury on this one. And just a little history. I was once on the... uh, the board of directors for a Los Angeles based non-profit that is fighting sex trafficking. It's called Captive Daughters, and run by an inspiring woman, Sandra Honeycutt. And I know that Sausalito has its own place in northern Sausalito near Dario's Pizza that has a very sad history of of prostitution and I know that the police have worked diligently. I know they've closed it once if not multiple times and it goes away and then after several months it comes back. And so I just, I think it's important to put a spotlight on this and I agree with everything that the grand jury was recommending. So I guess I just on the record I want to. TO SAY THAT. |
| 00:19:00.49 | Vice Mayor Withey | And can I make a motion? |
| 00:19:00.53 | Vip Karen Williams | Thank you. OKAY. THE FACT THAT WE HAVE TO |
| 00:19:02.60 | Vice Mayor Withey | Okay, I mean, I think when we approve this on a consent calendar, that we approve all the recommendations as put forth on staff. It is my understanding, so I move that we approve the consent calendar items A through F. Second. |
| 00:19:17.62 | Herb Weiner | Thank you. |
| 00:19:18.85 | Jill Hoffman | I'd like to do a substitute motion. that we approve items A through E on the consent calendar and then we do a roll call vote on F. Does anybody have a, I mean, I know. |
| 00:19:27.78 | Unknown | I'm not. |
| 00:19:28.03 | Amy Thorne | Thank you. |
| 00:19:28.09 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:19:28.10 | Amy Thorne | Thank you. |
| 00:19:28.17 | Unknown | you |
| 00:19:28.25 | Amy Thorne | Thank you. |
| 00:19:28.27 | Herb Weiner | Okay. |
| 00:19:29.01 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Okay, so the motion on the table, anybody want to second? I guess we had a second. Defined by me is a second. Oh, thank you. Okay, so the motion is approve the consent calendar items A through E. All in favor? Aye. |
| 00:19:35.24 | Herb Weiner | . |
| 00:19:35.27 | Unknown | I second. |
| 00:19:43.73 | Unknown | Right. |
| 00:19:44.03 | Vip Karen Williams | Bye. |
| 00:19:44.39 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah. |
| 00:19:44.98 | Vip Karen Williams | And I have a friendly amendment to your second motion, your motion regarding item F on the human trafficking. My addendum would be that I would support recommendations R3, R5, R6, and R7, which were not included in the city's response, or rather were identified as not warranted or not reasonable, possibly because they were related to the county. Thank you. |
| 00:20:18.81 | Mary Wagner | THE END OF |
| 00:20:19.70 | Vip Karen Williams | That's a different motion? |
| 00:20:20.95 | Mary Wagner | Yeah, the mayor's motion was just to take a roll call on item. Oh, a roll call, I'm sorry, I misheard. So if that's a motion, |
| 00:20:23.94 | Vip Karen Williams | Oh, I'm sorry. I misheard. I heard that wrong. OK, thank you, Mary. So I would move. to concur with all of the grand jury's findings on their report for Marin's hidden human sex trafficking challenge. Thank you. Second? |
| 00:20:43.97 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:20:44.01 | Vip Karen Williams | Thank you. |
| 00:20:44.16 | Jill Hoffman | you All in favor? Yeah, second. All in favor? Thank you. Can I second? Thank you. |
| 00:20:50.01 | Vice Mayor Withey | WE HAVE A LITTLE BIT OF There were reasons that they were excluded. |
| 00:20:53.78 | Vip Karen Williams | Thank you. you But she withdrew that. |
| 00:20:55.16 | Vice Mayor Withey | Oh, you withdrew that part? What? |
| 00:20:56.00 | Vip Karen Williams | I understand that the Marin, one of the recommendations was that the Marin County Board of Supervisors do training, etc. The other was that the EMT does training, etc. I just think that that everything possible should be done to shed a light. |
| 00:21:13.57 | Vice Mayor Withey | Well, I'm confused by the motion. |
| 00:21:14.60 | Jill Hoffman | that. So let's go. So the current motion on the table, I believe, is just to take a roll call vote on IMA. |
| 00:21:20.52 | Vice Mayor Withey | Yeah. LET'S DO THAT. |
| 00:21:21.81 | Vip Karen Williams | Thank you. |
| 00:21:22.41 | Jill Hoffman | Or F. |
| 00:21:22.51 | Vip Karen Williams | Bye. Okay, just to move this along, we can take a roll call vote on that. And I'll just... I second that. |
| 00:21:28.02 | Vice Mayor Withey | I second that motion. |
| 00:21:29.40 | Vip Karen Williams | So, well, I'm not making that motion. I thought that you made that motion. |
| 00:21:31.27 | Vice Mayor Withey | I thought that you made that motion. No, no, the mayor made that motion. |
| 00:21:33.94 | Vip Karen Williams | Okay, thank you. So let's do the roll call. Okay. |
| 00:21:37.48 | Debbie (Clerk) | . Yeah. |
| 00:21:38.65 | Vice Mayor Withey | I'm... |
| 00:21:38.85 | Debbie (Clerk) | I don't know. |
| 00:21:38.97 | Vip Karen Williams | On the staff recommendation, huh? |
| 00:21:39.04 | Vice Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 00:21:39.05 | Debbie (Clerk) | Thank you. |
| 00:21:39.09 | Vice Mayor Withey | No. |
| 00:21:39.24 | Debbie (Clerk) | Yeah. |
| 00:21:39.58 | Vice Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 00:21:44.15 | Debbie (Clerk) | Councilmember Pfeiffer. |
| 00:21:46.00 | Vip Karen Williams | No. |
| 00:21:49.55 | Debbie (Clerk) | Councilmember Weiner. |
| 00:21:51.81 | Vice Mayor Withey | Yes. |
| 00:21:52.81 | Debbie (Clerk) | Council member Theodorus. |
| 00:21:54.10 | Vice Mayor Withey | Yes. |
| 00:21:56.11 | Debbie (Clerk) | Vice Mayor Withee. |
| 00:21:57.34 | Herb Weiner | Yes. |
| 00:21:58.76 | Debbie (Clerk) | Mayor Hoffman. |
| 00:21:59.74 | Jill Hoffman | Yes. |
| 00:22:01.73 | Debbie (Clerk) | OKAY. |
| 00:22:02.76 | Jill Hoffman | Moving on, item five on our agenda. |
| 00:22:10.32 | Jill Hoffman | for public hearing items. An adoption of item 5A is adoption of an interim urgency ordinance establishing a 45-day moratorium on the issuance of occupancy use permits for banks and financial services, retail uses in the CR mixed commercial and residential zone to allow the Planning Commission time to study and consider ordinance amendments relating to the permitted uses in the CR zone that are consistent with the policies and objectives of the general plan and zoning ordinance. And the presentation is going to be by our own Danny Castro, Community Development Director. |
| 00:22:48.58 | Danny Castro | Thank you, Mayor Hoffman, good evening. Mayor Hoffman, members of the council. Let me just get organized here. |
| 00:23:11.68 | Danny Castro | So the issue before the city council is a moratorium on issuing |
| 00:23:14.02 | Melanie Mershon | Yeah. |
| 00:23:14.26 | Unknown | Bye. |
| 00:23:14.31 | Melanie Mershon | Thank you. |
| 00:23:18.07 | Danny Castro | a 45-day moratorium on the issuance of occupancy use permits for banks and financial services retail uses in the CR, the mixed commercial residential zone, to allow the Planning Commission time to study and consider ordinance amendments relating to the permitted uses in the CR zone that are consistent with the policies and objectives of the general plan and zoning ordinance. I'm going to give you some background on June 21st, Received a presentation on the land uses allowed in the CR zoning district, which includes Caledonia Street and the surrounding area. And the city council agreed with direction to direct staff to conduct a comprehensive inventory of existing businesses in the CR zone and returned to the city council. and also directed staff to work with the Planning Commission. At your June 28th meeting, There was discussion regarding possible reconsideration of the City Council's direction Uh, And, uh, Ultimately, the City Council agreed to schedule a new agenda item, which is to discuss a possible moratorium on banks and financial services retail uses in the CR Zone, you including an update on the three ground floor tenant spaces. The Sausalito Municipal Code regarding the zoning regulations states that which serves as an implementation tool of the city's general plan states that the CHAPTER 24. regarding the CR zone is to provide for local serving retail and service businesses and residential uses were mutually compatible and to provide for local serving commercial uses. and to provide a pedestrian oriented downtown experience for local residents. Sausalito General Plan has a number of policies and programs and this is included in the land use element land use and growth management element of the general plan. Caledonia Street's role is to enhance Caledonia Street's role as a mixed residential and commercial area by encouraging local residents serving commercial uses and the preservation of housing. The zoning, regarding the zoning ordinance is to prepare a definition and current list identifying those commercial uses that are local residents serving and appropriate for the Caledonia street area. Street level uses to amend the zoning ordinance to require that commercial parcels locate local residents serving retail and service office outlets at the street level with preference given to retail uses. And then in terms of street level uses, require that commercial parcels locate local residents serving retail and service outlets at the street level with preference being given to retail uses. |
| 00:26:25.02 | Danny Castro | There's a definition in our code Uh, relating to banks and financial services retail. and it's a permitted use in the CR zone. And I'll read it. The definition of banks and financial services retail is, Financial institutions providing service to the general public and maintaining hours of operation for at least five days per week for a minimum of eight hours per day, including banks and trust companies, lending and thrift institutions, credit agencies, brokers and dealers, and the securities and commodities contracts, security and commodities exchanges, holdings, but not predominantly operating companies, other investment companies, and vehicle finance, equity leasing agencies. Such financial institutions that do not meet the minimum retail criteria above shall be considered office use as defined. in the chapter. THE CITY. Banks and financial services Retail uses are types of businesses are not just limited to banks, but management office, management investment offices, commodity, commodity. dealers and brokers. They are subject to an occupancy use permit. This is administrative level review to determine compliance with the permissible uses in a zoning district. There's no other discretionary review that is required, such as a conditional use permit that is subject to meeting specific findings for compatibility with the surrounding land uses and the general plan. This comes before the Planning Commission under a public hearing. THE FAMILY IS The broad definition of this type of use contains a list of uses that primarily function as office uses that are inconsistent with the purpose, policies, objectives of the zoning ordinance and the general plan. which states a number of policies for the CR mixed commercial and residential zoning district that encourages local residents serving commercial and retail at the street level and promotes a pedestrian oriented downtown experience. The city has recently been made aware that a street level tenant space on Caledonia Street that is currently a retail service business may be potentially replaced with a bank and financial service retail use Under the current definition of the banks and financial services retail use, Other street level retail commercial businesses in the future could be replaced with this use, rendering type of use, rendering Caledonia Street and surrounding areas inconsistent with the purpose, policies, and objectives of the zoning and general plan. Should the council adopt a moratorium this evening, staff will be performing the following tasks, and that is to schedule a study session and discussion with the Planning Commission in September of this year to review the definition of banks and financial services retail uses, and explore if the definition should be modified or whether to consider removing such use as a permitted use in the CR zones. We'd also be determining if banks of that determining whether this Definition of use should be required to obtain a CUP within the CR zone. And we'll also, following that, draft a zoning ordinance amendment for the Planning Commission review and recommendation for City Council adoption. |
| 00:29:49.37 | Danny Castro | The moratorium expires if the council were to adopt the moratorium this evening. It expires in 45 days. from today, which is September 9th, 2016. It can be extended by action of the City Council Honourable for August 30, 2016. The City Council must issue a written report on what has been done to eliminate the threat to public health, safety and welfare 10 days prior to the expiration date. And that's pursuant to government code section 65858. |
| 00:30:22.50 | Unknown | MAKING A LITTLE BIT. |
| 00:30:22.77 | Danny Castro | Thank you. D. So staff is recommending and will be seeking the city council's direction and discussion regarding holding a special council meeting prior to August 30th, on or before August 30th, in order to issue the written report and consider extending the urgency measure in accordance with applicable provisions of the government code. |
| 00:30:49.99 | Danny Castro | Regarding some legal issues, state law has determined that zoning has a direct relationship to the public's health, safety, and welfare, and has anticipated that specific uses may not have been properly planned within a municipality's zoning regulations. in order to address the banks and financial services the retail use definition and its impact on the CR zone, and thereby protect the public safety, health, and welfare The Government Code, Section 65858, allows the city to adopt as an urgency measure an interim moratorium ordinance prohibiting any uses that may be in conflict with both the zoning and the general plan. and allows the time for the city to study within a reasonable time this use. The urgency measure which would be effective immediately requires a four-fifths vote of the City Council and would expire 45 days, as I mentioned in an earlier. earlier. unless extended by the city council. So the recommendation is that the city council adopt the interim urgency ordinance. And then also provide staff with direction on holding a special council meeting. honor prior to August 30th. And that concludes my report. I'm available for any questions. |
| 00:32:11.51 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you, Danny. Do we have council questions at this point? BUT, YOU KNOW, I'M NOT |
| 00:32:15.10 | Vice Mayor Withey | Thank you. DANA, WOULD YOU GO BACK TO what's going to go to the Planning Commission And tonight we're just looking at the moratorium, and we had two, we've done this four times now, but two meetings ago what we're sending back to them. But I'm a little concerned about this, if banks and financial service retail uses should be required to obtain a conditional use permit. My understanding, by the way, I think we need to protect the residential uses down there. But the concern was that the definition of financial services was not defined tightly and that it could allow an office use. We have to be very careful about making all banks and financial services. No one's going to want to not have Bank of America or Wells Fargo, I can tell you that. So they're very legitimate ones. The zoning says we should have diversity and such so i think we i think the direction was that we were going to look at the definition of banking and financial services to make sure that it would not inadvertently allow office use and not to require conditional use permits for all banks and financial services that's my understanding and so this is not what i understood us at our original meetings outside the moratorium to send back to the planning commission That's my. |
| 00:33:32.93 | Jill Hoffman | I think I agree with Tom. Retail uses, I think we were okay with that. It was a concern that it wasn't actually a retail use and that the ordinance could be used to improperly evolve retail use to an office space. So I don't think there's... Is there any fundamental opposition up here about a bank or financial service as a retail, as a true retail use, as the Bank of America that, you know, in downtown that sees customers as open from 9 to 5 that actually does, you know, business with our local people? And, you know, so anyway, anybody have a, does anybody have a comment or question about that issue that Tom raised? |
| 00:34:16.01 | Vip Karen Williams | Thank you. I have a quick question on that. I'd like to hear from Danny as to, was the second bullet added as kind of a logical next level of you know, a potential direction to take. Is that why? I'm just curious as to staff, how this emerged, how this evolved. |
| 00:34:42.22 | Danny Castro | Sure. I mean, I think it's one of the options. As part of our discussions, when we talked about what requires a conditional use permit and what needs to be reviewed by the Planning Commission, uh, It was clearly understood that banks and financial services retail uses required an occupational use permit only, which is an administrative level review, So, It's an optional study to determine whether that level of review would be appropriate or In fact, whether, you know, you remove it entirely. removing the use from the CR zone. So all those options, unless you you know i think this discussion is helpful because when i go back to the uh... planning commission i can convey those Thank you. I think that's. |
| 00:35:29.40 | Vice Mayor Withey | Well, that's is what message you're conveying for us. A nail salon does not require a conditional use permit, right? |
| 00:35:37.45 | Danny Castro | It does not. Right. |
| 00:35:37.72 | Vice Mayor Withey | Right. We're not making, as far as I understood, we're not making a judgment between financial services and nail salons about which should have a higher... We just don't want offices. We want retail use there. So I think... And it's very important how you frame your questions. And I think we had it down the right first time. We are concerned about the definition of banks and financial services that that definition may allow non-retail uses in. So I don't think, as you've defined it, is really what we want to send them. |
| 00:36:07.03 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah, I see where the logic was. I see the logical progression from staff. But I think we'd be more comfortable if we took that middle bullet out. Is there any problem with that? Not at all. Yeah. You guys okay with it? Yeah. |
| 00:36:16.79 | Danny Castro | Thank you. |
| 00:36:16.82 | Vip Karen Williams | Yeah. |
| 00:36:18.71 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. |
| 00:36:20.43 | Vip Karen Williams | I have another question. Is the 45 day time frame, is there a reason we couldn't extend that? Just because August is usually when we're in recess. And so could we extend that five days to 50 days? Or what's a five day difference? Yes, Mary has a comment I think. |
| 00:36:42.84 | Mary Wagner | No, the government codes very clear that you can only have it in place for 45 days and that you then need to notice it and have another hearing before it can be extended. |
| 00:36:43.15 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:36:52.63 | Jill Hoffman | So let me ask you this, Mary, as a follow up. So I see on my calendar that the ninth is a Friday and that we are talking about having a special city council meeting on a closed session item on the 12th, which is the next Monday. But could we address a moratorium at that meeting or because we didn't give the ten day notice prior to extending. I mean, we would be one day, one day passed, you know what I mean? Like, what would that, what would happen? |
| 00:37:27.43 | Mary Wagner | Yes, you would have time to notice it for that meeting, obviously. I mean, there would be a very brief period of a day essentially where you would have no moratorium in effect. |
| 00:37:37.65 | Jill Hoffman | So we'd have like nine hours or something, like if we met at 6 o'clock. |
| 00:37:42.97 | Councilmember Weiner | you Thank you. |
| 00:37:44.28 | Jill Hoffman | on the show. |
| 00:37:44.55 | Councilmember Weiner | you There's a flood on a Friday night. |
| 00:37:46.14 | Jill Hoffman | Yes, the 9th is on a Friday, and then we're going to probably meet on Monday. |
| 00:37:49.26 | Vice Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 00:37:49.31 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:37:49.97 | Councilmember Weiner | Thank you. |
| 00:37:50.02 | Vice Mayor Withey | Thank you. |
| 00:37:50.34 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah, so. |
| 00:37:51.52 | Mary Wagner | No. |
| 00:37:51.73 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:37:51.74 | Mary Wagner | Thank you. |
| 00:37:51.76 | Unknown | you |
| 00:37:52.13 | Vice Mayor Withey | Planning office closed for that period of time? |
| 00:37:55.12 | Mary Wagner | No, Tom. You do also need to issue the report and it's clear that it's the legislative body that has to issue a report 10 days prior to the extension of the moratorium, 10 days prior to its expiration. |
| 00:38:07.66 | Jill Hoffman | So we could do that, right? I mean, is it possible that we could just have our meeting on the moratorium on the 12th instead The August 30th. |
| 00:38:16.08 | Mary Wagner | It's possible, you've just got to lapse. And you have not complied with section D, which requires the legislative body to issue a report. |
| 00:38:18.15 | Jill Hoffman | Just that night. |
| 00:38:24.97 | Mary Wagner | There's two timing problems, the 10 day prior to the extension, and then the very brief period of time in between. |
| 00:38:29.22 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:38:34.47 | Jill Hoffman | Well, if we, but we could issue the port 10 days prior to the 12th or? prior to the 9th? I don't know. Could we issue it? If we issued it 10 days prior to the 9th, the date that it expires, but then have the meeting on would that, what would be the? |
| 00:38:54.22 | Mary Wagner | So you're saying you delegate to staff, that the council tonight would delegate to staff the approval and issuance of the report? |
| 00:39:01.55 | Vip Karen Williams | I don't know. What's your recommendation, Mary? Because what we're trying to do is protect the integrity of the moratorium and the the reasons behind the urgency. We don't want someone to slip in during a lax. And at the same time, August is traditionally we don't meet. And so what would you recommend? |
| 00:39:36.11 | Mary Wagner | I mean, the Most defensible position is for the city council to hold a special meeting and continue it. The alternative is that there's a period of time when it will lapse, and that there's an argument that the council didn't adopt the report 10 days prior. I believe if it's impossible for the council to meet in August, and we haven't had an opportunity to poll you on your availability, and some of you could participate by phone, potentially, that you could delegate to staff that issuance of the report it's not as I believe that's defensible and then you would just know that you've got this period of time where there's a slight lapse in the the ordinance and the most defensible thing for the City Council to do is meet prior to its expiration |
| 00:40:25.14 | Vip Karen Williams | So if we want to make this airtight, we need to meet at least on August 30th. |
| 00:40:32.46 | Mary Wagner | That would be the best of all those situations, yes. |
| 00:40:40.61 | Vip Karen Williams | Okay, any other questions? So at that time, based on the report and what we, excuse me, what we review, is there, how does this work? I mean, when the moratorium ends, do we have to extend it again while the planning commission, assuming that we find there is a problem, on the 30th, would we act on the recommendations of staff on the report? Or would that just start the ball rolling in terms of |
| 00:40:47.77 | Unknown | Yeah. I'm sorry. |
| 00:41:11.95 | Mary Wagner | Yeah. |
| 00:41:12.24 | Melanie Mershon | Bye. |
| 00:41:16.59 | Mary Wagner | You could extend it for 10 months and 15 days. That's the longest period of time that you could extend it. Okay. |
| 00:41:20.20 | Vip Karen Williams | I'll see you next time. |
| 00:41:22.99 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:41:23.39 | Vice Mayor Withey | And just looking forward also, the Planning Commission is not going to meet until sometime in September. And then we have to first read and second read. So I'm not sure that we could get this passed even with an extension. I think we'd have to be into three, correct? Just so we understand. |
| 00:41:39.49 | Mary Wagner | I'm afraid I don't understand your question, council member Theodore. |
| 00:41:41.82 | Jill Hoffman | the main... |
| 00:41:42.78 | Vice Mayor Withey | Okay. |
| 00:41:43.00 | Mary Wagner | Okay. |
| 00:41:43.20 | Jill Hoffman | I think I got, so at the August 30th meeting, let's say we go, August 30th and we extend it. We can extend it up to 10 months. 10 months and 15 days. We don't have to. Yeah, yeah, we don't have to keep coming back every 45 days. We're going to extend it up to two months. |
| 00:41:58.64 | Mary Wagner | No, no, I mean, if in fact we come to your next hearing and there's a desire to extend it, staff would recommend that you extend it for the full period of time. That doesn't mean that it has to stay in place the full period of time. It means that if we bring you the recommendation of the Planning Commission and you agree to amend or not amend the zoning ordinance to reflect some changes, then your moratorium can be terminated once you've put into place the regulations that you're looking for. |
| 00:42:04.30 | Jill Hoffman | and stuff. |
| 00:42:22.00 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:42:25.51 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:42:27.23 | Herb Weiner | So Mary, just to clarify, the reason why we're limited to 45 days is because we're doing this without notice at the beginning, is that right? |
| 00:42:35.65 | Mary Wagner | Correct, as you're allowed to do under the government. |
| 00:42:37.32 | Herb Weiner | Right, exactly. |
| 00:42:41.00 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, any other questions before we go to public comment? Okay. Public comment on this matter? |
| 00:42:47.97 | Jeffrey Chase | Yes. |
| 00:42:49.52 | Jill Hoffman | Go ahead. |
| 00:42:59.95 | Jeffrey Chase | Who am I and why am I here? I talk about bicycles and There's a chain put around 83 of them in a few weeks with threats Herb. to put more on. |
| 00:43:18.09 | Jeffrey Chase | I talk about houselessness, And there is a pro forma talk about We're not going to talk about it, and we're not going to do it. |
| 00:43:32.28 | Jeffrey Chase | NOW, WE'RE GOING TO We talk about banks. And what I noticed about the bicycles was people are disturbed, especially people who care about the environment, by something called mass tourism, that people come on planes, they would come just to see me hosting them on my little sloop out there. On a plane, the most inefficient way to travel, that puts the most carbon into the atmosphere. Take a look at the weather page for this country today. Feel what it is, and if you've been here a few years, understand that we don't need 97 percent of the scientists to say climate change exists. It does. So, mass tourism... is not a great thing, but the tourists are fine, we love them. as individual people. And... that it's a low-hanging fruit to go after the bikes. I get that. Maybe discourage the tourists, maybe people can deal with it, maybe they can take back their city. like England takes back their country and Brexit, like America first, like Hillary Clinton too. Now we're going to talk about houselessness. From the Torah it says, when you loan money, this is Exodus 22, 24, to the poor who are always amongst you. Do not be like the goyim, like the other nations, and charge interest. Later on, that was changed a little bit in the Gospels, and it said, the poor will always be amongst you. He was quoting that line, and that is the ideal bank. That we want to open up on every corner, and people can do it out of their own pockets. that everybody here is getting $150,000 except for me, but I have 300, or I had it a little while ago. So I'm not a 50 cent a day guy at the moment. All right? I'm invested in this system the same way you are. Now what it said for the houselessness, and these are people that don't have banks, it says there's a timeline for implementation. This is not something that is merely is merely talked about and said we're not gonna do it. OK? Number two, where can it be? It says vacant sites zoned for residential use or vacant sites zoned for non-residential use. That could include the place south of Dunphy Park that hasn't been used in decades. Number five, it says here, Um, Who pays? We don't have to expend any local revenues. I'd really like, please, Ms. Mayor, Jill, permission to just finish this? It's almost finished. And then I will leave and everybody will apply. I understand if I can try to leave. |
| 00:46:11.53 | Unknown | I'm not sure. I'm not going to be able to do that. |
| 00:46:15.02 | Salvin Pillar | . THE END OF THE END OF THE about it. Thank you. |
| 00:46:18.55 | Jeffrey Chase | Yes. |
| 00:46:18.94 | Salvin Pillar | Yes. Thank you. |
| 00:46:19.73 | Jeffrey Chase | Thank you. |
| 00:46:19.93 | Salvin Pillar | Thank you. |
| 00:46:20.46 | Jeffrey Chase | It says a lack of housing, including emergency shelters, It's a critical problem that threatens our life here in California that's in the law. Number seven, Tom Theodorus and Mayor Hoffman, you both said this is never going to be built here. I don't understand that. And number eight is this. It says the applicant or any person who would be eligible to apply for residency in this development or emergency shelter may bring an action to enforce this section. That's what I'm going to do this month. You can take the month off. I'm not going to take it. And it says, in any action, the record of the proceedings before the local agency shall be filed expeditiously. |
| 00:47:03.83 | Jeffrey Chase | I was hoping not to do this. You know, I just want some beauty and love and truth, and I want my brothers and sisters all to have a place to lay their head. |
| 00:47:14.66 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. We're talking about a moratorium on a retail on Caledonia Street. That's where we are in the agenda this evening. So if somebody has some public comment on that issue. |
| 00:47:26.35 | Jeffrey Chase | It's about money. |
| 00:47:27.96 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. Without houses. Okay. Jeff, I'd let you have an extra minute. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. You're welcome. Anybody else? Any other public comment on this issue? |
| 00:47:28.46 | Jeffrey Chase | I'm not sure. Bye. |
| 00:47:39.01 | Jill Hoffman | Seeing none. Okay, bring it back up here for city council comments on item 5A. Anybody? No? Yes? |
| 00:47:57.03 | Herb Weiner | Well, I think we sort of went through this fairly detailed last week. I'm not sure there's much to add. I mean, there's definitely a loophole. and We're going to close it. We've directed clearly, I think, the Planning Commission to come up with language to close that loophole. That's our goal. And so we need to get the moratorium in place to give us time so the Planning Commission can do their job. I think this is actually now fairly straightforward and I'm happy to support this. |
| 00:48:31.56 | Vip Karen Williams | Um, Yeah, I just want to say I'm so happy that we got this on the agenda and that this is going forward because we heard from so many of our beloved local small businesses on Caledonia Street their concern about the future of the resident serving ambience of that street. And I think this moratorium is absolutely the right thing to do. Thank you. Any other comments? |
| 00:49:07.11 | Jill Hoffman | you |
| 00:49:07.18 | Vip Karen Williams | Thank you. |
| 00:49:07.28 | Vice Mayor Withey | I do. I agree we need to protect the residential serving Caledonia Street. I think it's good that we're going to send in to the Planning Commission to avoid ambiguity. I think, and I'm certainly happy that the rest of the council can make this finding, but certainly when I look at one of the requirements that we have to find there exists a current and immediate threat to public health and safety, I can't make that finding, so I'll vote no. |
| 00:49:07.33 | Vip Karen Williams | Thank you. Yeah. Bye. Bye. |
| 00:49:08.11 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you very much. |
| 00:49:33.73 | Jill Hoffman | THANK YOU. Thank you. |
| 00:49:34.49 | Vip Karen Williams | Councilman Weiner, I think. |
| 00:49:36.01 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:49:36.16 | Vip Karen Williams | Thank you. |
| 00:49:36.28 | Jill Hoffman | . |
| 00:49:36.48 | Vip Karen Williams | you |
| 00:49:36.68 | Jill Hoffman | I'm not sure. |
| 00:49:36.92 | Vip Karen Williams | Okay, shall I make the motion? Yes. I move to adopt the attached interim urgency ordinance, imposing a 45-day moratorium on the issuance of occupancy use permits for banks and financial services retail uses in the CR mixed commercial and residential zone to allow the planning commission time to study and consider ordinance amendments related to the permitted uses in the CR zone that are consistent with the policies and objectives of the general plan and zoning ordinance. |
| 00:50:06.92 | Herb Weiner | Second. |
| 00:50:08.08 | Vip Karen Williams | All in favor? All in favor? |
| 00:50:09.06 | Jill Hoffman | I know sorry do we need to do a roll call. |
| 00:50:09.08 | Vip Karen Williams | Bye. |
| 00:50:09.79 | Herb Weiner | I agree. |
| 00:50:13.15 | Vip Karen Williams | Thank you. |
| 00:50:13.16 | Unknown | Okay, aye. Okay. |
| 00:50:14.48 | Jill Hoffman | OK, opposed? |
| 00:50:15.86 | Vice Mayor Withey | I'm opposed. I can't remember yes or no. |
| 00:50:17.30 | Jill Hoffman | I know. |
| 00:50:17.67 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 00:50:18.73 | Mary Wagner | . I want to. |
| 00:50:20.18 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah, motion passes 4 to 1. Thank you. Okay, moving along. Item 6A. Can we switch over to this? |
| 00:50:27.57 | Vip Karen Williams | Can we switch over to this? So, item 6A is the conveyance of the Butte Street property for conservation purposes. And since I am Secretary of Open Space Sausalito and have been certainly a part of that effort, I am going to recuse myself. Before I do, I just want to recognize the tremendous contributions and efforts of our president, Bill Minet of Open Space Sausalito, who has just done a Herculean job all year in his advocacy and championing this, and the research has just been amazing. I want to recognize Leon Hunting, our treasurer for Open Space Sausalito, who I believe personally ensured that so many residents in town received customized packets and did amazing outreach to ensure that this was all going to come together and whose expertise in real estate brokerage has just been invaluable as well. And to Jim Richards, who has been our big data expert in crunching data, helping us do public outreach, and just keeping that website and social media transparency so alive. So I just wanted to give some recognition there. Thank you. |
| 00:51:52.81 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, thank you. It's awful. |
| 00:51:54.46 | Vip Karen Williams | Yeah. |
| 00:51:55.29 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. So we're at item 6A on our business items. Conveyance of Butte Street property for conservation purposes. And the presentation will be by our city attorney, Mary Wagner. |
| 00:52:06.88 | Mary Wagner | Thank you, Madam Mayor, members of the City Council. This is a continuation of your discussion on the transfer of the city's interest in the Butte Street property to Open Space Los Alitos. As Councilmember Pfeiffer just indicated, the treasurer of Open Space Los Alitos, Leon Hunting, is here and will be available to answer any questions that you may have after this presentation. By way of a really brief background, because we went into great detail at your June meeting the nature of the property. I'm not sure. The property is located on the south side of Butte Street. It's just over two acres in size. It's currently zoned R2 2.5. And it's jointly owned now by the city and open space Sausalito. Open State Base Sausalito is a 501c3 nonprofit corporation. It's not affiliated with or controlled by the city. Thank you. Open Space Sausalito negotiated an option agreement with the former owner of the other half interest of the property, the Hunts, to acquire that interest. And in June of 2016, they were successful and became co-owners with the city of Sausalito on this piece of property. On June 28th, you received the report on the status of the discussions with OSS. You directed us to finalize a conveyance agreement, conservation easement, and other ancillary documents to convey the city's one half interest in the Butte Street property, while assuring that it would be maintained for open space and conservation purposes in perpetuity. The transaction involves entering into the conveyance agreement with open space Sausalito, pursuant to which the city would execute a quit claim deed to transfer the city's half interest to OSS. As discussed with the city council, that quit claim deed includes a covenant restricting the Butte Street property to open space and conservation uses. OSS would then hold title to the entire property. Although the city's not receiving compensation in the traditional sense of cash, There is a public purpose being served and consideration being given to the city in the ongoing maintenance and preservation of this piece of property as an open space and wildlife preserve. And the transfer of the maintenance and responsibilities and liability to open space Sausalito. We talked last time about the conservation easement, and one of the board members from most, Marin Open Space Trust, was here at your last meeting. This document ensures that the property remains open space in perpetuity, similar to the deed restriction that you're going to have in the quit claim. It outlines open space Sausalito's maintenance obligations. Most would be the grantee, the grantor would be open space Sausalito once they acquire the city's interest in the property. Most would be the grantee. Their role is to ensure that open space Sausalito lives up to its obligations under the conservation easement. Most in open space are finalizing the terms of that conservation easement. The city's not a party to it, but our conveyance is contingent upon that document being recorded concurrently with the transfer of the city's interest. The documents are drafted so that the city manager has final approval of that final conservation easement because they are still in negotiations on it. We're confident that it will be in the form that will be acceptable to the city. It will outline open space Sausalito's responsibilities and ensure that the property meets the condition of your conveyance. Quickly under CEQA, there's a specific categorical exemption which applies in this situation, which is listed here on your screen, which is the transfer of property for this type of purpose. there is a government code requirement that the planning commission make a finding that the transfer of the property is consistent with the general plan. We will bring that to them in September and the transactions contingent upon that being issued. Again, we have no concern that that can be met based upon the general plan provisions that are provided in your staff report that talk about the preservation of natural resources. And the preservation of threatened and endangered species. So staff's recommendation is that you adopt the resolution in your packet, authorizing the conveyance of real property to open space Sausalito, finding that the conveyance is categorically exempt under CEQA, approving and authorizing the execution and delivery of an open space conveyance agreement with conservation easement, the joint escrow instructions, and any and all documents necessary to complete the transaction and implement the resolution. The resolution in your packet delegates that authority to the city manager so that the escrow can close and all those documents can be signed without needing to come back to the city council. And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. And as I indicated previously, Leon Hunting from Open Space Los Lito is here as well. |
| 00:57:15.97 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you, Mary. Do we have any questions from Council? this. Thank you. |
| 00:57:19.98 | Herb Weiner | I saw. |
| 00:57:20.47 | Jill Hoffman | Go ahead. |
| 00:57:20.72 | Herb Weiner | Amen. |
| 00:57:20.96 | Jill Hoffman | you |
| 00:57:21.03 | Herb Weiner | I'm sorry, Mary, I realize looking at the general plan, the likelihood of the planning commission not being able to find this consistent with the general plan is unlikely. |
| 00:57:21.30 | Jill Hoffman | Bye. |
| 00:57:32.86 | Herb Weiner | But in the rare event, the planning commission did, for some reason, find that it was not consistent with the general plan. Does our appeal process, does the appeal apply so it would come back here anyway for if it were, if that very unlikely event were to happen? |
| 00:57:54.43 | Mary Wagner | Yeah, thank you, Vice Mayor Withey. Any determination by the Planning Commission can be appealed to the City Council. In that type of situation, it would most likely be appealed by Open Space Sausalito. |
| 00:58:04.74 | Herb Weiner | Yeah, okay. All right, thanks. |
| 00:58:08.53 | Mary Wagner | I'm not sure. |
| 00:58:08.90 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:58:09.51 | Mary Wagner | Mm-mm. |
| 00:58:10.89 | Jill Hoffman | Any other questions? I have a couple of questions. And these are about the conservation easement and that it's a condition precedent to I'm not sure. the recordation of the quick claim deed. I had a comment from a member of the community that why is the Why is that a condition present to recordation when the quick claim deed clearly says that the property shall be used solely for open space, natural areas, and natural resource conservation purposes? Doesn't that sort of take care of our side of it? And then the conservation easement is something to be worked out with most in OSS. And so that's my first question. But my second question is, Do we have a conservation easement now that's acceptable to the city? Or how close are we to having that? I guess that's my first question, because if that's true, then my second question is going to be irrelevant if it's already |
| 00:59:08.86 | Mary Wagner | I think your second question is better addressed by Mr. Hunting, because he's been working with most OSS and their attorney. The answer to your first question is that the deed restriction is a very simple restriction. It just indicates that the property has to be held as open space. I think the city also has an interest in ensuring that the property is maintained in that condition and that it's maintained in a safe way. The types of conditions of whether or not signs are posted, whether or not benches are put in place, what the actual details of the preservation are important to the city and the information and the discussion we had with the working group finance committee was that those details were important and that it was necessary for the city to be able to see what those were and have those put in place before it transferred its interest and also to address the gift of public funds issue that you're ensuring that it's being maintained and not being a liability. |
| 00:59:12.93 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. |
| 00:59:23.61 | Melanie Mershon | you know, |
| 01:00:11.16 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, thanks. Leon, did you have prepared remarks? And then you can use your three minutes for that, and then I can ask you a follow-up question. I don't want to take your time with that issue unless you want to address it. |
| 01:00:22.08 | Leon Hunting | I can just quickly address the issue. For our purposes, it's really a matter of content. Where we are right now is we have a meeting set up for Friday with a third-party attorney who most wants to have, and we are sharing the cost of that attorney because this is a very experienced attorney with regard to conservation easements. And so their board wants to have that assistance in our compilation of a conservation easement. |
| 01:00:56.12 | Unknown | Okay. |
| 01:00:56.49 | Leon Hunting | It should not take us long to get that drafted and in place. The content, as far as I can see, would certainly satisfy the city and I just want to emphasize one other thing. you know, we were totally intent on having a conservation easement. It was a condition for the Caltrans grant that we got. There is one reason. The other is |
| 01:01:25.84 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:01:25.97 | Melanie Mershon | Thank you. |
| 01:01:29.89 | Leon Hunting | our agreement with you, the city. We wanted to have an agreeable position on a conservation easement because we all want to have this in perpetuity and have it without problems. And the third is really we want to make sure we have the built-in suspenders in place, which this is kind of a built-in suspenders process that we're going through, to make sure that the wildlife and the open space will be protected for this specific purpose. |
| 01:02:02.23 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. Can I ask Leon one follow-up question? So does the fact that the quit claim hasn't been recorded yet or that you don't have the title to the land yet, is that slowing you down in any way? |
| 01:02:16.76 | Leon Hunting | No. What's slowing us down is actually getting the conservation. This is what has slowed us down to this point. The board, the most bored going through this process and wanting to have a third-party attorney. So it is that. We need to, the grantor, as we are the grantor, needs to satisfy the grantee. And the grantee must feel comfortable with the content of the conservation easement. |
| 01:02:33.52 | Unknown | Okay. |
| 01:02:49.11 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:02:49.16 | Mary Wagner | Bye. |
| 01:02:49.18 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, thanks, Mary. You had the comments? |
| 01:02:51.07 | Mary Wagner | Just another factor in the conservation easement is that you then have both open space Sausalito as an entity that's dedicated to preservation of this property. And then standing behind them, you have another entity, which is most. And I think that that was another factor that was important to the city council and the finance committee starting, that you ensured that there was kind of a level of organization in place to maintain and preserve this property. |
| 01:03:04.57 | Melanie Mershon | And I think that's a good thing. |
| 01:03:16.92 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. Have you seen anything in the last draft of the conservation easement that indicates that we're going to not No. |
| 01:03:24.09 | Mary Wagner | No, and I'm confident that we have a great working relationship both with Open Space Los Alito and with most. We're all on the same page about what's going to happen with this piece of property. The form that we provided is just that. It's a form. It's a standard form in the industry, but we're not married to it. We just want the concept in place, and if the council is comfortable with that and delegating that authority to staff, I don't see anything that would hold it up other than just getting everybody to the table and reaching a comfort level at most and open space La Salida that they have the right protections in place. Okay. PASS. |
| 01:03:58.69 | Vice Mayor Withey | Just to be for clarification, so it would not come back to the council? |
| 01:04:03.08 | Mary Wagner | No. |
| 01:04:03.62 | Vice Mayor Withey | Okay. And then maybe wise to maybe get that in place before you go to the planning commission so that there's that outside chance that all the boxes are ticked. And then basically we would delegate authority to you and our comfort would be that staff and our city attorney would be reviewing this agreement and Correct. |
| 01:04:23.16 | Mary Wagner | Correct, and that's a very typical delegation of authority in this type of situation where you have an escrow, numerous documents that have to be signed. We've got the structure and the direction from the council of what the purpose is, and I'm very comfortable working with Adam to ensure that the city's requirements are met. |
| 01:04:42.55 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. Thanks. Any other questions? Yes, Leon, did you have prepared remarks that you'd like to make? Because I kind of took up your time. |
| 01:04:49.47 | Leon Hunting | Like, No, I would like to ask Vice Mayor Withy a question because you raised an issue about the Planning Commission and an impossible... Is that what you were saying? |
| 01:05:10.69 | Herb Weiner | I asked the question, in the unlikely event that the Planning Commission didn't find, found that it was, in fact, contrary to our general plan, We're quite expecting them not to do that. Is there a recourse for you guys? And the recourse is you come back to us. You'll be able to. |
| 01:05:30.39 | Leon Hunting | I was on the city council that created the general plan with regard to this issue. And it is in the general plan that this really was not intended for development, this property specifically. so I would think that the Planning Commission it would not be appropriate for the Planning Commission, it would not be appropriate for the Planning Commission to receive or to suggest that this would be something that would be an issue with the general plan. |
| 01:06:10.92 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, thanks, I don't perceive to be controversial. |
| 01:06:13.39 | Herb Weiner | I think that's my understanding as well, Leon. |
| 01:06:14.80 | Leon Hunting | Yeah. |
| 01:06:14.87 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah. |
| 01:06:14.89 | Leon Hunting | Yeah, as well, Leon. Great. Yeah. |
| 01:06:16.61 | Herb Weiner | Thank you. |
| 01:06:16.64 | Leon Hunting | The fellow left his Bible. |
| 01:06:19.43 | Jill Hoffman | Do we have any public comment on this issue, the conveyance of Butte Street property for conservation purposes? I see no one we have no speaker cards okay. Council discussion do we need any discussion this. |
| 01:06:32.74 | Councilmember Weiner | No, I just want to say, Leon, it goes back, what, about three and a half, almost four years ago? |
| 01:06:34.18 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. |
| 01:06:38.33 | Councilmember Weiner | Thank you. |
| 01:06:38.39 | Unknown | Yes. |
| 01:06:39.54 | Councilmember Weiner | So thank you very much. |
| 01:06:41.36 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:06:43.56 | Councilmember Weiner | Well, I figured you'd have had enough. And I want to thank you for for accepting the chairpersonship when we started this and sticking with it and Thank you very, very much. |
| 01:06:58.96 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Any other discussion? I have a couple of comments. I just want to point out that You know, at the beginning, the city had discussed we have an undivided, we were gifted or inherited, I guess, an undivided half interest in this property. We started the discussion, I think, with the city purchasing that undivided half. So we're at the point now where we didn't have to purchase it and we're not going to have to maintain it going forward. And again, thank you, Leon, and everybody on that team who came up with this result. So I think it's a when for the city so. Any other comments? |
| 01:07:37.84 | Vice Mayor Withey | reiterate all the things we gave you in June but great job Leon and to everyone again you know it's great job |
| 01:07:38.97 | Jill Hoffman | all the things. you Yeah. |
| 01:07:45.05 | Leon Hunting | The Pressure. The Pressure. Thank you. And on behalf of our team, we want to thank you very much for your time and your consideration. |
| 01:07:52.93 | Jill Hoffman | And one thing I want to point out too is at the last meeting in June, was that June 28th? Anybody remember when that was? June 28th meeting, there's a really great report by conservationists about the significance of this piece of property. So that's a good watch if you need something to occupy your time. We're interested in this issue. Would somebody like to make a motion? |
| 01:08:21.52 | Vice Mayor Withey | I need to read it all. No, you can just say you moved to adopt the resolution. I know that we adopt the resolution with the recommendation as put forth by staff. |
| 01:08:22.43 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 01:08:22.75 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah. |
| 01:08:23.24 | Unknown | You can just say you moved. |
| 01:08:24.03 | Jill Hoffman | to adopt the resolution. |
| 01:08:24.98 | Unknown | you |
| 01:08:30.24 | Jill Hoffman | All in favor? Aye. Aye. |
| 01:08:31.14 | Vice Mayor Withey | Aye. |
| 01:08:32.15 | Jill Hoffman | Second. |
| 01:08:32.54 | Councilmember Weiner | Thank you. and, |
| 01:08:33.56 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:08:33.60 | Councilmember Weiner | you |
| 01:08:33.94 | Jill Hoffman | All in favor. Hi. We're so anxious. |
| 01:08:34.75 | Councilmember Weiner | Hi. We're so anxious to do it for you. |
| 01:08:36.67 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:08:37.07 | Councilmember Weiner | Leon, we're so interested in getting you home that we just... |
| 01:08:38.12 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah, four years. |
| 01:08:42.31 | Jill Hoffman | Motion approved for. Okay, moving along. Now, does anybody need a health and comfort break? |
| 01:08:45.07 | Councilmember Weiner | Thank you. |
| 01:08:50.83 | Councilmember Weiner | No. We only got one item. We only got one item. OK. |
| 01:08:54.29 | Jill Hoffman | Oh, right. Yes, we have to get Linda. |
| 01:08:54.35 | Councilmember Weiner | Oh right, yes, we have to get Linda. you |
| 01:08:57.26 | Jill Hoffman | please. |
| 01:08:57.65 | Councilmember Weiner | Thank you. |
| 01:08:57.66 | Jill Hoffman | you |
| 01:08:57.75 | Councilmember Weiner | Thank you. |
| 01:08:57.80 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Yeah, I think so, unless we, it's when he's ready. |
| 01:09:01.65 | Councilmember Weiner | chill Thank you. |
| 01:09:02.39 | Jill Hoffman | Mm-hmm. |
| 01:09:02.45 | Councilmember Weiner | Thank you. Thank you. but |
| 01:09:32.14 | Unknown | government. |
| 01:09:32.48 | Jill Hoffman | Is Danny? Yeah, Danny's here. He's back there. I see him. All right, we're moving on to item 6B on the agenda, short-term rentals, and again, our own. |
| 01:09:32.49 | Unknown | it's a great day. |
| 01:09:43.60 | Jill Hoffman | Danny Castro, Community Development Director, is going to give us a status report on where we are with our review of short-term rentals. |
| 01:10:02.82 | Danny Castro | Thank you again, Mayor Hoffman, members of the Council. The item before you is an update on short-term rentals and staff the City Council's direction To give you some background, the City Council at its January 26th meeting directed staff to form a short-term rental working group of diverse membership of the community to conduct forums for a community dialogue to ask the question of whether or not the ordinance should be changed to allow short-term rentals, and if so, what would be the restrictions and policies to regulate those. You also directed staff to continue code enforcement on prohibiting short-term rental uses through the fiscal year 2015-2016 term of the financed amount of $50,000 and until the term it ended on June 30, 2015. And you also directed staff to report back on ways to cost-effectively enforce, including but not limited to, considering a change to the penalties. |
| 01:11:07.72 | Danny Castro | A call for working group members went out to all interested community members that attended the three prior city council meetings when short-term rentals were discussed. And that was in March of 2015, June of 2015, and January 2016. To all complainants of short-term rentals, those were my department received complaints and to residents who represented themselves as proponents and those who also represented themselves as being against short-term rentals, and to the business community, including hotel operators. Here's a list of the names of the short-term rental working group. Kate Storer, Melanie Meharshand, Alisa Leach, and Leslie Uzdavinis. Yasmin McGrain, Sheila Hunter, Ali Ramon, Dan Lack, and Beth Rowe. |
| 01:12:02.56 | Danny Castro | Community forums were, the first task of this working group was to plan and conduct a community forum. And in this case, we held two community forums. It was on June 18th on a Saturday afternoon from 3 to 5 p.m. And on June 29th, Thursday evening, 6.30 to 8.30 p.m. The format of the forums were the same for both meetings. I introduced the matter and provided a current state of affairs of short-term rentals in Sausalito. We had a number of panelists. One was from Tiburon, who is a city representative in which they currently ban short-term rentals. There was a representative from the city of Petaluma who allows it with regulations, and the city of Napa who also allows it with regulations. Napa was only at the June 29th meeting. Sausalito resident who shared the negative experiences living next to a problematic neighbor, and then also a Sausalito resident who shared her positive experiences with hosting a short-term rental at her other property that she owns in another city. The community forums were announced in the Sausalito Currents on nextdoor.com and via an email distribution list of interested persons who have expressed interest and being notified on this issue. The June 18th forum had 35 people in attendance with nine public speakers, five for and four against. The June 29th forum had 33 people in attendance with 13 public comment speakers, seven for, four against, and two undecided. A survey was also a task of the working group Um, and the working group created the survey to receive additional input from the community on short-term rentals. The survey was available at the two community forums and online via Open City Hall, an online form for civic engagement. Open City Hall allows participants to read what others are saying about the topic, check survey results, and the ability to post comments and statements. It also helps to receive additional community input, which in turn helps the decision-making process. The short-term rental survey asks, do you think short-term rentals should be allowed in Sausalito with regulations? Following the question are a list of five pros for regulating short-term rentals, allowing with regulations, and a list of five cons of allowing short-term rentals, and the ability to rank an order from priority from one to five. Other pros and cons could be filled in if a survey respondent wish to include additional pros or cons. The survey was tabulated and there were a total of, total aggregate of 300 survey respondents. 249 were done online, 51 were hard copy surveys turned in, For the question, do you think short-term rentals should be allowed in Sausalito with regulations? 63% mark yes, regulate short-term rentals. 35% marked no, enforced ban on short-term rentals. And 2% indicated they were undecided or did not fill in the yes or no option. Open City Hall survey encourages survey respondents to register, but does not require registration. This information is kept confidential if you are registered. And the hard copy survey indicated that filling out your name was optional. Of the 300 survey respondents, 157 respondents were registered, 64% marked yes, 35% marked no, and 1% were undecided. Of the 300 survey respondents, 143 respondents were unregistered, with 62% marking yes, 36% marking no, and 3% were undecided. I should say that it was in looking at the aggregate versus registered and unregistered, the percentages were pretty much the same. |
| 01:16:35.31 | Danny Castro | The survey also included, well, with the five pros, and again, the five pros, here's the order and ranking from one to five using a weighted average. And one, in terms of the pros of regulating short-term rentals, number one, affordability for residents allows supplemental income for Sausalito homeowners and renters who need it. retirees, families, young home buyers, Number two on the list. |
| 01:17:02.70 | Jill Hoffman | I'm sorry to interrupt you, but can I ask you a question? |
| 01:17:03.68 | Danny Castro | Sure. |
| 01:17:06.45 | Jill Hoffman | What does the value mean? Does that mean if you, is it ranked number one? Was that the one that got the most support? It got the most support. Yeah. So one was ranked the highest. |
| 01:17:12.64 | Danny Castro | We got the most support. Yeah, so one was ranked the highest. And the widest percentage is because we took a weighted average of all the numbers. |
| 01:17:21.30 | Jill Hoffman | OK. |
| 01:17:21.50 | Danny Castro | Thank you. So that's the order in which they fell, from one being the highest to five being the lowest. |
| 01:17:26.14 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, thank you. |
| 01:17:26.77 | Danny Castro | Sure. Number two was temporary housing option. used by those relocating to the area, by seasonal workers during home remodels and for visiting friends and family. Number three was increased transient occupancy tax revenue to Sausalito. Number four, increased sales tax revenue. Number five, better code enforcement. In terms of the weighted average for cons, the cons of the negative impacts for allowing short-term rentals Number one that came to the top was character of the neighborhood, that there's a less sense of community, strangers coming and going, more tourist visitors in Sausalito. Number two was parking and traffic impacts, that additional cars would be located on the local streets and traffic. Number three was noise impacts from parties or gatherings. Four, loss of housing stock, that long-term rentals could be taken up by short-term rentals. And finally, number five, trash impacts not enough capacity for garbage and recycling. |
| 01:18:37.44 | Danny Castro | In terms of court enforcement, The city implemented a short-term rental code enforcement program, which was comprised of a part-time code enforcement officer, again, budgeted at $50,000 through the remainder of the last fiscal year, ending on June 30, 2016. The code enforcement program was intended to be a trial period. to test the cost recovery, enforcement capability, test the success rate of seizing the operation of short-term rental uses, Primarily it was focused on the bad actors. We had a list of the top three that received, where the city had received a number of complaints. And with regards to case one, notification was given throughout this process and that it was confirmed that the short-term rental use seized. For case number two, the neighbors confirmed that there was continued short-term rental activity occurring at that site. Administrative penalties are issued and there's outstanding fees of over $2,000. The case number three, no amount, there were no short-term rental activity observed, and the property owner has stated that leases are signed for more than a 30-day stay. |
| 01:20:14.27 | Danny Castro | Since the code enforcement began, there were 50 new cases that were based on neighbor complaints and notifications were sent. There were additional labor complaints and other short-term rental operations. Research showed that on websites, there's about 40 to 50 rentals in Sausalito, depending on the month or season. That's a reduced number from approximately 80 plus Sausalito listings last year. So, Staff believes that because of further awareness and outreach about the prohibition, the numbers have decreased. |
| 01:20:52.10 | Danny Castro | In terms of the positive outcomes with the code enforcement, some hosts seize their operations after notification. I'm not sure. Hosts responded that they will modify their language on their website listings to rent for 30 days or more. The Sausalito Host Group, an organized group, said that the number of hosts have lessened since the enforcement began, and the code enforcement has observed that the numbers have decreased since the outreach. The challenges, the primarily challenge is identification and monitoring of short-term rentals. We found that the language in the listings are often modified for minimum 30-day stays. And the concern is if in fact in reality, renters are being allowed to stay for shorter periods. The listings have become more cryptic. Milk steer photos are shown typically. difficult to approve, rentals are being conducted on a short-term basis. And new hosts are listed while others stop listing, so there's a continual amount of monitoring that would be necessary. It's also difficult to collect back TOT to help recover the cost for code enforcement. In my experience, in my uh, reaching out to other colleagues in other cities, cities do not recover costs. It's often a complaint that I hear from my own colleagues that recovering costs is very difficult because of the time necessary for code enforcement that's devoted to it. Recovering some of the costs via a TOT collection, which is a transient occupancy collection, is one mechanism. and the application and permit fees when you do regulate them and allow them. Also annual permit renewal fees are established as well to help recover costs. Some cities have increased penalty fees, imposed on violators for obviously to help recover costs, but also to make it more punitive on whether you permit or not permit. Many cities are experiencing these same challenges as I just mentioned. |
| 01:23:13.61 | Danny Castro | Staff has met with Host Compliance. It's a new firm that's out there that assists cities' code enforcement programs in their monitoring by locating the short-term rental users and determine the number of days rented based on sophisticated software data research. I think they're from the Bay Area. And they have recently contracted with Los Angeles, Truckee, Pasadena, Monterey, San Rafael, Morro Bay, Buena Park, Hermosa Beach. And I understand now that Tiburon is looking into for them to assist Tiburon. What they do is they provide an ongoing update list of short-term rentals operating and those without proper permits. And the contract cost would be approximately $4,500 per year for that service. |
| 01:24:14.38 | Danny Castro | In terms of staff's direction, what staff will be asking the City Council on code enforcement, right now there is no code enforcement that is dedicated to enforcing short-term rentals. The department is budgeted in the current fiscal year for a part-time code enforcement officer to deal with all code enforcement matters in the city. and what staff would be seeking is do we operate as only a reactive complaint code enforcement operation for short-term rentals based on the workload to monitor short-term rental activity and other code enforcement activity? Thank you. Uh, Currently, penalty fees are issued at $100 for the first violation, then $200, and then $500 for repeat. Um, Should the city increase these penalties fees for violators? And finally, would you like staff to further investigate host compliance on assisting code enforcement monitoring on short term rentals? |
| 01:25:16.02 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:25:17.26 | Danny Castro | In terms of updates from other cities in Marin County, four cities prohibit short-term rentals, that's Sausalito, Tiburon, Belvedere, and Larkspur. One city allows it, it's Mill Valley, that has a short-term rental program. Six cities do not regulate short-term rentals or have any regulations in place. That's County of Marin, San Rafael, Fairfax, Corta Madero, Ross, and San Anselmo. Most of the cities and the colleagues I spoke to are taking a wait-and-see approach. As you know, there's a number of Thank you. Um, issues and cities are experiencing San Francisco litigation regarding short-term rentals. |
| 01:26:01.08 | Danny Castro | I am now going to turn to Kate Storr, who's the co-chair of the Sausalito, I mean the short-term rental working group, who will present the summary report of the community feedback received at the community forums, and I'll return at the end to conclude. |
| 01:26:22.16 | Kate Storer | Hi there, good evening city council members. Thank you again for convening this task force and working on this issue. And as Danny said, I'm going to take a moment to provide a little color to some of the data points that he just shared with you with respect to the community feedback that we received during the two community forums and through the surveys. |
| 01:26:48.23 | Kate Storer | Before I begin, I'd also like to take a moment to thank all the members of the short-term working group, some of whom are here tonight. If you are here, if you wouldn't mind, please standing or raising your hand. Thank you very much. Everybody worked very hard and very quickly to pull this together and bring you some information from the community on this issue. So thank you all. So to start with, the members of the short-term working group reflected a sort of diverse perspectives. Some of them had had negative experiences living next to neighbors who had short-term rentals and had very problematic experiences. Some had positive experiences, short-term rental hosts in Sausalito. Some had hosted or rented elsewhere, but not in Sausalito. We had a representative of the local hotels. We had a tourism consultant. We had an affordable housing advocate. And we had neutral parties who were just neighbors who had an interest in the issue, but had no experience one way or the other with short term rentals. The objective of the group was actually fairly narrow, and I just want to point that out for you because we do feel that there's quite a bit more work to be done on this issue, particularly after getting feedback from the community. But the purpose of this group was purely to get feedback from the community on the issue of short-term rentals and what action, if any, should be taken by the City Council. And the report is a summary of that community feedback, and it doesn't represent a specific point of view or the point of view of any of the members of the working group, just to be clear. So what we heard, we heard that the current ordinances are ineffective. And what I mean by that is that the neighbors who had problematic experiences with short term rentals came forward and many of them felt that not only did their neighbors continue to rent, But on the sly. But in addition, that when they tried to reach out and complain to the city, that the city did not have any tools in its arsenal, in its planning arsenal, to be able to respond to their complaints and to be able to end the nuisance issues that they were facing. Thank you. Most of the issues that the neighbors experienced were around things like noise, traffic, and upsetting the daily rhythm of their life. To be clear, the issues were not about character of the neighbor. They were more directly impacted than that. And although it's a very small number of people who are impacted by this issue of short-term rentals, I just want to note that they're impacted very deeply. This has been very disruptive in their lives. And so some of the things you get to hear are that people get lost and invade the property looking for rentals. They feel there's no one at City Hall or in the police department they can turn to, particularly on weekends when we don't have a code enforcement officer in place. |
| 01:30:03.57 | Kate Storer | There are small. a small number of people who were strongly in favor. And for them, a lot of it rested on they felt that they had property rights and that they should be free to use their home as they saw foot. Again, but this was a small number of people. And there was also a small number of people who were strongly opposed And this group of people really felt that short-term rentals could negatively impact and change the character of Sausalito as a community and the residential neighborhood feel of the community. And they were very concerned about that. They were also concerned that it might raise property prices and make Sausalito less affordable. But most people fell somewhere in the middle. And so most of the responses we received were actually fairly mixed. And I want to sort of provide some color on this and why why so many people voted yes allow, regulate and allow I don't think that all of those votes were necessarily pro-short-term rentals, but rather people feeling that there should be proactive steps taken to regulate the existing short-term rentals that are already happening. So I just want you to understand that this is a very nuanced discussion, and so that we got a lot of feedback from people talking about don't lose the housing stock, noise impacts can be regulated, limit the number of permits. A lot of solutions-oriented comments came through things like limit the number of days, make sure that permits are given and posted on the advertising. And then limit it to only owner occupants or principal residences was very common, actually. And then you get comments like this, I agree that we should consider home sharing where the owner is on the premises, but And I think that's what I hope that the city council takes away, that there was a very large but in this. We should not let people rent their homes in ways that allow them to profit while negatively impacting their neighbors. So I feel that this group of people who are somewhere in the middle had a variety of comments, they were very diverse, and I do recommend that the city council, if they have an opportunity, read through some of their survey feedback, because it was very interesting and very useful. |
| 01:32:39.58 | Kate Storer | Um, So what we heard, a majority felt that regulation would enable more effective enforcement. And a lot of that is that because in Sausalito we are different from Tiburon, we have a lower median income than Tiburon, more people are renting for supplemental income here, and more people appear to be renting even though we have a ban. And more people are renting underground. They've gone underground, and it's causing ill will between neighbors. And so people felt that regulation would allow more enforcement. It would allow these good hosts to come above ground and allow the city to have stronger teeth when it comes to taking action against what many in the community forums call bad actor hosts. |
| 01:33:27.76 | Kate Storer | And the consensus that we heard from the feedback we got was that most people felt that your property rights end where your neighbors' rights begin. and that the city councils and the city should begin to look at how we can rethink or amend the current ordinances to better address this problem and to support neighbors, both who are having issues currently with short-term rentals who are causing nuisances next to them, but also people who are looking to use it for supplemental income. Thank you. We heard from a number of seniors, in fact, who came to the community forums and talked about their desire to stay in Sausalito and the need to have the supplemental income that they were hoping to get from short-term rentals. We also heard from planners from Tiburon, Napa, and Petaluma. I'm not going to dwell on this because I think Danny did a very good job of talking about it. They had some really helpful feedback for us, thinking about how Sausalito might approach it. Most people felt that the approach taken by Tiburon would not work here, as I mentioned before, because we have tried it and so many hosts have gone underground and neighbors are still having issues and have no recourse. Petaluma had a much more, they allowed it, they had registration, it was a little bit more loose. And then we heard from Napa, they allowed it with registration and restrictions, including in what effectively turned out to be a conditional use permit for each short-term rental that they allowed. Um, What we heard from those cities that while enforcement was still required, that they reported a decrease in the number of complaints after adopting regulations. So the recommendations of the short term working group were one. I WANT TO TALK ABOUT THIS. Ordinance relating to transit occupancy and allowed residential uses should be amended to regulate and allow short term rentals. The new ordinance should include increased penalties for host renting without a permit. In violation of the new regulations or causing repeated complaints from neighbors. And two, the new regulation should cover all known complaint issues, including parking, arrival, departure times, noise, trash, host availability, and a more effective complaint process to the extent that they're not already regulated by Sausalito's municipal code. Finally, the council should task this working group, the legislative committee, or a new committee, to draft proposed regulations based on the experiences of similar towns and known complaints, and that in the meantime, the city should continue the enforcement of the ban as resources permit. Those were the summary of the findings, and I believe you have a report in your packet, and I'm happy to answer questions if anyone has them. |
| 01:36:34.30 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, does anybody on the council have questions for Kate or Danny on this issue? Before we move on to public comment. Are you finished? Oh, Danny, are you finished? No, I have one. Sorry. Thank you. |
| 01:36:49.81 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:36:49.82 | Danny Castro | It's okay. |
| 01:36:53.55 | Danny Castro | It is my recommendation slide. Okay. So you have a number of any one or more of the following options this evening. And I thought it's a good idea to list all of these here. Number one, work with the legislative committee and any other appointed members to further study policies and regulations on short-term rentals. |
| 01:37:15.88 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:37:16.57 | Danny Castro | to appoint two members of the city council to work with the short-term rental working group to further study policies and regulations on short-term rentals. Three. draft an ordinance or amend the zoning ordinance to expressly prohibit short-term rentals, Four, modify the administrative penalties ordinance to increase the penalty fees for violations on short-term rentals. Five, provide direction on the level of code enforcement for regulating short-term rental uses. Sixth, direct staff to further investigate host compliance to assist code enforcement on the identification and monitoring of violators of short-term rental uses. We could have a representative from host compliance come before the City Council and make a presentation. or any other direction. And so that concludes my report. And I guess Kate and I are available for any questions. |
| 01:38:10.00 | Jill Hoffman | Okay do we want to ask questions our tech public comment first or |
| 01:38:13.42 | Vice Mayor Withey | Well, I think so. Danny, you said, in one of your slides, you said, |
| 01:38:13.62 | Jill Hoffman | I don't think |
| 01:38:17.74 | Vice Mayor Withey | Some of these have ceased. What evidence do you have that they ceased operation? You said some of the operators had ceased. |
| 01:38:25.94 | Danny Castro | It's... Monitoring from our code enforcement officer that indicated either by written or verbal response indicating they've ceased. And then our code enforcement officer would continue to monitor and... and find that there's no other activity that |
| 01:38:40.83 | Vice Mayor Withey | You mean so they have no listing on the services, basically? |
| 01:38:44.42 | Danny Castro | Our code enforcement officer had to continue to go back and look for listings and, you looked at it repeatedly to determine that that didn't come back again. |
| 01:38:59.95 | Vice Mayor Withey | But just to be clear, if they change their listing to say more than 30 days, would you consider that ceased or not? Because your next bullet said some of them just switched to 30 days. So if someone said I went from short term and now I list for more than 30 days, do you consider that ceased or not? |
| 01:39:16.94 | Danny Castro | There were two instances, yes, seizing the short-term rental, and there were some that switched to a 30-day or more. |
| 01:39:27.05 | Vip Karen Williams | her Thank you. Thank you. So my question first is, of the 300 survey respondents, 157 were registered. Were they all, were the 157 registered, they were all residents of Sausalito? |
| 01:39:44.85 | Danny Castro | No, not necessarily. |
| 01:39:47.13 | Vip Karen Williams | Okay. So registered does not necessarily mean resident of Sausalito. No. Okay. Do you know offhand what percentage? That's okay. You can get back to us on that. My next question is, I noticed that the cities that were looked at were all in Marin. I would consider Sausalito rather unique in that we are the first city, we've got the ferry landing, and we've got the bike traffic, etc. And we're known as a tourist destination. So I would look at, I'm just curious as to why the group didn't look at other tourist towns, because I would think that small, quaint tourist towns would be most in danger of being completely overwhelmed. |
| 01:39:52.63 | Danny Castro | No. |
| 01:40:48.05 | Vip Karen Williams | and having the short-term rentals situation exploited. I was noticing that Carmel by the Sea bans short-term rentals completely. They have an ordinance similar to Sausalito. And I noticed that Del Mar, it's illegal, and yet it's been going on kind of under the radar, but that recently, as in April, Del Mar implemented a 45-day moratorium stopping all new short-term kind of rentals because these seaside tourist destination towns are kind of overrun. So I was just curious as to the reason why only other towns in Marin were looked at as opposed to more of a comparison to tourist towns in terms of |
| 01:41:48.49 | Danny Castro | Yes, when we were looking at folks who would Thank you. come to Sausalito and speak at a community forum. Distance was a factor. We did reach out to some that were in the southern peninsula, but it was difficult for them to come and make a presentation and participate in the forums. So we weren't able to, we didn't go as far as cities like even Carmel or even Del Mar, although I agree with you that they are, similarities with Sausalito in terms of its geography and its cities like even Carmel or even Del Mar, although I agree with you that there's similarities with Sausalito in terms of its geography and its attractive. But those were not cities in which we asked them to come in. |
| 01:42:31.00 | Vip Karen Williams | So you're referring to the panel during the community forum. I'm also referring to the short term rental summary where we have a list of the cities. |
| 01:42:40.76 | Danny Castro | The summary was actually put together by the town of Ross. So it was easy to. |
| 01:42:47.45 | Vip Karen Williams | I see. Easy lift. Okay, gotcha. Yes, please. Yes. Yes. We'd love to hear. |
| 01:42:48.11 | Danny Castro | Yeah. |
| 01:42:53.78 | Kate Storer | Yeah, the short-term working group's mandate was very narrow. in sort of gathering feedback from the community in a general way on this issue. So I think your point about really understanding how other towns are doing it and finding proxy towns for Sausalito, though they may not be in Marin, is well taken, and that perhaps an impact study would be the next step if another committee were to take it up or if we were to continue the work. So thank you for that. |
| 01:43:21.27 | Vip Karen Williams | Thank you. I have a follow-up question. Is that okay? So, and this is for Danny. Danny, you made a comment because as you know, I'm grappling with this because I'm concerned about the loss of affordable housing stock and renters getting displaced and the noise and the partying, etc. And then I'm concerned about some of the residents I've heard from on fixed income who who need this you know of course they're there in these scenarios they're living in the home and renting out a room and they're there and I think there lies the the cracks there's the challenge we have you made a comment you said something something to the effect of, and I'm paraphrasing here, there is no recovering of costs. Can you, did I hear that right? Like it's very difficult for staff, it's very time consuming for staff to track these down, to acknowledge who's doing what, and it's kind of complaint-driven at this point. And it's very difficult to recover costs for enforcement. |
| 01:44:36.97 | Danny Castro | I think short-term rental is a new phenomenon. And I can tell you that in my experience as managing code enforcement in this city and other cities, it's a good neighbor ambassador program in which we're trying to maintain quality of life and those. And it's not often a cost recovery type program in all instances of code enforcement. With short term rentals, it's the monitoring and the level in some cities that are higher in terms of monitoring them that has been, you know, in the cities I've just spoke to, there's not a full recovery of costs for code enforcement. That's what you said. |
| 01:45:26.86 | Vip Karen Williams | That's what you said. There's no full recovery of costs. Okay. And a follow-up... Oh, I'm sorry, Ray, did you... OK, no follow up. |
| 01:45:45.01 | Vip Karen Williams | Oh, I forgot my question. It was so good. It was such a good question. |
| 01:45:51.93 | Vice Mayor Withey | Danny, and of course a lot of the residents are concerned about this, and as was alluded in the report, the loss of the housing stock, rising prices for renters and housing prices, effect on the community character. Was any of that studied? Did you look at any surveys? Did we do any of that kind of work? I know I sat through one of the community things, and it was all anecdotal, you know, as was reported. Some liked it, some didn't. They got bothered by people being there and all the noise. But I didn't hear any of, you know, the detail things are, you know, are we losing housing stock? Any studies on that order? Because that's a critical component in this whole thing. |
| 01:46:30.48 | Danny Castro | We have not conducted a study. |
| 01:46:33.21 | Vip Karen Williams | I remembered my question. . you Yeah. Thank you. You mentioned a lawsuit. You mentioned, and just before this session, someone emailed me the lawsuit. Airbnb, I guess, has recently, just last month, filed a lawsuit against San Francisco and New York. And it's my understanding that part of the lawsuit speaks to this whole issue around enforcement. Is that San Francisco is basically telling Airbnb to help in terms of getting people registered and disclosing their addresses and Airbnb is is fighting back. In light of this, how prudent is it for us to move forward? I mean, in terms of, if this is speaking to the very, you know, the enforcement ordinance that San Francisco passed, I guess has teeth. And if this is speaking to that, should we wait until we hear what the outcome is of this lawsuit? |
| 01:47:54.92 | Unknown | it. |
| 01:47:54.98 | Danny Castro | Thank you. |
| 01:47:55.00 | Unknown | it. |
| 01:47:55.26 | Danny Castro | It is, yeah, I mean, Council Member Pfeiffer, it is one approach is to wait. Code enforcement and the issue of illegal short-term rentals will still be here. It's a matter of how we then, you know, the level of code enforcement to, because as it stands today, short-term rentals are not allowed in Sausalito. |
| 01:47:55.49 | Unknown | I just, yeah. |
| 01:48:20.33 | Danny Castro | So we would continue to enforce that. Um, It's just, it is an approach. |
| 01:48:29.06 | Jill Hoffman | I have some comments about the Airbnb lawsuit and how that's working with San Francisco, but I can I'll make that during the comment section. Yes, Ray, you're okay. |
| 01:48:42.52 | Herb Weiner | So we spent 50K on a pilot program specifically for enforcement on this and I think as you pointed out, it wasn't a particularly spectacular success in the sense that, I mean I think we got our arms around it, started learning some stuff, but we didn't suddenly suddenly find that we put either everybody out of business or recovered enough to fund the $50,000 which we thought would happen. So what have you learned about enforcement in this area, especially as we read the press reports from all the different other cities, some who are very large, some of which have huge budgets and are not able to enforce either. So is there a take-home message that you've learned from this? Because it seems to me that no matter what we do, if we regulate in any way, we still got to enforce. So if we can't enforce or we don't seem to get any good results from enforcement, we're sort of between a rock and a hard place, aren't we? |
| 01:49:56.81 | Jill Hoffman | Can I ask a follow-up question before you answer? some bearing on what council member with you was asking. It looks like that home, the home is at home connection or home. |
| 01:50:06.43 | Danny Castro | away |
| 01:50:07.34 | Jill Hoffman | No, no, home compliance, host compliance, sorry. |
| 01:50:09.16 | Danny Castro | COMPLIANCE. |
| 01:50:10.90 | Jill Hoffman | Post compliance. kind of fills that need that we were looking at for our enforcement officer and I looked at it today and I went to the website and you know that pretty much gives you the metrics on whose advertising and where they're located. So I think from you know the cost that we had for the enforcement officer to do that function I think the annual cost for that is $4,500 a year so. Yeah, so that's really helpful to get us to that point. I think. Don't you agree? Yeah. That was my question. |
| 01:50:46.42 | Danny Castro | That's my question. |
| 01:50:47.62 | Unknown | I'm a fan of the show. |
| 01:50:47.80 | Danny Castro | . |
| 01:50:47.97 | Unknown | to respond to it. I mean, I think that's what we would. |
| 01:50:47.99 | Jill Hoffman | I'm sorry. |
| 01:50:48.97 | Danny Castro | I'm sorry. I mean, I think that's what we would. Yeah, I mean, just to respond to Vice Mayor Whitty is that, |
| 01:50:53.44 | Unknown | Is that? |
| 01:50:54.43 | Danny Castro | I think a takeaway is that it has been very challenging to to pinpoint violators because We do not have the information to be able to do that other than observation and neighborhood complaints. And we also do not have documentation and oftentimes when you are citing somebody, you need documentation to indicate you know, We do have neighbors who take photos. That helps, but it's often, that's difficult. And I'm finding that in every code enforcement program in the cities I've spoken to and a lot of my colleagues. It is a challenge. But I think host compliance, as Mayor Hoffman indicated, is one way to help with that assistance. |
| 01:51:51.71 | Vip Karen Williams | I have a follow-up question on host compliance. Does host compliance have, I mean, there are other aspects too. For example, host compliance would not address the loud parties and the potential strain on police that residents have told me about, the parking congestion, et cetera. Would host compliance, do they have a financial incentive? In other words, the more people they find that are breaking the rules, that there's some sort of incentive for them? |
| 01:52:29.98 | Danny Castro | I do know that their cost structure in contracting with them is based on the number of hosts they find, whether a city, whether they are monitoring Uh, short-term rentals that are not permitted in a city that allows it, or whether they're just monitoring those where a city bans it. And the number is an average. When we talk to host compliance, preliminarily they said about 100 people in Sausalito and that's where the 4500 yearly fee would be. So that's really the basis. If it were to increase dramatically, then I'm sure that yearly fee would go higher. |
| 01:53:08.61 | Debbie (Clerk) | So there's... |
| 01:53:16.66 | Danny Castro | But it's not based on Um... |
| 01:53:20.00 | Vip Karen Williams | So the 4500 was based on, oh, we look at maybe there are 100 units. So actually they get more money if we get more. If there were more short term rentals? |
| 01:53:28.67 | Danny Castro | If they were more short-term rentals? users. you |
| 01:53:35.03 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah, go ahead. |
| 01:53:36.22 | Vice Mayor Withey | I'll follow on with Vice Mayor Withies on enforcement. And as we know, I mean, one thing when I look at, and I watch on the video the second of the forums, everyone, whether you were somewhat pro, against, for was against the bad actors. I guess none of the bad actors were at that forum, but the key is that means we have to do enforcement because everyone wants enforcement. Now, And I understand you had trouble, but what would it take to be able to enforce? We enforce a whole plethora of other laws, so we have to be able to do it. What would it take? I know we've talked, Santa Monica just increased their penalties and fines, and I think you've mentioned that. So I'd like to see with fines, what other things can we do to increase enforcement specifically? |
| 01:54:29.07 | Danny Castro | Well, one is increasing fines. |
| 01:54:34.30 | Unknown | Mm-hmm. |
| 01:54:38.40 | Danny Castro | You would have to have a dedicated code enforcement officer that is monitoring it, all the time that person is here. |
| 01:54:48.29 | Vice Mayor Withey | But is there a scenario that if we hired someone that they could collect from the bad actors, because these guys are making a lot of money from collecting TOT, back TOT, and fines, would we be able to pay for that enforcement officer? Because we went in with $50,000. That's small in this game. These are, you know, they get a lot of backing from the Airbnb and all these guys, and it's tough. I understand that. |
| 01:55:06.01 | Danny Castro | . |
| 01:55:11.66 | Danny Castro | It's possible to then go to back taxes. I think the challenge in this trial period was not having the ability to track what those prior dates were because we didn't have that information readily available or that documentation. |
| 01:55:24.13 | Jill Hoffman | in. |
| 01:55:28.16 | Jill Hoffman | I think that might be also a question if we have a follow on working group, more specific working group that we could give that question to them as well. and say you know what you know how would we implement enforcement is a big issue and And not to digress, but we sort of did this with the bikes, right? So we started out with no guidance on the bikes, because we are creating something completely new. A management of our bicycles in Sausalito, which led to Sausalito Plus. And so I think that we're in that sort of position as well, perhaps, at this point. |
| 01:56:04.23 | Vip Karen Williams | I have a question about the working group because I have to say that the way it was compiled was different from the way we usually put together at least an ad hoc committee. Usually the council has an open discussion. We talk about folks and we vet them. And I'm seeing a couple folks here. It says they're pro-regulation. So pro-regulation to me doesn't mean they support, they oppose short-term rentals. It means they support short-term rentals with regulation. Is that a fair statement? |
| 01:56:48.13 | Danny Castro | I would argue that pro-regulation does not necessarily mean you're for short-term rentals. It would mean that you have rules in place. |
| 01:56:48.39 | Vip Karen Williams | Because if I'm... |
| 01:56:56.64 | Vip Karen Williams | And do you think that answer reflects the two members who are listed here as pro-regulation? In other words, I guess, do they support the current ban? |
| 01:57:10.65 | Danny Castro | It's not my understanding that they do not They do not support the current ban, but they believe that Regulations should be in place to help code enforcement, whether there's on a variety of whether it's permitted in a limited basis or whether the regulations are more restrictive in not allowing short-term rentals. |
| 01:57:41.76 | Vip Karen Williams | Okay. Because it seems when I'm looking at the profile, it seems like it tilts the working group towards the pro side. In other words, away from the status quo of the ban. In other words, it looks like the working group that was compiled is a little bit more weighted towards the let's move away from the ban and let's allow them with regulations of some sort my my next question is we had when we were looking at second units and live a boards we we wanted to hear from the community and we specifically were very interested in hearing from residents and so we put together a process and I got to say Lily Shinsing did a really good job on this where we actually had like coded surveys that went out. So staff actually knew which streets and which number of residents were filling this out so that we really could track the true impact and input from residents. Is it possible we could do something like that on this topic? |
| 01:59:11.56 | Danny Castro | If the city council were to direct that another survey were to be done, we could model it accordingly. |
| 01:59:20.60 | Vip Karen Williams | Okay, yeah, and it wasn't very expensive, is what I recall. Okay, thank you. Yes. |
| 01:59:28.11 | Councilmember Weiner | Sure. Danny, walk me through on Mill Valley. How was your process? What do they do? Thank you. |
| 01:59:36.56 | Danny Castro | They have a It's a bit looser in that they have basically a form. If one wanted to register and be able to operate a short-term rental, they fill out a form. It's like an affidavit that says you're going to maintain these rules, you're going to be a good neighbor, and you sign that form, you pay a fee, And there are consequences if, you know, potentially that you would be, if you were... |
| 02:00:08.68 | Unknown | about it. |
| 02:00:11.12 | Danny Castro | disruptive, that permit could be revoked. But there is no CUP process. It's simply coming in and registering. |
| 02:00:19.19 | Councilmember Weiner | Do any cities that have these rentals, do they... make them post something at the house that someone went by would know by looking at it. |
| 02:00:35.15 | Councilmember Weiner | Would you like me to answer? That's fine. |
| 02:00:37.94 | Danny Castro | Well, yeah, some cities do, especially at the time in which they're applying. You would have a posting, and neighbors would even be notified. |
| 02:00:44.98 | Councilmember Weiner | No, I'm saying a posting at the house that they are now renting out. If I went by and I saw a green, we'll say we go color coding, and I saw something green there, then I know that's a shot term or a rental. |
| 02:00:59.81 | Danny Castro | I have not heard of that in other cities. |
| 02:01:01.33 | Councilmember Weiner | Yeah. Thank you. Okay, thank you. |
| 02:01:05.60 | Vip Karen Williams | I have a question. Um, |
| 02:01:07.23 | Debbie (Clerk) | Thank you. |
| 02:01:09.16 | Kate Storer | I was just going to add one comment. Go ahead. Many of the cities require a permit, and they require you to list your permit number. |
| 02:01:15.81 | Vip Karen Williams | Can you use the microphone? I can't hear you. |
| 02:01:17.53 | Kate Storer | Many of the cities require a permit, but they also require you to list your permit number on any listing or advertising. And from the perspective of enforcement, that's incredibly useful because that allows you to very quickly weed out |
| 02:01:30.54 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:01:31.25 | Kate Storer | illegal and allowed short-term rentals. You can tell the difference very quickly because they include their permit number. So that was one thing we noted might be very helpful for us. And so |
| 02:01:41.71 | Vice Mayor Withey | also Some also require you to mail to the neighbors notices that this house will be now a rental house. |
| 02:01:48.10 | Councilmember Weiner | Yeah, well, I implied, like, you know, you ride by and you know that someone's working on a house. You see that work order. It's posted. It's posted. |
| 02:01:53.96 | Vice Mayor Withey | Mm-hmm. |
| 02:01:55.85 | Councilmember Weiner | something similar like that, but put it in the color routine so you know by looking at it right away. Yeah. you know what it's for. And that allows the neighbors or anybody else, if there's a complaint, they would know right away that that is a rental. |
| 02:02:14.33 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, I think at this point I'm going to open it up for public comment and then we'll bring it back up here for discussion. We may have some follow-up questions based on the public comment. So I'm just going to call out three names and... You don't have to use three minutes. You can if you need to, but you're welcome to say that person did a very good job of stating my opinion. Okay, so the first three I have are Ken Drysdale, Melanie Mershon, and Frank. Ali Zaga. Thanks. Thank you. Well, we ask you to fill out speaker cards if you want to speak during public comment. And they're right over there on that table, the green speaker cards. |
| 02:02:57.02 | Jill Hoffman | And if you could get them up here to the table, that'd be great. Thanks. |
| 02:03:00.78 | Ken Dresden | I'm Ken Dresden. I've been very impressed with Sausalito. I've been to the forums that they had. Very well run and very unbiased and open-minded. And it had both sides. It had some people that were freaking out. It had other people that needed money to live. And... And I'm in that category, and I'm from San Rafael, so I'm an outsider, but I feel like I'm a friend of the court, and what happens here might happen in San Rafael. I've been listening and tried to learn and also try to, I think I have a valuable input. I've listening and digesting everything it seems like all the problems are basically in all the complaints that came up were from absentee landlords and myself i'm a homeowner and i ran out of room as do a lot of people and i love it that i read the ij and jill hoffman's on record as wanting seniors to be able to live in place age in place that's me and it's like I applaud that and I think that that's the direction And I know that you're conflicted on those people and the complaint issue. It seems to me, I almost encourage you to say, okay, look, homeowners, maybe renters, principal family residents, owners that live in place, do a pilot program. Allow it to happen. Do STRs. Sign everybody up. You know, tell people this is a good thing, and then you'll get more people to come, sign up. I love paying TOT, and it just makes me above board. And I want to support the thing. I love Petaluma's way of doing it. It's complaint driven. Like if I go on, Airbnb. uh, One lady came in and said, oh, it's a joke about vetting. Well, in a sense it is, and in a sense it isn't. It says these people are who they are, that this person's name matches the face, and that I can know that. Then I look at the reviews. If I'm a host, if they get bad reviews, I'm not going to rent to them. If I'm a guest wanting to rent a place, and it's a bad host, They're not going to stay there. So The review process on Airbnb is a good thing. It helps keep the good people coming and going and you get fewer complaints. If you allow a system to be complaint driven, Play that out for a while and see. Get the TOT coming in, and if you have an enforcement officer who gets complaints, have him check those out. And I would also encourage that don't make it, because it is, when you allow the system to work, and don't make it so that people like me, don't make it $300 to sign up. Where's that at? Are you allowing me to stay and live in a place? No. It's a penalty. And it's like, Allow the process to work, allow TOT to come in, help pay for the enforcement, and make the system flourish. you But. But don't penalize people. So thank you very much. |
| 02:06:05.03 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Melanie, you're next. |
| 02:06:08.10 | Melanie Mershon | Thanks. Council, Mayor, Neighbors. It's been almost a year and a half since I first spoke before you. It's been awesome getting to know you all in the process and the people and the intricacies of residential zoning. I know a lot about that now. I was on the working group here. I co-lead the host group in Pacific Grove. I'm the STR representative on Truckee's Chamber of Commerce. Um, and we are tasked with the $500,000 budget to promote tourism in our town. I do a lot of driving between Pacific Grove and Truckee and Sausalito. Um, To answer one question that you had, Council Member Pfeiffer, on other cities, we did extend an invitation to City Manager Ben Harvey in Pacific Grove. He did want to come. They had a last-minute special City Council meeting. He wasn't able to come. I think he would be a great resource in future discussions of the issue. As you decide on this now, I urge you to help us wrangle STRs. Those of us who are pro-regulation are not pro-flouting the law. We're not here trying to protect bad actors. We want the bad actors moved out of the system as much as anybody else. I say that 95% of people, when there are clear laws in place, will follow the law. Of the 5% who might cross the line, 3% are probably uninformed or inexperienced, and a penalty will get them on board real quick. It's the 1 or 2% that we need the code to be able to help get them out of the system. We don't have that today. We don't have the regulatory tools that the staff needs. In other parts of the state, the court case that you need to pay attention to, more so than what's in the headlines on San Francisco, is a court case that came in the county of Monterey last week. they have the same law that we have that says that short-term rentals are not mentioned in the code, so they're not allowed. THE FAMILY. They find a home that's on the 17th hole of Pebble Beach. That homeowner had the resources to go to court. It was appealed. It was a lengthy process. The judge deliberated last week. He began his deliberation saying the code is unclear. Staff is unclear on how to apply it. And individuals trying to determine the correct way to proceed are unclear. That is not the way to handle the law. His decision has not yet come down, but I think that will be a lot more interesting. I'm happy to forward it. We are tracking it very closely. interrelated other related issues in California the Coastal Commission has written to the city of Laguna Beach to say it supports STRs because it helps Californians access the coast more cost-effectively. It realizes some restrictions are necessary, but it doesn't support draconian limits on STRs. At the state level, Senator McGuire has brought two bills, SB 593 that he spoke on here a year and a half ago, and SB 1102, both of which failed for a number of reasons. AND I WANT TO TALK ABOUT I just ask you for balance in this process. things. |
| 02:09:20.34 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Frank? And then the next are Beth Rowe and... Bithro and Amy Thorne and Wes Rentes. |
| 02:09:30.55 | Frank Alizaga Jr. | So good evening, Mayor Hoffman and City Council. My name is Frank Alizaga Jr. I'm a resident of Sausalito. In fact, I live on Caledonia. So I want to start out by saying Danny, Your report was quite negative. In fact, why can we not take a proactive approach at this? And not once did I, Danny, every hear you talk about the economic value of this. Not once. Think about it. |
| 02:09:50.15 | Melanie Mershon | this. |
| 02:09:53.50 | Frank Alizaga Jr. | When I did Airbnb rental in another city, I utilized their restaurants, their bars, whatever the city had to offer. And that's what these people do. They come to our fine city. town or city, however you want to call it, it's beautiful. And if you're talking about congestion and our parking congestion, that's always going to happen every summer. So that should not be an issue. So I just want to go on record that we should do a pilot program. I'm all about regulation. We should do something about it. And I'm all about revenue share. In fact, I am a banker, and I represent six banks. And one of my clients is Airbnb, and they did do a study. on. These people, these ranchers that come in. I WANT TO DO THAT. value of the revenue coming into the city was significant. I can't give you the numbers, because it's private, but I just want to let you know, this is something that we should consider and look at this as a proactive approach |
| 02:10:43.95 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:10:44.43 | Frank Alizaga Jr. | Thank you. |
| 02:10:45.03 | Jill Hoffman | Beth Rowe. And next up is Amy and then Wes. |
| 02:10:51.94 | Beth Rowe | Hi, I'm a resident of Sausalito. I'm a homeowner in Sausalito. A nervous speaker, but... And I sent out a packet to the whole city council, so I won't repeat that. Did everybody get that? |
| 02:11:07.98 | Unknown | you |
| 02:11:08.68 | Beth Rowe | Okay. And I'm on the working group, but came very late to the working group. I only went to one meeting, so I'm here. And some of these things Danny brought up. I went to one forum and I'm asking that a decision not be made until more information has been collected. |
| 02:11:31.39 | Vip Karen Williams | Can you get closer to the microphone? I'm sorry. |
| 02:11:33.72 | Beth Rowe | Just. And I still have questions. Exactly how many units are being rented on a short term basis? That way, I think that firm that would do that would be very helpful. How many of these are listed as primary residences? And that can be determined from the tax rolls, because that would indicate that people are not buying a house just to rent it out, that they're living in the house, or that it's their primary residence, and they're renting it when they go on vacation. The other thing is exactly how many residents are directly negatively affected and how many of these are owners and how many are renters. How many complaints are valid and how many are the result of unrealistic expectations? Sitting in the forum and listening to a lot of these people A lot of the complaints were valid and they're definitely bad actors. If the complaint is that they do not like strangers in their neighborhood, then they are expecting to live in a gated community. As long as there are walkers, joggers, carpenters, plumbers, and landscapers, there are going to be strangers in your neighborhood. As long as there are exits off 101, there's going to be petty crime. does Sarselita really want to be in the business of enforcing the rules of a gated community. Does Sausalito really want to be a gated community? Thank you. |
| 02:13:04.57 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Amy and then Wes and then Salvin Pillar. |
| 02:13:12.71 | Amy Thorne | Hi, my name is Amy Thorne. I'm a six-year resident of Sausalito. I am not a host, and I've never been a host, but I have been an Airbnb participant as a traveler among other cities. I think that when I sit around in the neighborhood, I listen to my neighbors who are like our last speaker talk about why they would like to host and the need to make housing affordable for her to pay her mortgage. You know, I see this as a real need. And I also think that this is gonna continue to happen illegally, so I think we need ways to regulate to earn the taxes for the city to make it a better program. And I would just wanna say that I support having short-term rentals with the proper regulation. Thank you. |
| 02:13:12.74 | Jill Hoffman | Hi. Okay. |
| 02:14:02.20 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Wes? And then Salvin, and then Russ Irwin. |
| 02:14:10.08 | Wes Rentes | So I just wanted to say that I've hosted awesome guests from around the world in a private bedroom and a private bath until I found out that it was not legitimate to do it. I've hosted people like Steve Jobs' assistant, one of his assistants for the last five years of his life. I've hosted the head finance person from Hangzhou University. I've hosted the head chef from Suffetel Towers and both towers in Shanghai. And I did this all in a private bedroom and private bath. And I can see that easily I could generate $25,000 a year in gross revenues to myself, which means that 11% TOT tax that comes out to around $2,700, $2,800 a month. And if you just multiply that times 10 people, that's $28,000. But if you had 100 people in the city doing that, that's $280,000. And I put some quick figures together. Most of these people are spending most of their time in Sausalito going to F3, Le Garage, Fen Yang, Gene Hiller, et cetera, et cetera. And all people that need the business, because all the businesses, to me, report that their retail sales are stagnant, are the same. But if you multiply that out, you might be looking at $750,000 or $1 million. I don't know. How much does a city get out of local taxes when they go to a restaurant, like if they go to Poggio's and they pay $10,000? 9% tax, does the city get how much of that? but... Please. Okay, so that's not a large amount of money, but if there's 100 hosts, hosting people with a private bedroom and a private bath, and that's kind of like one of the smallest things that anybody would rent in an Airbnb situation because if you're renting out a larger place, it could be two or three times or more than that. But if you had 100 people doing that, that's $208,000 a year towards enforcement, et cetera. Anyway, I'm totally a pro-Airbnb short-term rental person with regulations. |
| 02:16:03.94 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Salvin, and then Russ Irwin, and Dan Locke. |
| 02:16:11.48 | Salvin Pillar | Good evening, Council Members, Mayor. Thank you for taking the careful consideration and time on this matter. It's clearly strong opinions on both sides. And I think as you've seen from the survey results, the tide is shifting. You currently have a good amount of people who are willing to look at regulation here, and I think that This is really where we need to go. We need to examine what's available in other cities, look at how those regulations have worked there, determine what the cost structure is around permits, and really look at enforcement. Clearly, we've seen that banning and enforcement just does not work. And, um, I think when you look at this carefully, you'll find that the revenue generation out of TOT and fees will start to help, |
| 02:17:03.34 | Jill Hoffman | to have. |
| 02:17:05.33 | Salvin Pillar | with that enforcement, and anything that's left over just goes back to city services. Thank you. |
| 02:17:11.28 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. OK. Thank you. Mr. Irwin and then Dan Leck. |
| 02:17:20.14 | Russ Irwin | Russ Irwin, resident and homeowner. There's two myths that are underpinning a lot of the discussion tonight. The first is that this is about short-term rentals by empty nest couples or somebody who needs a couple of bucks and is just renting the back room. If that was true when you went to the listings, you'd find a lot of those listings. I went on, VRBO doesn't even list single rooms, nor does Flipkey. Airbnb is the only one that does, and if you check the box that says whole units, that means that property's not owner-occupied because it's available the entire unit. And that is the vast majority of properties. So, I mean, I looked this morning, there's 50 whole units on VRBO this morning. That's not somebody renting out a room. I'm sure there are people here who run out of room, that would work, but that's not the situation. This is about a professional vacation destination business. Palm Away and VRBO are owned by Expedia. Expedia owns Orbitz, RentalCars.com, They own Travelocity. They own a variety of travel brokers all over the world. They did $60 billion of bookings last year. That's what this is about. That's the business. These are whole units. That company wants to sell you the plane ticket, the house on Prospect or 4th Street. They want to sell you the rental car to get there. It's a destination business. That's the nature of the beast here. And the second myth, Is that. Only the bad actors don't comply with the law. The gentleman before me suggested seeing how it's working in other communities. We've got that right here across the bridge. San Francisco passed an ordinance in 2015. very similar to what a lot of people would like to see passed here based on what I heard in the forums, what happened? They got 20% compliance. 20%. So I guess there's 80% bad actors. based on San Francisco's experience. San Francisco upped the penalties and tried to penalize Airbnb in particular, for hosting those listings. One month ago, Airbnb filed a lawsuit against them to block implementation of that ordinance. An ordinance passed by a unanimous vote. The city of San Francisco was amazing. I mean, that city doesn't ever agree on anything. So, It doesn't work, and they're claiming their defense is the Communications Decency Act, by the way. So, Look, if we need more short term rentals in Sausalito, then rezone some commercial property into short term rentals. Encourage B&Bs. Encourage a hotel or something. But don't turn the residential neighborhoods into commercial real estate. Thank you. |
| 02:20:15.07 | Jill Hoffman | Thanks. Okay, Dan? |
| 02:20:20.62 | Dan Lack | Hi, I'm Dan Lack. I'm a resident of Sausalito, oftentimes one of the younger members of the community, and also I was on the working group. Airbnb, VRBO, those are platforms. They're not incentivized other than a transaction, but they're platforms that allow the community to voice their opinion. And I think what you've seen in Sausalito, in California, and globally is how short-term rentals are really growing to help people not just profit, but to survive. If we talk about affordable housing, it is a way to allow affordable housing here in Sausalito, to allow young couples, people of all ages, even seniors who've expressed their concern of rising costs to remain here. It is a solution. And what you have never heard, or at least I haven't heard, in any of the forums, is anybody who's for short-term rentals that is against regulation. Nobody is being greedy here. They're saying, we need this to help us out, and so let's find a way to eliminate the bad actors. Now, the bad actors are the ones that are really only three or four people that most people have the same issue with who are not home, who are absent landlords, who are not renting a private room, or who are not renting their home when they're away on business or on vacation. It's a few people who are actually absent and not doing anything to support their neighbors. But if you want to talk about parties and the issue of loud noise, then we should do a study on, of all the complaints that come in from parties, how many of them are full-time residents and how many of them are short-term rentals. Because I'm a full-time resident, and my neighbor has had four parties in the last year. Now, I could still complain, but that's the same issue whether it's short-term rental or not, because the majority of short-term rentals are not people who are trying to host a bachelor party or a weekend extravaganza and there's plenty of socialites in Sausalito who often will have those experiences at their own home. So if the issue is noise, then we should have noise regulation for the entire city and that would be a fair thing to do. Now, I would like to ask the council that as you're looking at this issue, you do designate the difference between somebody renting a private room in their home versus renting the whole home. It's a different issue completely when the host is on premise 24-7 while the guest is there versus while they're absent. There are well over 300 listings in Sausalito. Now, at any given day, if you put in specific dates, you might only see 60 or 70 that are available on specific dates. Don't put in the dates. You'll see regularly there are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of listings. And that's not because people are greedy. That's because they need that support to survive here. They want to stay here. They want to be involved in the community. And that income really helps them. And all of them are in alignment around regulation. They're okay paying TOT to help fund enforcement. They don't want people checking in late at night, and they want to make sure there's ample parking for everyone. Thank you. |
| 02:23:21.76 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thank you. The next three I have are Ian Sobieski, Dan LaRusso, and Louis Brisones. Louis Brisones? |
| 02:23:33.01 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:23:33.98 | Jill Hoffman | . |
| 02:23:37.70 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. |
| 02:23:37.72 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:23:37.74 | Ian Sobieski | Hello, my name is Ian Sobieski. I live on Bulkley Street. Here in San Francisco, nice to be here, it's my first meeting. I can link to this. |
| 02:23:45.20 | Melanie Mershon | I can link to this. |
| 02:23:49.62 | Ian Sobieski | Right. I'm sorry, yeah, Sausalito. And it's on Berkeley Street, and it's, uh, I gave the lead to the whole party. I reached out about this short-term issue just a few weeks ago and learned that all these working groups were happening. So there's a lot more knowledge here and issues that have been brought up than I ever expected. I'm really pleased to see it turned over so much. Just from where I sit, I mean, I love this community as it is. My concern is that the prohibition against short-term rentals is a blend instrument that's actually not very effective in achieving the goals that we all want, which is to maintain the community as it is. You really want to make sure that you don't have entrepreneurs taking over all the houseboats and turning them into de facto distributed hotels. But the short-term rental prohibition doesn't really prevent that. It doesn't allow there to be a regulatory regime that's actually financed by some sort of tax or revenue source that's sustainable. And it seems to me that some of the ideas here to regulate short-term rentals and hence generate revenue, which can be used for enforcement or some other enforcement scheme could help achieve those goals. You know, there's a book called Last Call, The Rise and Fall of Prohibition by Daniel Orkrent that talked about the rise and fall of prohibition. And the paradoxic thing was when prohibition was finally repealed, the author made the point that it was actually harder to get a drink, harder to get a drink. That once there was an economic incentive to bring people into a regulatory regime, those bars and other proprietors of alcohol then adhered to those regulations. They closed the bars at 2 a.m. They didn't ship alcohol across state lines, so on and so forth. So the key issue, and I think some of the council members brought it up, is how can you best do enforcement. And you can try to do that enforcement directly with Airbnb. You can also try to do it directly with individuals, requiring as part of the licensing mechanism that individuals who want to participate in short-term rentals actually sign under penalty of perjury. a statement about when they rented and how much they generated, would provide the data that the council and everyone needs to regulate this information. It's one thing to threaten a $100 fine, which isn't very significant. To sign an affidavit, which in my understanding of the law would be committing a felony, if it's false, it's a very different kind of hammer to use against people that would self-report in an incorrect way. It seems to me that that kind of self-reporting regimen, where you require, under penalty of perjury, a statement of actual activity, coupled with, regulation on what that activity is would be a solution that would actually achieve the goals that I think there's a broad consensus we all want to achieve, maintaining our community as it is. So thank you very much. |
| 02:26:40.60 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Lewis is next. Sorry, then the next one. is a car with short-term rental, but there's no name on it. Oh, all right. Yes, ma'am. You're next. You're after Lewis then. Thank you. |
| 02:26:56.71 | Louis Burianis | Hi, I'm Louis Burianis, and I'd like to thank the STR group and Danny's group for the information. I found it very... informative and it actually represents a lot of my own views. So I've lived in Sausalito for 15 years. I'm a homeowner. For the first 13 years, I had the same neighbors. I knew them, I knew their dog, I knew their cat, I saw their kids grow up. Two years ago, they sold the house. The people that bought it live in Singapore. They thought they were going to be transferred back to Sausalito. They have not been transferred back to Sausalito. Their real estate agent at first started renting their house on a long-term basis, met some interesting people from Boston that were there for a couple of months, met some people from Sausalito that rented it for a couple of months as their house was being remodeled. All of that has changed. Now, Literally two, three, four, five, ten times a month, there's a new car driving up, three cars driving up, suitcases coming out, people coming out, walking up and down the driveway, trash cans down at the bottom of the hill, no one to call about this. I don't know who I'm going to see when I go home. I literally do not know who my neighbor is going to be when I drive home every day now. And you would think that I am completely opposed to short term rental. I'm not. I think the genie is out of the bottle. No one is putting that cork back in. But it's all about regulation and enforcement. Their real estate agent, I ran into him the other day, and I just said, look, what's going on with this house here? There's just people coming in constantly. And I said, you know, it's not legal. It's banned by the city. And he said, yeah, but there's a couple of problems with that. First of all, call the city and tell them the problem, and there's no one to answer the phone. There's no one there in charge of it. And the second thing is, even though there are fines, the city's not going to pay a lawyer $1,400, $1,500 to go chase down a $100 fine. So he basically, without telling me tough luck, said tough luck. So I mean, I listen to you all and There's no way. good or bad to it. I mean, I personally have erred being beat and had a perfect time. I'm a second homeowner, I've never leased my house out, that's just me. So you're gonna hear good, you're going to hear bad. To me, it's all about what are the regulations going to be? And then maybe more importantly, what is the enforcement going to be? Because without enforcement, none of this matters. It's just going to go underground, it's going to continue to happen. You're just not gonna hear about it. That's all I have to say. |
| 02:29:49.50 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:29:53.14 | Jill Hoffman | And then after this nice lady, we're going to have Joseph Lillis and Adrienne Marchand. |
| 02:30:01.27 | Unknown | Thank you, Council, for hearing our comments. I want to say thank you to the working group. and to Danny, I have a question for Danny. You had mentioned that there were 15 complaints since the regulations and I'm not sure, where is he? What I'd like to know is of those 15 complaints, how many were from the same residence? Thank you. |
| 02:30:27.92 | Jill Hoffman | Ma'am, we'll ask that. At this point, this is just public comments. |
| 02:30:32.75 | Unknown | Well, it makes a difference in what I'm going to say because my point is, that I think we're... trying to kill a mouse with a bomb. I think there's a huge difference here between residents who live in their home, like myself, who to guests, whether they're long-term or short-term. I've been doing long-term for years, probably 30 years since my son moved out. I've been sharing my bathroom all that time. I don't want to do that anymore. I actually just occasionally want to rent short term. And I haven't been able to do that since I've had to say, minimum of one month. So it's really hurt me in the pocketbook. I'm actually looking at possibly renting out my whole house to somebody who wouldn't be a Sausalito resident, and you'd lose a Sausalito resident if I go elsewhere, which I'm actually considering. What I would like to suggest is some sort of a win-win solution here where we don't hurt the residents, but perhaps we... restrict. having homes in residential areas. being rented out by absentee landlords because I think there's a huge difference in all the time that I've rented, I've never had one complaint, not one complaint from a neighbor. And when I have short term renters, I have one now, well she's three months because I couldn't do short term, but she's riding a bike. down to her internship and coming up that very steep hill. And that's happened a lot, that they don't even have cars, They're just here short term. So I think there's some real advantages in letting residents short-term renters and not having to restrict it. to the full-time, but regulating absentee landlords because I think almost all of those complaints were from absentee landlords. So I hope you'll consider that. Thank you. |
| 02:32:28.00 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:32:28.61 | Unknown | you |
| 02:32:28.81 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you, Joseph, and then Adrian. |
| 02:32:34.43 | Joseph Lillis | Good evening. I'm not sure. I've been here 30 years. And I first lived on Glen Drive. and I rented out a room. when times were tough. I was working in the theater at the time. There was no thought of short-term rental. It was getting roommates. And then I had good times, and I bought a house in Sassu da Boulevard, and then I had a big flop. And I had rented out a room in my house He was having a roommate. I THINK A LOT OF THAT is what is happening here. I think the vast majority of the people who are concerned here. our people. who need THEIR OWN. to make ends meet. and to stay in town. I'm not sure. they mentioned the Airbnb lawsuit. in San Francisco and New York. THEIR TOOL. There is one in New York that was actually filed by a host, and the court I read in the New York Times. said A short-term rental is not taking in a roommate. And the end. THROUGHOUT THE FINE. So it could be. do social legal well. to not think about attorneys. but to think about TOT and sales tax and business licenses. And all the income that comes when you're dealing with the good guys, maybe, whenever there's a street with a parking problem, YOU REQUIRE. MR. a resident parking to be able to park there. AND THE PROBLEM. THE END OF And as to noise? I don't care if they're for five minutes or, you know, YEARS. you know. I, there are times when I want to go shut down a party. |
| 02:34:31.44 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah. Thank you. Adrian, and that's the last card I have. |
| 02:34:39.32 | Adrian Brinton | Thank you, council. Thank you, mayor, neighbors. Thank you for listening to this. It'll be brief. Couple of quick points. I'm a senior and about to be retired, so the income will be important to me. That option of being able to do short-term rentals, that's where I basically stand on the economic front. So to anyone who thinks that's not a real thing, it may not be for them, but it is real for many people in the city. I can vouch for it. Thank you. However, Enforcement in a vacuum has been proven around the world not to work. Regulation in a vacuum without enforcement can't work either. It seems obvious to me some combination of the two is going to be needed. We've had a lot of great creative suggestions just in the short meeting here, and I'm sure in the process as well. So there are plenty of suggestions on the table. I'm not going to repeat them. What I do want is that my council and my government locally respect my rights as a homeowner, or continue to respect them, I should say. I'm not accusing anyone of not doing that. But as we look for a solution, I would like to put on the table that I do not want, or I would urge counsel and those participating in the process to think about the rights of homeowners, to think about property rights as much as they think about the rights of neighbors who also have a right to live in peace and satisfaction and to have a freedom from harassment and abuse. I do think the problem is smaller than some of the discussion would indicate because there The numbers don't appear to be terribly high to me of abuse cases. I think that's been said by many people. So whatever the actual percentages, I think we're going to need data behind us in order to do that. And that comes with the registration of the regulation. And I think I'll just leave it there to say, Move forward with a proactive solution, and let's get rid of the vacuum that exists now. |
| 02:36:36.62 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, thank you. So I don't have any more speaker cards. I'm going to close the public comment section and bring it back up here. I had one more question for Danny. Um, And that question had to do with Napa. And so. I did attend the second session where the... person in Napa, the community development, kind enough to come down and sit on our panel and talk about it. So my understanding from Napa is that that it's limited to a certain zone in Napa and that they issue only a certain number of permits. Correct. And once the house is sold, that permit expires, and somebody else who's in line can get in line to get that permit. Is that how they generally? That is my understanding. Yes, generally, yes. |
| 02:37:14.24 | Unknown | Correct. |
| 02:37:22.59 | Danny Castro | That is my understanding. Yes, generally, yes. |
| 02:37:24.97 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, okay. Any other questions for Danny? Any other questions for anybody? Okay, we'll close it then and bring it up here for council discussion. So I'll cook us off. I don't usually do this, but I'll kick us off, and I'll make it easier so everybody knows what my position is. I agree, I think this is a new evolution from the sharing economy. And it allows the homeowner or the resident of the homeowner unit to decide how they're going to manage their life. And if they want to have somebody come in and share their unit or share some type of separate unit that's on their property, I think they should be able to do that. I think the problem, as in all things, is with enforcement. I think it's going to I think people are going to continue sharing on whatever platform evolves. So if you shut down one platform, another platform is going to come up. Because clearly individuals, and this is individuals benefiting from this, they want to be able to access their customer directly. And as someone, full disclosure, someone who's done this myself on vacation, this is the way I prefer in many ways to travel because I like to stay in the community and not in not in some sterile hotel or resort. So I think it's going to continue. I think it's really important for us to get a handle around how we do enforcement. We're not afraid of tough challenges in Sausalito to figuring these things out. We have a lot of very smart people in our community who, when called upon, participate in these types of things, and we've been able to overcome these challenges in the past, and I have no doubt that we can do that in the future. You know, very strictly regulated, though, so really... close attention to how many permits we issue, where they are in town, how they impact those neighborhoods, And participation from people in those neighborhoods who care enough to participate. So problem residents and problems are problems, let's take care of the problems. And so that's one of the things I don't think we've been particularly good at. I think we need to be better at that. My also sense from the past year and a half that I've been talking to people about this is that there isn't a big shift, a significant shift in units that are coming off the market that are rental units. My sense is these are secondary units within a home. There are in-law units. There are units that wouldn't be particularly amenable to long-term rental because they're very small. They're more like a studio or perhaps a hotel room. But admittedly, there are some units that are larger. And so that's something we want to pay attention to as well as part of this process and the permitting process. So if you see a permit that comes across your desk and you know that's an affordable unit or that's in a price range that's going to take affordable rental stock off the market, then we may want to do something different with that. But that's for a further working group to figure out on what the actual regulation would be. I think we should go with host compliance, absolutely, with regard to figuring out who's renting in Sausalito. I think also as part of the working group, to work with the platforms, and I'm going to give myself a little leeway because I can. To work with the platforms to devise a reporting system with those platforms. And I know that there's these lawsuits going on with Airbnb and VRBO, or I think it's just Airbnb right now. But my understanding is the one in New York is that Airbnb, New York says no short-term rentals, nothing under 30 days. And so their lawsuit involved, despite that, the Airbnb is still advertising those units. And in San Francisco, they had worked out a system where you had to permit, and Airbnb was supposed to post that permit number before listing the unit. Airbnb originally said yes they were going to do that And then decided no they weren't going to do it So what San Francisco did is they shifted that Responsibility back to the owner and the fines Back to the owner hey, you have to permit, and if you don't permit, we're going to increase the fine substantially for you, which I think that's the right place for the onus on that. But we'll see how those work out. I have, and my last comment is that it doesn't seem like there's an overwhelming number of units. I mean, the gentleman, Dan said 300 units. Our compliance person says maybe 50 to 100. Those are all within the range of manageable. I think those are all within the range of manageable in our small town to figure out who's doing what and to be able to manage those effectively. If it's a problem, it's a problem, and I don't think they should be permitted, and they should be dealt with, there should be significant penalties and we shouldn't have the ability to cease that operation so those are my thoughts |
| 02:42:21.16 | Councilmember Weiner | I'll go next. Well... |
| 02:42:25.88 | Unknown | you |
| 02:42:26.07 | Councilmember Weiner | Thank you. I am in favor of short-term rentals, but only under the condition that the person that rents them is living in the house. I think that's one thing that we should keep in line because... Next to San Francisco, Sausalito has the highest percentage of rentals. in the state. We're at 48%. All right. And if you break down some of the other figures, 24% of the people that live in this town are over 65. 35% are over 50%. |
| 02:43:05.35 | Councilmember Weiner | I THINK. because of the times that are changing. And by the way, Sausalito is probably, in Marin County or the Bay Area, is the most desirable place to be. It's almost like we don't have beaches here, but we're almost like a beach town. All right, people want to come here, the proximity to San Francisco, you can get in by bus, you can get in by ferry. Everything is, you can walk down the hill, you can walk anywhere, it's very desirable. The only thing is, we're not growing. nor do we have the room to grow. We're the only city in Marin County, and it's not a big difference, but our population now is less than it was 10 years ago. The idea is, how do we work this out? And to me... I think we have to do it with some simplicity. I'm not against the short-term rentals as long as people go through the process. I mentioned before that when someone does go through the process, that they have to post So the neighbors know. that it's being rented. As far as the fines, $100 is nothing. All right, you wanna whack them? You whack them with a $500 fine, second offense double and keep on doubling. All right, the idea is we want the elderly to be able to have someone in the house if that's their desire financially and support wise I'm not against at all people renting out because they need that income. But to just get into the business, and this is where we're heading, because this is Sausalito, that this is something that I'm not counting on Tiburon Belvedere. They don't even touch the desirability of Sausalito for rentals. So and by the way, Uber, I'll get to Uber in East Hampton. They didn't want Uber in their community. So what did they do? They said to Uber, you either have an office here or you don't operate. |
| 02:45:29.28 | Vip Karen Williams | Okay, so I want to thank everyone who came tonight and spoke up, and I also want to thank the working group and also city staff for the hard work they've been doing and the research they've been doing. I was persuaded in different ways by what I heard tonight. My concern here is how do how can I regulate something I can't enforce? I mean, and I've heard from city staff that they can't recoup their costs for reinforcement. So, I'm concerned. I'm also concerned that I heard there were 50, I heard well, there are just a few bad apples and everybody else is compliance, but we just heard there were 50, short-term rentals listed on VRBO for Sausalito alone, and I heard someone else say there were over 300, which just... blew me away because I mean that's our arena that could be our arena you know 300 units So, RENA is regional housing needs allocation. It's what the state allocates to different cities in terms of affordable housing and various housing requirements. I know that Carmel City, Carmel by the Sea, they have an ordinance currently similar to ours. It was upheld in Superior Court in Monterey in 1990. It was taken to the US Supreme Court, which refused to hear it, so it was upheld. So we know we're on terra firma, at least with that, with the current ordinance we have. Now, how do we move forward when we know that we have some residents who are doing things right? They have off street parking, they're on a fixed income, they're renting a room in their house and they're living there. I don't know the answer to that yet. I need more information on how we would enforce these regulations. If we dictated off street parking and dictated you've got to be living. I mean, what a heavy lift for staff to go and knock on a door and say, who's the? Who's the homeowner here? I mean, I can't figure out how we would enforce that. I'm also concerned with just I know that Del Mar, with their 45-day moratorium, cited noise, trash, parking issues, changing of character in the neighborhood. I know that from personal experience, it's nice for me. I had a neighbor next door to me who would, you know, we would share all sorts of things with bird watching, et cetera. And he passed away, and then for a short period of time, there was a short-term renter who's, you know, firing off firecrackers on the 4th of July during a drought and endangering you know the neighborhood with fire now we've got a long-term renter who and i hear their child and it's it's it's just a wonderful thing so i'm concerned about the loss of community we might be facing here too so i'm going to wrap up i'm sorry i'm i'm as you can see see, I'm still conflicted on this. If I see a way that we can enforce regulations and it's consistent and it's not a heavy lift with staff, then I'll look at that. But I'm not seeing that right now and I want more data on the compliance business that we heard about. And I also want to hear more about what similar towns like Sausalito are doing with reinforcement. |
| 02:49:37.43 | Vice Mayor Withey | I want to thank everybody who participated in the workshops and have come tonight. And I got the thing already. |
| 02:49:43.84 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 02:49:44.01 | Vice Mayor Withey | I mean, I... Just a couple minutes, just another minute. But thank everyone for all their work, and their sincere feelings on this. I think, but it is a big issue that's coming up for us. Not only did we say there are 50 houses out or full units. We had 300 units. We have a packed auditorium here, supposedly of all people who don't do any short-term rentals, that will, if they have the the opportunity and all the others once it's legal. So it's huge. I think it's going to be a big, it's not an issue that's going to be small once we open it up. So people need to know that. That'll be probably affecting every single neighborhood and probably every block if we have that many people involved. I do think think much like we did with our BRA we have to think of enforcement first we we don't know what we can do and what kind of regulations we can't have unless we know that I think the first thing I think staff needs to come with an exact plan but but certainly we have to increase these penalties and significantly because we, everyone in this room it seemed, certainly everyone at the forums, don't like the bad actors. And these are the guys renting out unoccupied or non-resident occupied houses. We have to go out there. We have to have the tools to be able to do that. So we need to be able to go after them. I think a key here is we've had the involvement of the Sausalito hosting group and they're pro. But we have found, and when you look at all the studies, there is no way that we can, it's very difficult to have any enforcement mechanism unless the hosting platforms agree to give the data. That is, who's renting and collecting the TOT? This was Senator McGuire's quest. Somebody started on that one, SB 593 and others. They were crushed by Airbnb, Expedia, and all the moneyed interest. Just crushed. No way they would do it. We need to have the hosting group, which is favorable and has connections to these platforms, to go out and say, Sausalito will consider reasonable regulations on this if you agree to give us this reporting data and collect the TOT for us. That's something that you guys should want to do if you want to do it you don't want to collect tot and submit it you want it submitted by that and i think that should be a condition uh you know we have problems we have people coming into town we have our bike issues and people are making money on the city and it's thrown up to the council and to the residents we pay a lot of money if people want to be able to do this and let's let's be honest about it it's about collecting money it's all about one form or another you know collecting money paying the rent and all that type of thing so that we need to be able to have people help us do that uh we've had certainly declarations by many of them now this is going to go off and i do need my extra minute minute, but to help us with that, and frankly, they should even go further. I think we should ask Airbnb for $100,000 in consulting fees to get someone who's not influenced by this to help us get reasonable regulations that you there and we there can do. I think this is the kind of thing. These guys are a $30 billion company. They are now hiring. They've hired four ex-mayors from around the world to really stifle this type of thing. What they need to do is spend that money to help us get reasonable regulations. And by the way, I think what we need to do finally is I think we need to have a planning commission and city council task force. We need to have people. The planning commission knows the issues of parking, what it does to the community, what it does to the housing stock, what it's going to do to our housing element. And this is something beyond the scope of what citizens can do on other things. So that's, I think, our next step. Thanks. |
| 02:53:52.75 | Herb Weiner | Yeah, very briefly. This is a complex issue. On the one hand, There's real dangers, I think, that communities, neighborhoods could be very significantly affected by these platforms and by short term rentals. FOR- Some of you have described the situation where... you know, you may come home at night and you just don't know who your neighbor is. Well, that's not the definition of a neighborhood. But I also am very sympathetic and understand, and this is a real issue, that in Sausalito we have folks who many are on fixed incomes, many are in houses and homes that is now potentially they've outgrown, but they want to stay there, right? One of the core strategies of our housing element for affordable housing was actually accessory dwelling units. And one of the concepts of the accessory dwelling units was for folks to be able to age in place and actually rent part of their rooms out as affordable units so that we could actually increase the amount of affordable units that are here. And I just see that short-term rentals completely gutting that concept. I mean, I think it's one of the more serious issues here. But I understand there's a demand and a need, and I think there needs to be a lot more discussion. So, I fully support the fact that if we're going to carry forward with this discussion, it needs to be now with some city council members, planning commissioners, to actually especially our planning commissioners know our zoning ordinance really well and understand that this is a major zoning change Thank you. Right? Um, we're about to embark on a discussion of the general plan and work on the general plan. This would be the sort of thing, among many other things, that we would be discussing. And so I'm trying to get a sense of the need to upfront this and the need and the urgency to actually move this issue along versus looking at it in a much more comprehensive way in the context of the whole of the zoning that we have to look at in the general plan. So it's something I'm trying to think through there. I finally, as everybody else went over a minute, I'll only go 30 seconds. I'll only go 30 seconds and that is, |
| 02:56:49.63 | Leon Hunting | Thank you. |
| 02:56:49.65 | Unknown | that. |
| 02:56:49.70 | Leon Hunting | there. |
| 02:57:01.48 | Herb Weiner | Okay, we have regulation right now. And the regulation is that you can't rent for shorter than 30 days. We did a pilot experiment to see whether we could enforce that. I think Danny showed that there was some Great challenges in doing that. And cities with huge resources to apply are having major trouble. And the reason is because if you actually think about it, the only way you're really going to regulate or enforce is with the data. And the only way you're going to get the data is for Airbnb and all the others to actually provide the data. As Council Member Theodora said, it went up to. Our Senator, Mike McGuire, got completely crushed in committee. It got thrown out because Airbnb, all of the platforms, the things that Mr. Irwin indicated is a multi-billion dollar business, stopped. Maguire's bill even being considered because they didn't want the data to be reported. Why? I don't know. I don't know. |
| 02:58:17.50 | Jill Hoffman | So here's what I'd like to do. you know, You have a... |
| 02:58:26.66 | Unknown | Yeah. Thank you. |
| 02:58:27.64 | Councilmember Weiner | my comment and I'll go back to it |
| 02:58:28.45 | Unknown | I couldn't. |
| 02:58:31.96 | Councilmember Weiner | And when I gave you the percentages of how many people over 65, a tremendous amount of these people have been living in their homes for many, many years. They can't afford to go anywhere else. They're in their home. Their home is their asset. But yet, everything else, they're on a fixed income. And everything you look at is going up and up and up. And that's why they reach out for this. Regulations, that's fine. penalties, fines, stiff ones, are the ones that really regulate it. By the way, I don't know if anybody in this room knows. You know what it costs when you go through a red light in Sausalito? $400. You'll think the next time you go down Bridgeway, if you're going to go through it right now, and that's the way to do it. |
| 02:59:25.98 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, well I wouldn't know because I don't run red lights, Herb. Okay, so here's what I wanna do. Let's, and I wanna get everybody's input as well. So I wanna form. |
| 02:59:28.27 | Councilmember Weiner | WELL, I WANT TO TELL YOU, |
| 02:59:41.86 | Jill Hoffman | Is it a task force? Is it a commission? It's not a commission. It's not that big of an issue. But it's a task force. And I agree. Council members... AND I THINK THAT'S A Planning Commission members, but how do we get them to volunteer for that? I don't know. Do we just tell them they're going to be on it? Do we do a joint? |
| 02:59:59.96 | Vip Karen Williams | Bye. Bye. |
| 03:00:01.03 | Jill Hoffman | task force. Okay. Join Ed. Okay. All right, so let's have a break. |
| 03:00:06.66 | Vice Mayor Withey | We don't have to do that. You might come back with the names, and we don't have to do it off the cuff. |
| 03:00:09.62 | Jill Hoffman | We don't have to do it off the cuff. How about this? So let's talk about this maybe over the break and we'll figure out how we're going to go forward from here. In September, first meeting in September, we'll come back with a plan about how we're going to proceed. Proposed members who will be on the task force, the thought being we're going to gather more information, we're going to look at successes in this, we're going to figure out what we can sustain as a community with regard to short-term rentals, and we're going to try to devise a plan that we can voluntarily work with the platforms to capture the information as part of the permitting process. So as part of the permitting process, perhaps you have to agree to release from the platforms of the information. And again... stiffer fines and actual penalties that are enforceable. So I think that's how we're going to proceed. Anybody have a thought on that or objection to that? |
| 03:01:06.30 | Vice Mayor Withey | Two things. One is, when we have this task force, I would say they need to look at this holistically. What should we have? Maybe we stick with our own enforcement and nothing, or should we move? Whatever it is, and look at it in a very holistic, with all the factors involved, with public hearings, et cetera, on this, by the way. Secondly, I do think, one thing on the penalties, I think because we are complaint driven, we have one thing that everyone agrees about is we have to move on these bad actors. I think we should have staff come at the next meeting with a recommendation on penalties and a proposal, and we should pass these increased penalties as soon as possible. Because this other part is going to take a long time. I mean, it's a problem, but we need to do it right. So anyway, that's my amendment to that. |
| 03:01:06.47 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah. |
| 03:01:26.82 | Melanie Mershon | I do. |
| 03:01:46.99 | Jill Hoffman | part's going to take a long |
| 03:01:48.23 | Melanie Mershon | Thank you. |
| 03:01:48.25 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 03:01:48.40 | Vip Karen Williams | Yep. |
| 03:01:48.60 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 03:01:54.09 | Vip Karen Williams | Okay. Yeah, I would concur. I think that this is all about enforcement. And from what I've read, even the towns that used to have a ban and now have, you know, they allow, you know, some with permits and TOT, they're still having the majority of short-term rentals not comply. So no matter what we do, we're facing an enforcement problem. So I just need more information on the whole thing. |
| 03:02:26.30 | Councilmember Weiner | But the question is, these fines are so low that these, No, I agree. |
| 03:02:31.23 | Vip Karen Williams | No, I agree. I definitely agree. We need to hear from staff to hear that break-even point and understand how much we need to find folks. The other question I have, and I only raise this because the last time we talked about a working group, and then we left, and then this working group was appointed by staff, and this task force, I'm wondering, could... Is that, are you envisioning a joint, like the entire council and the entire planning commission getting together? No. Okay, so you're talking about. So what I would ask then is when this topic comes back, for the public too, so they can weigh in, that we have clarity as to what the task force would constitute, how many representatives from where, what would be the process for appointment, and would it include some members of the community? |
| 03:03:08.24 | Melanie Mershon | Yeah. |
| 03:03:29.03 | Jill Hoffman | I would envision yes. Yes. And all that members and that's |
| 03:03:31.49 | Vice Mayor Withey | And that's something that we would discuss and have input, both on the composition and names. Well, I just want to make sure it comes. |
| 03:03:38.29 | Vip Karen Williams | Well, I just want to make sure it comes back to us, to council, because this working group just kind of took off and I, you know. |
| 03:03:45.02 | Jill Hoffman | I DIDN'T KNOW. |
| 03:03:45.83 | Vip Karen Williams | you |
| 03:03:45.90 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 03:03:45.92 | Vip Karen Williams | Thank you. |
| 03:03:45.94 | Jill Hoffman | We'll discuss it in September with the thought that we will appoint the task force in September. The first meeting in September. Let me ask you this. Adam and staff with regard to the penalties. you know, when would you, realistically expect that you could come back to us with a recommendation on that. |
| 03:04:10.90 | Adam Politzer | Um... It's not a straightforward answer. Part of it is that we've collected data on what some of the other cities have done to increase their penalties. So Tiburon increased their penalties to $1,000 each event. So I think there are probably examples out there that we can use, even if they're not related to short-term rental type of penalties based on regulations that may already exist out there for those fines. We can look at, we've obviously increased our fines for construction penalties. And we're in the middle right now of doing our municipal fee schedule and updating the fees related to that and fines. And that's something that we plan on bringing back to the council by September 27th, I think. |
| 03:04:25.39 | Melanie Mershon | Thank you. I don't know. |
| 03:05:01.08 | Adam Politzer | So, you know, I think the short answer is, you know, we can probably bring you back, you know, we can frame this and at least have some ranges for the discussion. and then In terms of how it's adopted and how it's approved, I've got to go back and circle back with Melanie and with Mary to just make sure that the proper hearing and notices are... |
| 03:05:24.71 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 03:05:24.76 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 03:05:26.19 | Adam Politzer | circulated so people all have the understanding of what's being contemplated here. |
| 03:05:31.51 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 03:05:31.52 | Vip Karen Williams | Okay, that's fine. Can I just make one parting comment is that, you know, I think as we move forward, you know, to echo what we heard, what you heard up here, talk to Airbnb, talk to VRBO, ask them to work with us. You know, they're asking us to enforce something on our own. We've got no way. There are no addresses posted or anything. And we've seen from the data that it's not just a few bad apples. There are a lot of people that are off the radar here and right here in Sausalito. Lead that change, help us lead that change. Go back and say, look, you need to disclose the addresses and help us with registration, so, okay. Thank you. |
| 03:06:24.56 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Sorry, that's it for this topic. Thank you for coming. Thank you for your participation. |
| 03:06:28.86 | Vip Karen Williams | Thank you. |
| 03:06:28.97 | Vice Mayor Withey | Thank you for coming. |
| 03:06:32.26 | Jill Hoffman | Oh, yeah, we're going to take a five-minute break. |
| 03:06:36.29 | Vice Mayor Withey | Well, that's pretty good. That'd be good, too. |
| 03:06:38.23 | James Fotherby | The Press. |
| 03:06:41.44 | Vice Mayor Withey | He's going to ban alcohol at Schmidty's. And so I'll see you. Bye. Good to see you. See you. Yeah, see you. |
| 03:06:41.45 | James Fotherby | He's going to be and alcohol. |
| 03:06:46.63 | Unknown | . |
| 03:06:47.14 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. All right. |
| 03:06:50.48 | Vice Mayor Withey | Come on back. |
| 03:06:50.99 | Jill Hoffman | All right, we're back in session. We're moving on to our item seven on our agenda, city manager reports, councilman reports, et cetera. Okay, Adam, city manager, information for council. |
| 03:07:10.17 | Adam Politzer | Thank you, Madam Mayor and council members. Significantly long list because when we were at about 7. Oh man, go on. We were at 7.45 and we were moving pretty quickly. I thought this was going to be the night for my city manager report. So I'm going to narrow this down to just a very few items here. |
| 03:07:16.52 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 03:07:16.54 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:07:16.55 | Jill Hoffman | Oh, man. Go on. |
| 03:07:20.20 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:07:20.22 | Jill Hoffman | I thought this was Oh no. |
| 03:07:27.83 | Adam Politzer | But also very important items. First one, I think you all got an invite to the spirit of Marin, and it's significant this year because we're recognizing Una Kavanaugh, who just recently retired as our Chamber CEO. So if you have not already responded, please respond back to Debbie or myself and confirm your attendance. I think that date is September 23rd, Friday, September 23rd, and it's up at St. Vincent's in Tara Linda, neck of the woods. um, couple other The RBRA has been Just so the council and the community knows, the discussion about the anchor out community and the various mariners that live on our water, the The staff working group, which is made up of the four city managers and the county administrator, are continuing to meet. and there will be a significant meeting next week looking at the discussion that's been held here in our council chambers regarding enforcement, our special meetings that we've had with the mayor and the police chief and our state senator, Mike McGuire, where we're trying to bring this information forward for their September RBA board meeting. So again, with the primary focus on enforcement. So that, just because we haven't had any council updates on this, I want the council to know that this is a very active discussion. It's still incredibly divisive and controversial. So it's not at this moment getting any easier. And This too is taking up significant staff time, specifically of the chief and myself at this moment. |
| 03:09:35.49 | Vip Karen Williams | Adam, do we ask questions now or do we wait until you're done? |
| 03:09:37.88 | Adam Politzer | You can just wait, I just got two more quick items here. But I just wanted to bring that to the council's attention. It's our intent to bring an update to the council in September and probably that second meeting in September and that will either be right before or right after the ERBRA's meeting. The good news is that, as you know, that we've completed Rodeo, the pavement of Rodeo, and we're about to roll out the rest of the streets pavement program that the council approved several meetings back. And so those streets that we've identified will be paved, and we'll be sending out something in the currents to make sure that the community knows what's going on. The street contractors are responsible obviously to notify people on the street that's getting paid so they know of the disruption that will be caused but obviously they'll be pleased because at the end of the disruption they'll have an improved street. The last two... Just a reminder that the art festival is just around the corner and that's a big event and we will not have a meeting prior to the art festival but they do go through a very thorough vetting process with the parks and rec commission or park and rec department the police department public works community development on all of the various permit requirements and safety requirements and we've been very successful you know the last 15 years at least that i've been a part of the process, to make sure that it's a safe event and also a well-organized event, so to reduce the amount of traffic and noise complaints that can be caused by having an event of that size. But that obviously is on Labor Day weekend. And then a final note here, and you saw the note that I shared with the council recently and would like to also acknowledge and thank Councilmember Pfeiffer, but the police department based on the shootings that we've had in Texas and Louisiana recently of police officers being ambushed, the community has been very, very supportive of our police department and the outpouring of support and cookies and gifts and snacks you know has been flowers has been very heartwarming and as as we've seen in some of the various notes that have come across I mean we've got to keep in mind that these folks put their lives in risk to keep us safe. And when we call 911 we expect someone to come to protect us and to help us. And both our police officers and firefighters, that's what they've signed up for. That's what they actually are excited to get 911 calls that have meaning to them and come in and help and protect. But they are putting their lives at risk and putting their families in harm's way. and it's important that we recognize that. So I want to thank the council members that have reached out to our police department either directly with the officers as they see them. You know, when Mary and I are at lunch with the chief or if I'm with the chief out at any public gathering, the amount of people that come up and thank him is spectacular and heartwarming and worth noting tonight. So that's my report. Happy to answer any questions of the council. |
| 03:12:56.16 | Vip Karen Williams | Thank you, Adam. Before I ask my question, I will echo your comments about the police force. And it was just so heartwarming to get Chief Rebacher's email about the outpouring of support for Sausalito's Finest. So that was really great. The comments about the anchor outs where you were referring to, you were saying, talking about enforcement. You're talking about enforcement of the derelict empty boats. You're not talking about enforcement of actually removing anchor outs, or are you? |
| 03:13:36.11 | Adam Politzer | The first stage, the first phase is exactly what you just said, the marine debris. |
| 03:13:43.46 | Vip Karen Williams | I understand that. So are you when you say enforcement, are you talking about the marine debris, the empty boats? |
| 03:13:52.04 | Adam Politzer | I'm just trying to get it. |
| 03:13:52.34 | Vip Karen Williams | you And it was a little confusing, because you were talking about anchor outs, you were talking about enforcement, and then you segued into the term mariner. I'm hearing this term a lot to refer to anchor outs. I don't know why. I mean, a mariner is someone who is a sailor who navigates ships and boats, et cetera. Anchor routes are living off the grid, living in our bay. So I'm just curious as to why suddenly The anchor routes are being referred to as mariners that suggest that they are moving around and sailing and they're just stopping by Sausalito and then moving on. |
| 03:14:34.27 | Adam Politzer | Yeah, I won't go into a significant detail here, but as you're pointing out, it's why it's very controversial and a complex discussion. We've had Lieutenant Frost come and talk about really what our initial plan is, which is a phase plan. And so when we look at marine debris, we've labeled marine debris as boats that are not occupied, not registered, and are a hazard on the waters. Hazards to the people regardless to how you're navigating through. And so that's the first phase. The second phase is looking to remove boats that are unregistered and unoccupied, but they're not marine debris. They're not classified marine debris. From the outside, they look like they're boats that can actually function. But being a part From the outside, they look like they're boats that can actually function. But because they're unregistered and unoccupied, they need to be removed. Then the third classification are folks that are living on the water because they have no other choice for economic reasons. They've just found that this is a way of life that they can afford and they buy a boat, but the boat is not seaworthy, meaning that the sails don't work, there's no engine on the boat, it's just anchored in place, and they row out to it, and that's their home. So we want to look at how do we get those people off the water and back onto the land? And then the fourth category, and there's a category that kind of overshadows all of that, and those are the criminals. There's people out there that are preying on people that live out there. There are people preying on crime on our shore and on our marinas. We also want to get those folks off of the water completely. And so that's, you know, you can say that that's one. |
| 03:16:21.18 | Vip Karen Williams | So why aren't the criminals number one? |
| 03:16:22.24 | Adam Politzer | North North. Well, |
| 03:16:23.98 | Vip Karen Williams | Because we heard anchor outs come and say that- They haven't broken the law. We had anchor outs come and say that they were bringing some of these empty boats and dumping them and they used them for trash collection. So you guys are, okay, you know what, that's okay, Adam, thank you. |
| 03:16:25.34 | Adam Politzer | that they haven't put it. Come and say, |
| 03:16:26.97 | Unknown | They haven't broken the law. |
| 03:16:39.55 | Adam Politzer | I WANT TO BE ABLE TO |
| 03:16:41.61 | Vip Karen Williams | I don't want to discuss this. |
| 03:16:43.03 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 03:16:43.17 | Vip Karen Williams | Thank you. |
| 03:16:43.32 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 03:16:43.99 | Vip Karen Williams | THE FAMILY. |
| 03:16:44.06 | Jill Hoffman | It's not agenda. Bye. Will we let Adam do his last statement there? |
| 03:16:48.57 | Adam Politzer | They're folks that are living on the water in registered boats that are seaworthy vessels and that they actually know what they're doing on the boats. Regardless if they are living there legally or not legally, we have labeled them the mariners. They actually have boats that are seaworthy and they actually know how to navigate their boats. So those are the five categories. |
| 03:17:09.76 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. Thank you, any other reports, Adam? THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 03:17:14.37 | Vice Mayor Withey | I do have a comment. I think we should be thankful that Debbie's here tonight and that she's volunteered to take over for Lilly. And we're pretty fortunate to have her. And we have that confidence coming in. So thank you. |
| 03:17:21.12 | Councilmember Weiner | Thank you. |
| 03:17:25.59 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:17:25.74 | Councilmember Weiner | Thank you. |
| 03:17:25.76 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:17:25.81 | Councilmember Weiner | Thank you. |
| 03:17:25.93 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:17:26.03 | Councilmember Weiner | And we have good meals every day. |
| 03:17:27.61 | Vice Mayor Withey | Yeah, and don't tell fish we have cookies. |
| 03:17:28.20 | Jill Hoffman | and then, |
| 03:17:28.29 | Councilmember Weiner | you |
| 03:17:28.42 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah, okay. We're not done yet guys. We're not done fellas yet. Okay, so here we go. We got some more stuff. Okay, so I have a couple updates. One is an update on the historic ordinance task force. Is that what we call it? We met, I think maybe for the last time until we meet again, and it comes back to City Council. So we have a draft updates and draft ordinance in place. It's gonna go to the Planning Commission, and then we expect it to come back here if it doesn't need to go back to the task force. So that's the update for people that are interested in that. I wanted to also mention about the ferry, about what's going on with the ferry, since we're not going to meet for a while. I just want to let the people know that we, the point in the process that we're at is that we've, Um, We had the planning HLB meeting. Since that time we've been working with the ferry company on further further edits to their design and testing the calculations and the design that they've presented. And so we've hired some experts to help us with that. That review is still ongoing. We expect to have something SUBSTANCE BACK MAYBE IN SEPTEMBER. ADAM, DO YOU AGREE WITH THAT? ADAM, DO YOU AGREE WITH THAT? then the ferry might come back sometime in October. Maybe. to present their final Uh, presentation to the city council. So that's kind of where we're at. We expect to be able to tell the public more definitively at our first September meeting about where we are in that process and what the schedule is going forward. My last announcement is the exciting news that I've decided to form a blue ribbon committee to review the permit process, the permit review process in the community development planning sorry the community development department the building department and the fire department and so how that process proceeds from inception to end and how we're doing in that process and so step one is that we're going to do a survey an online survey that Danny's going to have input in and so will Danny Castro, our Community Development Director in our building and public works. department head john goldman will have input on that survey respect that to be i hope that will be done over the break uh... that we can come back and have a baseline for how we're doing overall and i expect that to be a brief survey to people that have gone through the plane department last two or three years plan and then to a point. Thank you. officially appoint members for that Blue Ribbon Committee when we come back in September. And so, And I know that's very exciting for everybody to hear that. So anyway. to see how the permit review process, the process is working, and whether or not we can identify problems and whether or not we can address those problems and improve the process for the public that are going through our departments. And that's all that I have today. Anybody else? |
| 03:20:44.90 | Vice Mayor Withey | May I ask just since... |
| 03:20:47.25 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah. |
| 03:20:47.77 | Vice Mayor Withey | IN MY TENURE HERE, WE HAVEN'T BEEN FAMILIAR WITH THE TERM BLUE RIBBON COMMITTEES. ARE THESE BROWN ACT COMMITTEES? HOW MANY PEOPLE WILL BE ON THEM? WHAT TYPE OF PEOPLE? |
| 03:20:55.21 | Jill Hoffman | What my my The preliminary discussions with Danny and Jonathan and Adam, of course, is that what we're going to start with first is a survey, and then once we get those responses back, then Danny will, the staff obviously will be on it, so Danny will be on it and Jonathan will be on it. And... members of the community who have been involved in the process of the design review permit process in Sausalito. So we want to have a spectrum of people that are on it. And I will be on it. And if somebody from this council would like to be on it, that'd be great. Yeah. And probably someone from the Planning Commission. And so the thought is to do the review, identify problems, and identify solutions in the ways that we can improve. And, yeah, even though it's a blue ribbon committee, we'll proceed as if it was a brown act committee that we'll have notice and open to the public. Public input is always good. Okay, thanks. |
| 03:21:58.22 | Councilmember Weiner | Any else? Friday morning, 8.30. |
| 03:22:01.68 | Jill Hoffman | Oh yes, thank you. Go ahead. Go ahead. |
| 03:22:04.89 | Councilmember Weiner | The kids from society will be here. |
| 03:22:07.43 | Jill Hoffman | Our sister city, we have three sister cities. Our sister city from Sacate, this is their turn to come here to visit us, so we'll have a group of kids. It's a youth exchange program. How many kids do we have coming? Do you know? Yeah. |
| 03:22:23.64 | Councilmember Weiner | you |
| 03:22:23.92 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah. |
| 03:22:24.14 | Councilmember Weiner | Thank you. |
| 03:22:24.16 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 03:22:24.26 | Councilmember Weiner | at least 13. |
| 03:22:25.61 | Jill Hoffman | Oh, great. |
| 03:22:25.64 | Councilmember Weiner | Thank you. Bye. Thank you. And this will be the first time in over 20 years that there will be more boys. |
| 03:22:32.23 | Jill Hoffman | Oh, wow. Fantastic. So a group of 13 kids from Japan will be coming here and living with host families to experience American culture in all its finest glory. |
| 03:22:33.19 | Councilmember Weiner | Yeah. Bye. Wow. |
| 03:22:33.78 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:22:33.91 | Councilmember Weiner | Thank you. |
| 03:22:44.04 | Jill Hoffman | And the public. |
| 03:22:44.07 | Vice Mayor Withey | And the public's invited to that event. Oh, yeah, yeah. Support and welcome them. |
| 03:22:45.76 | Jill Hoffman | Oh, yeah, yeah. Absolutely, absolutely. 8.30, it'll be great. It's going to be awesome. There might be cake. Okay. Or sushi. All right. Anything else before we close for the evening? Appointments? No? Okay. Okay. Oh, future agenda items. Sorry. Thank you so much. Anybody have future agenda items? |
| 03:23:07.46 | Vip Karen Williams | Yeah, I guess not. |
| 03:23:08.76 | Jill Hoffman | No? Okay. We have plenty on our list. Okay. Have an excellent summer vacation, everybody. Don't run any red lights. Have fun. Bye. |
| 03:23:11.68 | Vip Karen Williams | Thank you. |
| 03:23:11.81 | Unknown | Okay. |
| 03:23:11.86 | Vip Karen Williams | Thank you. |
| 03:23:11.97 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:23:12.00 | Vip Karen Williams | Thank you. |