| Time | Speaker | Text |
|---|---|---|
| 00:00:05.60 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, good evening and welcome to the Sausalito City Council meeting. I will call to order and ask Lily to take roll. Council member Withey. |
| 00:00:16.03 | Lily | Thank you. |
| 00:00:16.84 | Jill Hoffman | here. |
| 00:00:16.87 | Lily | here. |
| 00:00:17.34 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 00:00:17.36 | Lily | Councilmember Hoffman? Here. Councilmember Cleveland Knowles? Here. Vice Mayor Burns? Here. Mayor Cox? Here. |
| 00:00:22.37 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:00:22.42 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | here. |
| 00:00:22.48 | Jill Hoffman | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 00:00:23.77 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Okay, we are going to discuss items D1 through D3 in closed session. Any public comment on our closed session items? All right, seeing none, we are going to adjourn to closed session to consider the following. One, public employment appointment pursuant to California Government Code 54957. Two, conference with legal counsel existing litigation pursuant to California Government Code 54956.9A. And three, conference with legal counsel anticipated litigation initiation of litigation pursuant to paragraph four of subdivision D of section 54956.9. Thank you. |
| 00:01:12.27 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay. Good evening everybody and welcome to the Sausalito City Council regular meeting for Tuesday, January 23, 2018. I'll call the meeting to order and ask Lily, will you take the roll? Thank you. |
| 00:01:26.11 | Lily | Councilmember Withey. |
| 00:01:26.97 | Jill Hoffman | here. |
| 00:01:27.38 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:01:27.75 | Lily | Council member Hoffman? Council member Cleveland Knowles here. Vice Mayor Burns? |
| 00:01:33.28 | Unknown | present. |
| 00:01:34.23 | Lily | Mayor Cox. |
| 00:01:34.97 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 00:01:35.02 | Lily | Thank you. |
| 00:01:35.04 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 00:01:35.05 | Lily | you |
| 00:01:35.31 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | HERE. |
| 00:01:35.78 | Lily | Thank you. |
| 00:01:37.00 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | David Souto, will you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance? |
| 00:01:43.53 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. |
| 00:01:43.98 | Unknown | I pledge allegiance to the flag. of the United States of America. to the rebel. |
| 00:01:53.55 | Steven Woodside | and it's not. |
| 00:01:53.62 | Jenny Wasser | MISSION. |
| 00:01:54.02 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. with liberty and |
| 00:01:55.51 | Jenny Wasser | justice. |
| 00:01:56.03 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:02:00.27 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | We had a closed session in which we considered three items, D1 through D3. There are no closed session announcements. Is there any public comment on our closed session items? Seeing none, I'll move on to approval of the agenda. May I have a motion? So moved. |
| 00:02:19.91 | Unknown | Second. |
| 00:02:20.84 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | All in favor? |
| 00:02:21.83 | Unknown | Bye. |
| 00:02:22.54 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | That motion carries 5-0. Next on our agenda is special presentations and mayor's announcements. And I will turn it over to Melanie Purcell for introduction of Amy Turner. |
| 00:02:40.04 | Adam Politzer | Good evening, Mayor and Council. Actually, you get a two for one tonight. So it is my pleasure and great honor to present Serge Avia, who is administrative aide in the city manager's office and administration. And Amy Turner, who is administrative aide in the administrative services department. Both of them come to us with a long history, a broad history. Amy's background is actually in entertainment. So she is well equipped to deal with all of us. Thank you. |
| 00:03:09.44 | Unknown | I don't know. |
| 00:03:10.72 | Adam Politzer | our wide variety of personalities. |
| 00:03:11.17 | Unknown | Hi, Brian. |
| 00:03:13.20 | Unknown | They're just a comedy act. |
| 00:03:14.70 | Adam Politzer | All right. And Serge, as many of you know, has worked for quite a while in the public housing arena. So is very familiar with boards and working with the public and all of us at large. So it's my pleasure to welcome them both. Welcome. |
| 00:03:31.10 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 00:03:31.12 | Adam Politzer | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 00:03:31.15 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 00:03:31.24 | Adam Politzer | you |
| 00:03:31.29 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 00:03:31.31 | Adam Politzer | Thank you. |
| 00:03:31.58 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Bye. |
| 00:03:31.78 | Adam Politzer | Thank you. |
| 00:03:31.91 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 00:03:31.93 | Adam Politzer | Thank you. |
| 00:03:32.22 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 00:03:32.40 | Adam Politzer | Thank you. |
| 00:03:32.88 | Unknown | I'm Mayor Cox, Vice Mayor and Council Members. Thank you for this opportunity. I'm glad to be here and I look forward working with you in 2018. Thank you. |
| 00:03:43.71 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | All right, congratulations. |
| 00:03:47.51 | Unknown | Mayor Cox, Vice Mayor, Council members and staff, thank you so much for this opportunity to work with the city of Sausalito. Sausalito has been my California hometown since 1996. So I'm thrilled to be here, and I really look forward to working with all of you. |
| 00:03:59.94 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | NEXT. Thank you both. |
| 00:04:25.52 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | All right, next on our agenda is public communications. This is the 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 our agenda. However, we may refer matters not on the agenda to City staff or direct that the subject be agendized for a future meeting. Please be sure you've completed a speaker's card and turned it into the city clerk. Is there anyone here who would like to comment on an item not on our agenda tonight? Yes, David Suto. |
| 00:05:05.62 | Unknown | I had two different things I wanted to comment on. First, I was listening to the special meeting this weekend, and I appreciated the mayor's comments about our pathways. I would note that there are a lot of pathways that are drawn on our zoning map, which do not exist, and especially the Ray Avenue area, We have two pathways on a map that we generated recently that are not in fact And one of them was identified on our 2008 bicycle and pedestrian plan. as having $145,000 on a grant to make it happen, and it kind of just disappeared off the face of the earth, never to be seen. So, and that particular path would be a vital pathway in the event of an emergency. It helps people from Toyland Lane and Platt area get quickly down to this area in town. Probably cuts a quarter mile off their walking time. The other thing I wanted to note is I keep reading all of our general plan memos and in them they have 10 overall community goals to find an introduction my understand is maybe these were from the previous plan and in numerous places they have things about preserving It's also the tradition of diversity. And I find that problematic without an explanation of why our current demographics aren't as diverse as they should be. I'm not saying we're not doing enough. I'm not saying we're not an inclusive neighborhood city now. But we have a problem from our past history that we don't like to talk about. We have less than 1% of our community is African American. And we need to explain that. We need to explain that while we had a very inclusive war effort, we had active discrimination against people of color in our community all the way up through into the 60s. That they were excluded from housing, they were excluded from jobs, during the war the people that were living in MarinShip couldn't eat in downtown restaurants And we don't like to talk about that in our history. And while we're talking about being inclusive and being diverse, we also need to talk about our past struggles and what we can do to be intentionally diverse and inclusive. to overcome our past issues. None of us really here are responsible for that, but we're responsible for improving those conditions. Thank you. |
| 00:08:00.82 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. I have no other speaker cards. Vicki. |
| 00:08:10.69 | Vicki Nichols | Hello Mayor Cox and council members. My name is Vicki Nichols and I'm here tonight on behalf of your Sausalito Sustainability Committee, and Mayor Cox is gonna know about this and possibly Councilmember Cleveland Knowles. I'd like to extend an invitation to the council from them to attend a sea level rise workshop on February 3rd at the Bay Model, starting at 9.30. That includes a little very light breakfast. At 10 o'clock, we'll convene with a welcoming by Supervisor Kate Sears. Speakers will be Will Travis, formerly head director at BCDC, who's a sea level rise. He can talk about any part of it. And also environmentalist Andrew Gunther. Then the program will, we will adjourn to the other room and you'll all be invited to play the game of floods, which is really a fun game that was developed by Kate's sea level rise committee in about 2014. So it gives the community an opportunity to look at various solutions for sea level rise to work in a table and imagine what might be solutions without some constraints that we know are coming up such as zoning and budgets. But to just get the conversation going. The county has provided tremendous support to Sausalito sustainability through a grant. They've been working with planner Alex Westhoff, who's an expert, and I volunteer with Alex too and have done some work in the West Marin on sea level rise. um, The program's gonna be in good hands, it's gonna be fun. It will be, it's targeted for Sausalito residents and businesses and we think it's gonna be full so we hope that you sign up, you can sign up on the I think it's gonna be in the Currents. There may be a link in the Currents that you can sign up. So February 3rd, 9.30, come for breakfast and some Thank you. opportunity to learn about sea level rise. Thank you. |
| 00:10:15.36 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 00:10:15.95 | Vicki Nichols | Thank you. |
| 00:10:17.49 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Anyone else who wants to comment on an item not on our agenda? Okay, seeing none, we will move on to action minutes of our previous meeting. |
| 00:10:28.96 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 00:10:28.98 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Move to approve. |
| 00:10:32.34 | Jill Hoffman | second. |
| 00:10:33.40 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | All in favor? Aye. That motion carries 5-0. Okay, next on our agenda is our 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. First, do I have any public comment on any items on our consent calendar? Okay, seeing none, does any member of the council wish to pull any matter on the consent calendar? All right, seeing none, may I have a motion? |
| 00:11:08.86 | Jill Hoffman | I move adoption of the consent calendar items A through H. |
| 00:11:13.92 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Second. There were two seconds, Lily. I don't know how you're gonna. |
| 00:11:16.74 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah. It's okay, Jill. |
| 00:11:19.30 | Jill Hoffman | Thanks. |
| 00:11:19.49 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | you |
| 00:11:19.55 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:11:21.97 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | All right, all in favor? Aye. That motion carries 5-0. Congratulations. |
| 00:11:23.47 | Unknown | Bye. |
| 00:11:33.86 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, next on our agenda are our public hearing items. First up is consideration of a zoning ordinance amendment to modify the banks and financial service retail use definition and permit process for the commercial residential zone. And our community development director, Danny Castro. |
| 00:11:50.71 | Jonathon Goldman | you Good evening, Mayor Cox and members of the council. The issue before the council this evening is a zoning ordinance amendment to modify the banks and financial services retail use definition and the permit process in the commercial residential CR zone. |
| 00:11:52.54 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Good evening. |
| 00:12:10.18 | Jonathon Goldman | Here is a zoning map that shows the CR zone, the commercial, it's a mixed commercial residential zone. It is mainly on Caledonia, but extends from the south on Napa Street to the, I'm sorry, from the north on Napa to Johnson to the south. And then it also includes those parcels that front on Bridgeway parallel to Caledonia Street. To give you some background, the city council, after some concern about, from a business owner and some business owners of the potential inundation of financial institutions within the Caledonia Street area. The City Council had directed staff to work with the Planning Commission to study the mixed commercial residential zone. In July of 2016, the Council adopted an interim urgency ordinance. imposing a moratorium, it was a 45-day moratorium initially, on the issuance of occupational use permits for banks and financial service retail uses in the CR zone. The council then extended that moratorium to a year, to July of 2017. The purpose of the moratorium was to allow both staff and the Planning Commission to study the impact of financial service uses within the Caledonia area and perhaps look at modifying the current provisions in our code, the zoning. Planning Commission held two study sessions. The council did extend the moratorium one more year until July of 2018. And the Planning Commission in September of last year held a public hearing and the recommendation is before you this evening. In 2016, while this issue came about, the City Council was presented, as well as the Planning Commission, with a survey of inventory of all businesses on Caledonia, within the Caledonia CR zone. Here's a map that shows the CR zoning, and these are color coded areas in the map. This was presented to you early on in these discussions. But it really does show that the uses in the CR zone are mixed uses. This is the intent of the zoning. It has both residential, non-residential, which is everything from commercial, restaurants, retail, and offices. And then mixed residential, which is both. And typically that's residential on the upper level and then commercial on the ground floor. So it does represent what the intended zoning is. We also, in the study, found that it's about split, a little bit more on the non-residential in terms of 54% of all uses are non-residential units. Meaning, again, commercial, retail, restaurants, office. And then about 46% of all uses are all residential units. We were able to get some metrics from our inventory and we looked at the number, the percentage of the banks and financial services overall. which amounted to 16 out of the 279 uses in the CR zone. That represented about 6%. And then we looked at the. banks and financial services on the ground floor throughout the CR zone. That represented just under 7%, 6.62%. And then we also looked at the financial services that are on the ground floor that face Caledonia, which was concerned mostly the impact that was expressed. And that was there were 4% of all the uses on Caledonia Street. So it was a current definition that was honed in on in our discussions and the definition is, I won't read it to you unless you'd like me to, but it's quite broad, It begins with financial institutions providing service to the general public, maintaining hours of operation for at least five days a week, eight hours a day, and it lists a number of different types of financial institutions. And in addition, it also included the SIC, the Standard Industrial Classification Codes, which... When you look at them, it's a real broad array of different types of financial service institutions. So when this was presented to the council and then brought to the city planning commission, we really focused on how we could modify it so that it worked better for what the intent was in the CR zone. So on the first study session in February of last year, the Planning Commission reviewed the definition and provided some guidance. So staff was directed to refine the current definition. incorporating Neighborhood serving characteristics within that definition, incorporating a focus on walk-in customers, Clear separation between the banks and financial service uses and office uses. And also revise the land use status in terms of what level of discretionary review, if in fact that's the direction we want to go, because right now, well, without the moratorium, right now, banks and financial service uses under our current definition is permitted. It's just allowed. What this proposes to do is create a discretionary process, which we already have in place, but that would need a modification to the zoning. So in our second study session, the Planning Commission looked at four main changes to the current definition and they're kind of color coded if you can see but One is to revise general public to read as neighborhood serving. And these are consistent with the general plan as you can see and also the purpose statement in the CR zoning district. Replacing the hours of operation stipulation with the term walk-in customers, better distinguishing banks and financial services from office. and financial institutions that are not retail, Also removing the non-retail example uses that are included at the end of the definition. And number four, removing the standard industrial classification codes. So this is the current definition, which shows the words in color that were honed in on and modified based on the discussions of the Planning Commission. And this is the proposed definition that's being recommended this evening is that definition being as banks and financial services retail, as neighborhood serving institutions would serve walk-in customers for the primary purpose of servicing financial transactions on site. including banks and trust companies, lending and thrift institutions, Such institutions that do not meet the criteria above shall be considered office use as defined later in this chapter. So office use in the CR zone requires a conditional use permit. It's not allowed by right unless you're an existing office and you're being replaced by another office. So anything that doesn't fall within that definition would fall as an office use and would be subject to that criteria. Here is both a flow chart that shows what our existing process is and the proposed process for banks and financial services. So what's being proposed, rather than it being a permitted use, we would say it requires a conditional use permit. It would be subject to findings, it would be subject to review by the planning commission, and a number of criteria would be applied to determine it being, occupying a space within Caledonia Street area. The CEP findings, I won't go through all of them, but there's a list of all the CEP findings. It's a pretty extensive and comprehensive review of the appropriateness of a new use coming onto Caledonia Street and the surrounding area. Um, These are the zoning ordinance amendments, the sections that would pertain to the changes. and where we would add language and remove the language. Um, There's another zoning section where the Planning Commission upon reviewing the The language wanted to clarify a purpose statement. in the commercial and residential zone. was to strike the word downtown. Often the downtown is referred... And recognized as the area in the Central Commercial, which is the south on Bridgeway. And Caledonia is not really considered downtown, so we We decided to strike that language and just maintain, provide a pedestrian oriented experience for local residents. Thank you. The zoning ordinance table was changed to a CUP. When you look at the permitted uses, it's now a CUP. And the section regarding its definition is placed here. I'm sorry, no, it's a purpose statement that has been added that reflects what I just previously discussed. The applicability is, this is the definition that I read to you, And here are additional conditional use permit findings. I'm sorry, no, these are, yeah, this basically states that a CUP is required. And then it also refers to, in addition, these are requirements that one must undergo. |
| 00:22:17.51 | Jonathon Goldman | Here's the additional findings. Number one, the banks and financial service retail establishment will not result in an over concentration of banks and financial service retail establishments in its immediate vicinity or the city as a whole. will contribute to the surrounding local serving retail businesses and the pedestrian oriented experience of the CR zone. and will be compatible with the surrounding residential. So again, additional criteria in addition to the regular CUP findings. Language is taken out of the definition, and there's reference to refer to another section of the code where the CUP findings are. There are a number of general plan findings that we found this to be consistent with Caledonia Street and the street level uses as well as neighborhood commercial uses. We find that all these policies and the changes that we're proposing are consistent. It's also consistent with zoning regulations when you look at the purpose statements within the commercial zoning district. So, uh, Staff recommends that you adopt the draft resolution and attached zoning ordinance amendment to modify the definition of the banks and financial service retail uses and use permit requirements in the commercial residential zone. Your other options are to deny it. or to continue the public hearing for more information. And that concludes my report. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:23:47.22 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Any questions of staff? Yes, Ray. |
| 00:23:51.91 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you, Danny. Could you remind us. of the what the office restrictions are in the cr zone because if i remember we got into all of this because the definition of financial services was Someone obviously way back thought they were really smart and thought of every single financial service they could imagine. Now many of which are just plain office uses and so they were potentially going to invade the retail, ground floor retail space. So there was something about offices that either couldn't use ground floor retail or something. Could you remind us of that piece? Because I think it's an important piece and I've forgotten it. |
| 00:24:42.33 | Jonathon Goldman | I forgot to. I think what occurred was distinguishing, first of all, that is a bank and financial service use. Is it an office? Are they one and the same? Or is there a difference between the two? I THINK THAT'S WHAT WE DO. In looking at the definitions, we decided to closely hone in on the defining the banks and financial and separating that from Office, because Office is quite broad in its definition. you Now, offices are allowed in the CR zone, but require a conditional use permit. They are They are allowed without a conditional use permit if you're replacing an existing office on the ground floor. |
| 00:25:27.03 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Any other questions of staff? |
| 00:25:30.05 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I would just ask, Danny, this isn't exactly a question, but at the Planning Commission we did debate whether to propose a minor use permit for this or a conditional use permit. And the Planning Commission as a whole ended up recommending a conditional use permit. But I think either one could be used in this context. And do you want to just... go through that, what the difference is, and why the Planning Commission came up with the CUP? |
| 00:25:59.30 | Jonathon Goldman | Thank you. Thank you. So the difference, a minor use permit is a very similar process. It's just not before the planning commission, it's before the zoning administrator, which is the community development director. The same findings are applied in its determination, and then its decision is made at that staff level, administrative level. THE It's appealable, as a decision of the Planning Commission is, to the If it's a minor use permit, it's appealable to the planning commission. So it's a similar process with the same criteria just done at at the staff level. The reason I think that the Planning Commission, I think, Well, I think it was just so that there's oversight. And, um, It can be modified later, but I think it was oversight. It was difficult to gauge whether we would have many that would come in. We haven't had any requests since, and clearly there's a moratorium. So, There haven't been any requests. |
| 00:27:01.80 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions of staff? Okay, seeing none, I'm going to open it up for public comment. I have no speaker cards on this. Is there anyone who wanted to comment on this item? |
| 00:27:12.89 | Jeff Jacobs | Yes. |
| 00:27:13.87 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay. Jeff? |
| 00:27:18.63 | Jeff Jacobs | Thank you. Madam Mayor and Council. All right. I will speak about Thanks. This is... The in between time. between Martin Luther King's birth and his death. He died as most of you probably know, leading having been invited to Memphis, the Poor Persons March. That's most famous for It was a sanitation strike. by the garbage men of Memphis, AND, You might remember that the people... who were walking and they were all men at that time, they had Placards that read, I am a man. They were being paid 50 cents an hour back then. And they had very, very poor working conditions. It seems to me that it wasn't entirely a coincidence that Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis. during that strike. HE HAD COME OUT AGAINST THE And people said to him, that's not a civil rights issue. And he said, of course, that There were so many black people that were in Vietnam. Most of the sanitation workers, I don't think all, were black as well in Memphis at the time. |
| 00:29:05.99 | Jeff Jacobs | the banking issue now. is this. that in the last few decades, The number of people working in the financial service industries has gone up from 5% to 15%. OF ALL OF THE WORKERS. that in the holy text of the Israelites, the Torah, for the Christians, the Gospel, and for the Muslims, the Holy Quran, They all say this, Do not charge interest. In Hebrew, the word for interest is neshek. which means bite. |
| 00:29:47.01 | Jeff Jacobs | What it says, it says this, it says, The poor will always be amongst us. in both the Old Testament and the New. And what it says in the old is, Lend to your brothers and sisters. and then have the poor always amongst you so you can get paid back and do not charge them interest. like the other nations do. So I think that's something to think about when we're talking about the financial industry in Sausalito and in this country and world. Thanks. |
| 00:30:23.34 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Any other public comment on this item? |
| 00:30:29.86 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | If you haven't filled out a speaker card, I invite you to fill one out after you speak. |
| 00:30:33.65 | David Lay | Thank you very much, I'll be very brief. to get back to the real issue at hand. |
| 00:30:39.04 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Can we know your name? |
| 00:30:39.91 | David Lay | Oh, I'm David Lay. I live in the Anchorage. Um, Years ago, I think before anybody on the council was on this dais, countrywide. came into town and took up residence in Schoonmaker. And they took over a lot of the main building right along the main walk as you go from the rowing center down to the restaurant. um, And then they expanded to another part of the building and then upstairs too. And then in between the two big plots in that building they took over The building across the street was supposed to be a boat building building. And then they took over the Then, Another company The bundled. the loans that the bank was selling. Um, And it had a, room the size of this. with one desk, And the guy drove a Bentley. And his job was to take over all these loans do whatever they did, a lot of things I don't understand. Um, The result of that was And this is all approved by the planning commission and planning boards and all this stuff. And the result of that was, It took over spaces that were to be a dive shop and so on, all boat stuff. and drove up the rents for everybody else so that mostly people just couldn't afford it anymore. These are all places that could have just as well been in some of the very empty buildings all down the street, down Bridgeway. And they took over one right inside of the marina that was built for other purposes. It's just, An important issue, definitions count. Thank you very much. |
| 00:32:30.34 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 00:32:30.82 | David Lay | Thank you. |
| 00:32:32.13 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Anyone else who'd like to comment on this item? Okay, seeing none, I will close public comment and bring it up here for discussion. Who would like to lead off? |
| 00:32:41.83 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I can lead off. I was on the Planning Commission when the Planning Commission considered this several times. And just for fellow council members and the public, because this is a legislative action, I'm not recused from considering this. But when the council first sent us this problem, we, or at least I sort of looked at it as a problem, or as asking for a solution that wasn't a problem. But when we did start to really look at the current definition, it was very confusing and hard to understand. And I think we came up with a much more simple definition and looked at this premise that council member Withy brought up about how to distinguish financial institutions that aren't office. Thank you. And I think the main things that we focused on, as Danny already said, was this neighborhood serving characteristic, someplace that if you live in Sausalito that you would go to, that you would walk into the storefront and visit, and this kind of walk-in customer aspect, and that we should treat those differently than like a venture capitalist office or that type of use. So we really struggled with it. We had several hearings on it. I think working with staff, we came up with a very good definition, and I think we did solve the issue that the city council had asked us to. So I THINK WORKING WITH STAFF, WE CAME UP WITH A VERY GOOD DEFINITION AND I THINK WE DID SOLVE THE ISSUE THAT THE CITY COUNCIL HAD ASKED US TO. I just wanted to provide that context and say I'm very much in support of this. The only, I did think that a minor use permit, because we have not gotten a lot of applications for this, would have been just more efficient and effective, but I was convinced by other planning commissioners who felt like we should start with a more open process to go with the CUP. don't feel that strongly about it but I think either would work for this Thank you. REAVE. |
| 00:34:35.79 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah, well... When this was first presented to the council, whenever it was, 2016 sometime, I think, and you guys put the calendar up, so it's memory here. Because the problem as it was presented to us was that the financial services have evolved, and our definition was so inclusive of every single kind of financial services that in fact that a loophole was now existing such that basically a hedge fund, let's pick on a poor hedge fund, hedge fund for example which is solely an office use could claim it to be a financial services and therefore replace a retail operation on the ground floor in particular. And so that's why we threw it to the planning commission to say, hey, we think there's a loophole, can you fix the definition? And I think everybody's done a fantastic job, I'm fully supportive. I think it solves the problem as it was presented to us. |
| 00:35:44.72 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | THANK YOU. |
| 00:35:44.98 | Jill Hoffman | Thanks. |
| 00:35:45.16 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 00:35:49.33 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah, I agree with Ray. I mean, this was, I think this came to us in 2016. when I was mayor actually in And we were very concerned that it was replacing a resident serving. type of retail business along Caledonia. So yeah, I think it's great. I think it's very acceptable. And meets our concerns as we stated them during that meeting in 2016. |
| 00:36:12.79 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 00:36:12.82 | Jill Hoffman | THANKS. |
| 00:36:13.33 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 00:36:13.85 | Jill Hoffman | I think. |
| 00:36:14.04 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Mayor. |
| 00:36:14.98 | Unknown | Thank you. I agree with the ordinance, and I think it had a nice process through the, it went through the process nicely. When it first came about, I was a little concerned in that I saw... THE WORD INUNDATED. that we were being inundated and I'm not sure that ever came to be the case. What I looked at from a real estate standpoint and community development standpoint, this type of community development, but building a community, especially one that needs to grow its tax revenue base very quickly, and we'll talk about that more tonight and in the future, but where you have areas of growth in your revenue, one is to protect bleed tax bleed to other communities. And to do that, you have to have a strong mix. And sometimes the financial services operation keep somebody in town long enough instead of going to Mill Valley that they buy something at a store eat lunch or something. So a strong mix is really what provides an growth and and increase in a community. And I was concerned that we were going to start eliminating things that keep people in our community to spend otherwise a retail dollar. This process turned out... Turned out well, I do support it. I'm using this as an opportunity to speak a little bit to the future on how we should look at some of these things going forward. When we identify, what does it do to the overall mix? you know these conversations don't come about often when you have rents that dictate what goes on the first floor and the second floor and most communities no way would an office or financial be able to afford a retail rent if the retail rent was so so um uh vital or have so much vitality, they just wouldn't do it. So we need to continue to look at our mix and how we come with some of these solutions instead of just a straight zoning ordinance, but an economic development purview as well. |
| 00:38:22.64 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thanks. I agree with the comments of my fellow council members. I do think that the overall mix of businesses and offices and residential uses in town is something the General Plan Advisory Committee will undertake as a part of its work. But I think this is a fine interim solution. I think it's important as earlier discussed because of how the definition of financial services has evolved over time. And I do think at least starting out a CUP is probably preferable to the MUP in the interest of transparency. And because oversight of this important resident serving area in order to avoid over concentration and to avoid driving up rents is important. So I will ask for a motion. |
| 00:39:12.05 | Jonathon Goldman | If I may, Mayor Cox, the actually written recommendation here is not the correct one. You should read the first, the recommended motion on the first page of your staff report, because it starts with wave first reading. Okay. |
| 00:39:13.50 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yes. |
| 00:39:28.62 | Jonathon Goldman | That should be the correct question. |
| 00:39:35.73 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, so there's a recommended motion, great. |
| 00:39:37.82 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | All right, I'll make a motion to waive the first reading by title only and introduce an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Sausalito modifying the definition of banks and financial services. Retail uses and the permit requirements for the commercial residential CR zone. |
| 00:39:52.72 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:39:52.74 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | SECOND. . |
| 00:39:54.02 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 00:39:54.05 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | All in favor? Aye. That motion carries 5-0. Thank you. |
| 00:39:54.86 | Unknown | I don't know. |
| 00:39:54.95 | Unknown | Bye. |
| 00:39:55.20 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | . |
| 00:40:03.55 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, next up is Item five. Adopt an update to the master fee schedule and we will hear from Melanie Purcell, our administrative services director. |
| 00:40:26.62 | Adam Politzer | Good evening, Melanie Purcell, Administrative Services Director. It's my pleasure to present the User Fee in Charges Study. Actually, Nicole Kissam with NBS group will be presenting the methodology and background of the fee study. But it's been a long time coming, this has been going on since 2013. And we've had the opportunity now to bring it home. Last year, some of you may remember having an interim step adopted to bring our fees more in line with those of our neighbors. um, Majority of the fees charged by the city in the regulatory arena are required to remain under, at or below the cost of service. So we go through this process to ensure that our cost, is comparable, that our fees at no point exceed our cost. So Nicole's going to walk you through the methodology of this and then also included in your staff report is a recommendation from the police department to bring our fees comparable with the rest of the county. That recommendation also first came forward in 2013. And unfortunately, we found a record that had been adopted and for council consideration. Please note this is a receive and file presentation and the actual adoption will come before you in February. |
| 00:41:56.84 | Nicole Kassam | Excellent introduction by Melanie. Good evening, Mayor, City Council. It's a pleasure to be here. My name is Nicole Kassam. I'm the director of our financial consulting practice with NBS. Like Melanie said, I'm just going to take us through some slides on the background and the methodology of user fee studies in California, specifically what we went through for the report that you have in front of you, and just present some preliminary policy considerations for you tonight. So what a user fee study does is it goes through a process of defining the full cost recovery potential or maximum amount for each individual fee item on a fee list. That's basically the goal of the study, is to quantify what the estimated and reasonable cost of providing each fee-related service is on the city's fee list. There's a couple different types of fees out there. Some are called user fees and some are called regulatory fees. Both of them are required to never exceed the cost of providing service. I think that's the most important part of that. There's, if you look at the various government codes and statutes, there's a lot of talk about fees. Most of the time it will just say that the fee cannot exceed the actual cost or the estimated reasonable cost. But most of the fees that we're talking about here tonight are planning and engineering, which are development-related, and police. So what we've included here is Proposition 26, which is just the overarching constitutional authority for fees that defines the difference between a fee and a tax. And a fee is not a tax if it's based on the cost of providing service. So that's very important. This Government Code 66014A is actually specific to development fees. It talks about What types of costs can be included? In development fees, it talks about the process for adopting those fees in general. And it has this estimated reasonable cost stipulation that I mentioned. It's not the only place in the codes that you'll see that, but here's one specific reference relevant to our study. And then we have Proposition 218, which is really more of the process for adopting like utility rate studies and so forth, these are not Proposition 218 fees, but important is that In this proposition, there's just more guidance about equity of fees and so forth, and gives us some underlying principles that we follow when we do our studies. So again, these are cost recovery opportunities. These are revenues that the city council can implement. It's the city council's decision to implement fees at full cost, less than full cost, for example. And we're definitely not talking about any taxes, fines or penalties, development impact fees. Sometimes those are confused with user fees or any other type of rate for utility services. These are really about permits and development approvals, so forth. Why do we do this? Number one, aligning user fees closer to their cost can reduce subsidies provided and help if there's general fund subsidies being provided. It can sometimes bring back services that have been eliminated by recovering in other programs. if there's a subsidy there. It helps fund apartments efficiently. It's just part of fiscal sustainability in general. And also an ongoing dialogue every three to five years about fees and how much fees are and whether they meet these requirements is a healthy conversation with the community. It's setting this cost recovery policy is very important to have in an ongoing basis and not wait 10 or 15 years. Sometimes we find that, and then it can be a very... very much an uphill battle sometimes. So, When we do a fee study, we've got a methodology here that's been around since I believe the 70s in California. The steps that we're taking here have just, this has been the approach. for a very long time in California. And the whole goal of the approach is to establish, again, this estimated and reasonable cost of providing services. on every individual fee level. and to help with policy and procedure surrounding fees. So we're talking about planning, engineering, and police tonight. Those are the results that are in the report that we submitted. And once we kind of understand what the maximum amount is or the full cost of providing services, then we can turn it over to the council to decide where they want to set fees at or below that cost. This is our process. Every study goes initially through review of the fee structure. What types of fees do we have on the list when we start? Are there any ideas from staff about adding fees? Do we have any? updates from the industry about ways that fees might have been structured or charged. that are no longer relevant to today's fee setting environment. So we go through a big conversation about, how to design fees and what categories of fees we should have on the fee schedule. Then from there, we collect quite a bit of data. So we use budgetary information, the adopted budget, We use time estimate information. So for every fee, we go through a process conversation about how long it takes to provide the service, the plan check, the inspection. so forth. And we also collect workload information. How many did we do? in the last year and we see what type of data is available for us to analyze in coming up with these cost calculations. The output of all of that is kind of twofold. One is a fully burdened rate calculation. multiplied by a time estimate equals your maximum cost recovery And then you have these appendices, like you see in the back of the report, that compare Compare current fee to full cost and start the discussion about where do we want to set fees going forward? So again, I'll probably go a little bit quicker through some of these slides, Different ways to look at structuring fees. You have just flat fees. It's a one-time fee. You have different types of fees that can be scaled, such as by valuation or project size or number of lots, number of units. And then you can also have various fees that are just better done on a deposit. You know, we'll take an initial $5,000, and we'll refund what we don't use and if we go over for whatever reason, then we'll ask for a re-up on that deposit. So those are some very common examples. And we talked through all of those and how they're the city of Sausalito's current operating environment. I'm not sure if you're when we establish this estimated and reasonable cost of service, it reflects the total cost, the total citywide cost of providing these services. So a lot of that's going to rely on budgetary information and analyzing that budgetary information to pull out direct costs, such as salaries and benefits of employees who are providing the plan review. Indirect costs, which would be citywide overhead of the finance function or the HR function, for example, legal. THE FAMILY IS THE FAMILY You've got different types of support costs that happen within planning, within engineering. So we go through a lot of conversations to talk about these different types of costs that are allowable when you estimate the total cost of providing service. I think it's a good thing. We translate those costs from an annual level down into a fully burdened rate per hour. That includes all of those components that I just talked about. And I'll be telling you what those are by department in just a minute. So it's really, It's really time is money. It's the amount of time it takes times the fully burned hourly rate. to establish the maximum fee amount. Okay, so let's talk a little bit more about results specific to Sausalito. So planning fees, these are the types of planning fees we looked at. Um, They're probably very familiar with those. The fully burdened hourly rate that we calculated was what we call a blended cost per hour. One hour of planning time is $135 per hour. shocking outcome for any other |
| 00:50:57.75 | Steven Woodside | SHOP. |
| 00:51:00.63 | Nicole Kassam | municipality that we would look at. And again, the work on the fee schedule, we went through and we said, OK, which fees should be flat, which fees should be deposit-based, process that's needed in planning departments. In engineering, we also looked at all the typical fees that you would see on an engineering fee schedule. Their rate came out at $153 per hour. And here we did make some recommendations to I guess I would say, modernize the fee schedule, bring it up to industry standard, and move away from some more of percentage-based fees, is what we call them, percentage of project value, and so forth. get more get more into some average cost of providing services and flat fees especially for minor projects like encroachment permits and so forth and |
| 00:51:45.55 | Unknown | Love. |
| 00:51:50.33 | Nicole Kassam | um, And then in police, police is kind of a... a specific animal when it comes to fee analysis, many of their fees are capped by the state. But we did, and a lot of the study focuses on their administrative or record-keeping type fees. We went through a discussion with them. They were extremely prepared. They'd done a lot of research on their own. and their rate came out at $182 per hour. added some new fees, deleted some fees, restructured existing fees, pretty routine study. And so now we get to the part about What are the factors that go into a decision about implementing a fee at full cost recovery or not. Typically, services that are more of a community-wide or global benefit would be subsidized. If there's fees in that area, then they would typically have a higher subsidy or a lower fee as compared to the full cost recovery amount. Then there's some city services that are right in the middle, such as recreation, sometimes fire prevention fees. which are not relevant here, but those will be somewhere in the middle. Then you have most of the time where a higher percentage of cost recovery would be adopted, would be in the area of development services. Areas where the benefit from The regulatory effort is to the fee payer. It's pretty much a private benefit. I get to increase my property value by installing a roof. It needs to be regulated. Benefit comes to me. So these are typical ranges here. for various types of municipal disciplines, I guess you could say. Recreation is usually on the lower end. And I think the reason that police and administration there have notes on them, is probably because if the fee is not capped, then this would be the range. But a lot of times, again, the state will just set the fee for those services. So what we did in the report, we just made an attempt based on prior conversations and so forth to provide an initial cost recovery policy target. Doesn't need to be accepted. It's really only for discussion purposes to show how this would play out. What we did is we said that a 75% cost recovery target might be a reasonable place to start And so when we did that, this would be the outcome. 12% of fees in the blue there showed results higher than the full cost of providing service. So the current fee was was higher. than the cost calculation from NBS. So for those, we recommend, of course, bringing the fee down to the cost of providing service. THEN, another 12% of all the fees that are in gray, we're already achieving a cost recovery rate between 75 and 100% of cost. So for those, we just left them as is. No increase, no change. And then the majority of fees were less than a 75% recovery outcome. So for those, the results that you have now reflect an adjustment to 75%. And that's just only to give you a starting point to think about cost recovery policy. It's just a starting point. It would be a typical approach that we would see. Just wanted to give you some framework for thinking about that. Best practices in fee setting is to do this probably about every five years. Um, you If you have big changes in the economy or organization, maybe more often, It would be good to have an annual increase mechanism between studies, CPI or labor cost increase I know Melanie's working really hard on a combined master fee schedule. She wants to get all the fees in one place. Um, And, And if and when you're ready, a documented cost recovery policy that might be part of your budget document that says, development services should go 100% whenever feasible and recreation should go 50% or varied levels for different types of programs, Um, This is a good, it's a best management practice. It's a recommended practice. policy to have as part of the budgeting process. Because then when you do a fee study, THE FAMILY. your staff already knows how to bring recommendations to you based on what the local policy is. by department. That's my presentation for you this evening. I hope it wasn't too long, and I'm here for questions as needed. Thank you. |
| 00:56:43.52 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Any questions of Nicole? |
| 00:56:46.81 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah, I had a question. So you mentioned the fully burdened cost of staff, and you gave various numbers. Does that vary... according to whether it's employees or contracted out, and did you just blend them? Did you use both and then blend them? |
| 00:57:01.88 | Nicole Kassam | Sometimes we blend them and sometimes we separate them. So I would have to answer that question, which we could definitely answer for you, I would need to go into the fee models and answer it for you. |
| 00:57:12.52 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, because I know we do both. So I just was wondering if that 153 accurately reflects |
| 00:57:14.30 | Nicole Kassam | Yes. |
| 00:57:18.72 | Nicole Kassam | So typically, if the contract services are for special studies or something that's more of a one time, then those would be passed through, not included in that rate calculation. |
| 00:57:19.73 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | what we're spending. |
| 00:57:30.51 | Nicole Kassam | but if it's more like a staff augmentation type contractor, then it's probably blended in. |
| 00:57:35.42 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay. Okay. Great. Thank you. And this is a question for Melanie. Do we have an automatic fee? increase based on CPI or other standard at this point in time? |
| 00:57:47.02 | Adam Politzer | The only fee the city has that in place right now is the solid waste fee. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:57:54.71 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:57:54.78 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:57:55.24 | Unknown | Thanks, Nicole. Fixed fees, as an example in planning, the fixed fee is basically an average of cost. So if we had, let's say, 12 projects that went through, at any point, half of those could fall above that fixed line and half could fall below the fixed line in actual costs if it comes out to be an average. Is that correct? Are you following me on that methodology? Theoretically, yes. Okay. Okay. |
| 00:58:23.62 | Nicole Kassam | Theoretically, yes. |
| 00:58:25.51 | Unknown | So if we were at 100% on a fixed fee, we take the risk of having 49% of those overpay. an assumption? |
| 00:58:38.49 | Nicole Kassam | Again, the methodology goes off of the government code, which says estimated and reasonable cost of providing service. It doesn't say actual tracked. audited, it doesn't say anything like that. So this average costing methodology |
| 00:58:49.40 | Unknown | Right. |
| 00:58:55.45 | Nicole Kassam | In theory, some may overpay slightly, some may underpay slightly, but overall it should work out. That is a fixed fee. type approach. |
| 00:59:03.53 | Unknown | Okay, so on the fixed fee there's there's not more risk to go 100% cost recovery than on a non-fixed fee. |
| 00:59:10.16 | Nicole Kassam | No. |
| 00:59:10.67 | Unknown | OK. |
| 00:59:11.02 | Nicole Kassam | No. |
| 00:59:11.98 | Unknown | And then in looking at the opportunity to adjust as we move forward, and I know doing something to this level every five years, but on an annual basis, is there a template that we could use as staff to to see where we fit without having to do a full blown methodology. |
| 00:59:31.57 | Nicole Kassam | So in terms of seeing where you fit, if that means that, for example, Melanie would have the spreadsheets listing all the fees and she could apply a factor, such as 3% for CPI or whatever it is, and you could see |
| 00:59:31.86 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:59:45.78 | Nicole Kassam | how all the fees are adjusted from there and then decide if that's reasonable or if there's a couple you wanna stay, for example. Yes, that is a... a perfectly normal procedure to have in place. |
| 00:59:55.28 | Unknown | Or what I would suggest is if maybe we got more efficient in some departments and were able to reduce the time of a permit application, would we be able to adjust that hourly cost on our own fairly easy without having to go through an entire methodology program? |
| 01:00:12.77 | Nicole Kassam | I would say here and there, as long as the staff and the council are are comfortable, that the assumptions are reasonable, and estimated and not not aggressive or something like that, in my professional opinion, might be a legal question actually, it would be that yes, you can adopt fees here and there, you could add a fee, in the interim, in between updates if you needed to. based on the fully burdened rate per hour that we've established in this study. you multiplied by a time estimate. That would be okay. |
| 01:00:50.51 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | During our strategic plan discussion, we learned that we're in the process of implementing TrackIt to streamline some of the work that we do. Will we also be able to use TrackIt to more accurately track fees and collect data to use for recalibrating? |
| 01:01:09.79 | Nicole Kassam | I believe so, yes. In fact, in the concluding statement of the report, it talks about the ever-increasing importance of technology for validating these studies? and trachats are very commonly used program in that area. So yes, please use your system. Have fun with it. |
| 01:01:28.74 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | And then in reviewing appendices A1, A2, and A3, I see almost across the board a recommendation at 75% that you had mentioned in your presentation. But you also in slide 21 showed us the typical collections, yeah, the industry trends in cost recovery policy. So why not comport with industry trends? |
| 01:01:57.29 | Nicole Kassam | completely the council's purview to direct us to bring back any alternate scenario that you would want to look at. There is no reason not to. There are reasons why councils or staff wouldn't recommend it. Sometimes it's... economic concerns. Sometimes you don't want to discourage a certain behavior. You want people to come in and comply for safety reasons. Sometimes the jump. it's too big to get to 100 all at once, so you might want to phase. There's a lot of reasons why, but there is no... This is where it heads more and more. as we move down the road in municipal finance. |
| 01:02:41.27 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | And did you say at the beginning of your presentation that the recommendation from the police department is to bring our fees consistent with the rest of the county? |
| 01:02:51.12 | Adam Politzer | Those fees are specific to statutory. They're not actually the ones that were covered under this portion of the study. So they're two separate sets of fees, but yes, that's the recommendation coming from the police department and finance. So we'll hear that at a later date? It's actually included in there and the references to the specific statutes. I was not able to locate the original report. The police department has done extensive research trying to make sure that these are all still current with the sheriff's department. But I can get additional information for Certainly on anything specific, but those are the currently published fees from the county and the other jurisdictions within the county. So, |
| 01:03:31.60 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:03:31.89 | Adam Politzer | Is it? |
| 01:03:32.48 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:03:33.95 | Adam Politzer | Thank you. |
| 01:03:33.97 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | again, Appendices A1 through A3 had 75% almost throughout. Is that... If we were to adopt that with respect to police fees, does that bring our fees consistent with the rest of the county? |
| 01:03:49.85 | Adam Politzer | No, they're two different types of fees. So the fees that are covered under the county recommendation are not subject to this same calculation. |
| 01:03:51.80 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay. |
| 01:03:58.40 | Adam Politzer | They're two separate. So for example, parking in a handicapped space is one of the fees that the county had a different published rate and has for five years different than the city. So that particular fee is set by the council within the parameters of state law. It was not a fee that was covered by the MBS study. So they are two separate sets. |
| 01:04:23.63 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So there's a discussion on page 15 of the staff report of police fees. Where are we given the information about how about what to consider in considering whether to. follow the police recommendation that we bring our fees consistent with the rest of the county |
| 01:04:44.15 | Adam Politzer | The recommendation was simply what exists today and what the sheriff's department requested of the city in 2013. and has not changed since that time. |
| 01:04:54.55 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | And so where is that analysis so we can see what that means in terms of changing what we have in place versus what's being requested? |
| 01:05:04.43 | Adam Politzer | If there's not a written analysis, what's provided is the comparison between the two. If you're looking for, I can get numbers and counts of specific. citations that were issued, if that's what you're asking. I'm just asking, so I'm |
| 01:05:19.59 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:05:22.96 | Nicole Kassam | I think it's a test from the chair. |
| 01:05:24.16 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I think it's a test. |
| 01:05:24.84 | Jenny Wasser | Thank you. |
| 01:05:26.15 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I looked at A1 through A3. |
| 01:05:28.95 | Nicole Kassam | It's not in A1 through A3, that would be ours. There we go. |
| 01:05:35.09 | Adam Politzer | If you look at the second from the right column in Exhibit A, it says current and then the far right column is proposed. Okay, I'm looking at Appendix A. Is there a different exhibit |
| 01:05:46.97 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | It's Appendix A. |
| 01:05:54.35 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | It says, Cost of service per activity, recommended cost recovery percentage. |
| 01:06:02.09 | Adam Politzer | Hold on one second. |
| 01:06:06.85 | Adam Politzer | This is the first time we're going to. |
| 01:06:08.68 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | where, |
| 01:06:09.03 | Unknown | Is that in our staff report? |
| 01:06:09.40 | Adam Politzer | If not, it should be attached to the staff report. |
| 01:06:12.32 | Unknown | That's not Appendix A. That's not Appendix A. |
| 01:06:20.84 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:06:20.96 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:06:21.10 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:06:21.23 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:06:36.57 | Steven Woodside | Not funny what's wrong from you. |
| 01:06:38.48 | Jill Hoffman | I don't know. Do you know what we're looking at? Is it this one? |
| 01:06:41.24 | Adam Politzer | Yeah. Yeah, there's some confusion. There's, it is actually attachment A of the staff report. There is an appendix A of the NDS study. |
| 01:06:43.61 | Jill Hoffman | WHAT YOU FIND HERE IS RIGHT. |
| 01:06:44.43 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 01:06:48.57 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | No, it's actually Exhibit A to the staff report. It's right behind page two of the staff report. Where is it on the... |
| 01:06:56.69 | Unknown | you the little plaque they gave us here. |
| 01:06:58.96 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah, so those exhibits are in the wrong place. They're attached to the business item and not to the site. |
| 01:07:04.31 | Unknown | and not to this item. Go ahead. Just answer me. |
| 01:07:08.68 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Okay, so looking at Exhibit A, and I'm sorry if everybody doesn't have it. If we look at the column that says current and the column that says proposed. if we adopt what is proposed does that address the recommendation from the police department to bring our fees consistent with the rest of the county. |
| 01:07:31.21 | Adam Politzer | Yes, ma'am. |
| 01:07:31.62 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay. |
| 01:07:35.48 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:07:37.25 | Unknown | I have one follow-up question, but not on the police thing. |
| 01:07:38.42 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah, go ahead. |
| 01:07:41.68 | Unknown | We didn't have building in here, correct? I mean, this is, okay. But building... I WANT TO TAKE A LOOK AT THE we talked earlier about if there's a public benefit |
| 01:07:50.84 | Nicole Kassam | Thank you. |
| 01:07:53.96 | Unknown | YOU MAYBE DON'T GO 100% Is that correct? |
| 01:07:58.35 | Nicole Kassam | You have great questions. |
| 01:07:59.44 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 01:08:00.09 | Nicole Kassam | So overall, the policy tends to be 100%. But there are a handful of fees in building and safety that Um, would be typically subsidized like a water heater permit, for example. That's a perfect example of a public safety issue. solar is capped by the government code. for example. There's a handful in there that the council might want to look at keeping lower, things that really impact residential homeowners like roofing permits. Sometimes that's one. So there's a handful. |
| 01:08:38.80 | Unknown | And then I'm thinking of another one of just an overall addition or remodel that increases, that triggers a |
| 01:08:38.90 | Nicole Kassam | I'm thinking of another one. |
| 01:08:45.43 | Unknown | . Yeah, that's right. |
| 01:08:46.85 | Vicki Nichols | Yeah. I appreciate |
| 01:08:47.91 | Unknown | that's a big public benefit back to the community if the properties assessed. |
| 01:08:52.41 | Nicole Kassam | There's all sorts of ways to explain why you would want to subsidize a fee or charge full cost recovery. That's definitely on the list. |
| 01:09:05.78 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Um... So those are not asterisked or marked out in our NBS report in appendices A1, A2, and A3. Is it possible for you to earmark which of those we should not move to 100% or we should keep, which ones in your mind provide a public benefit? Because right now it's just, unless our fee is already at 93%, right now it's just universally 75% recommendation by staff. So if we were to instead want to comport with industry trends, can you identify for us, because I don't know off the top of my head, water heaters, solar roofing, or whatever. Is it possible for you to, in your next report to us in which we're asked to take action, identify what those line items are that in the mind of staff provides a public benefit that we should consider? |
| 01:09:59.04 | Nicole Kassam | We can, it's very, there are some frequent flyers in that respect that I can identify and send through Melanie for consideration. There are others that are local. that I wouldn't pick up on. So I think that that would be a combined effort between myself and staff. But I'm happy to do that. I'm happy to pull out the ones that catch my eye. |
| 01:10:19.96 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Great. And then question for Melanie. So Melanie, our staff report says that these police fees were recommended for update in 2013, but it appears that council was never asked to do that. So this is in our staff report, but it's not part of our proposed motion. So are we able to take action on this tonight, or is this something that you have to bring back to us? |
| 01:10:43.39 | Adam Politzer | The intent is to bring them all back. I wanted to provide the council an opportunity to see all of these because this has not been brought forward prior and the original conversations about fee schedule have been in other areas, particularly in the planning and zoning. |
| 01:11:01.71 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Those are all my questions, any other questions of staff? Okay, I'm going to open it up for public comment. I don't have any speaker cards on this. Is there anyone who wants to speak to this? |
| 01:11:18.52 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, I'm going to ask you to confine your comments to the update to the master fee schedule. |
| 01:11:25.40 | Jeff Jacobs | I will be doing that. And David, I'll be looking at you because- No, I'd ask you to address the council, Jeff. Ms. Mayor, I can start the time. I was talking about banks. |
| 01:11:31.43 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | No, I'd ask you to address the council, gentlemen. |
| 01:11:40.30 | Jeff Jacobs | And I was talking about our finances. You don't need to shout, sir. Okay, well, I'll move a little further from the microphone. |
| 01:11:41.38 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | You don't need to show up. |
| 01:11:47.58 | Jeff Jacobs | Mayor Cox, I was talking about the financial system. of our country. David, I thought it was appropriate to do that. Well, I thought it was appropriate to do that. |
| 01:11:55.58 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Would you please- |
| 01:11:59.36 | Jeff Jacobs | While we were talking about zoning, which only came into effect, Ms. Mayor and Council, because of automobiles. Before that, there was no such thing as cities zoning. It had to do with parking. So I did study this. a little bit, the fee structure. I didn't just study it. in reference to a place called Ferguson, Missouri, where the police fees, were a flat tax mainly given to the poor, Three weeks ago, I saw in the council agenda, it was an accident, they had a ordinance from Ohio that was going to wave tickets that had been given to people DRIVING CARS AND THEIR LICENSE HAD BEEN SUSPENDED. They could no longer get to their jobs. They couldn't get to the supermarket to buy food. And so these would be forgiven. I see no mention of that here, of any forgiveness of those fees. I saw that the fees were specifically for the police, parking violations. and you can't get re-registered if you're If you have tickets, outstanding. I'll talk for a second about the issue of hiring an outside consultant. Nothing against Nicole. I liked her presentation. Why not hire her to work directly for the government with 100% accountability? If you look in the California Constitution, the Emoluments Clause Goes. both ways. that there is not supposed to be money that comes from a city or county or state that's given to somebody who privately works unless there is a very, very good reason for it. ALL OF THE FEES HERE GO UP. IF THE POLICE ARE GOING TO GET 100% OF THEIR OPERATING COSTS, from fees Well, they might have an added THE REASON to give tickets. Those tickets are a flat tax. And That flat tax will fall hardest on the poorest of the people. I hope that was to the issue, Ms. Mary. Was it? |
| 01:14:36.18 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Any other public comment? Okay, seeing none, I'll bring it up here for discussion. Who would like to lead off? |
| 01:14:46.42 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Well, THE END OF THE END OF THE Um, I think it's great that we have finally conducted the study. I'm a little taken aback by the amount of time that it took, but I'm glad that we're here. I strongly support the best management practices that the consultant showed on page 23. I think doing this study is the first step to that. I strongly support an annual fee. increase mechanisms such as CPI or whatever is appropriate for the particular fee. And I also strongly support as much of full cost recovery as makes sense in each instance when we get to that point. So, you know, I think in some cases, since we haven't updated our fees in a long time, we may be phasing in increases to make them acceptable. but that especially in the planning and engineering areas that we should definitely be working towards full cost recovery so I'm glad that we're here and this was really helpful |
| 01:15:55.44 | Jill Hoffman | Yes, I agree with that. I don't know why this has taken so long either. Since I've been on the council, I've been here and this is going to happen. I think the finance committee really sold this for the first time yesterday, to be honest. We were sort of talking through the merits of the initial staff recommendation of setting things at 75%. Why not fully recover costs? I was told that if we actually immediately went to 100%, we would charge the highest fees for nearly everything. in Marin County. So why is that? Is it because we're so inefficient? I don't think so. It might be, but I don't think so. Is it that nobody's really truly recovering the full cost of their fees, which I think is more likely? And does it matter if we charge the most of any other jurisdiction in Marin County? I don't know. So it would seem to me that these, I don't think, you know, there seems to me that if you're trying to come back for February, there's a fair amount of work to do because if you're able to do what the mayor said, which is where should there be a bit of discretion of going under for the public benefit, which that means you've got like 500 line items. Well, maybe not that much. 150 line items here. There's no way that's coming back to us in February, if you're going to do that, surely. Thank you. So that's sort of a comment and a question. I just think this isn't baked enough. |
| 01:17:46.93 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:17:47.03 | Unknown | like Amica's half baked or something? |
| 01:17:48.80 | Unknown | you |
| 01:17:48.97 | Unknown | . |
| 01:17:49.12 | Unknown | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 01:17:49.44 | Unknown | . |
| 01:17:49.92 | Unknown | I'm not. That's a herb joke that... Yeah, I got to thank you. My turn. In a good way. Yeah, thank you. In a good way. |
| 01:17:53.19 | Unknown | Yeah, I got to thank you. |
| 01:17:54.10 | Unknown | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 01:17:54.15 | Unknown | . |
| 01:17:54.85 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. you Thank you. Yeah, thank you. In a good way. |
| 01:17:59.27 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:17:59.30 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:17:59.32 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:18:02.89 | Unknown | I am... I WOULD LIKE TO TAKE A MORE LOOK AT HOW WE INITIATE THE the cost recovery percentages based on fixed and deposit and those type of applications, simply so that we're a little more consistent. I'm not supportive of going 100% on these at this point, simply because we are raising a lot of them drastically. I happen to believe there's more public benefit in some of these maybe than, that I look forward to assuming. Also, as much as I talk about increasing our revenues, it's not always out of our own pockets. I'm looking to increase them out of other people's pockets as well, like visitors and that type of thing. I WOULD SUPPORT 75 TO 80, BUT I REALLY DON'T WANT TO GET INTO A DISCUSSION OF GOING MUCH HIGHER THAN THAT AS FAR AS COST RECOVERY. But I also agree that we probably have a lot more to bake in this. |
| 01:19:03.44 | Jill Hoffman | You know, I, I'd like for us to move quickly, though. I mean, we've been looking at this for a long time, and I don't want to get mired down into a lot of the specifics, but I do agree, you know, a broad brush of, addressing the public benefit fees. I'm fully supportive of that. But I also would like to move forward with this and get our fees in line. And perhaps with a built-in schedule multiplier or escalator that annually we're going to look at escalating these closer to 80% or 90%. But that would be my only comment or only comments. |
| 01:19:43.54 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I also want to commend staff on the really thorough and detailed analysis that went into this effort. I would like to see fees ultimately follow industry trends in cost recovery. So perhaps staff could recommend an approach to get us there in the next three to five years without shocking our residents with an immediate and drastic increase. I'd like to see how our proposed fees compare with others in Marin County. I'd like to see what fees NBS believes be 100% cost recovery based on social or cost sharing reasons that you described in your presentation. I'd like to see the police fees updated as quickly as possible as recommended back in 2013. and I'd like to see a mechanism to periodically escalate, or update our fees consistent with CPI, and also to take into account new efficiencies realized, as well as any new expenses incurred. |
| 01:20:58.06 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, and so this was information only and to provide direction, do you have what you need? |
| 01:21:06.11 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. I do, thank you. I forgot to say one thing though. I also wanted to comment, great job. Because I know this is a huge, huge effort and Ray and I talked about this a lot when we were on the Finance Committee too. |
| 01:21:07.62 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Great. |
| 01:21:07.90 | Unknown | THE END OF THE END OF THE Yeah. |
| 01:21:18.83 | Jill Hoffman | Because... |
| 01:21:19.27 | Jill Hoffman | Good job. Thank you. |
| 01:21:19.66 | Jill Hoffman | Madam Mayor, I do have a question, which is sort of I did pose the question. You know, in light of the feedback you've got, do you think February is realistic? Maybe that's the question. |
| 01:21:32.30 | Adam Politzer | My intent is to bring this back to the February 27th meeting. |
| 01:21:33.97 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. Cool. |
| 01:21:36.28 | Adam Politzer | She loves a challenge. |
| 01:21:37.36 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Okay, thanks very much. All right, with that, we'll move on to our next item. We're good? Okay, item 6B, this is an update on the machine shop. you from our community development department. |
| 01:22:04.73 | Unknown | Yeah. you |
| 01:22:05.62 | Jonathon Goldman | Thank you, Mayor Cox. |
| 01:22:05.68 | Unknown | Thank you, Mayor Cox. |
| 01:22:08.04 | Jonathon Goldman | Thank you. This item before you is a report that provides an update on the current status and activities related to the machine shop building. located at 25 Liberty Shipway. The city and the Department of Veteran Affairs have been having monthly check in phone calls to maintain communication on the activities and the status of the machine shop building. And so this report reflects their last phone call on January 5th. the The machine shop is undergoing right now, they're looking at, the VA is looking at development of the machine shop for long term reuse. An RFQ was released in the fall of last year. And this is for adaptive reuse of the building per section 111 of the National Historic Preservation Act. This act allows federal agencies to lease historic properties out to public or private entities for alternative uses. That's with consultation with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. You may also, federal agencies may also enter agreements with outside entities for management of historic buildings or properties. There were seven statements of qualifications received after the RFQ went out. And that was received in December of last year by the VA. And three developers were invited to participate in the RFP, the request for proposals process, which now has been released. That process is completed in March of this year. And they intend to have oral presentations in April. I am told that they would like a city representative to participate in the oral presentations, and that's as much as I know. The, There's also a mothball project that was underway, began in October of 2017, and that was the removal of the existing plywood sheathing, the roof material, the selective exterior windows, panes, and selective door trim. That was to replace them and protect these exterior features by installing new cement board siding, rain screen backer board, new roofing membrane, and repair some selective window panes and door trim, preserve some of the current window frames and windows, and install a new chain link fence. Upon their commencing with that, they had discovered that the north wall showed some risks of instability. And the mothball project then seized. It shifted focus to stabilization and the VA was bringing on, it is bringing on a structural engineer to be contracted to design the stabilization. That timeline is unknown at this point and that after stabilization, the mothball work would resume. This is concerning to me, to the city, because it's a local historic landmark in terms of, I look at this as a delay, but so in my mind, concerning about the timeline being unknown. We do have a city building code, and I referenced this in the staff report. As the city council's aware, this building is listed on the National Historic Register. It's also listed as a local historic landmark, and that was just done in September 2016. Well, that was done before the National Register. that building code In terms of historic properties, there's general authority to require that owners keep exterior portions of the structure in good repair to prevent deterioration and decay. What I did not include in the report is that this is a federal property. So typically federal properties are exempt from local requirements. But I thought it was important to put it on there because we do care and we do want, and this is a municipal code in which we bring forth when it comes to historic properties. The VA must coordinate with the State Historic Preservation Office and the Advisory Council on Historic Properties. They did that with the Mothpaw Project and we assume moving forward as a national register, they need to also conform with those requirements. The next steps is for staff to continue to communicate with the VA about the importance of protecting the building's integrity, Receive a timeline, we're in communication with them from the VA. We asked that a representative attend this evening. They were not able to have a representative to come to this meeting. We did ask when they could be available and the council may wish if they'd like, they are available for the next City Council meeting on February 13th. Um, The City Council may direct staff to schedule a machine shop working group meeting, which we have in the past. And that's comprised of council members Withy and council member Hoffman and staff with the VA representatives to receive further updates. We've had some periodic working group meetings. We can have another one very soon if the council wishes. That concludes my report and I can answer questions. That I can't answer? But I'm available. Thank you. |
| 01:27:37.77 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Any questions of staff? |
| 01:27:41.10 | Unknown | quickly. The chain link fence didn't get replaced. has not gotten replaced yet. Any impact of the chain link fence to the north wall? There's no reason that could have continued, right? |
| 01:27:51.95 | Jonathon Goldman | you That's a good question, because it's not affecting necessarily the building integrity. But the wall, we could ask that of the VA, because that's just a perimeter wall, a perimeter fence that could be replaced. But the delay- That's in their mothball plan, but it's done following the mothball. Right, okay. |
| 01:28:06.53 | Unknown | But the delay. |
| 01:28:12.55 | Jill Hoffman | I do have a question. Danny, my recollection is that during all of our conversations with the VA that they've always agreed to abide by our local codes, even though they're a federal entity, abide by our local building codes. And when they, you know, haven't they? Isn't that correct? |
| 01:28:30.66 | Jonathon Goldman | Well, to be clear, they did indicate that they would follow our local ordinance in terms of the project development. You know, it wasn't, Absolutely clear as to, but they did say that our local zoning and ordinances, that they would undergo our process. |
| 01:28:50.02 | Jill Hoffman | to abide by and respect our local ordinance that's my recollection okay |
| 01:28:53.59 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | And Danny, didn't you and I in 2016 discuss the requirements of their own ordinances, which in large measure track our local ordinances with respect to preservation of the building? I don't know if you specifically recall that, but if you flip back at two slides, you mentioned there one slide. No. Yeah, you mentioned the State Historic Preservation Office and Advisory Council and Historic Properties. There are specific regulations set forth in that and I'm not phrasing this as a question, but I did point those, I pointed out specific provisions within those regulations that largely comport with the Saucydo Municipal Code on these same issues. So we might, would you consider using those as additional leverage to get the VA to expedite the structural repairs? |
| 01:29:54.65 | Jonathon Goldman | Mayor Cox, certainly, we have the ability to even contact the advisory council on historic properties to get a status on their oversight. |
| 01:30:07.30 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah, great. Any other questions of staff? Okay, I'll open it up to public comment. I have one speaker card on this from David Lay. |
| 01:30:18.26 | Jill Hoffman | I do have a follow-up question, but I'll ask after. It's okay. Okay. I'll ask it after. Okay. Let me ask it now and then Danny can get. You're the only speaker card I have, Mr. Lay. |
| 01:30:28.26 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, never mind. |
| 01:30:33.07 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | He's having a hard time with this one. |
| 01:30:35.74 | David Lay | I'm still David Lay. Still in the harbor. Um... Reading through that, about what's been going on for years and years and years is just... It just hurts my heart. And the VA takes care of me and they're good. Locally, we have a very good VA, you should all know. just everybody that goes there says it's great. But- I've been to a couple of meetings where they've made presentations here and they've sent some people out from the east coast and it's astounding. One time we had three people out here. And they had three more people carrying their luggage computers or something. And none of them knew what the hell was going on. It was like they were coming to a tent and there was going to be a circus, and it wasn't happening. And then they were the circus. They knew nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. And that's our government. Now, we have very good government here. I've said many times, very good government in all of Marin, actually. You can go to any other meeting, too. They're all great. But our federal government sometimes And you can respond back to that. Um, But they came with nothing, they offer nothing, and when we look at what we've done with properties that have been taken over in that same area. Look at the ICB, look at the ten, the gray building, look at the 20, the new building, there was a lot of hope, it could still be anything. The 30 was almost, the battle over that was kind of a one person war there. But still there's good things on the bottom floor. And look at what that does for the culture of our town. It's just wonderful, like our parks, like our marinas, and so on, like our yacht clubs. Like the property the city owns that a lot of people in this city would like to sell. Well, leaving those things out. We're confronted with people that flop in here and spend a ton of money. There's been more money spent on their transportation and food and housing than It's been spent on the damn building. And I thank you very much for your tolerance. |
| 01:32:51.38 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:32:51.85 | David Lay | Thank you. |
| 01:32:53.64 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, I see, oh, Jill, did you want to ask your question of Danny? |
| 01:32:57.54 | Jill Hoffman | Danny, I'm going to ask you a question after Commissioner Nichols. Go ahead. He's going to have to look it up, I think, Can you look up and see how many meetings we've had with the VA since 2000. 14. |
| 01:33:09.57 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I think it's in our chronology. |
| 01:33:10.45 | Jill Hoffman | Is it in the chronology? Yeah, I think it's in the chronology. I mean, hours and hours. |
| 01:33:11.73 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I mean, Here, we have a chronology from 2006. |
| 01:33:16.59 | Jill Hoffman | Oh, never mind. |
| 01:33:17.67 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:33:17.79 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. What page is that? |
| 01:33:19.61 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | What page is that? It's on page, it's item 6B, attachment 1. Vicky Neckle. |
| 01:33:28.98 | Vicki Nichols | Vicki Nichols. I can't even begin to tell you my frustration with this project. I think I've expressed it before. This is, as you know, historical landmark status. What they appear to have done is, I have not been on site, but I will bet that that roof has still not been covered. So what you've now got is you've got a mothballing project that involved the windows. If they've stopped that, you now have no windows if they've been removed. Removing the fences is going to open vandalism. This looks the more unattractive the building looks. You invite vandals. I think this is the time, I appreciate Danny's efforts, and I think you have a ton of leverage here. We're a certified local government. Danny can go straight to SHPO, State Historic Office, and get help. But I'll tell you what helped a lot when this happened. When I was on the HLB, Carolyn Kiernot and I, who works for Page and Turnbull, wrote the report to start the nomination on this. She was very familiar with historical status and happened to be in Washington, DC, and said, because we were getting such slow response, should I go by the VA and tell them we want them to step it up? Well, she did. And what happened was the federal government in the East Coast knew nothing of what San Francisco was doing. They were operating very remotely. I think it's time to go back to Washington to remind them in San Francisco that they don't get to work independently. They have to work under Section 108, which is their own federal ordinances. THE CITY IS GOING TO BE And I... And I think it's also time when this was coming up before as a potential surplus property years ago that the council potentially could have bought and didn't because of the cleanup that would have been involved. We enlisted the help of Lynn Woolsey at the time, and I think Jared Huffman has been called on this. It's time to check with our electeds that have some... priority over this or whatever to, if you, I'm sure if Adam calls their office, they will get those phone calls made. This is not working the way it is. It's not any of your fault. They're not listening. It's very clear they're not listening, and we're gonna lose this. If one wall is gone and the windows are open, this is worse than benign neglect. This is passive, aggressive, neglect and it really needs to stop. So, sorry, but I do feel a little strongly about it. |
| 01:36:14.98 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:36:15.55 | Vicki Nichols | THE END OF |
| 01:36:15.75 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I think. |
| 01:36:15.97 | Vicki Nichols | Thank you. |
| 01:36:16.01 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 01:36:16.16 | Vicki Nichols | VICKY. |
| 01:36:18.98 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, I have no more speaker cards related. Okay, it didn't say what item. Who said? |
| 01:36:23.40 | Jeff Jacobs | is, uh, |
| 01:36:29.51 | Jeff Jacobs | Thank you again. This is for David and. and the mayor and council, Back, I was saying that the Torah and Bible and Koran talked about interest, but it's also, of course, in the California Constitution, right? That's Article 15. And the section is headed usury. As is the emoluments clause that I was describing before. This is about the machine shop, Jeff. I just wanted to say that about this. I'm trying as best I can to work with |
| 01:36:54.43 | Unknown | that I was describing before. |
| 01:36:55.97 | Steven Woodside | about the machine shop, Jeff. |
| 01:37:03.29 | Jeff Jacobs | what I am presented with, which is the council and the and the mayor and the city government of Sausalito. back when the machine shop |
| 01:37:17.75 | Jeff Jacobs | was working. there were 50,000 people. who lived in Sausalito and Marin City. there was full employment. Not too many people that were looking for jobs. Not too many anchor outs living on derelict boats back then. The situation now is that in Mill Valley and in Sausalito and Southern Marin, despite your personal charms and the wonder of your magic, that you're able to figure out things that I have very little patience for. The situation now is in Mill Valley, 7% of the people who work there live there. In Sausalito, I was asking, in the back room of the no-name, the waiters and waitresses and business owners of the restaurants they meet back there, what percentage we have here. THE JOKES. THAT IS NOT COMPLETELY Sustainable. What it says in the Torah portion for this week is Back to the wizards and the prophets. You are the wizards. You understand the financials. You understand how to make the calls and make things work. The prophets are on another level. Sometimes they're heard. Sometimes they're killed. Sometimes they're merely ignored, which is the hardest thing. in this portion for this week. It feels like it's a begins like this. It says, It came to pass when Pharaoh let the people go, this is in Exodus now, Exodus 13, 17, he did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines even though it was near because God said, lest the people reconsider when they see war and return to Egypt. So I am not coming here in an adversarial way. I'd love to see this entire room filled. I'd love to see excitement here. And that can't happen in an adversary way. SO, open up that machine shop, |
| 01:39:41.95 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, I have no more cards on this. I'm going to close public comment, bring it back up here for discussion. This is, again, receive a report. Does anyone have any further? Comments? |
| 01:39:58.86 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | YOU HIT HER. |
| 01:39:59.38 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:40:01.71 | Jill Hoffman | Um, you Thank you. I think that's a good question. July, August, sometime in the summer, I get a call from Adam saying, hey, can you show up and meet with the VA? Tom was supposed to do it with Jill and he's on vacation, he was the mayor. So the next thing I know, I show up, and this was the first experience. I think Council Member Hoffman had prior experiences. This was my first experience of meeting and dealing with these people. And, well, and then apparently I find myself on a working group having to meet with them more than once. And let me tell you, it's like banging your head against a brick wall. They just... They're continually going around in circles, they're continually changing personnel, they're continually making excuses, is why everything is not getting done. And it's incredibly frustrating. I mean, Council Member Planning Commissioner Nichols used the word neglect. I mean, it's not neglect, it's negligence. Who in their right mind starts stripping off, sheath then off of a wall and taking windows out of a building that was hacked together in 1942 and think that you're not going to cause some structural problem? I mean, it is insane. You would have to be an idiot to actually embark on that and not realize what you were doing. So I'm not sure that they're going into this with good intentions. And it's not that the people involved, it's just, hello, this is the federal government, I'm sorry. And it's incredibly frustrating, and whatever we can do to put more and more pressure on whatever rights we have, I believe we should figure it out. |
| 01:41:50.72 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Right. |
| 01:41:51.78 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah, I'm going to echo that. We've spent, you know, whenever we come to an impasse like this with whatever it is we're trying to do up here, you know, people always go back to, why don't you work with them? Why don't you set more meetings? And at some point, you just have to say, where do we go from here? You know, it's apparent to me that... that they don't want to save the building. They let it sit as long as they could, despite assurances and promises to us in 2015 at the big meeting that we had, the first one that you came to, that they were going to mothball it by that fall. And two years later, we had another meeting. Nothing had been done. And now they've removed parts of the building, including parts of the roof you know one has to wonder are they hoping that it's going to fall down so that they don't have to deal with it and so I think at this point we need to start looking at you know. how we can apply pressure to save the building because I don't think it's going to come from I don't think it's going to come from that agency, unfortunately. |
| 01:42:53.21 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:42:53.31 | Jill Hoffman | Thanks. |
| 01:42:53.65 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 01:42:54.81 | Unknown | I haven't been involved at all, but I have in a way. I'm not sure if I'm not sure It is I just don't think they have a use for it anymore. I don't think they're invested anymore and it might be a good time for us to step back up to the plate and this might be a good time for a blue ribbon committee to find a way to acquire that from the VA and I think we might even have another solution as far as remedies to some of the issues that are going on there environmentally. So it might be a better time to re-approach the idea of getting that out of the hands of the VA and in a more appropriate use. |
| 01:43:24.44 | Steven Woodside | SHIPPING. |
| 01:43:32.09 | Jill Hoffman | to have a good day. |
| 01:43:36.60 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. The staff report mentioned that they may invite someone to attend oral presentations with respect to the statements of qualifications. I understand they're going to hear from three. If that's the case, I'd like to see you include a member of the Planning Commission and or a member of the City Council. who would be able to attend those oral presentations. So there's a full understanding of what type of projects they are considering. I know there are a number of applications that they are not moving forward. I would like to see staff follow up with the VA regarding the stabilization timeline and let them know this impacts safety issues within the city, and it's not confined simply to their development project, but it really is a safety issue for the city, and perhaps use their own codes to bring leverage that section 1.08. Jared Huffman offered last year to help. I think we should take him up on that. And boy, I go along with the vice mayor. We should be considering all options at this point. SO. Anything else you need from us, Danny? |
| 01:45:01.02 | Unknown | No, thank you. |
| 01:45:01.46 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | All right, thank you. |
| 01:45:10.59 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, with that we're gonna move to item 6C, approval of the schematic master plan for renovations to the MLK tennis courts, basketball courts and fields. And I'm gonna hand a huge surprise to the vice mayor and let him know now and not previously that I'm recusing myself from hearing this item. So I'm handing him the gavel. |
| 01:45:33.15 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I live within 500 feet of this property and so I'm going to recuse myself and depart the council room while you debate this item. |
| 01:45:53.67 | Unknown | All right. |
| 01:45:58.01 | Unknown | Item 6C, approval of the schematic master plan. Mike. |
| 01:46:00.64 | Mike Langford | Well, thank you, Vice Mayor Burns. So like old times, when Joe was on the Park and Rec Commission and giving the report, and council members, welcome. And I hope there's not too much debate over this. This is another good thing that we're doing here in the city. Consideration of the master plan for renovations to the MLK tennis courts, basketball courts, and fields. It's actually the schematic master plan. You may remember when we were looking at Dunphy Park, the Friends of Dunphy Park brought back the schematic master plan. What that means is here's the general overarching idea of what we would like to do with the project out there, with the property out there. There's some details left to be worked out, but what I'm looking for is your support in the general direction that we have come up with here. So first off, This is an aerial of the The MLK property, really no renovations have been done since the city acquired the property. By that, I mean no major renovations to the outside of the building. I do know there was some paving work done at one time between the gym and the tennis courts, but really no major field work has been done. Nothing has been done on the tennis courts. It's just kind of sat and been the same. We've done maintenance work as much as we can, but you can only do maintenance for so long until something needs renovation. So first I wanna talk about the tennis courts there. There's five tennis courts. You see them outlined with a yellow arrow. There's a close-up version, again, of the five courts. One of the maintenance items that we have done is, you call it resurfacing, but really it's a painting of the tennis courts. It's kind of like your wall at home. It's got a few cracks in it. You put a little stucco up there, put a nice coat of paint on it. It looks real good for a few years until the house settles again and it starts to crack. And that's what we've got there when you look at the cracks here on the tennis courts. |
| 01:47:58.58 | Mike Langford | And the problem now is that the surfacing, after so many coats of paint, it's just when it pops off, there's actually a serious divot in the quartz, and it makes it hazardous. You can also see the fence line here. The fence is pulled out. At one time, 10 years ago when I first got here, a lot of this fence was leaning at probably about a 20-degree angle. At one time, somebody had put windscreens up there on the fence, and the fence was not designed to take windscreens so we had somebody come out there fence repair company heat up the poles and straighten them back to vertical but you can still see the the fence is pretty bad one of the problems that we have out there are these trees many of them have already died and been removed other ones are on way out. They've lived their life and they need to be removed as well. But the trees have caused damage to the tennis courts by being planted too close. They were just not the right kind of tree to be planted next to a tennis court. You can see the roots in that photo there, the roots coming towards you. Imagine that is off going right underneath the tennis courts and causing damage there. So we talk about redoing the court, and everybody thinks, oh, you're going to repave it, make it smooth, make it nice. Yes, we are. We would like to. But additional work, color overlay. So that's why I talk about the painting, doing the colors and the lines. We need to put new fences in because, as I showed you, the fence was falling over. We want to make it so that we can put windscreens up there and make the tennis courts more usable. New tennis net posts, those are the posts that the nets go on. And when you change the elevation of the surfacing, you want to change those out as well. New tennis nets, do the tree removal like we asked, or I mentioned there, and also make sure that we have proper ADA access. |
| 01:49:50.68 | Mike Langford | Here's again the park for an overhead view. What I want to talk about now is the main field area. So that's the grade in area there. And there it is on the whole field. So that area there gets used for soccer, gets used for Little League, gets used extensively for girls softball, which I understand has three teams this year. It is rented by various summer camps. There's adult soccer leads as well as youth soccer leads that use that. And you see the area of the track up on the upper part of the slide there. That's not an official-sized track. So if you've been running that thinking your time is really good, I hate to break the news to you, but that's not a quarter mile. And it's in a really a state of disrepair. It looks good from a distance, but when you get up there, you can see that the field has a large drain right in the middle of it that drops down a couple feet. So the grass area is limited in its use. So what we are proposing is that entire area there, we turn into a grass area, remove the track, and make that one large grass area that can be used for multiple sports. What that will allow us to do, have multiple sports and multiple activities out there at the same time. So that will give enough room for a softball game where you can still configure a decent-sized soccer field out there. You may say, well, what are we going to do without the track? Where are people going to walk? Because I know that there are people that walk out there. What I would like to do is propose a walking path that would go around that entire area. So I'm going to use the mouse. mouse here, a path that would go around here, around here, around here. around here, and if we can, and it keeps changing, even have a alternate path that would go up the hill and around And down the hill, so should you wish to get a little bit more exercise in there, you could do that. That's one of the design features that definitely still needs to be worked out, how it would interplay with the fields, with the use, with the trees. We don't want to put somebody walking where they're going to be right through the softball field or the baseball field or soccer or lacrosse or anything like that. We want to make sure they're safe and the players have the room that they want to do. So again, the field looks really nice when it's nice and green and you're not looking at it too far. It's kind of like a classic car. It's best looked at from 20 feet, because if you get up real close, it doesn't look that good. The field here, again, looks good right now. But if you were to go out there during any rain, you'll notice that it's full of mud and unusable. And then when kids walk across it when it's full of mud or has standing water on it, it actually damages the infield there. causes more work for the dads and moms that want to go out there and fix it up for the kids' games. We also have had times out on the field. |
| 01:52:58.52 | Mike Langford | I've been out there on the field and to the left there during a big storm. I keep hitting the wrong button. During the storm, it I saw ducks and seagulls, and they weren't standing. They were actually swimming around in the middle of the field. Then I saw a kid walk out there with his rain boots, and he walked out so far that the rain came over his rain boots. So we'll talk about work to be done on the field, new irrigation, definitely drainage repairs, as I mentioned. Grading, you want to make sure that things slope the proper way. Usually it's about a 2% slope so that there is drainage but it gives the water a chance to sink into the lawn there and recharge the groundwater a new lawn tree removal and replacement again those trees along the field many of them have reached their their full life potential shall we say we want to make sure that things things are ADA accessible. I talked about that walking and running path that would go around the grass area. One of the things I want to do on that is look into various surfaces. If you go to some places and you'll see a sidewalk or an asphalt path, right next to it on the grass you'll see a wear mark where walkers and runners have gone on the dirt. It's because they don't want to run on the concrete or the asphalt because it's hard on the knees. So I'd like to look into some kind of a rubberized or an all-weather path that is easier on the knees than a sidewalk. Another thing that's come up is potential adult exercise equipment. It's the rage right now. If you go out to the park right now, there's remnants of a park horse. I think those are the things that were big in the 70s where you'd run from station to station, do sit-ups, pull-ups, things like that. there's a few parts of it left out there, but much of it has been removed because it rotted away. The new trend is to do those things in a group, a social area. So rather than working out by yourself, you're with friends, you're with family, you're meeting up with people. There's different types of equipment out there, and what I would like to do is get a focus group together, have some public meetings to discuss what do the residents want out there what i'm not seeing is if you've been to san francisco and you see on the marina green there's that big fancy thing that's a hundred hundred and fifty thousand dollars and that's a destination exercise station i don't think we want that in sausalito so that's not what i'm going to be an advocate for i'm going to be an advocate for something that addresses our residents needs |
| 01:55:29.85 | Mike Langford | So the next area is the basketball court area. Fortunately, the basketball court is not as bad as the tennis courts. We don't have as many trees around it. We do have some minor cracking in there that we need to look at before we do anything. We do have some fence issues, years of the basketballs and tennis balls and soccer balls being kicked against the fence. The fence starts to curl out, becomes a hazard. You want to replace that. What I want to do there and what I'm suggesting is repair the asphalt, most likely some crack ceiling and then an overlay. Reconfigure the courts. Right now we have three basketball courts. I would like to make it two basketball courts, one of them with either a lower hoop or an adjustable hoop. One of the hoops out there is lowered. I did that a few years ago. I did one side, and before I got the ladder moved to the other side, there were kids already enjoying the lower hoop because they could actually make a basket on it. And the new sport that's coming up is pickleball. And if you haven't seen that, I suggest you Google it. But basically it's a form of tennis played on a smaller court. You've got a lot of people that are getting into tennis and use this as a way to get into it. There are a lot of people that have played tennis for years but don't want to have to cover as much ground anymore, so they go to pickleball and play that. And we can put two pickleball courts in there, new fencing, and of course, like I said, color overlay, colors and lines. So we're currently working with the CSW design group for two phases of work at MLK. First one is preparing bid documents for resurfacing the five MLK tennis courts and providing an accessible parking stall and access to the courts along Coloma and access from the sport courts adjacent to the Lycee Francais school. We don't know what that's going to involve yet because we're still waiting for tests to come back on the condition of the courts. In other words, can we just simply put a new layer of asphalt on there or because of the deteriorated condition, do we need to dig them completely out and put in a whole new base? We will know that soon, but we don't know that yet. Like I said, the consultant has started this phase of work. Our goal is to advertise for construction in the spring once we know exactly what we need to do. topographic math. The second phase has started. And that includes preparing and grading drainage plans for the MLK field to maximize its utility and develop conceptual alternatives for layout of new facilities in support of a public process. Again, the tennis courts are pretty easy. I've talked with the tennis courts. They say, Mike, just fix them. Don't make too many changes on them. Fix them. But as far as the field, there's a public process that I want to do. I want to engage the different sport groups. We need to see how we can configure things on the grass there. And, of course, like I said, the exercise equipment, we want to talk to the people that are interested in having that out there and get them involved to make sure that what we end up with is something that the public wants and the public is behind. So what I'm recommending today is that you support the master plan for the renovations to the MLK tennis courts, basketball courts, and fields as I presented today. And I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. |
| 01:58:47.57 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:58:47.59 | Mike Langford | Thank you. |
| 01:58:47.61 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:58:47.63 | Mike Langford | THANK YOU PARKS AND REC |
| 01:58:48.98 | Unknown | director Mike Langford. The more I think about this, I spend more time out there... Thank you. at MLK than Joan does in her own house. Maybe I should recuse her. |
| 01:59:02.00 | Mike Langford | But you're working, Commissioner Burns, and we appreciate you. |
| 01:59:03.32 | Unknown | I'm saying. work with the girls softball. Thank you, Parks and Rec Director Mike Lankford. Any questions for staff? Thank you. |
| 01:59:13.51 | Unknown | Right. |
| 01:59:15.10 | Jill Hoffman | Thanks, Mike. What is going to be the timing? You said for construction documents for the tennis courts. Is that going to come back to us? Thank you. |
| 01:59:29.07 | Mike Langford | Yes. |
| 01:59:29.38 | Jill Hoffman | Before the big document. |
| 01:59:34.05 | Mike Langford | Yes, I understand. Jonathan Goldman will be coming back to you shortly. |
| 01:59:39.03 | Jill Hoffman | OK, so we're going to see this another time. So what you're looking for is then just the OK of, yeah, these are the elements that our design guy needs to look at. Yes. OK. |
| 01:59:41.39 | Mike Langford | Yes. |
| 01:59:51.84 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 01:59:54.10 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So thanks for this. Very exciting. I'm a little confused on the public input and public outreach timeline here, though. So it sounds like this has gone to Rec Park, but was there public outreach on the elements that you're talking about? |
| 02:00:11.58 | Mike Langford | Well, the first, it's gone to Park and Rec. We reached out to the various groups and people that have talked to me already. Again, the first one that I reached out to the most is the tennis group, and I see that some of them are here today. They will comment on that. But we wanted to start on the tennis courts. We're going to have more meetings on the fields and the basketball court area. But the primary focus of the outreach so far has been the tennis court area. We have had... proponents of the exercise equipment come to the meeting and we've listened to them and that's why we're working it into the plans and we'll have more meetings on that as well. |
| 02:00:53.95 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, but there'll be more public outreach on the actual design of the fields and the basketball court. |
| 02:00:58.42 | Mike Langford | On the basketball court. Definitely. |
| 02:01:00.31 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay. And then what was the... I've heard about pickleball, and I know it's really popular. I've heard of it as being a use that transforms tennis courts, usually. So what was the decision between... you know, deciding to take away the basketball court versus using the tennis court area. |
| 02:01:23.25 | Mike Langford | The basketball court area isn't that well used. When I've been out there, I don't see that many people out on it. Unlike the court here in front of City Hall, the tennis courts are heavily used. And while you can take a tennis court and convert it into a pickleball court, the tennis players were very vocal about having them remain tennis courts and the pickleball players said, as long as we get our pickleball courts. And they were supportive of having them be in the other area |
| 02:01:55.18 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, just when I've been down there on the weekend, the basketball courts are pretty heavily used. Yeah, they would say. |
| 02:01:59.93 | Mike Langford | There would still be two courts. There would be a court with a full size, full height hoop, and then a lowered or an adjustable one. So we would still have two full courts. And then the pickleball would be separated from them with a fence. |
| 02:02:01.96 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay. |
| 02:02:14.23 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay. And... AND THEN, I guess this is something for the next phase of the design. But, you know, the track has been used, at least by the schools, for events, track and field, that kind of thing. You know, at Tam High, there's, and many other schools, there's the track with the playing fields in the middle. I don't know if that would fit and still retain the softball field but that might also be something in addition to the outside track to consider |
| 02:02:52.31 | Mike Langford | The preliminary measurements that I made, we could not have the full size track |
| 02:02:57.78 | Unknown | Mm-hmm. |
| 02:02:58.52 | Mike Langford | as well as have the softball, baseball field. You could do a football field or a soccer field on the inside. But there's not enough room for both of those elements. |
| 02:03:06.08 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:03:06.10 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:03:06.12 | Unknown | but not to stop off. |
| 02:03:07.08 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | for a while. |
| 02:03:09.20 | Unknown | Okay. |
| 02:03:10.40 | Mike Langford | And the... uh, As I'm proposing, there would be still a walking path or track around the perimeter. So if schools wanted to do a walkathon or a lapathon or just running exercises, that would be available to them. |
| 02:03:27.30 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | OK. But at this point, we're not wedded to whatever that design is going to be. |
| 02:03:31.33 | Mike Langford | Not yet. |
| 02:03:31.68 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Okay, great. Thank you. I have a question. |
| 02:03:36.05 | Jill Hoffman | Mike, just for context, Is this part of the COP funding that we're using for MLK, or is this separate from that? |
| 02:03:44.46 | Mike Langford | This would be the COP funding. |
| 02:03:46.13 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, so just for context, I didn't see that referenced in the staff report, but for people that are watching and listening, That was the certificate of participation funding mechanism that we passed. The city passed in 2000. 15, right, to upgrade our major parks and the MLK facility. And so this is another aspect of that. Thank you. In addition to the work we're doing with Dumpy, the work we're doing with Rob Sweeney Park that's completed and item 4-H on our calendar today, which was for Southview Park. So this is just for the context that we're moving forward on all fronts. So I didn't see that in the staff report, so I just wanted to make that clear. Isn't that right? |
| 02:04:33.18 | Unknown | Yes. Any other questions? Thank you. Seeing none, I'll open it up to public comment. And if we get any more questions, Mike, we'll get back to you. Partly director, Mike. Yeah. First up, I have Speaker cards are right over Mr. Lankfield. I'll hand you one. You can hand it to our city attorney who will pass it along. First up, I have Cheryl Basio. Cheryl, you'll have three minutes. The timer starts upon your first word. |
| 02:05:05.05 | Cheryl Basio | Hello, I'm Cheryl Basio. I live about a third of the mile away from MLK Field. I've lived there for 25 years. I'm on the field every single day exercising my dog, and that's been the case ever since I've lived here. I'm thrilled about the walking path. Totally excited about that. I think that that will be incredibly utilized. Concerned a little bit about the tree situation. It's pretty much the field is denuded of trees at this point, mostly because they've aged out. I spent many years on the tree and view commission, and so I've had an inordinate amount of time to think about trees. And I'd like to see that trees get replaced and appropriate trees, perhaps even considering dwarf varieties that oftentimes reach 15 feet and have really beautiful canopies. So, that we can attract families at picnic tables. I see the students sitting at picnic tables every day. It's totally heartwarming to watch that whole scene happening there. And also for shade for dogs, there's a lot of residents that exercise their dogs in that field. I think it's a really super important aspect of the mixed use for that property. Because while we have several schools there, many teams there, we're all thrilled with that whole scenario. And it seems that the balance with many residents that use that field to exercise their pets, It's an important balance, it's one that's been well maintained, but I also don't want it to be lost. And so I come to you early before these issues probably come up and I don't know if anyone's gonna be thinking about the trees or not, but I want to get these kinds of concerns out there because i know how many people use that to exercise their children and their their furry children as well and i don't want residents use of of that you know really complex mixed use to be lost in the shuffle i mean it's great that we make money from these schools i love hearing kids you know early in the morning until mid-afternoon from my desk at my house. Love all that. I just don't want to be lost in the shuffle as a very active resident in town. And I'd also like to see some beautiful, appropriate trees be planted so it can be a wonderful gathering place as well. |
| 02:07:40.07 | Unknown | Thank you, Cheryl. Next up, Jeff Jacobs. Jeff, you'll have three minutes. I'm your mayor for the next three minutes. |
| 02:07:49.30 | Jeff Jacobs | Oh, hello, Mr. Acting Mayor, and I will I'll second what Cheryl says about the trees. and bring up another point about this property. which is that there were well over 100 people who met here And this was the spot after a very long period of time where a community garden was going to be put. MLK, I don't know if anybody here remembers that. And that's one of the topics that I've spoken on Many times, and then of course my friends go, Well, what seeds did you plant? This year, Jeff? |
| 02:08:40.93 | Jeff Jacobs | And that hurts. It's... Not fun. those 100 and more people who showed up in good faith after having worked through a very long process are probably not going to show up again for community gardens in Sausalito. |
| 02:09:10.57 | Jeff Jacobs | In Berkeley, You might be familiar with what happened over a garden there, and I think everywhere in Northern California, The idea of community gardens is something that either excites people. or depresses them. On the East Bay in Berkeley. And Oakland? in Marin City. Up north. In Mill Valley. they have community gardens. And that could include trees, Cheryl. That could be fruit bearing trees. Sausalito... for one main reason. Does not. That reason is the same reason that most of the discussions here are about Money. Community gardens will not raise any money. for the city. IF THERE IS LAND AND IT'S A community garden cannot pay the property costs of that in Sausalito. They cannot return 10%, 25, 75, or 100% of the land value. That's impossible. And yet, They need to be built. I hope I'm not speaking only to the air. Well timed. |
| 02:10:51.19 | Unknown | Thank you. Catherine. Bichetto. Bichetto? But schedule. I knew that. |
| 02:11:00.61 | Unknown | Thank you. I've been playing on MLK courts for over 14 years now, a regular to the round robin on Saturdays. And I am concerned that the engineers are going to come back and It has to be demolished. And my question is, is there enough money if they say that? Because putting another layer of paint on it and putting another layer of White striping on it is not gonna work. I've lived through two of those already. Thank you. And it doesn't work, I mean. Maybe in... You know, you put another layer of coating on it, and it lasts maybe 8, 10, maybe 12 months, and that's it. Then we're back to the cracks and the holes and everything else. So is there enough money if we need to do it all? |
| 02:11:57.71 | Unknown | We're not going to answer that necessarily at this point. But we'll talk to the parking director after you're done and we get to another spot of them. |
| 02:11:58.15 | Unknown | OKAY. What? |
| 02:12:03.22 | Unknown | Okay. |
| 02:12:07.72 | Unknown | Any other public comment on this item? Seeing none, we'll bring it back up. Any comments? Would anybody like to request further information from the park director? |
| 02:12:19.43 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Well, perhaps we could ask Mr. Langford to address the question that was just asked. It seemed like your plan that you presented in the staff report was more than just a resurfacing. |
| 02:12:34.23 | Mike Langford | Is that correct? What we're doing right now is we're waiting for the engineer's report to see exactly what needs to be done. We're not. To do it right, it's not going to be the painting thing that we've done before. There needs to be some sort of a new surface applied. And whether that's over the existing asphalt, a simple layer of asphalt with a fabric in between to prevent cracking, or using the existing asphalt as some kind of a base and then putting new asphalt on top of it, that's something that the engineers will let us know. And once we know what the report comes back with, then we can actually get some preliminary. on top of it. That's something that the engineers will let us know. And once we know what the report comes back with, then we can actually get some preliminary bid estimates. And of course, it's an estimate until we actually go out to bid. There are COP funds available. And it will just depend on how the council decides to authorize those funds. |
| 02:13:26.34 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:13:28.05 | Unknown | Any other comments? |
| 02:13:29.87 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So just in terms of comments, I'm really excited to see the Measure F funds that a lot of people in town fought very hard for being put to good use. So thank you for that. I'm looking forward to seeing this project move forward. And for all the reasons that people stated, it's just a great. place to gather in town for so many different reasons. I definitely want to make sure as we move forward that we get a lot of different kinds of public input, as we can already tell from hearing everyone who's spoken tonight. A lot of people use this spot in very different ways, and there's a lot of visions for what it can be. So I just want to get as much public input from organized groups, but also in other ways. So thanks to Rec Park for this. |
| 02:14:20.29 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:14:22.23 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah, my comments are similar. The plan, I think, looks good. And I'm happy and I'm excited to see, actually, the public input, especially from the various groups that use those facilities with enthusiasm and consistency. And so I'm excited that they're going to get new facilities. |
| 02:14:44.74 | Jill Hoffman | agree with everything that's been said and have nothing to add. |
| 02:14:48.03 | Unknown | Correct. Thank you. This is an item obviously that's kind of dear to me both from my years on the Park and Rec Commission as well as spending a lot of time on the softball diamond and teaching children to throw the ball around. But what really excites me about this is the pickleball, because I have played it a little bit, and I just love it. I mean, it is addicting. And I'm long past being able to get better at tennis, but pickleball, I might have some game. |
| 02:15:17.11 | Unknown | Yes. |
| 02:15:18.15 | Unknown | So I think those types of changes in use is what we've talked about in the past at MLK, too, is expanding some of our current recreational options, and this gives us a great opportunity to do that on a fairly low amount of money. And we don't know what that money is, but as opposed to a huge, you know, directional change at that property that we've rumored in the past, this, IMPROVE SOME USE, AND GET MORE COST RECOVERY OUT OF CURRENT USES ON THE FIELD. AT THIS POINT, I THINK WE'RE LOOKING FOR A MOTION, AND IT'S FOR A SCHEMATIC PLAN, NOT NECESSARILY THE SCHEMATIC PLAN, BUT IT HAS BEEN REFERENCED ON TO WHAT LEVEL OF DRAFT IT IS ALREADY UP HERE. We have a motion to push this forward. |
| 02:16:01.30 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Sure, I'll move approval of the schematic master plan for renovations to the MLK tennis courts, basketball courts, and fields as presented by staff. |
| 02:16:09.59 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:16:09.61 | Jill Hoffman | seconds. |
| 02:16:10.05 | Unknown | you |
| 02:16:10.10 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:16:10.11 | Unknown | you All in favor. Aye. Aye. |
| 02:16:11.48 | Jill Hoffman | Bye. |
| 02:16:13.72 | Unknown | Opposed none. That's it. Good. |
| 02:16:17.98 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:16:19.04 | Unknown | Yeah, let's take a short break while we get Joan back in here. We'll go about five minutes. Good. or not tell Joan at all. |
| 02:16:30.13 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, we are back on the record and we are up to item seven. City manager reports, council member reports, city council appointments and other council business. First on this item is public comment. Is there anyone who would like to comment on items 7B through 7F? |
| 02:16:58.07 | Steven Woodside | Hi, my name is Steven Woodside, I'm a South Salido resident. I previously wrote a letter suggesting that you appoint Melissa Blaustein to the Planning Commission and I'll leave it at that. |
| 02:17:08.94 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:17:09.43 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 02:17:11.03 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I have another speaker card for Cheryl Basio. |
| 02:17:17.44 | Unknown | you |
| 02:17:20.30 | Cheryl Basio | Hi, I'm Cheryl Basio, and I'm here in support of Melissa Blaustein. I had a chance to meet Melissa when she had a representative come to my door, tell me a little bit about her, and then I reached out to her to get to know her better because I had never met her before. She met me at Chibo, and we talked about a variety of issues going on in the city. I loved that she was intelligent and direct and just forthright in her thought processes. I thought that that was very productive to our conversation. Being a trial lawyer, I tend to be direct myself. And I also watched her when I volunteered to campaign on the basis of meeting her on her behalf and alongside of her. I watched her interact with residents in an open manner i thought she had a really nice rapport open again intelligent concerned interested i think that she'll make an excellent contribution to the planning commission i think that she's a consensus builder i sat on the Planning Commission for a number of years here. I thought that it was really productive that for very few occasions that we did not achieve full consensus on the commission while we were together. And I see that in Melissa as well. I don't see her as a lone ranger temperament i see her as a consensus builder and i think that she would be a great benefit on the commission Thank you. Next is Doretta Bean. |
| 02:18:54.61 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:19:02.20 | Dorretta Bohm | Good evening. I'll try not to take up too much of your time and thank you very much for your attention. I am Dorretta Bohm. I live in Sausalito. I also have a small business in town. I also went to school in this building, MLK as well. I've grown up here. I love the town. And I came this evening to strongly urge an appointment for Melissa Blaustein. On the planning commission. had an opportunity to know her, I'm a new business here. I had my businesses in San Francisco for years. I just opened here, and I had a great opportunity to host Tees for... most of the candidates for city council. I got to know Melissa. Listen to her ideas, I'm astounded by her education and her background. She indeed is a. Melissa is not a contentious person at all, and I do believe she has every quality the planning commission would need to be very effective, not very time consuming. She also lives in today's world. I know I'm a little too old for what's happening in the tech world, but this woman is extremely savvy. I mean, she's in today's world and she's truly a remarkable young lady. So I think it would be of great benefit to this town to take advantage of her knowledge, her background, and her wonderful personality during all the times I saw her during the City Council election. She never mentioned... She never said anything bad, she is really a work together person. |
| 02:20:44.64 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Oh. OK. |
| 02:20:45.80 | Dorretta Bohm | That's it. Thanks so much. |
| 02:20:48.25 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Jenny Wasser. Uh-uh. Thank you. Hmm. |
| 02:20:59.57 | Jenny Wasser | Hi. Mayor, Councilman. My name is Jenny Wasser. I live at 203 Third for 30 years. I've attended various planning commissions and I applaud the dedication and the work it takes to settle disputes among neighbors. I've witnessed the job that Susan and Joan have done, Vicky It's very admirable, it's a voluntary position, it takes a lot of time. As others have said about Melissa, she seems to be a breath of fresh air. from the waterfront community, not the hills, She's young, she's popular, personable, intelligent, thoughtful, and seems to understand our footprints so to speak, of our properties, our special community spirit. From witnessing the energetic drive of her campaign for the city council, it is obvious that she wants to be one of our leaders. She has something to say, please give her a well deserved chance. |
| 02:22:02.34 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Would anyone else like to comment on items 7B through 7F? |
| 02:22:11.25 | David Lay | Yes, David Laywood. I also want to support Melissa. I don't know Melissa, but I've talked to several people who've said exactly the same things we just heard. And I think that part of what you all do being almost as old as I am, is to, You got to get the... people who we know to get their kids and your kids involved government. There's nothing like the way Vermont is, where there's town meeting day. That is the most thrilling thing you could ever do. um, This town is just full of houses that have four or five or six young people that are working over there. that came here thinking it was a bedroom burb. |
| 02:22:59.13 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 02:23:01.58 | David Lay | And we know it's really a neat little town. And it takes a lot of, cross culture to make it feel good and a lot of the cross Um, cross age. You go to the 4th of July picnic or whatever it is, It's all of us that really make it good. Same as the protests, and we know that the We're at a stage where we got a lot of stuff to fix and these people have to come in young in a place like this to become good. It's a fix-up. what is beyond us and some of the lousy government we've been talking about. And that comes from People like that. Thank you very much. Thank you. |
| 02:23:48.62 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Any other public comment on item 7B through 7F? Seeing none. I'll bring it back up here and Look to Lily to see if there's a city manager information for council. |
| 02:24:01.72 | Lily | A VERY BRIEF ONE, MADAM MAYOR. Um, As you know, the city manager is out sick right now. He's actually watching this from home. But very briefly, I just wanted to remind you of the upcoming MCCMC meeting tomorrow evening. It's hosted by Belvedere. And then also remind you that the deadline for submittal of proposals for the bike services is this Friday, January 26th, and the council will review proposals on February 27th. and they're not going to be able to get it. |
| 02:24:31.05 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:24:31.10 | Lily | concludes my report. |
| 02:24:31.98 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you for that brief and cogent report. |
| 02:24:34.61 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:24:37.00 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Next on our item is 7C, Council Member Committee Reports. |
| 02:24:44.36 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Great. |
| 02:24:50.74 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So, I was appointed because there were a few upcoming meetings by Mayor Cox to both the MCCM Homeless Committee and the Sustainability Commission. So Vicki Nichols already gave the most important update from the Sustainability Commission, which is that there is, on February 3rd, a workshop on sea level rise, and she gave all that pertinent information, so I won't repeat it. In terms of the Homeless Committee meeting, it was a really interesting discussion. I was there with the city manager, Adam Pulitzer. The homeless committee has been, it's all the different cities and has been funding at fairly modest levels, a county-wide project, but that project has stopped operating. And they are looking for kind of a new project. And it might be worth agendizing this at a future meeting. But one of the things that was discussed is a new project that's starting up in San Rafael and Novato about a mobile shower. And provide services to different communities. So the pilot is starting in San Rafael and Nevada, but they're hoping to expand it to other communities. So that seemed like a great and innovative idea and also kind of a modest cost, similar to the funding that each city had been putting in for the previous project. So I think it would be good sometime in February to have that on the agenda. I also wanted to let council members know that tomorrow, out in front of the MCCM dinner. location, they will have the mobile shower facility so that you can go in it and Just see up close what it is. It's got two stalls, and you'll see more. Also, Mayor Cox and I were able to attend the League of California Cities new council member and mayor training. uh... there were a lot of interesting things i won't go into detail on those but uh... there are a lot of best practices that uh... came up but also uh... the leagues uh... lobbyists on housing has prepared, or the league has prepared, a 2018 guide to the new housing laws. So given the number, you know, 15 bills passed by the legislature, Joan and I were able to pick up these. So I'll hand them out to you guys, really. valuable resources and unfortunately more to come this year so we need to keep a close eye on that but it was good to hear the resources. So that's it for me. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:27:50.12 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thanks. |
| 02:27:52.15 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah, very briefly. We had a finance committee meeting yesterday. Basically, that was. Large measure to start thinking about the budget. So we are, I mention in that simply to say we're in budget season, it's just beginning, okay. So that's that. The second thing is Marine Clean Energy. We canceled this month's board meeting. Big things that are happening there is in the financial year is March 31st. So guess what? We're working on a budget. So it means the budget's got to be done in the next two months. Marine Clean Energy is going through a really important phase. It will be doubling in size by June because it's basically entering pretty much all of Contra Costa County. So this is a huge transformation of the organization. By the time we're done in June, we'll have, I think, half a million subscribers, which is a huge increase from when we started this. I was going to emphasize wearing my MCCMC hat about tomorrow night, but we've already had that mentioned twice, so don't need to. And there is a TAM meeting coming up. We've not had that yet, so I'll report on that next time. I mean, yes, housing is going to be a big issue this year, but we've also got transportation moving along. There was a lot of funding last year for transportation and there's going to be a lot of political efforts to actually backtrack on some of that. So the transportation side of things is more protecting funding that's already been done anything else. But I'll keep you up to speed on that. Thanks. |
| 02:29:49.09 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. you |
| 02:29:52.43 | Unknown | I will again mention, and I just hit this last time, but I'll say it again, at MTA, which is the Marin Telecommunications Agency, we had a meeting this last week to start our recruitment process of a new executive director. Barbara Thornton, who's just absolutely wonderful in that role, is retiring. It's a part-time position. Unique qualifications that kind of fall in line of somebody who has public administration background, maybe a little telecommunications, but we're working on a subgroup to hire that. WANTED TO BRING THAT UP, KEN. More importantly, and what I'm reporting on this, is the bike and ped commission that was supposed to meet last night and then did not, for lack of quorum, once again. David Sudo's here tonight. But we continue to face that problem. And frankly, the people on there have told us that they have challenges. So we know that. It's not their fault. They have a conflicting schedule, and we knew that. So we really need to work quickly to fill those spots because we have, obviously, the springtime coming up. We have general plan. We have so many things, including what we were going to do. AND WE KNEW THAT. SO WE REALLY NEED TO WORK QUICKLY TO FILL THOSE SPOTS BECAUSE WE HAVE OBVIOUSLY THE SPRING TIME COMING UP. WE HAVE GENERAL PLAN. WE HAVE SO MANY THINGS, INCLUDING WHAT WE WERE GOING TO HEAR LAST NIGHT, WHICH WAS THE MASTER PLAN. AND STAFF HAD PULLED THAT OUT QUICKLY, PUT IT TOGETHER, AND THEN WE COULDN'T GET A QUORUM. SO, AGAIN, NOT THEIR FAULT. THEY HAVE TOLD US THAT WAS THE SITUATION, BUT IT IS NOW ON US TO GET THOSE SPOTS FILLED QUICKLY. WE HAVE CANDIDATES, AND I THINK WE SHOULD DIG OUT QUICKLY AND GET THE OTHERS GOING. |
| 02:31:11.39 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So not to get into a discussion, but I wholeheartedly agree. I think that's one of our most important issues and most important committees right now. |
| 02:31:20.57 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, yesterday I attended the Marin County Council of Mayors and Council Members Legislative Committee meeting in which they went over five new bills that are pending and are of interest. Four of the bills the committee voted to continue to watch. The committee decided yesterday to issue a letter opposing SB 827, which is a new housing bill proposed by Scott Wiener, whom Susan and I had the pleasure of saying hello to at the Mayor's and Council Members conference last week. And we're going to meet with him. |
| 02:31:57.44 | Unknown | Very tall. |
| 02:31:57.88 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I So, but right now that bill has a map for increased height in housing in various jurisdictions that include right now Marin City and not Sausalito. However, last year SB 35 started out being confined only to Sonoma County and ended up affecting every city in Marin. So it's important to pay attention to these bills and to do what we believe necessary to protect our local control. Okay, and I think that's it on council member reports. So I'm going to turn to appointments to boards, commissions, and committees. First item on this is appointment to the planning commission. And in reviewing the staff report, It says the process is the mayor shall announce her nomination for the position, the mayor shall then solicit any additional nominations from the dais, and then we proceed to a roll call vote. So this is a really challenging one because several weeks ago, we were pounding the pavement looking for qualified applicants, and now we have eight applicants whom we've interviewed. So that's good news, but it makes the appointment challenging. For me personally, I think it's important because we lost last year, someone who had been on the Planning Commission for eight years, and then we lost this year someone who's been on the Planning Commission for Four years. And so I think it's really important to have some institutional knowledge by whomever it is that we appoint to the Planning Commission. We were fortunate this evening to interview Mr. Richard Graff, who previously served on the Planning Commission, but only for one term. He lives in Galilee Harbor. He's familiar with our waterfront. He's well versed in the history of the Marin ship. He could hit the ground running because he has served on the Planning Commission before. I was impressed with his answers. This evening, he made a commitment to serve the full three-year term. And so I am nominating Richard Graff. And now I'm opening it up for other nominations from the dais. |
| 02:34:15.23 | Jill Hoffman | THE CITY IS GOING TO BE Madam Mayor, before that occurs, I have a question, and that is, You know, we've been sitting on, the Planning Commission has been has In addition to a vacancy, it has one member who's served two terms and has been termed out for over 18 months. And we have another Planning Commissioner who served one term and is termed out and is still on the Planning Commission and we haven't, I don't think, reappointed for a second term. |
| 02:34:51.49 | Unknown | Correct. |
| 02:34:52.05 | Jill Hoffman | So, um, At some point, I would say sooner rather than later, and my question is, can it be tonight? Should we be cleaning this up? |
| 02:35:03.73 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So- |
| 02:35:03.79 | Jill Hoffman | Ask my question. |
| 02:35:05.46 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah, I reviewed the staff report and I see that we are agenda, I mean last meeting, we continued this matter because we hadn't properly agendized the appointment of a member and for this evening it is, The staff report says the planning commission has one vacancy which can be filled this evening. From my personal perspective, I'd be more comfortable to put this back on our agenda, even if we do it in two weeks and consider those other vacancy, or those members who have termed out. As I understand it, we've not received an application. for a second term from the member who's been termed out. So... We'd perhaps want to find out if that person wants to serve a second term. In any event, I think we should take action on what's before us tonight. And I've made it up. |
| 02:35:59.72 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I've made an agenda, I'm sorry, and agendized very quickly. |
| 02:36:02.09 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | And agenda. |
| 02:36:04.51 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | the other two actions, because it does seem odd that there's all these disinterest and |
| 02:36:06.26 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah. |
| 02:36:10.36 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | we have someone who's beyond their term. I was a year over my initial term as well, and, you know, there hadn't been any action. |
| 02:36:18.67 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | We received on consent a report of all of our boards and commissions. There are a number of openings. And so I think we should make that a priority to address those openings as well as those on the planning commission. |
| 02:36:30.17 | Jill Hoffman | Just as a matter of History, I'm not 100% certain that the council has requested reapplications from people who are turned out and sit on there. But it's probably a good idea. But, you know, we've just taken action, and if we want to reappoint someone, we've reappointed them. |
| 02:36:49.82 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | When I was termed out, I applied for a second term. |
| 02:36:52.00 | Jill Hoffman | Cool. Well, then that's what we should do. So if... I guess, I mean, let's just stand to it. If Vicky's interested in doing that, then she needs to put in an application, I guess. |
| 02:37:06.19 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Good. |
| 02:37:07.62 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. |
| 02:37:08.85 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | OK, so the floor is open for any additional nominations. |
| 02:37:14.39 | Jill Hoffman | Yes, I'd like to nominate Melissa Blaustein. Melissa, many people in town know, got to know her when she ran for election. has broad support within our community. I'll note that in the election, she received 25% of the vote, which is a substantial number. And I think she's shown herself to be an excellent choice for the Planning Commission. um, past service, uh, nothing against, you know, and I don't want to get into a debate up here with regard to the merits of the candidates. Cause I don't think that's, um, I don't think that's respectful of the candidates, but, um, I will say that This is a new day with planning commission. And because you served on the Planning Commission in the past, doesn't mean that that's what you're going to be looking at going forward. We've got a whole new spate of legislation that's coming through. And we just discussed it recently that going forward, it's a different day and a different approach to planning in Sausalito. And so, um, I think, you know, we've said, you know, there is a pattern here in Sausalito where, I WANT TO BE ABLE TO |
| 02:38:39.12 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I was already on the planning commission. |
| 02:38:42.54 | Jill Hoffman | And Commissioner Nichols was also appointed to the Planning Commission after a run. So I think that precedent... has been set. It's, um, And we've got a very good candidate. And so I would support Melissa. Thanks. |
| 02:39:00.60 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Any other nominations on the dais? Any other comment, well, we've already heard public comment. Any other comments from the dais regarding the two nominees? |
| 02:39:12.01 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | All right. I'm sorry, I would just comment that I think we got excellent and well qualified candidates and I have the utmost respect for both of the nominees. |
| 02:39:23.70 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, so Lily, will you please take a roll call vote? Each council member may vote for one nominee per position. To be appointed, a nominee must receive at least three votes. If no nominee receives three votes, the roll call vote shall continue until a vacancy is filled. Thank you. |
| 02:39:44.64 | Lily | Thank you. |
| 02:39:44.69 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:39:44.71 | Lily | you Thank you. Councilmember Withey. |
| 02:39:47.85 | Jill Hoffman | Richard Gray. |
| 02:39:51.33 | Lily | Council Member Hoffman. |
| 02:39:52.10 | Jill Hoffman | Sorry, I didn't have my microphone on. |
| 02:39:55.92 | Lily | Council member Hoffman? Melissa Blalstein. Councilmember Cleveland Noles. Richard Graff. Vice Mayor Burns? |
| 02:40:04.28 | Unknown | Melissa Blaustein. |
| 02:40:06.90 | Lily | Mary Cox, Richard Graff. And therefore, Richard Graff received three votes and therefore he's appointed to the planning commission. Great. |
| 02:40:16.17 | Jill Hoffman | And so, Madam Mayor, I'd like to make a motion that we, on the date definite next council meeting, we consider the appointment from this list to replace the termed out member, which is Bill Werner, and decide also whether to reappoint Ms. Nichols or to select from this list for another candidate. And I'd like that definitely done. My motion is to have that done next time, if that's okay. |
| 02:40:59.80 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Is there a second? Second. Lily, will you call? All in favor? Aye. Aye. That motion carries, 5-0. |
| 02:41:07.30 | Jill Hoffman | Bye. Thank you. |
| 02:41:19.30 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, next on our agenda. is Mayor's appointments. I have no further appointments this evening, but I will be making further appointments shortly. Next is future agenda items. There is now published a list of future agenda items with the recommended disposition of each. If there's any comment on the recommended disposition of any of the agenda items, then that discussion will be considered. If an agenda item is listed to be taken off of future agenda items and there's no comment, it will not appear on the subsequent list of future agenda items. So I encourage everyone to review that list and provide any comments they might. One item that's on the list that I'd like council direction on this evening is Leaf blowers, so that item is on the agenda for decision by the council whether to bring that item before the council for discussion. In order to bring that item before the council for discussion, there's going to be some staff time, although the staff time would be somewhat limited because. We already have ordinances from other towns. There's already a draft ordinance prepared by the sustainability commission several years ago. And so I'm asking for direction from the council about whether they'd like to hear an item on leaf blowers. This is something that was recommended as a future agenda item from the sustainability commission. Obviously there's an environmental impact of the gas leaf blowers more than the electrical leaf blowers. So is there any comments? on whether the leaf blower item should become a future agenda item. |
| 02:43:12.78 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'm delighted to see the list of items that haven't been scheduled. We were trying to do that throughout the whole of last year. We didn't get very far, but I'm glad it's there now. |
| 02:43:32.02 | Jill Hoffman | I think if you're going to bring this item up forward, You cannot do it in isolation. There is no reason logically why you pick on a leaf blower as opposed to a chainsaw. There's no logical reason, okay? There's no logical reason why you pick on a leaf blower versus a gas powered hedge trimmer. Okay. Thank you. We also have a noise ordinance in which our noise levels are very carefully monitored with all kinds of rules, exceptions. Homeowners have different exceptions from contractors. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. This is not a straightforward issue. |
| 02:44:22.29 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Any other, I mean, so that's definitely something that could be discussed as part of a staff item, as part of a staff report. So we could give direction to staff. We can't discuss the merits tonight. We can only discuss whether or not to place this on an item for future. |
| 02:44:33.37 | Jill Hoffman | That's right. All right. Thank you. And I've indicated what I did simply to indicate I think there's more staff time than just knocking out some ordinance that somebody else has done without having actually carefully thought through this. |
| 02:44:37.44 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I've indicated |
| 02:44:52.93 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I mean, I feel like if one of our commissions has requested that we take a look at something and they've done their homework on it and they've taken the time to discuss it and there's no obvious... huge amount of staff time or resources that we should that we should move forward on it. And I respect the time of the Sustainability Commission I know this is an issue in a lot of communities. I also question whether an ordinance would be enforceable. I mean, obviously, it's legally enforceable, but practically enforceable. But again, that's something to discuss at the time. So I'm sort of generally in favor, but happy to hear other people's comments. |
| 02:45:28.59 | Jill Hoffman | So I... |
| 02:45:33.53 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:45:33.55 | Jill Hoffman | Thanks. This is on our agenda tomorrow for the legislative committee, right? No. Meat blowers? No. No. |
| 02:45:37.57 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | No. |
| 02:45:40.05 | Unknown | I'm blown off. |
| 02:45:43.41 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Any other discussion? Any thoughts? Because, I mean, so far we've heard one. |
| 02:45:46.58 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:45:46.66 | Unknown | His- Well, we've already spent more time on it than I would like to, but Susan, Councilmember Cleveland Knowles' remark to respect the sustainability commission, I would definitely move it along to hear it. |
| 02:46:03.20 | Jill Hoffman | I would agree with that. I would agree with that. I think I've played my hand a bit. You know where I'm coming out on this, but that's OK. |
| 02:46:05.06 | Unknown | All right. |
| 02:46:05.39 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | . |
| 02:46:11.28 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | All right, so then with that direction, we'll go ahead and place this on future agenda items to be scheduled. And the agenda setting committee will get this on the agenda in due course. Any other comments on future agenda items? Okay. Any other reports of significance? |
| 02:46:31.75 | Jill Hoffman | Can I? ask your indulgence with regard to appointments to boards and commissions. Because I forgot to mention this, and it was kind of to Ray's point. We have a staff report tonight that has appointments that need to be made on bike and ped and appointments that need to be made on sustainability. We've interviewed more people in the last year than we've ever interviewed. I think we have lots of candidates. I would like to see all of those slated, like... people contacted would you you know would you be interested in on this commission and have a list and just be able to go through and make all those appointments next week. Or not next time, but at our next meeting. Can we do that? |
| 02:47:11.71 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:47:11.75 | Adam Politzer | Thank you. |
| 02:47:11.76 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So I. I'm not sure we have the staff wherewithal to make all of those appointments at the next meeting, but I definitely intend that we make appointments at every meeting henceforth until those slates are full. So I'm going to leave it to the agenda setting committee to decide which boards and commissions will be filled at which meetings coming up, based on other scheduling and staff time constraints. |
| 02:47:29.92 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 02:47:30.04 | Jill Hoffman | to get the best. |
| 02:47:35.74 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:47:35.78 | Jill Hoffman | I just don't see the need to draw it out. I mean, we are ready to go. |
| 02:47:37.99 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I agree. But what has happened is we've had several candidates apply for some positions that have said they're willing to entertain sitting on others. So it takes some coordination to figure out who's willing to do what. |
| 02:47:46.42 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah. |
| 02:47:51.98 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So. |
| 02:47:52.50 | Jill Hoffman | Hey, I'm happy to help. Oh, great. I'm happy to help the staff so that we don't have to do this. |
| 02:47:55.79 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah. |
| 02:47:57.56 | Jill Hoffman | IN THE CITY. |
| 02:47:59.52 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | All right. Thanks, everybody. With that, we will stand adjourned at 9.58 p.m. And I made the 10 p.m. |
Vicki Nichols — Neutral: Invited council to a sea level rise workshop on February 3rd at the Bay Model, featuring speakers and an interactive game to discuss solutions, organized by the Sausalito Sustainability Committee. ▶ 📄