| Time | Speaker | Text |
|---|---|---|
| 00:00:15.12 | Walfred Solorzano | Good afternoon, Mayor Kelman and council members. This meeting has been held pursuant to government code section 5-4 |
| 00:00:21.45 | Serge Avila | Thank you. |
| 00:00:21.61 | Walfred Solorzano | 953E and in light of the declaration |
| 00:00:24.03 | Serge Avila | the regular meeting at the city council for January 25th, 2022 will be conducted telephonically through Zoom and broadcast live on the city's website. |
| 00:00:37.26 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you, city clerk. I will now call the meeting's order of the regular city council for the city of Sausalito. Tuesday, January 25th, 2022. City Clerk, will you please call the roll? |
| 00:00:49.00 | Serge Avila | Councilmember Sobieski? HERE. Council member Cleveland. |
| 00:00:54.15 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. |
| 00:00:54.17 | Jill Hoffman | here. |
| 00:00:54.40 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. |
| 00:00:55.11 | Serge Avila | Councilmember Hoffman. |
| 00:00:56.97 | Sandra Bushmaker | here. |
| 00:00:57.25 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:00:57.90 | Serge Avila | Vice Mayor Blousey. |
| 00:00:59.75 | Jill Hoffman | here. |
| 00:01:00.55 | Serge Avila | Mary Kelman. |
| 00:01:01.81 | Jill Hoffman | Sure. Thanks very much. |
| 00:01:03.56 | Serge Avila | All members are present and there's a quorum. |
| 00:01:06.55 | Jill Hoffman | Great. I don't, 1B. is items in closed session. We have three D1, D2 and D3. D1 is Sausalito-Marin County Chapter of the California Homeless Union versus City of Sausalito. D2 is a series of cases, Susan Gordon and Ebert Titus versus Caltrans in the city of South Salado. Lydia McNair versus Caltrans in the city of South Salado. Ron Rauda and George Glass versus Caltrans in the city of South Salado. Winston Ashmead and David Johnson versus Caltrans in City of South Slido. Item D3 is Saucedo versus the California affiliated risk management authorities. Case number CIV 2103933. Are there any public comments on the closed session items? |
| 00:01:50.33 | Walfred Solorzano | Madam Mayor, I see no hands raised, no members of the public as well. |
| 00:01:55.41 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, great. So we'll go ahead and close public comment and we will adjourn to closed session. Thanks, everybody. |
| 00:02:21.56 | Serge Avila | In the meantime, I'll be admitting all the participants. |
| 00:02:56.73 | Serge Avila | Mayor, we have admitted all participants very much now. |
| 00:03:00.44 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you so much to the city clerk. We're returning from closed session. I'm reopening the meeting for the January 25th, South Florida City Council. There are no closed session announcements. So we'll move on to approval of the agenda. Do we have a motion to approve the agenda? I make a motion to approve the agenda. Thank you very much, Mayor. |
| 00:03:24.05 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:03:24.07 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thank you. City Clerk, you please take a roll call vote. |
| 00:03:28.86 | Serge Avila | some members of this game. Yes. Councilman McLeodstein. |
| 00:03:34.82 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:03:34.83 | Serge Avila | Yes. Councilmember Cleveland-Alts? Thank you. |
| 00:03:37.79 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | Yes. |
| 00:03:38.12 | Serge Avila | Thank you. Vice Mayor Kellman. |
| 00:03:41.57 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | I think you've got your old sheet. Oh, yes. So, yes. |
| 00:03:42.22 | Serge Avila | I'm going to go. So yes. So yes. I apologize. Council member Sobieski. Yes. Council member, who is that no? |
| 00:03:51.46 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | Thank you. |
| 00:03:51.47 | Jill Hoffman | Yes. |
| 00:03:52.42 | Serge Avila | Councilmember Hoffman. Yes. Vice Mayor Blalstein? |
| 00:03:56.35 | Jill Hoffman | Yes. |
| 00:03:56.99 | Serge Avila | and Mayor Kelman. |
| 00:03:58.19 | Jill Hoffman | Yes, thank you very much. All have voted aye. Okay, we'll move ahead to special presentations, Mayor's announcements, there are none. uh for this evening so we'll move ahead to the action minutes of the previous meeting Is anybody on item 2A for approval of the draft minutes? have any changes. |
| 00:04:21.37 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, CA 89. I believe city clerk, we have to open this up to public comment. Does anybody wish to make a public comment and please let people know how they may. |
| 00:04:30.71 | Serge Avila | Yes, video or audio public comment participation is limited to three minutes per speaker. If you would like to make a comment, Please raise your hand in the Zoom application and you will be called upon when it's your time to speak. To raise your hand from a phone, press start nine, and each speaker will be notified when the time has elapsed. Madam Mayor, I see no hands raised for action minutes. |
| 00:04:51.82 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:04:56.41 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, great, thank you. So we'll close public comment. Is there a motion to approve as submitted or any amendments to the draft meeting minutes? |
| 00:05:09.55 | Jill Hoffman | I'll move the map. We have a motion. Anybody want to make a second? Okay. Second. Thank you. City Clerk, please call the roll. |
| 00:05:19.15 | Serge Avila | Councilmember Sobieski. Yes. Councilmember Clismond-No. |
| 00:05:23.00 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:05:23.02 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | Yes. |
| 00:05:23.98 | Serge Avila | Council member Hoffman. |
| 00:05:32.70 | Serge Avila | Yes. and Vice Mayor Blalstein. |
| 00:05:38.27 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:05:38.31 | Serge Avila | Yes. Mayor Kenyon. |
| 00:05:40.35 | Jill Hoffman | Yes. Right. Everybody approve the minutes. We'll move on to item three, the consent calendar. Matters listed under the consent calendar are considered routine and non-controversial. required a discussion or expected to have unanimous council support and may be enacted by the council in one motion. There will be no separate discussion of consent calendar items. However, before the council votes on a motion to adopt the consent counter items, council members, city staff, or members of the public, may request the specific items be removed from the consent calendar for secret action. Items removed from the consent calendar will be discussed later on the agenda and public comment will be heard on any item that was removed from the consent calendar. We have eight items on the consent calendar. Item 3A is the finance budget calendar. Item 3B is to receive and file an update on the objective development and design standards project and to adopt a series of resolutions authorizing the city manager to execute professional services agreement in the amounts articulated in 3B, sub A and sub B. Item 3C, fiscal year 21, 2022, Community Development Department Q2 report. from October to December, 2021. Item 3D, recommendation regarding security services agreement for emergency events. 3E is 2021 circulation management end of season report. and consideration of Fourth Amendment to Saucedo Bicycle Congestion Management Agreement for 2022 season. 3F is the Southern Marine Fire District. Quarter three report. 3G is receiving file presentation for specific gas electric regarding their 4kV 212 KV system improvement on the north side of Sausalito. And finally, 3H declaring the city's 1998 1500 Chevy pickup and 1991 Chevy pickup and 2006 Honda Accord surplus and authorizing the senior driver to dispose of said equipment at auction. to any members of the council wish to have anything from consent. |
| 00:07:37.78 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, I will just note for everybody that members from Pacific Gas and Electric are here tonight, should we have questions, although they were advised that this was a consent item. Also, let everybody know that Chief Tubbs was not available to join us this evening, but representatives are here if we had questions on Southern London. Okay, Serge, can you please open the public comment on the consent items? |
| 00:08:04.75 | Serge Avila | Video or audio public comment participation with limited to three minutes per speaker. If you would like to make a comment, now it's the time to do so. Please raise your hand in the Zoom application and you will be called upon when it's your time to speak. To raise your hand from a phone, Press start 9 and each speaker will be notified when it's the time to speak. and when the time has elapsed. Madam Mayor, I see no hands raised for the consent calendar item. |
| 00:08:34.14 | Jill Hoffman | We'll go ahead and close public comment on the consent calendar. I'll turn to my colleagues to see if there's any discussion or whether we have a motion to approve. Yes, Councilman McLevin also. |
| 00:08:44.88 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | Yeah, I don't have a question, but I will speak about this later in future agenda items. willing to approve 3B of the objective design review standards, but I would note that there was a lot of substance in that staff report and that I think it would be right now we're just approving the professional services contract to keep that process moving which I'm very in favor of but at some point I think the council or perhaps the legislative committee or some subgroup of us should weigh in on where things stand with the substance of those and just make sure that we're all up to speed. It's been going on for a year and just kind of don't want it to get too far down the road. And then secondly, I just would like to thank finance director for the city manager for the finance budget calendar. I found that extremely helpful and I'm looking forward to kicking off budget season. And with that, if there are no other comments, I will make a motion to approve the consent calendar. Thank you. Do we have a second? Thank you. |
| 00:09:48.02 | Jill Hoffman | I'm going to go. Thank you. Who would like the second? Councilman Sobieski may have the second. Councilman Sobieski has the second. Okay. City Clerk, can you please Take the vote. |
| 00:09:58.89 | Serge Avila | President, President, Yes. Council member to the north. |
| 00:10:03.08 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:10:03.09 | Joan Cox | Yes. |
| 00:10:04.56 | Serge Avila | I will be |
| 00:10:06.20 | Joan Cox | Yes. |
| 00:10:07.09 | Serge Avila | Mayor Blavstein. |
| 00:10:08.64 | Joan Cox | Yes. |
| 00:10:09.03 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:10:09.86 | Serge Avila | Mayor Kellner. |
| 00:10:11.51 | Jill Hoffman | Yes. All right, we have passed the consent calendar. Okay, moving on to business items. Item 4A, the Economic Development Advisory Community, work plan and chair Tom Riley will be providing a presentation. |
| 00:10:34.65 | Jill Hoffman | So I think if Tom is, I know he's here, if we can hand the controls over. |
| 00:10:50.07 | Tom Riley | Good evening, Mayor Coleman. Good evening, council members. Thank you for this opportunity to present. I want to confirm that I'm coming through. Thank you. |
| 00:10:58.00 | Jill Hoffman | Correct, you are, we see you. |
| 00:10:59.17 | Tom Riley | Thank you all for your service to our community and volunteering your time. You do a great job for us and so excited to be presenting. I'm gonna share my screen at this moment. |
| 00:11:17.92 | Tom Riley | All right. Thank you. So I am honored to be here talking tonight on behalf of 12 of our community members who volunteered their time for the economic development advisory committee. They're on the left side of this slide. We'll read their names. but more importantly their backgrounds. The EDAC is comprised of members from our artist community, the maritime industry, commercial real estate brokers, property management expertise, hoteliers and restaurateurs folks from the financial industry, and we have folks from industry and marketing backgrounds. It is a great, great working group that is just getting a lot done. I also want to shout out to our liaisons. Our mayor has been a liaison along with council member Sobieski. Julie Vieira, the CEO of the chamber has been a tremendous contributor. And quite frankly, Let no action go undone. Our city manager, Chris Zapata, just has been tremendous. Really been a great contributor to the team. And a shout out to Mayor Kelman, who is gonna be transferring her responsibilities on this to another council member. I'm not sure if that's been announced, but thank you Mayor Kelman for your time with us. You've been a tremendous contributor. So about 14 months ago, we met with city council to get priorities and we used the land economic study done by Cosmon to come up with some priorities. And the city council asked us to focus on three areas that we've worked on for about 14 months. It is not a report out, but just in summary, I do want to share some of the things that EDAC has done. I'm not sure. First off on item number one, revamping the city permit process. Over a period of three months, we met with stakeholders, the community development director and other regional communities that do a real good job at permitting And we delivered a three-year plan, 34 action items, to revamp our permitting process. And the city council last year was great in providing funding to deliver on these 34 actions. Shout out to Heidi Scoble who stepped up and really did an amazing job of helping us drive some of these changes and we are so excited to work with James Moore on completing these changes. On item two, an encouraging business development. What we did is, First off, working with Heidi and our former CDDs, Need them. We engage with eight businesses that were going through the permitting process and we helped streamline their process and get their permitting through. Those are businesses that were upgrading their facilities and that we really appreciate the kind of concierge effort we gave them to get their buildings through the permitting process. |
| 00:14:05.86 | Unknown | THE FAMILY. |
| 00:14:06.02 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:14:06.06 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:14:16.01 | Tom Riley | Today we're tracking 17 vacancies. in our commercial district. our retail district, We have helped identify five new tenants We have 13 active new tenants to fill some of these vacancies. But what we're doing is we're trying to bring in tenants that we believe our community would like to have in our retail sector, that services, Not traditionally the tourists, but services more of our local community and the regional community. And we got that information from a survey we conducted. We're also trying to activate the downtown. And so we've been bringing events to downtown, including Wednesday Night Live. Our next Wednesday Night Live event, everyone, is on February 2nd. From 4 to 6 p.m. on Caledonia Street, a wonderful musician named Brad James will be entertaining. on that Wednesday night, We did Holiday by the Bay. Upcoming for February, we're promoting a month of wellness and romance in Sausalito. encouraging people to get outdoors and follow through on their New Year's resolutions. And then in March and April, we're getting ready for the boating season. And we'll be supporting our maritime industry. We have a marketing firm for the first time called CDA that the city is investing in. We're getting great early results from that. Find you an item three. Commissioning and Marine Ship Engineering Analysis. Um, EDAC can't do an engineering analysis, but what we have done is we have begun a inventory of all businesses in the marine ship. With our goal of diversifying beyond just the retail sector, We're identifying what businesses are there where our revenues come from, what vacancies we have and what businesses we can attract. And we have a great team of volunteers on EVAC that have been really driving that effort. |
| 00:16:09.28 | Unknown | you |
| 00:16:09.97 | Tom Riley | So today is not a report out in these three items. I just wanted to give a summary. But what we're looking for is your input on where you would like EDAC to focus our efforts going forward for the next year. And, We went through a process. We had over 70 ideas or action items that came from the land economic study, which the city spent a significant amount of money to get ideas from. We took ideas from the Business Advisory Council and the Hospitality and Business Development Committee, and also EDAC members and over 70 ideas We went through a process through two months of just kind of refining. And we had two public discussions at EDAC And today we have 12 ideas that we would like to recommend to you as areas we think that Those of us on EDAC can work with city staff in advancing for our community to improve our economics. And here's a list of those ideas. kind of in priority order and what's on right is voting rules or a voting process but this just shows you kind of the priority that we came out with I WANT TO TAKE A LOOK AT And it's a long list, there's 12 items here. I'm gonna read them so that I know that I've given you time to read them yourself. but there's a notion of business improvement district where You get landlords and merchants contributing towards a fund that can go towards improving those districts. And so we think this can happen in downtown Caledonia, possibly Princess, you can subdivide these. There's a lot of interest in invigorating the art festival. We're in discussions with Saucedo Art Festival Foundation. doing a public and parking traffic study, Revising formula retail requirements. We'd like the restrictions on formula retail. But we think if we can work on the wording, that there is certain retailers that might have four or five shops that are just based in the Bay Area that could really add value to, you know, filling some of our vacancies. So we'll make sure our wording doesn't scare them away. Working on our brand. Um, And how we have a more consistent brand about Sausalito, we think is important. Working with our new Mike Wagner, who manages our properties, but look at the property leases that we have. getting closer alliances with the Moreno hotels, Also fill in our vacancies. We think if we can be more flexible on our conditional use permits, we can fill vacancies sooner. Working at our signage to our community, hiring or contracting a grant writer, which I believe is underway. What's a plan to bring to diversify our business and have more micromanufacturing or maritime businesses in Sausalito? And then finally considering lighting the trees on Bridgeway in Caledonia around the So these are 12 ideas that surface to the top from our 12 members of EDAC and our liaisons. The ones that say parens liaison at the end are the ones that are liaisons actually, we're encouraging us to focus on. And I'll come back to the slides. You don't have to be taking notes. Um, So I ask of you today, is we really want to make sure that when we, The 12 of us, you know, charge off or try and add value to the city that we're in alignment with the city council and city staff. And then we're working on things that you feel have the greatest impact. It helped us last year to kind of reengage again. So first off on the list of people, are there any things that you'd like us to consider that we haven't? Are these in the right priority order? Or another way to look at it, we can't tackle all 12 at once, but maybe there's a top five. but we're just looking for some direction for you where we can put our efforts together so that we're aligned with your desires. Yes. Once we have your direction, We will. organize our 12 members into working groups. And we wanna work these off in parallel and in priority order. but some of these might require you know, budgeting or funding, we don't know just yet, but if any does, We'll come back with a budget and we'll come back with an ROI analysis on Here's what we think. you know, let's say to create a brand. You know, we have to invest in a marketing group to help us develop a brand and all that work, as an example. And here's what we'd invest and here's what we'd do. So those would be our next steps. And finally, I've just finished and I'll leave this slide up for discussion, but that's the end of my presentation. So thank you for your time and thank you for giving me the opportunity to present that. |
| 00:21:16.24 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you very much, Tom. Much appreciated as I had the benefit and the honor of being a member of liaison to EDAC and saw all the hard work and appreciate everything you guys have done for us thus far and all the organization and time and analysis into this. So just to be clear, you would like the council to provide its top eight. I think I read in your, in your letter. Is that correct? |
| 00:21:39.12 | Tom Riley | Well, top five would give us a starting point, right? So top five, yes. Or if you just put it in priority order and we just start, you know, tapping as many as we can. |
| 00:21:49.53 | Jill Hoffman | Right, excellent. Yeah, I think that's, that'd be very helpful. And let me just ask the city manager, who is the staff liaison to EDAC, do you have anything to add before we engage the council? |
| 00:22:00.16 | Chris Zapata | Not at this time, Mayor. I appreciate all the work that's being done. |
| 00:22:03.54 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Well, thank you very much for this. to either Tom or maybe the city clerk that if we are gonna have some type of voting or prior reprioritizing, maybe a quick spreadsheet might be helpful, but while you're sorting that out, I think, we'll open it up to see if any members of the council have questions for tom or for staff |
| 00:22:29.54 | Jill Hoffman | Vice Mayor, please, end us off. |
| 00:22:31.70 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | Yeah, I was really happy to see a focus on conditional use permits and the qualifications for conditional use permits. And Tom, thank you for a fantastic presentation. Great to see you as usual. And thank you to the members of EDAC. This is a lot of time and effort and there's been a lot of great, I know we're all enjoying the events and the new, the new emphasis on bringing locals into the downtown. So thank you for all of that. I was really happy to see this conversation around CUPs and what might be required. And I was wondering, because i know in particular for instance many restaurants have really suffered throughout the pandemic and one of the main difficulties that they might suffer is that if there's a change of ownership or say one closes in a new one wants to open the liquor license requires a new qualification for a cup i was wondering if you were planning to approach business specific objectives to the cup, or if it was just in general, the number of uses listing the ones that require it and then reconsidering them kind of just get a sense of what your angle was there. |
| 00:23:27.27 | Tom Riley | because it's an |
| 00:23:27.36 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | Because it's something I hear from often. |
| 00:23:29.31 | Tom Riley | Thank you, Vice Mayor. Our angle is to fill our vacancies as quickly as possible. And to do that, you want to attract tenants with the most business friendly approach you can. So, we would probably take a kind of like retail specific approach to it, right? and look at our vacancies and figure out where we can be more flexible on our conditional use permits so that we are a more attractive place to do business. Saucedo is not considered by brokers the most business friendly place. Now we're trying to fill our vacancies, but we want to fill them with desirable tenants for our locals in our regional community. in kind of transition away from being a tourist destination to much more of, um, uh, of, businesses that are serving our locals. So hopefully that answers your question. |
| 00:24:20.71 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | Great. And then the other question I had is I see there's a great recommendation by the liaison to consider maritime businesses. And I, I was wondering if you had thought about reinvigorating our waterfront, because I know I've had some conversations with folks who volunteer time to EDAC about a potential waterfront festival, and lots of folks come here from out of town to see and enjoy our waterfront, and maybe we could... you know, have a conversation about the pier next to Skomas or otherwise, is that on your radar and would you be open to considering more of a conversation around all of the many ways we can enjoy our waterfront. |
| 00:24:52.74 | Tom Riley | That is high on our radar. So as mentioned earlier, starting in March, we want to start focusing on our maritime businesses. And as people get ready for the boating and yachting season, to promote our businesses. That's one of our marketing initiatives. But secondly, we'd love to see like working with C-TREC on a paddle fest and promoting that. Um, We are getting ready, like we're in discussions with Matthew Turner and the Frida Bee about opening day in the Bay and promoting their businesses. So we think our waterfront is an important part of our efforts. |
| 00:25:29.80 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | Great, thanks again. Those were my main questions. Thank you. |
| 00:25:32.32 | Serge Avila | Thank you. |
| 00:25:32.38 | Tom Riley | Thank you. |
| 00:25:32.70 | Serge Avila | Thank you. |
| 00:25:32.72 | Tom Riley | Thank you. |
| 00:25:32.99 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | Thank you. |
| 00:25:33.02 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you, Vice Mayor. Council Member Hoffman. I'm I don't have any questions. I was just going to give my top three. Are we there yet? Or are we? No, we have to take public comment first. Oh, sorry. Okay. I eagerly await. |
| 00:25:42.09 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 00:25:42.69 | Unknown | THE END OF THE |
| 00:25:45.63 | Eva | . |
| 00:25:45.68 | Unknown | I'm not. |
| 00:25:45.75 | Eva | Thank you. |
| 00:25:48.04 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | the governor of Cleveland |
| 00:25:48.68 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:25:50.51 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Tom, for a great presentation and for all the work that EDAC has done. I just had a couple of I guess questions. maybe comments, but One is the Two things, the formula retail and the CUP, are both seem to be follow-ons from kind of the streamlining of the permit process and kind of making our zoning code more Yeah. amenable or user-friendly to the business community, I guess I would say. So I would probably categorize those. If we're gonna do one of those efforts, probably want to combine them. I don't, you know, maybe community development department staff could think about that. And then I guess another, issue is the higher contract a grant writer. I think we've already, the city's committed to that. So I don't, I mean, I think we're committed to that and Um, I don't necessarily, obviously we'll want ideas from EDAC, but I don't see that as something that we need to use up votes on our top priorities for necessarily tonight. And then I did have a question for you about the public parking and traffic and whether that would also include kind of circulation, wayfinding, and kind of pedestrian pedestrian and bike travel downtown. Could you talk a little bit about that? |
| 00:27:25.71 | Tom Riley | Yes, thank you, Councilmember Cleveland Mills. So one, Thank you for calling out formula retail and conditional use permits. Of the 34 actions in our ideas for revamping the permanent process. Those were two of them. So you're right, it is part of working with the CBD to kind of streamline our permitting process and make our our city, more accessible and more desirable for businesses to come here and fill our vacancies. So you're, you're correct in that. And thank you for remembering that. that we're going to have You're also right. One of the items here is to hire a contract and grant writer, and I know that's already underway, so I wouldn't put that at the top of our list, but we would. Definitely engage with the grant writer that the city's putting in place to support them. The other is, We put on here conducting analysis of city owned property leases. before Mr. Wagner was on board. Now that Mike Wagner is on board, we want to engage with him and support his efforts. And he has been tremendous already. And then finally on your public parking and traffic study, Yes, this includes circulation. It originally originated from just look, let's look at parking revenues and how can we optimize those? And we weren't quite sure what was being done by the city, but we learned there's some good work there. But we'd like to do a more comprehensive effort looking at parking revenues, circulation, pedestrians, and take a comprehensive approach to it from an economic standpoint, right? That's our whole thing is how do we bring in more revenues to the city and how can we optimize things? |
| 00:29:08.33 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | Great, thanks. And then just last, my last question is in terms of the micro manufacturing Has there been any discussion about partnering with small businesses in Marin City as kind of a collaboration? |
| 00:29:25.07 | Tom Riley | There has not been to date but we would put that high on our list and a lot, A lot of our discussion that EDAC is what are things that we can do to build tighter ties to the folks in friendship? And that's another Tremendous idea. And much like We have been tracking vacancies through our retail sector. We wanna do the same through the MarinShip. Understand our vacancies, |
| 00:29:51.79 | Unknown | I'm not. |
| 00:29:56.07 | Tom Riley | and then start trying to curate and attract businesses that allow us to diversify ourselves. Yeah. leveraging what's what's happening in the merchant. |
| 00:30:08.85 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | Okay. Great. Thank you. So just, I don't know if you heard my question. No, I asked about Marin City and not Marin Ships. |
| 00:30:17.69 | Tom Riley | No, I said Marineship May. I meant Marin City, yes. Okay. Yes, that is. |
| 00:30:23.63 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | OK. |
| 00:30:24.12 | Tom Riley | Yeah. |
| 00:30:24.44 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | because I see the Maritime |
| 00:30:24.51 | Tom Riley | Thank you. |
| 00:30:26.41 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | aspect to it, which I think is great, but in terms of the micro enterprise. So perfect. All right. Thank you. Thank you very much. |
| 00:30:32.62 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thank you, Councilman McLevinals. I do see that the city manager has his hand up. So we'll go there and then the vice mayor. |
| 00:30:40.30 | Chris Zapata | I was going to wait, but I think it's important for of me to kind of provide some of the information that will help you understand. what is actually happening in concert with what the EDAC is doing. so that you can understand what the priorities can and could be. uh, First of all, at last month's meeting when these were presented, They were very, very positively received by me and my team here at City Hall because these are things that are happening. in terms of the district improvement district, Sassuva Beautiful has received a presentation on what a BID is and isn't. And that was probably a month and a half ago because they have some concerns about Caledonia streets and their investment and how they're maintained. and BIDs are one ways to help solve that. on the issue of the or the idea of a smaller scale art festival in place of prior festivals. I know that conversation is ongoing with social art festival people, whether or not they're going to go to smaller and multiple events, you know, that's a possibility. So this is an alignment with that and last month or last meeting, you approved the use of the B of A in concept. to activate arts. So that's all tracking very well. You've mentioned Mike Wagner, that's important. Thank you for that comment. That was really important to get our portfolio properties agreements and so forth in some kind of orderly and do the work that needs to be done with the OMIT committee And then as far as the grant writer, yes, Council Member Cleveland-Mellis mentioned that And we worked real hard with our HR consultant We're on, not one, not two, but three. grant resources to individuals in one full service firms. So those are things that I think the council needs to hear and the public needs to hear. So as you consider these items, you'll have that in your back pocket. Thank you. |
| 00:32:33.73 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you for that, City Manager Zapata. Very helpful. All right, Vice Mayor Bussin. |
| 00:32:38.00 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | Thank you. |
| 00:32:38.59 | Jill Hoffman | One more question. Sorry. |
| 00:32:39.98 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | to barrage you with these, but on slide three, you showed your priorities from December 20, and one of them was around residential uses on Caledonia. Is that being completely given up? Has there been any other discussion around that at EDAC? Just thinking about, as we consider the challenges we're facing with our housing element and also the very real issue of wanting to provide much more affordable housing in our |
| 00:33:05.26 | Tom Riley | Thank you, Vice Mayor. So, What happened 14 months ago is EDAC presented six recommended priorities from the land economics study, out of 39, I believe that were recommended. And the city council asked us to focus on three. So we focused on those first three. We didn't work on the other three. And we haven't put any effort into looking at retail on Caledronia, which was one of the top six. At the time we had recommended But again, our asking you tonight are, we're here to serve at your guys direction. And so if, If you feel there's something not on the list that you'd like us to focus in on, we can put our time there. |
| 00:33:48.44 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you so much. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Any other questions for Tom? Okay, well, we'll go ahead and then open this up to public comment. Oh, I'm sorry. City Mayor Zappara, would you want to chime in before we do that? |
| 00:34:02.21 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. One thing that popped into my mind as I was thinking over the comments I made I neglected to mention the opportunity that's been presented to participate in what's called the Golden Shovel Challenge. And so Mayor Kellman and Vice Mayor Bloussey and I have spoken about that with certain representatives that participate or manage that challenge. And what that is, is, graduate students from Stanford and Berkeley compete. they assign a site and then they begin to analyze that site over a two to three month period and give us their perspective, their ideas on how and what could be done in certain areas. In talking with the vice mayor and the mayor, the idea is we would look at three sites over time. And this is a multi-year process. The first year we would look at the Caledonia Street area. next year, considering either the Marin ship or Bridgeway. So that gets kicked off this coming month. And I think that's pretty exciting, but it's part and parcel of what EDAC is trying to do with Caledonia to really make it that Main Street that people in Saustudo really love. Thank you. Right there. |
| 00:35:14.65 | Tom Riley | And may I say city manager, I'm so excited. Thank you for coming in those emails. And being a bear fan, I'm sure that the Calveras will come up with better design |
| 00:35:26.30 | Jill Hoffman | Go Bears. Vice Mayor, you still have your hand up. Do you have a follow-up question? I do not let me lower my hand in the Zoom. Okay, great. Well then if no other questions, oh, Council Member Sobieski, please. |
| 00:35:40.41 | Councilmember Sobieski | As a Stanford graduate, I just had to say, I think the Stanford team will prevail. |
| 00:35:43.93 | Jill Hoffman | as do I talk later. Yeah. Okay. It's two, two and one, I don't know. So for now, why don't we go ahead and open up public comment on this. Serge, we just repeat again how somebody might make a comment, and then we shall see who has our hand raised. |
| 00:36:03.25 | Serge Avila | Yes, video or audio public comment. Participation is limited to three minutes per speaker. If you would like to make a comment, please raise your hand in the Zoom application, and you will be called upon when it's your time to speak. To raise your hand from a phone, press start nine, and each speaker will be notified when the time has elapsed. Madam Mayor, it looks like we do have a hand raised in Joan Cox. You've been unmuted and asked to share your video. |
| 00:36:27.34 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:36:27.98 | Joan Cox | Welcome, John. Good evening, council members. Good evening, mayor. and good evening former council member Tom Riley and congratulations. I remember when the EDAC was formed there was some skepticism as to how effective it would be given how admired some of its forebears had become. And it's just been such a pleasure to see all the productivity that comes from the edac and all the ideas and all the great work that you've been doing I wanted to make a plug for the formula retail requirements, and actually to perhaps consider keeping that as a standalone priority. This is something that planning commissioners and Council members have been putting on their priority list since 2008. I speak from personal experience and it really is a barrier to commerce in downtown Sausalito. Many of you know that we had a very well-known coffee shop that could not put a sign in front because it there was another coffee shop elsewhere. even though they were a local slash regional enterprise beloved, you know, they found it challenging to open up shop in Sausalito. I just wanted to put a plug in for that. And I wanted to heartily endorse what the city manager said about how nicely many of these projects dovetail with other important priorities that the council is undertaking. So great job. I look forward to, I don't think the council can choose wrong. as it prioritizes these. So great job. Thank you so much. Thank you. |
| 00:38:08.38 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Serge, does anybody else wish to speak on this? |
| 00:38:14.71 | Serge Avila | Madam Mayor, we have no further hands raised. |
| 00:38:17.44 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, so let's go ahead and close public comment. Serge is going to share his screen. And we'll just go around the table, the virtual table here to vote and make comments. So Serge, let us know when you are ready. |
| 00:38:32.72 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | Before we do that, Madam Mayor, can we decide if we're going to blend, or should we talk about if we're going to blend formula retail with CUP for Council Member Cleveland Knowles' suggestion as we vote? How do you hear? |
| 00:38:43.50 | Jill Hoffman | Sure. Yeah, absolutely. And Vice President, I'd also maybe make the suggestion to not overwhelm EDAC since there's so many, you know, no wrong choices here, that it's possible that the formula retail and CUP could be directed towards the planning commission to take the first swing at it. let them come up with it based on our zoning code and ordinances. And then we know we'll have two committees or commissions working on these important issues and we free up EDAC to work on additional items so I offer that for consideration as well. |
| 00:39:19.73 | Jill Hoffman | Anybody else have sort of general comments about groupings? . |
| 00:39:23.04 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | Yeah, I was, I would like to just echo Vice Mayor Blaustein's comment about bringing back the Caledonia retail housing mix issue. And I think that would just be, it's very timely right now. the housing, the HEAC will certainly be considering that, You know, the main, we definitely want to preserve our local commercial sector. So we wouldn't want... if we propose housing in that area we would certainly want to do it in a thoughtful way that maximizes our existing business, local business and retail. So I would love to put that back on the list. |
| 00:40:08.13 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Yeah, why don't we do that? Does anybody else have anything to add? So just wouldn't mind adding Councilman Clever-Nulls' suggestion? |
| 00:40:18.03 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | Thank you. I think it was the vice mayor's, but also I think it was on the list as Tom mentioned, it was on the list last year. and the six items that they're not. |
| 00:40:28.29 | Tom Riley | So consider residential housing along California Street. Yes. |
| 00:40:36.01 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:40:40.02 | Jill Hoffman | Great. Good add. Any other ads? |
| 00:40:48.81 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. Well, with that said, Vice-Bear, would you like to kick us off? Thank you. |
| 00:40:55.63 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | Yes, I would love to kick us off, and I will. I will start with agreeing with councilman on the Caledonia housing. So that would be one of my priorities. The brand identity and waterfront destination would be another priority. |
| 00:41:11.71 | Serge Avila | I'm your blood steam. Could you repeat that again? |
| 00:41:17.70 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | No problem. It's going down to number 13. I'm voting for number 13. |
| 00:41:22.83 | Serge Avila | Thank you. |
| 00:41:22.87 | Unknown | Okay. |
| 00:41:24.72 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | And then, Number five. Brand identity, right. And then number one, But I would also just want to say that I want to support the mayor's suggestion to move the CUP and the formula retail to the planning commission, assuming it would make its way back to EDAC because that's critical. It needs to be worked on and would otherwise be one of my three choices here. So I don't know how we do we put a planning commission next to that or an asterisk or something, |
| 00:41:57.17 | Jill Hoffman | yeah, let's put a, maybe just a PC column, a column I, um, because by the way, I love this process and I appreciate Tom and EDAC coming to the council to get direction. And I think it's super helpful to, to follow that with other committees too. |
| 00:42:12.48 | Tom Riley | Well, may I suggest mayor that maybe if each, you just pick five, it will help us narrow down to the top three, |
| 00:42:19.23 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:42:22.57 | Jill Hoffman | Sure. So you have three there, Vice Mayor. You want to pick two more? I didn't know I was going to get fired. |
| 00:42:28.97 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | Can you circle back to me? No, I can do it. Scroll back up for a second there, Serge. Serge. Um... So we're gonna put formula retail and CUP towards the planning commission. And so that's hard to say. All right. |
| 00:42:50.03 | Sandra Bushmaker | Bye. |
| 00:42:50.04 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | Thank you. |
| 00:42:50.20 | Sandra Bushmaker | Amen. |
| 00:42:50.97 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | Thank you. |
| 00:42:50.99 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. |
| 00:42:52.22 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | So I'd actually like to keep that on the EDACS front burner. I mean, or maybe we should just get input at some point from our community development director. I mean, the planning commission has a lot on its plate. Right now, they've got the Objective Design Review Standard Working Group. They have a couple of other working groups, I think. And then two of them are on the housing element advisory committee. So I kind of like the legislative committee, possibly in combination with EDAC to give it a whirl, |
| 00:43:26.48 | Councilmember Sobieski | Yeah, I would second that perspective. I think that EDAC is leading with economics and for sure, anything, any change is gonna have to |
| 00:43:26.70 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | I don't. Thank you. |
| 00:43:35.03 | Councilmember Sobieski | be implemented through |
| 00:43:36.75 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | Okay, then I would just vote for those two then as my five to get us up to five. We'll do it that way. I, That's what my two votes will be. |
| 00:43:44.72 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | I mean, I'll have to come back obviously to the planning commission. |
| 00:43:48.53 | Jill Hoffman | So, um. if everybody's okay, I have a suddenly different perspective on it. And I think the legislative mandate for the planning commission is in fact, to look at the zoning ordinance as to formula retail and CEP. So I, I would put a placeholder there for those of us who might want to vote in that direction. And then, we can see how it shakes out. Right. Okay. Councilor Merr. Vice Mayor Boston, you have your five, right? They're so tiny. Okay. Councilman Hoffman? |
| 00:44:17.14 | Serge Avila | Mayor Kelman if I may, I am missing two and I'm not sure where those were decided to go. |
| 00:44:26.33 | Unknown | of, |
| 00:44:26.62 | Serge Avila | you |
| 00:44:26.77 | Unknown | for And. Row 90. really |
| 00:44:32.02 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | Thanks, Tom. |
| 00:44:32.96 | Jill Hoffman | Bye. |
| 00:44:33.91 | Unknown | I'm sorry. |
| 00:44:37.76 | Jill Hoffman | Great. Thank you so much, surgery. Okay, Council Member Hoffman. um, I have. I have four. I have one, one, three, five and 11. One, three, five. And 11. And that's the wrong column. That's me. |
| 00:44:58.41 | Serge Avila | I'll just have a comment. |
| 00:44:59.41 | Jill Hoffman | COMMENT. It's so small. 1, 3, 5, and 11 were mine. 10, 11. |
| 00:45:07.10 | Serge Avila | Thank you. |
| 00:45:07.15 | Mary Wagner | . |
| 00:45:07.32 | Serge Avila | Thank you. |
| 00:45:07.44 | Mary Wagner | Thank you. |
| 00:45:08.13 | Jill Hoffman | And so Yeah. The downtown and Caledonia business improvement districts, I think those are really important. Um, Parking and traffic, of course, affects everything. Brand identity. I think it's really important in attracting people to downtown and also attracting businesses. So I think that's super important that we decide on what our identity is. Um, And then the plan for bringing micro-manufacturing and maritime businesses dovetails with THE brand identity as a waterfront destination but also a waterfront and maritime community. So that's why those are my three priorities for EDAC. |
| 00:45:50.18 | Jill Hoffman | Four, you want to have a fifth? No, I think that's good. I agree, frankly, with you that, |
| 00:45:52.66 | Unknown | No, I think that's good. |
| 00:45:56.75 | Jill Hoffman | you know, the zoning and things need to go to planning commission first um and the other one uh consider housing on um caledonia i mean that that uh that's to me that's he act right that it's all going to go through them and their recommendations so i don't want to be I want to have redundant efforts. And if something is more properly within one of the other then I think we should adhere to that and save and use EDAC's time. They're the best and highest use. So that's why those are my five, my top four. All right, thank you, Council Member Hoffman. Serge, I think you want to put Vice Mayor's number nine in row eight, actually. |
| 00:46:38.99 | Unknown | Right. |
| 00:46:41.05 | Jill Hoffman | Vice Senator, if I had that wrong, please tell me what I think you said. Thank you. Okay, why don't we move over to Council Member Cleveland-Knolls. Obviously I'm sharing or waiting for the liaison, so we'll go last, but Council Member Cleveland-Knolls. Thank you. |
| 00:46:54.92 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | Great, thanks. So I also have one and three on my list, the Downtown and Caledonia Business Improvement District and Public Parking and Traffic Study. I'm going to split the baby on the, um, Planning Commission EDAC thing and given that the formula retail is high up on their list I'm going to vote for the formula retail which is for her and then maybe the sort of have them work on that a little and agree with the CEP process starting first with the planning commission I I have a Caledonia housing. I do think EDAC's perspective on that would be very helpful. And I had Another. Do I have one more? |
| 00:47:45.71 | Unknown | Yes. |
| 00:47:46.06 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | And the brand identity. |
| 00:47:46.08 | Jill Hoffman | a grand idea. |
| 00:47:47.80 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:47:48.55 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | So, |
| 00:47:48.76 | Jill Hoffman | So we have row five and row 13, I think, |
| 00:47:51.40 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | something. |
| 00:47:51.95 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:47:52.04 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | Thank you. And I just want to note, I forgot to say this in my earlier comments, but I just want to, I don't know if this was intentional or not intentional, but I think all of these priorities do align with our strategic plan and are all in our implementation. maybe not some of the smaller ones, but overall. So that aligned really well. I don't see anything here that was kind of way out. um, And I know Tom participated early in that process. So thank you for that. |
| 00:48:23.12 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:48:23.14 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | Thank you. |
| 00:48:23.16 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:48:23.48 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | THANK YOU. |
| 00:48:23.73 | Jill Hoffman | All right, Council Member Sobieski, and also surge on line 13. I believe that's considered residential housing on Caledonia, just for specificity's sake. |
| 00:48:35.26 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, Councilor Sobieski, you and I have had the pleasure seen this before, so I'll let you go now and I'll go. |
| 00:48:41.20 | Councilmember Sobieski | One, two, three, four, and five. |
| 00:48:53.51 | Jill Hoffman | GREAT. Okay, that was easy. Any comments before I go? |
| 00:48:57.12 | Councilmember Sobieski | No, it's been thoroughly discussed. Thank you. |
| 00:48:59.37 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, great. Then Serge, I am weighing in at... One, three. Five and 11. |
| 00:49:12.31 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. |
| 00:49:16.67 | Jill Hoffman | I don't have a fifth at this time, but it looks like we have a lot of overlap, so that's okay. |
| 00:49:26.37 | Tom Riley | And while surges as leads up, Mayor, if I may say, You know, this is, I don't think this is set in stone. This is directional for us to start tackling the top priorities. And with working with our liaisons to the council members, we can only suggest these, you know, as, you know, macro conditions or micro conditions change. But this is very helpful to get, you know, kind of where your priorities are. So thank you for this exercise. |
| 00:49:53.44 | Councilmember Sobieski | I actually did have one question for the chair Riley. I know that the Marin ship inventory has been a task that you've been working on and you have the ongoing effort of filling I'm not sure. vacancies, which includes, I believe, item number 11, implicit in it, right? And so that activity is gonna continue, I presume. ongoing focus of effort these are additional new areas of focus that you're adding to replace some of the things that you've finished already if i understand |
| 00:50:13.77 | Unknown | Yeah. Thank you. And, |
| 00:50:23.59 | Councilmember Sobieski | And then... |
| 00:50:23.90 | Tom Riley | So what we have is By the end of February, it's our goal to complete an inventory of all the businesses in the marineship. but also identifying where there's vacancies. And where we, once we know where vacancies to engage with brokers on attracting businesses that make us more resilient and diversified And so that includes, you know, light manufacturing the maritime industry artists |
| 00:50:57.49 | Unknown | you |
| 00:50:57.73 | Tom Riley | What we're zoned for down there. And so that's one of our goals. It's underway. We have been doing that outreach to brokers around our retail sector. We haven't done it yet for the, We're in ship area, but we... |
| 00:51:11.97 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:51:15.67 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thank you, Chair Rani. Does that answer your question, Council Member Sabieski? |
| 00:51:19.67 | Councilmember Sobieski | Yes, I just want to make sure that Activity was ongoing and it sounds like it will continue. |
| 00:51:23.72 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. Well, thank you so much, Chair Riley. I'll just add for clarification's sake, I do think line 13 is very interesting, but I am hoping that, your downtown and Caledonia BID review kind of leads to creative ways to activate you know, the community and if it's mixed use or other things, I welcome that. So for me, they were sort of combined anyway. So I appreciate that and appreciate all the council members' votes. And we look forward to seeing the good work that EDAC comes forward with. So thanks for making the time and thank you everybody for your participation in our quick poll here. And thank you, Serge. |
| 00:52:00.81 | Tom Riley | Thank you, Mayor Kellen. Thank you, sir. This is the input we're looking for. So thank you for your support. |
| 00:52:06.73 | Jill Hoffman | Right. Thanks, everybody. Okay, wonderful. We're going to move on to item 4B. It's the internal guidance rules and regulations to implement SB nine, which is the California home act and schedule for consideration adoption of SB nine, implementing ordinance, And Mary Wagner, our city attorney, will be introducing you. |
| 00:52:26.78 | Mary Wagner | Thank you, Madam Mayor, members of the city council and your interim community development director, Heidi Scoble is going to join me. We're going to tag team this presentation and both be available to answer any questions that you might have. And Heidi, if you could share your screen and start our presentation, that would be great. So as you indicated, this is a follow-up item regarding the California Housing and Opportunity More Efficiency or HOME Act. more commonly referred to as SB9. Next slide, please. And this is just a quick overview that you'll recall from our discussion in November. SB 9 was signed into law on September 16th of 2021 and it went into effect January 1st, 2022. A quick overview of what it means is it requires ministerial approval of two dwelling units on a single parcel within a single family residential zone. and ministerial approval of a parcel map for an urban lot split to create two parcels from one one single family residential parcel that was a mouthful thank you next slide So on November 16th, the council adopted resolution number 6108. and directed staff that prior to January 31st, we returned to you to give you the SB 9 interim guidance that you directed staff to prepare and have in place as of January 1. in order to address any projects that may come into the city prior to the council taking action to adopt an interim or an implementation ordinance. The other action item you wanted us to bring to you tonight is the schedule of returning with that implementation ordinance. Thanks, Heidi. Next slide. So council members, I did not put a lot of detail into this presentation about what the interim guidelines provide. I think it would be a lot of the same information that you heard from your November 16th. If you'd like me to, if you want to get into any of the detail, we can certainly pull it up. and walk through it. you have it in your packet and it's available online. On November 16th, the council did reiterate that we made sure that we require application of the objective design and development standards so the resolution was revised to include that specific direction and their interim guidance refers to that So we're just going to go addresses both the Inter- the objective design and development standards or what we're calling odds. that are currently in place pursuant to the resolution that the council adopted identifying those objective standards that are in your existing provisions. And as you know, we're in the process of looking at updating those, um, those objective design and development standards. If for some reason that happened before you adopted your implementing ordinance, those would automatically be applicable to the extent they're applicable to development. in single-family zoning districts and to the extent that they aren't in conflict with the express provisions of SB 9. Next slide, please, Heidi. And then I think this is Heidi's slide. I'll turn it over to her. |
| 00:55:44.88 | Heidi Scoble | Thank you, Mary and good evening, Mayor Coleman and members of the City Council. So how does SB9 impact the city of Sausalito? Well, as Mary indicated that SB9 is applied to single family residential properties and in the city of Sausalito, we have a thousand 22 parcels zoned single family residential. In looking at the requirements of SB 9 and which parcels could be exempted, we found that 77 parcels are automatically exempted because they are located within a very high fire severity zone based on a local responsible area. And that's consistent with again the SB 9 regulations. And what that leaves us with is that there are possibly 945 parcels that could be eligible. reason why we say these parcels may be eligible is that there are additional caveats within sb9 that could further exempt these parcels from being eligible and those would include parcels that are determined to have wetlands or there's evidence of habitat or protected species under the endangered species act and native plant protection acts there could also be further exemptions related to properties that may have conservation easements or restrictive provenance and until the such time as an applicant or property owner comes before the town or the city it would be difficult to know up front whether these parcels have those type of encumbrances on them until such time as we request for that information. And that information could be found in title reports and their grant deeds. And there are no parcels located within the city's historic district. So what does that mean to Sausalito? So I just pulled this map up from our general plan and There are single family residential properties that are located in what they call the West area, which is the old town Hurricane Gulch area. We also have the hill, which is kind of the Spencer, Santa Rosa, San Carlos area. We also have our new town that has single family residential properties located more on the uphill portions of that neighborhood. We also have our monomer. to neighborhood. Montmartre, Vista, Toyon Terraces. And we also have what we call our Spring Street Valley. There are single family residential properties |
| 00:58:06.56 | Jill Hoffman | THE FAMILY IS NOT ABLE TO |
| 00:58:09.16 | Heidi Scoble | located on the upper portions of spring street. However, portions of the other neighborhoods within the Spring Street Valley and the Nevada Street Valley neighborhoods are those areas where there are very high fire severity zones so essentially every single family residentially zoned property north of Spring Street would be exempted from the city's regulations So how does SB9 relate to the housing element? So as you all know, we are working on our sixth housing housing element cycle. And last night, or last night at the housing element advisory committee we had a presentation from the city's consultant Beth Thompson with DeNovo and she indicated that the California Department of Housing and Community Development still has not issued any guidance on this point and moving forward DeNovo will be providing any pertinent information to the city as it relates to our current housing element update. In terms of proposed schedule and the SB9 implementing ordinance, staff with the assistance of our city attorney is working to create proposed regulations. We will be bringing this item to the legislative committee for review and direction in February. In March we're anticipating bringing this to the planning commission. for public hearing and recommendation to the city council. In April, the city council will conduct its first public hearing and first reading of the regulations. At the May meeting, May 10th, the city council will conduct its second reading and adoption of the ordinance and the ordinance will become effective on June 10th, 2022. So with that, staff recommends that the city council receive this report and provide direction on the proposed schedule to return to the city council for consideration of an ordinance and implementation of SB 9. |
| 01:00:13.05 | Jill Hoffman | Great, thank you very much, Heidi and Mary. I've got a quick question on schedule. The legislative committee already gave review and gave direction to council. And then when it came to council, I WANTED TO BE ABLE TO BE ABLE TO we have an opportunity to really in depth review that suggestion. Um, Why does it need to go back to legislative? we can either look at that here because we've already done that or it could go to Planning Commission. THAT'S NOT THE CASE. |
| 01:00:44.96 | Mary Wagner | Council's pleasure, Madam Mayor. Typically an ordinance would go, the actual text of the ordinance would go to the legislative committee for review and comment before it came to the You went to the Planning Commission and then came back up to the City Council. It's not legally required, but we It's up to the on how you would like that to proceed. |
| 01:01:06.77 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | Okay, thank you for the clarification. Vice Mayor. Yeah, thank you so much for that presentation, Heidi and Mary. I really appreciate it. I had a question about the proposed interim guidance, just because as we are all faced with the challenges of our very high arena numbers and obviously a clear housing crisis where we're trying to provide more workforce and affordable housing for our community. And I think we all share in that goal. Um, the interim guidance suggests, and I'm, I'm just wondering from a legal standpoint, is this a requirement of SB nine or is this a decision? we made as a community in regards to how we might enforce SB 9. The section that says a maximum of two dwelling units attached or detached per parcel, any existing dwellings, including accessory dwelling units and junior accessory dwelling units will count towards the two units. And when I served on the Blue Ribbon Committee on Housing with then Mayor Joan Cox, who I know is on this call, One of the things that we were excited about was the opportunity to add JADUs for additional housing. If someone had incentivized the idea of creating a JADU and an ADU on their property, Would they be penalized under SB 9? And further, if there was an opportunity to have a third on the property, wouldn't we potentially want that given the emphasis on potential for scattered sites that we got in some of these letters? I'm just trying to understand why we would discourage an additional unit just because there was an ADU or JADU. Was that something we had provided guidance on? |
| 01:02:30.21 | Mary Wagner | So there's a lot to unpack there, Madam Vice Mayor. Thank you for the question. And if you could, Madam Mayor. give me a minute to pull up the statute and I can perhaps more clearly address that question about the language in the guidance, unless your Interim Community Development Director would like to add something. I don't know if Heidi, you had anything to add to that. |
| 01:02:51.14 | Heidi Scoble | Yeah, so if I can clarify, was one of the parts of your question related to how these units would count towards RHNA |
| 01:02:59.03 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | that. No, no, I know that they, I mean, if we add an additional unit, it's affordable, it'll count towards our renet. But the question was mostly, it's saying that if you, if you're a property that has an ADU already on it, for instance, and you maybe wanted to add an additional residential unit, like say you wanted to become a duplex and have an ADU, |
| 01:03:17.21 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | under this under our interim guidance for SB9 are we saying we don't want that |
| 01:03:17.24 | Unknown | UNDERSTANDING THAT. |
| 01:03:22.10 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | We wouldn't. |
| 01:03:22.96 | Heidi Scoble | be able to preclude that. I don't believe, and Mary, thank you for pulling up these, the statute, but I believe that we do have the ability to, approve or require objective development design standards and improve it and require certain objectives related to the development of these parcels. |
| 01:03:42.17 | Mary Wagner | So if I may as well, and you know, what... What language you're quoting from is this two-unit development language in your criteria or in your objective standards from SB9. So I do want to find you the actual language from SB9, because I know that this is an important consideration for the council. |
| 01:03:55.79 | Eva | Okay. |
| 01:04:01.93 | Mary Wagner | So if someone were to take their lot and if they qualify for processing under SB 9, divided it into two pieces, and then could have two units on each of those lots. As drafted right now, the ADU and the unit would count as the two for one lot, if that's what I'm hearing. |
| 01:04:20.51 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | So we'll be able to add an additional unit. You couldn't have an ADU and then perhaps an upstairs unit on your house in compliance with our design standards. I'm just trying to understand why we would de-incentivize an additional unit when we're faced with a serious arena challenge. |
| 01:04:34.40 | Mary Wagner | Okay, so let me find you the actual statute, and I'm happy to bring that back to you. It's also remember this is interim guidance that hopefully will not be in place for very long and that will be able to bring you the actual statute or the actual ordinance, excuse me. in a timely fashion so that that can also be clarified in that. Bye. |
| 01:04:52.23 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | What I'm trying to also get some clarity on here is, was this a policy decision that was made |
| 01:04:56.30 | Mary Wagner | I understand. |
| 01:04:56.32 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | I understand. Thank you. |
| 01:04:57.03 | Mary Wagner | Yeah, sorry if my vice mayor didn't mean to interrupt you. No, I hear you. I understand the question. Okay. |
| 01:05:02.19 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Mary, it might be helpful to aid the Vice Mayor's excellent questions to make the distinction between what we are obligated to do SB 9 will is passed, it is law. And what the ordinance or proposed ordinance we do is retain local control. doesn't discourage or prevent or outlaw SB9 is still in effect What it does is it makes sure the Sea of Sausalito has a control to administer it as it sees fit. Those are two, I think, very separate distinctive questions. So as you're looking, that might be helpful DECISION TO MAKE HERE. |
| 01:05:41.54 | Mary Wagner | Sure, and Madam Mayor, just a quick reminder, you know, we did go through that in the staff report on the 16th, November 16th, of what SB 9 requires and where it allowed some discretion. um so i mean i think sb9 is clear about the two units but i think the vice mayor's question is well if i have a unit if i have two a duplex on a single family zone district property can I add an ADU to that I believe the answer to that is no and I'm just trying to find you the actual quote from the statute |
| 01:06:11.12 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | but that's no based on our policy decision. Cause I went back through our statute and I'm just, I know if we have the answer right now, that's okay, but I'd just like to understand if this is something we actively. because I didn't see it in the resolution. That's where this is coming from. |
| 01:06:26.11 | Mary Wagner | Thank you. |
| 01:06:26.80 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | I know. |
| 01:06:27.04 | Mary Wagner | So thank you and I will keep looking as you guys continue to to discuss. |
| 01:06:31.81 | Jill Hoffman | All right, thank you, Vice Mayor, and thank you, Mary. |
| 01:06:34.02 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | House member of Cleveland also. Thank you. So just a couple of comments on what I just heard. First of all, I think what we're looking at tonight isn't an ordinance. We're looking at interim guidance. So it's not an ordinance document. I am very interested in the Vice Mayor's question about what on the interim guidance? is a requirement and what was a policy decision to go both in the number of units that she's talking about and everything else. I think that's If there's anything else, I didn't see anything leaping out, but that would be helpful. My other question is kind of more in the weeds. And it goes back to our Interim Community Development Directors part of the presentation and how this impacts Sassolito. I thought I remembered from our last presentation that SB9 only applied to lots of certain, over a certain square footage. And I was wondering how if Heidi, if you've looked at that, if that's true, A, And B, if that is true, do we know of those 900 remaining lots that are not excluded due to fire hazard zones. whether A number of other units are excluded because of their size. |
| 01:07:52.98 | Heidi Scoble | Thank you, council member Cleveland Knowles. Yes, I should have added that in there. So the minimum parcel size under SB9 would be 2,500 square feet. So I've reached out to Marin maps, which is part of the Marin County. And I'm waiting for them to give me the database on all the parcel sizes within the city of Sausalito. So I'm just waiting for that information. And once I get it, then we're also working on mapping. So then we can fine tune kind of what the eligible parcels are. But to date we know what we're working with. And then we know that there are those other exceptions. |
| 01:08:29.89 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | Okay, great. So the number, the 900 number is going to go down. We don't know exactly how much, but It will drop. maybe by a third or by a quarter or something like that. |
| 01:08:38.73 | Heidi Scoble | Bye. |
| 01:08:39.15 | Eva | Thank you. |
| 01:08:41.48 | Heidi Scoble | It could drop, again, yeah, based on the minimum lot size, but most of these parcels are a little bit larger. So with our zoning, you know, the R1s, typically the number that follows it is supposed to be consistent with the land area. So R1-6 would have a typically a minimum lot size of 6,000 square feet, but we do have those outliers. So we will identify those parcels. |
| 01:09:07.01 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Any other questions for staff from council members? Okay. God. I'm not seeing any hands raised. Why don't we go ahead and open public comments? I apologize, Madam Mayor. |
| 01:09:20.12 | Mary Wagner | I'm sorry. answer to the question that was posed by the vice. I didn't know if you were ready. I was giving you time. I appreciate that. Thank you. And my answer may spur more questions. So I thought it'd be appropriate to. |
| 01:09:24.38 | Jill Hoffman | I didn't know if you were ready. |
| 01:09:31.55 | Mary Wagner | to put that in now. So what SB9 specifically provides is that The city is not required to permit an accessory dwelling unit or a JADU. on parcels that take advantage of both aspects of SB 9. The lot splitting and then the two units. The city can be more permissive if it so chooses. So if the city wanted to allow more dense development, you could. but SB9 does not require it. unless somebody takes advantage Um, THE CITY IS A CITY IS but with that. Excuse me, I'm reading that backwards. You're not required to permit an ADU on parcels that use both the authority contained in both provisions of SB9. |
| 01:10:12.98 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:10:15.49 | Mary Wagner | That makes sense. So if I have a single family lot in a district and I'm eligible and I split it in two, And you. are not required to permit an ADU or JADU on those parcels. So you could say, you can only have two development units that do not qualify as an ADU or a JADU. but you are allowed to if you so chose. So then it could be more permissive. But I would, Madam Vice Mayor, if I may. Again, just reiterating, this is interim guidance, and I think you're going to have very few, if any, projects come through. But it would be very helpful to get the council's policy direction on that provision as we go into drafting the ordinance. |
| 01:11:00.77 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | But from what I understand and what you're saying, it's clear that this was a policy decision that was made because we have the opportunity to be more permissive with regards to JDU's and ADU's should we so choose. |
| 01:11:11.48 | Mary Wagner | You have the ability to be more permissive if you so choose. And if it was policy direction on the 16th versus you know our interpretation I would have to go back and look at the meeting of the 16th to give you that answer |
| 01:11:26.62 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | So as it stands now, if you take advantage of the log splitting, with regards to the requirements of SB 9 we would garner four units, but if we wanted to allow for a JADU, and an ADU on the property there could be up to two additional units for each lot. A JADU AND AN ADO. |
| 01:11:44.03 | Mary Wagner | assuming that, and I believe both an ADU and a JADU are currently allowed on a single family lot at the same time. So the answer would be yes. |
| 01:11:51.32 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | And just a follow-on question for that. I mean, would all of those units, just to reiterate for the public or the community, would all of those units count towards arena numbers if they were? according to the CP requirements. |
| 01:12:03.12 | Mary Wagner | Well, I mean, let me just address that first more broadly. Your REITO requirement isn't just affordable units. It's low, moderate and above mod units, right? You have to meet all those income categories. So I think that's an important clarification. But actual sticks in the ground units, yes, they count. if they're developed during the planning period, yes. |
| 01:12:24.03 | Jill Hoffman | Right. |
| 01:12:24.48 | Mary Wagner | Right. |
| 01:12:25.19 | Mary Wagner | for that clarification. |
| 01:12:25.97 | Jill Hoffman | Sure. Thank you, Vice Mayor. All right, Councilman Cleveland-Oles, your hand was up, bounced down. Do you want to- |
| 01:12:31.87 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | Yeah. No, I think I'll wait. |
| 01:12:33.46 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. Okay. Great, why don't we go ahead, Serge, and open this to public comment |
| 01:12:43.57 | Serge Avila | And now it's the time for the public to raise their hand provide any. I would comment. Madam Mayor, I see, oh, that was fine. |
| 01:12:57.27 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:12:57.29 | Serge Avila | Thank you. |
| 01:12:57.32 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, great. Ava, welcome. You have three minutes and city clerk would go ahead and unmute Ava. |
| 01:13:04.54 | Serge Avila | And Eva, you've been unmuted enough to share your video. |
| 01:13:07.82 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Can you hear me okay? We can. Thank you. |
| 01:13:10.35 | Eva | Yeah, I think a lot of the discussion around SB9 is kind of a single point. I mean, it was designed to address the quote housing crisis, but There's been a lot of housing. It's just that it hasn't been affordable. AND I WANT TO TALK ABOUT And that's played a big role in how many people are unhoused now. And I think in a lot of ways, there's gonna be a continued effort and you'll see it from certain city council members. to keep pushing a kind of YIMBY premise that we just need to build our way out of this housing crisis. There was an article yesterday in the IJ that I thought was kind of illustrative of what we're missing. Ken Casey, who was on the Marin County Human Rights Commission, turned out to have been running a massive Ponzi scheme. And the aftermath of the federal investigation was that a lot of his properties had to be sold off. And I noticed in yesterday's article that of the commercial properties, 680,000 square feet had to be sold off. This is commercial property that is you know, for the last two years has been grossly underutilized. And even if we get back to quote unquote normal after the pandemic, we're unlikely to need the amount of office space that was always, that was always like projected to be needed. in some ways what we should be looking at, especially if we care at all about emissions and about global warming is instead of pouring more concrete and making more developers rich, we should be looking at this unused commercial space and how it can be converted. for residential use. This is a crisis and I think it's time to bring that forward to the state. So I hope we can keep that in mind. You know, it is kind of a funny wrinkle that someone who's so honored in the county turned out to be bilking little old lady investors and little old men investors the whole time um but but maybe it it could help us look at I WANT TO TAKE A LOOK AT what's wrong with the hyper capitalistic way we've been treating everything but especially building and housing and let's take a look at what we have now and how it can be converted because SB9 is for the most part, it's going to be mostly cosmetic. These aren't big changes to the landscape. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 01:16:03.05 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:16:03.06 | Eva | Thank you. |
| 01:16:03.08 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:16:03.40 | Eva | the |
| 01:16:03.57 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:16:03.67 | Eva | Thank you. |
| 01:16:03.69 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:16:04.23 | Eva | Thank you. |
| 01:16:04.25 | Jill Hoffman | Anybody else wish to make public comment on this item? Okay, I'm not seeing any hands. City Clerk, can you please confirm? |
| 01:16:12.58 | Serge Avila | Madam Mayor, I see more of their hand raised. |
| 01:16:14.73 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, we'll bring it up to the council for discussion. And I'll just point out that Um, uh, actions tonight is to receive the report and provide direction on the proposed schedule to return to the city council. So we'll have ample time to look over the content and the text and determine the best path forward. Councilmember Cleveland Knowles, start us off. Yeah, I'm sorry. |
| 01:16:37.03 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | We have one additional question. |
| 01:16:39.35 | Jill Hoffman | THE END OF |
| 01:16:39.73 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | you Mayor. And just this is going back to the vice mayor's question. And I just want to make sure I understand if I heard or city attorney correctly. you were saying that the, The portion of the ordinance that you're reading only applies where you're doing both You're taking advantage of both parts of the ordinance of SB 9. but I think council member was reading from additional SB9 objective standards just under the two unit developments. bullet is that correct vice mayor |
| 01:17:18.02 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | I was reading under the two unit development with two units in quotes, as it is up to, it is our prerogative as I've heard to deem whether two units is what we would enforce. |
| 01:17:28.42 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | but I don't think this is the section of the guidelines that applies, isn't it urban lot splits? We're going to split your lot. |
| 01:17:37.02 | Sandra Bushmaker | Right. |
| 01:17:38.04 | Unknown | I love it. |
| 01:17:38.48 | Sandra Bushmaker | Yeah. |
| 01:17:40.13 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | Anyway, I'm just a little bit confused about whether we're talking about the right section of this interim guidelines. And I just want to have clarity about what we're adopting. So is that correct, Mary? What you read said you had to do both. What you're on? |
| 01:17:59.08 | Mary Wagner | I was reading from the statute, council member Cleveland Knowles. |
| 01:18:02.69 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | Right, but weren't you reading from the section about the urban lot splits? Yeah. I can tell you. |
| 01:18:08.90 | Mary Wagner | you |
| 01:18:09.36 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | Because the bullet that Melissa was talking about isn't in that SECTION, ABOVE SECTION. |
| 01:18:17.15 | Mary Wagner | So Councilmember Cleveland, if I may, I think that the policy direction that the council gives us WOULD APPLY. You could give us direction in either or both. of those situations. You know, someone who just takes advantage of their own lot and develops it with two units, somebody who splits a lot and develops two pieces with two units. or just splits their lives. I think what we're looking at, what I'm hearing that we need to receive from the council tonight is if somebody is going to do a lot split and develop two units or just develop two units on their single family site, what does the council want to allow an ADU and or JADU for each of those units. |
| 01:19:04.18 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | Okay. And in this interim period, would we be permitted under SB 9 to say that that I... those additional units. might go to the Planning Commission, for example, for review. So if we did happen to get, before this, we'd have an ordinance adopted. If we did have someone that both wanted to split their lot add two units and then add an AD, a JAD or an ADU. could we have that particular I mean, if, you know, say for example, it was a really giant lot and that seemed perfectly appropriate. Um, just in this interim period, could we have a kind of escape valve or... THE END OF |
| 01:19:48.97 | Mary Wagner | Council member Clivenosa I think that'd be a very it's a very interesting question and a difficult one because ADUs and JADUs that meet a certain criteria of the statute are just allowed by right We don't have a, other than units that don't meet those criteria that require a discretionary process in front of the planning commission. So we'd have to look at that for you a little bit. |
| 01:20:13.93 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | Okay, maybe I was misunderstanding that. I thought we were talking about where you have two dwelling units and maybe one is already an ADU and then you're looking at another, like a JADU. |
| 01:20:27.46 | Mary Wagner | which we currently allow in a single-family zoning district. |
| 01:20:30.94 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | three. |
| 01:20:32.51 | Mary Wagner | Correct, Heidi? Yes. That is correct. And remember, a JADU is a completely interior ADU that utilizes existing space. Thank you. |
| 01:20:41.67 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | I'm just trying to understand the bullet that Melissa was asking about, it says, so is it actually making it less than our current allowance because it says a maximum of two dwelling units. Any existing dwellings, including accessory dwelling units, ADU and JADUs will count towards the two units. So that means now you could have three in it, but under this, it would be a maximum of two. Is that correct? |
| 01:21:10.68 | Mary Wagner | I think you're reading that correctly council member Cleveland knows and we should probably revise that to state. that it's compliant with your existing regulations if that's the council's direction, which would allow an ADU and a JADU. on a single family dwelling unit parcel. |
| 01:21:27.39 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | Okay, thank you. I think I understand. I'm sorry for my um, But I. So for comments, I would, yes, I would just think we're continuing our existing policies in this interim guidance. And the idea was that. I But that's what we would do. So I would be in favor of that. And I don't really have any other further comments on this. And I appreciate the staff work. in terms of the schedule I think that sounds fine as to whether it goes to the legislative committee before after the planning commission. I would like it to go to legislative committee one more time. before it comes to the council. So I would let the legislative committee decide if they wanted to see it before. sending it to the Planning Commission or reviewing the Planning Commission's work and adding to our staff report before we see it. So I don't. have a preference and would leave it. in the capable hands of the legislative committee. |
| 01:22:23.81 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thank you, council member Cleveland also. Okay, great questions, very helpful. Appreciate staff digging in on the fly. Council member Hoffman, any comments on the content or the schedule? Um, no, the content seems fine and continuing our current, um, or current. regulations is fine with me. |
| 01:22:44.06 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:22:44.10 | Councilmember Sobieski | Yeah. |
| 01:22:46.93 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, and the schedule is fine as well as proposed? |
| 01:22:49.77 | Councilmember Sobieski | Yes. Thank you. |
| 01:22:51.64 | Jill Hoffman | Councillor Sobieski. |
| 01:22:52.98 | Councilmember Sobieski | No additional comments. |
| 01:22:54.81 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:22:54.95 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | Thank you. |
| 01:22:55.17 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:22:55.20 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | Vice Mayor. I'm sorry for bringing up such a fuss about this, but I just feel like we're faced with such a critical challenge around housing in our community and we're all aware of that. So looking for every possible opportunity for us to provide more pathways to creating those housing opportunities. I, as a member of legislative committee, would really like to see it again and be able to have that opportunity to look after what possible pathways we could take forward this is, probably one of the most important issues that we'll be working on over the next couple of years. I think it's probably it's just critically important that we get it right so um i'd be okay with moving forward but would want to see it go back to the legislative committee |
| 01:23:35.89 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. But yes, I'm fine as well. And it'll go back to the legislative committee. That's fine. We'll talk offline with legislative and city attorney about the order of operations with planning commission. Okay, so there's no action required, just direction. Anything more from us, Steph? |
| 01:23:53.30 | Mary Wagner | No, just thank you for your time and for your important questions. We appreciate it. We appreciate the feedback, and I think it'll be helpful. going into the discussions about the implementing ordinance itself. |
| 01:24:03.88 | Jill Hoffman | you. Thank you very much, Mary, and thank you, Heidi. Okay, great. Thank you everybody. I really appreciate that dialogue. right on schedule item 4C. Recommendation to request proposals for financial team to refinance the pension debt. And we get our city manager, Chris Zapata, to take us through this. Chris, all yours. |
| 01:24:30.66 | Jill Hoffman | Perhaps Serge, you need to unmute. Mr. Zapata. |
| 01:24:35.61 | Serge Avila | working well. |
| 01:24:46.78 | Chris Zapata | has been a miracle. Thank you. |
| 01:24:48.52 | Eva | Thank you. |
| 01:24:49.89 | Chris Zapata | That's a good trick there, Serge. Mute the city manager. Thank you, Mayor and Council and members of the public. Pensions for California cities are something that I want to stress. They go back. 20 years is a challenge. and they present a 20 year challenge going forward. So at our October 30th planning session. the city council. That's some preliminary information on know our pension scenario in Sausalito and agreed that we should work on this. the Finance Committee has taken a keen interest in the pension system in Sausalito the California public retirement systems course of action and and how we could work to get try to meet this challenge. one of the things that was agreed to and October was direction to begin a council discussion in January about our pensions. So here we are. So thank you very much for that. The staff report provides some general information on... the pension plans of the city. It speaks to the amount that The city has as an unfunded accrued liability. what the city has in the bank in terms of a fundedness, And that funded level is 70%, but the unfunded level of approximately 30 percent is about 29 Close to $30 million. So one of the things that we all are... watching carefully is, the actions by the and CalPERS board and some of the things that they do. And over the past 15 years I've been in California, there've been a number of changes. the predominant change was the interest rate assumption that they would get on their investments was pegged at 8% in the early 2000s. That's been not downward to about 6.8% now. which means cities pay more, employees pay more, in terms of meeting the obligation because the investment I think. is not meeting the return that was projected 20 years ago. So modifying it downward puts pressures on city staff or city governments to, make up the difference. in that whole challenge of 20 years back, the city of Sausalito has taken some critical steps The city of Sausalito created a 115 trust program required employees to pay more, And the state also did some things as well to create some pension reform the California Public Pension Reform Act of 2013 creates a scenario where now pensions are much less generous than the ones that cities, provided in the early 2000s. So in Sosinito's case, the numbers are pretty, pretty, daunting. If you look at the 2001, 2002, 2003 timeframe, and enhanced benefits were provided to city employees in terms of retirement. The amount the city was paying at the time was approximately $350,000, $400,000. uh, 2022, 2023. north of $3.5 million. So that particular jump in obligation you know, begins to choke off what city councils city managers, city organizations can do in terms of funding. Thank you. projects. THE CITY. maintenance. and other things that you do so essentially 15% of your budget goes up front to meet your pension obligation. And that has grown over time. And that's a concern. So one of the things that has happened over the last couple of years is Many cities have been looking at these pension rates and being moved by the CalPERS board. to create. a situation where the goalposts are constantly moving when CalPERS takes its investment projections down from 8% to 6.8%. It changes the length of time you can pay off the debt from 30 years to 20 years. um creates other policies and processes that create, um, challenges for cities. that's always something that they have the authority to do with that fund. So what cities try to do is figure out how we project those costs out so the charts you have in your packet shows a projected amount going up to 20 approximately 2040. where a lot of folks were uh the benefits were granted in 20 the mortality rate kicks in and you have the new pepper people coming in and so the pension obligations lower but that's 20 years out. So as people struggle and try to work with that in terms of local government, county government, and state government, they start looking at different techniques ways to minimize the the actual challenge to the organization. And so in the past couple of years, the interest rates have gone down so significantly that it's created a window of opportunity to look at refinancing. which a number of cities are doing. So tonight we're not asking for an actual refinancing pension debt We're asking for approval to request proposals for finance and legal team that could speak to the ins and outs the specifics and the details of what refinancing might look like. In your staff report, there's a projected schedule that speaks to steps you would take how you would move forward and ultimately get to, if you're gonna decide to, refinance pension debt, you know, that step taken at a date to be determined. parallel to that because pensions are Pretty complicated. The city of Sausalito in the past has had. who has done a lot of work in the department actuarial studies and reports and is considered one of the pension experts. in the state of California, if not nationally, The city of Saucyde used them to do some reviews in 2016, 2018, I believe. So what we're asking and what has been budgeted this year was some type of approach that would involve Bartell assessing our pension system in Sausalito and providing information to the city council and staff in the community. And then also, you know, providing information on what they feel in terms of issuing the pension obligation bonds or other refinancing tools. things of that nature that they're experts on. So we're asking for two things tonight that you allow us to request proposals for this particular effort to begin to see if that's what you want to do. And then also to make sure that we bring Bartels in to do a workshop with the finance committee and with the provide information to the finance committee and ultimately do a presentation workshop with the full city council. in a couple of months. That concludes my report. I'm happy to answer questions. |
| 01:32:09.55 | Jill Hoffman | Great, thank you so much, Mr. Spada. I want to say Councilor Sobieski and I I did have a lengthy conversation on finance committee a few days ago on this very topic. So we, make the recommendation that Mr. Zapata bring this to the full council to bring you into the loop and receive directions. So if any members of the public want to have a more thorough conversation, they can see that video from last Friday. Okay, any members of council have questions for our city manager? Okay, I don't see any hands raised. |
| 01:32:40.26 | Councilmember Sobieski | hands raised. No. Mayor, if you don't mind, I may just ask three questions I asked that Finance Committee, just since there are more members of the public here, and I know it's a complicated subject. And I think it's worth just putting A few pins on the map. So if you could just . City Manager Zapata, just to confirm The state of California, CalPERS sets the, sets the employee contribution percentage to the pension. Isn't that correct? That's correct. There's a board that does that. That's correct. Councilman. And likewise, they established the formula for what the defined benefit is upon retirement. Isn't that correct? I'm not sure. |
| 01:33:18.02 | Chris Zapata | That's partially correct. They put programs out there in the past, cities could figure out within some variation what their defined benefit plan would be. But with CalPERS or with the Public Employee Reform Act of 2013, that's now state law that defines what city employees now get. limits the city employees get. |
| 01:33:37.62 | Councilmember Sobieski | Thank you. |
| 01:33:38.63 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. |
| 01:33:38.65 | Councilmember Sobieski | And similarly, for the state of California, the CalPERS defines what the expected rate of return is going to be on their portfolio. Isn't that correct? That is correct. And then finally, when they're wrong about that, when the numbers don't add up, if there's a deficit. the person that the people, the entity that has to pay is the sponsoring entity, in this case, the city of Sausalito, is that correct? you That's correct. So I just want to helped define that this is not a, city caused It is a challenge we have to respond to, but it's baked in to the structure. of the California pension system. Thank you. |
| 01:34:21.29 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. And you know, I wonder if I can, mayor and council, kind of add a little flavor to this information because I think it's really important for the public to hear you know, we always see the headlines of, you know, city managers and public safety folks having six figure at the end of their retirements. Yeah, that happens. That does happen. but the actual average amount of a pension pension receiver. in the CalPERS system three years ago was $38,000. the year. And the other question is, why am I paying for all of it? And I think it's really important to note that COPRS gives you what they call the pension dollar breakdown. And in that dollar, 52% of the cost of this system are borne by to their investment practices and tariffs. So they have done historically a great job, but the last 15 years have been really really off for an unpredictable and so they've changed their their rules and regulation which is what I call moving the goalposts so that they could keep the system in a place where they're comfortable. So when the residents believe that the city pays for the the actual answer is to a degree, yes, and employees pay as well. but over 50% is paid for by those investment earnings CalPERS gets back from their, the money we put in. So I just wanna add that. So there's some balance to the conversation and understanding that this is not about, attacking public employees and CalPERS. It's just a scenario that we find ourselves in. I think Council Member Sobniuski called it the Hotel California. I thought that was, very appropriate analogy, because you can't check out. You check in, but you can't check out. So we have to try to do what we can to try to minimize those costs so that we have a more sustainable budget that we're able to fund Um, other things that are desirable to you in the community but when pension costs are continually rising and chewing up, the front end of your revenue streams. it makes it a challenge so uh refinancing at this time um You know, when this was brought up in our June budget meeting, you know, I mentioned the names of San Bernardino and Stockton, who had had a bad experience with pension obligation bonds. And over time, there have been other cities that have had similarly bad experience, but What? change everything is the interest rates, which are so low at this point, so you can borrow money create some predictability And, um, have some savings in your pension obligations annually. to CalPERS. So that's one of the things we want to explore. We want to hire this. financial and legal team to help us, you know, get all of our ducks in a row, make sure that you have all of your questions answered and you see what direction You run ahead and then bring the expert in to talk about all things pension and the Bartell and Associates Group. |
| 01:37:34.27 | Jill Hoffman | Right. Thank you. Thank you, Chris. Thank you, Councilmember Sobieski. for folks who may not know this, Bartels has previously done an analysis of our pensions for us. I think the last one was 2018, and we'll be making that publicly available for everybody. And then you may be wondering also why now, or kind of what the urgency might be. So today the city can borrow at a low interest rate, but there's so much uncertainty in the financial markets is a non-trivial probability that our borrow rate could be much greater in 12 months. We're seeing the feds predicting some say three to four rate hikes. I heard someone else say we did a four to seven rate hikes. So there is some urgency around looking at this in terms of the city's future borrowing rates. The other challenge, as Councilmember Sobieski pointed out, is that CalPERS, is it always quite clear that they're charging interest on the pension debt? And that's why we're looking at this idea of a POB, because the pension sponsor can refinance the debt at a lower rate of interest. And so that opens up some new opportunities for us. So that's just a little bit more context for why this is important to you today. Vice Mayor. |
| 01:38:37.94 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | Thank you so much for coming in. Thank you, City Manager Zapata for that thorough um presentation and I appreciate the emphasis on the rising interest rates due to what we've seen with inflation um and the unpredictability of what's going to happen next I wanted to just note and ask the question I know that we had Previously, our intern finance director, Charlie Francis, did a lot of work to get us to this 30% number. Do you have a comparative? I mean, it's very daunting to look at this and see that we have $30 million just about in money owed, We were worse off. just a little while ago. Do you have a comparison of where we stand with regards to other municipalities or our neighbors to get a sense of what our expectations should be as we work to bring down this debt going forward? Or can we perhaps direct Bartell to look at that? |
| 01:39:21.66 | Chris Zapata | Thank you for that question, Vice Mayor. There are two things we can do. You know, there's obviously, this is all public information. And so there are places to get what maybe Marin county cities have in terms of their unfunded liability and compare Sausalito to that. And certainly, you know, we can ask Bartels to, to give us a sense of what's going on statewide. And then the second part of your question was, if you want to, can you help me with that? |
| 01:39:49.68 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | I just wanted to get a sense of where we stood in terms of the work that's been done because our adoption of the section 115 and the the 2018 report gave a lot of guidance and I just want to give credit where credit's due to our staff that has spent a long time |
| 01:40:01.81 | Unknown | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 01:40:02.03 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | looking at this issue and get a sense of where we stand. in comparison to other similar municipalities in Marin. It would be great if Bartell could help us forward with that as well so that we know what is a realistic expectation and how we might best |
| 01:40:12.71 | Chris Zapata | and that's what we're doing. |
| 01:40:14.57 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | leverage our situation. |
| 01:40:15.07 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. So in the interest of time, I didn't talk a lot about the 115 Trust. But that's something that Sassalu undertook, which is a great step, In that account, there's approximately $5 million So when you look at your unfunded liability of 30%, That means you have 70% of it funded But as I understand, the accounting doesn't allow you to include that $5 million as part of your funding. So you're actually a little higher. So that's a good thing for Sausalito. And in past years, councils and Sausalito and employees I saw students have agreed, you know, their participation at a higher level, you know, lowers the obligation to the budget because employees are paying out of their own paychecks. So all of that has been good work done by Sausalito in the past, including the Bartell request. And we'll do some more. I think the other thing we want to know is Who else is looking at these types of refinancing scenarios. There's a number of cities around us, Corta Madera next door to us. other cities that are in and around Marin have refinanced their debt because of the interest rate opportunity uh so so we would not be the first but we need to really make a decision very quickly, as Mayor Kelman pointed out. |
| 01:41:31.50 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | Thank you. |
| 01:41:31.55 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you very much, Kristen. |
| 01:41:33.69 | Chris Zapata | Welcome. |
| 01:41:35.13 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you everybody. Any other questions for Chris? I don't see any at this time. I'll ask the city clerk to please call on members of the public for public comment. |
| 01:41:45.88 | Serge Avila | Madam Mayor, it looks like we do have three hence raised and I'll call Yeah, that is a You're unmuted and I just want to share your video. |
| 01:41:57.12 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thanks so much. Can you hear me? Thank you. |
| 01:42:00.64 | Eva | AS WE CAN. Okay, thanks. Yeah, it's really interesting to listen to the language that's used around this. I believe the city manager quoted Mr. Sabisky as comparing it to Hotel California, that's also the, um, the That's also the motto for the, I think one of the I WANT TO TALK ABOUT THE pest control things, you know, the Roach Motel, roaches check in, but they can't check out. And it's just interesting to me that that sort of language is used around an issue relating to pensions for working class people. AND, UM, It's unfortunate. I mean, I don't know if you noticed this, but last week, Oxfam released a study that relied on World Bank figures. The 10 richest men in the world had seen their global wealth double to 1.5 trillion since the start of the global pandemic. This is World Bank figures are showing that 163 million more people had been driven below the poverty line while the super rich were benefiting from the stimulus provided by governments around the world to mitigate the impact of the virus. So what we've seen recently is, you know, a lot of people and especially people in southern marin getting tremendously wealthy off of this crisis off of the tax benefits and the relief that was provided principally to the super rich and not to you know the people who are cleaning out your sewers or you know doing all sorts of other you know tasks essential labor in Sausalito And I wish that, you know, we wouldn't dance around the subject so much. I mean, I think kind of part of the problem with where we're at, like how this income gap widened so much is that working class people, I experienced this living in Sausalito, working class people have very little say in local government. And the people who are elected to represent us are largely people who are accountable primarily to their donors. And in Southern Marin, that means you're going to be beholden to the very people who are unfortunately, taking the most and contributing the least so i think it's really important to keep that in mind when you're discussing issues like pensions i mean basically cities are stripped now because the super rich you've already benefited at grotesque expense, I mean, this is really disaster capitalism to the max, have squirreled away their money in places where if they're even obliged to pay taxes, So if you have a question, We need a much more global perspective on this because otherwise, the cities are continuing going to continue to go bankrupt and Unfortunately, you know, your actual constituents and your donors are not, you know, they're not gonna be impacted by that, but the city will and the services to working class people and to its workers. |
| 01:45:12.60 | Jill Hoffman | Of course. |
| 01:45:13.04 | Serge Avila | Thank you. |
| 01:45:13.05 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Yeah, thank you. Your time is up. Appreciate your comments. |
| 01:45:17.93 | Serge Avila | Our next speaker is Joan Cox. Joan, you've been unmuted and I should share your video. |
| 01:45:23.38 | Joan Cox | Thank you. AND I THINK IT'S A Boy, kudos to the city manager. This is such an amazing project to undertake. It's perfect timing. This is something we've struggled with for years, Um, You know, I did not take Council member Sobieski's Hotel California comment. to be disparaging of the pensioners I took it to be disparaging of CalPERS, which predicted a rate of return that beat warren buffett's investment rate of return which is pretty unrealistic. And so that is why we are underwater, not because of the manner in which we've managed our pensions, as each city has to share its proportionate, uh, amount of CalPERS underwater being underwater and the CalPERS debt for not meeting its financial predictions. So you know back in 2018 We negotiated very carefully or put together very carefully a plan to be able to make our payments, not to pay off the pension, but to be able to make our payments in such a way that didn't bankrupt the city. So to consider refinancing this pension debt is tremendous and i applaud it you could not be more pleased so thanks Thank you, Joan. |
| 01:46:43.57 | Serge Avila | Our next speaker is Sandra Bushmaker. Sandra, you're unmuted. |
| 01:46:49.21 | Sandra Bushmaker | I'll see you next time. Good evening council and city manager. I appreciate all the effort that's going into this. I was just gonna say something for the benefit of the public. that we are refinancing the interest We're not touching the $30 million obligation. So this refinance project is one of the interest. Is that correct? Did I understand that correctly? Can someone nod? We'll address it after you've done your comments. All right. So here's the situation with the consultant. What I'm concerned about is that we don't, have such an expensive consultant that we are increasing our obligation. I hope that the costs of this consultant are not going to be in the range of $900,000, which is where we've been landing on several consultants in the past few years. I also, if we're considering a pension obligation fund, pension obligation bond, I hope that we're looking carefully at the pitfalls and that we have a thorough examination of those pitfalls before we buy into that. And I think that how they are written is really going to require expertise. And for that, I think that having a consultant is probably going to be required. I don't know of anybody on this council who has the ability to write a pension obligation bond. that will keep us out of the drink. Lastly, it's not just the city that's holding the bag, it's the taxpayers of the city that are holding the bag. And I would like to make sure This is bad. get some recognition in our discussions. So that's it, thank you very much. |
| 01:48:32.33 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:48:33.24 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. |
| 01:48:33.26 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you, Sandra. And Serge, why don't we finish off public comment, and then we'll see if the city manager wants to address any. comments. |
| 01:48:40.99 | Serge Avila | Sure, and Madam Mayor, we have Jacob. Jacob, you've been unmuted and asked to share your video. |
| 01:48:51.99 | Unknown | you |
| 01:48:56.26 | Jeffrey Chase | Hello, Sausalito City Council, Madam Mayor, City Manager, and citizens of Sausalito. |
| 01:49:05.25 | Jeffrey Chase | The amount of money that is being spent on consultants, means that people outside the government, so the government have dozens of people in the city 100 or more in the county. Thousands in the state to do this work. They are hiring outside people. with. Low accountability, most of it is on the consent calendar. If we wanna deal with pensions, We could start with the chief of police, John Warbacher, who is receiving a full pension from his last job as San Rafael chief of police while also getting a salary. We call that double dipping. When we start, To be accountable as officials, as consultants, and as citizens, we will solve not only COVID, not only income inequality, not only the persecution of the poor in Sausalito, not only the almost insane desire to take out the Anchorage in Sausalito, we will solve the justice issue. This issue is important. This issue is essential, and if you want to check people's interests, look inside of their wallets. Everybody's accountable, not just the poor, not just the prisoners. Thank you very much. |
| 01:50:36.28 | Jill Hoffman | you mr jacobs um okay uh serge do we have any other uh hands up for public comment |
| 01:50:41.32 | Serge Avila | Madam Mayor, I see no other hands raised up a moment. Oh, excuse me. We do have one hand that just came up and it's John D. |
| 01:50:50.57 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:50:50.64 | Jill Hoffman | THANK YOU. |
| 01:50:51.04 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:50:51.77 | Serge Avila | John, you've been unmuted and has to share your video. |
| 01:50:54.84 | Unknown | Thank you. Um... I, uh, I ended my career before I retired as a bond fund manager, so I have some experience. although never really invested in pension obligation bonds or municipal bonds. I do understand the bond math and how this works. Um, I think it's important for people to realize that this is not a risk-free situation. Um, And I think the way these pension obligation bonds work, my understanding is You do borrow. at a low rate now and i don't know what that rate is two or three percent maybe maybe it's lower but you then invest the proceeds in some investment vehicle and you hope, of course, to do better than the 2% or 3% that you're borrowing. But there's risk. you know if there's a bear market and a major downturn to the market, well then you're underwater. So it is something to consider. I think it's prudent. And I'm sure your consultant will advise you well on this, but I just wanted to bring up that this is not an arbitrage situation and it's not a, a situation where there's no risk. Thank you. |
| 01:52:09.49 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you, John. All right, Serge, any other members of the public? |
| 01:52:13.61 | Serge Avila | and all their hands free. |
| 01:52:15.96 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, thank you. So we'll go ahead and close public comment, bring up to the council, Any members of the council have any questions? for Mr. Zapata. Council Member Sobieski? |
| 01:52:25.90 | Councilmember Sobieski | I just wanted to make one comment detailing to what John Dray said and to some extent Sandra Bushmaker's question. um, I dare not try to I'm sorry. Go ahead. I had the mentions 101 here because I probably couldn't do it and I would get something wrong, but at the finance committee, the mayor and I, agreed that part of the task to our consultant will be to not only issue a technical report with the recommendations and options really tuned. provide a pedagogical section that would be definitive and comprehensible. for all of us as well as the members of the community. to outline what is being done exactly. The answers to questions like what Ms. Bushmaker asked. but also delineating the risks that John Gray outlined. It's not quite as simple as what John just talked about, because our plan wouldn't be to be investing in the stock market with these. It's actually a contribution to CalPERS, but it really is about there are scenarios of actual market returns to calipers and interest rates and inflation where there would be scenarios where you would you would, in retrospect, wish you hadn't done this. So you do many different simulations of different scenarios and then look at where the preponderance of the outcomes are. But before we go anywhere, I know that that's the task, that's part of the task and I went into it. just articulate that it really has a report out from the finance committee that that's going to be part of this so I think we'll, we probably shouldn't do anything until we all are really comfortable that we know what we're doing. |
| 01:54:05.75 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah, great. Thank you, Councilman Savieski. Mr. Zapata, you want to comment? |
| 01:54:10.37 | Chris Zapata | I'm, Appreciate all the comments from the public and certainly, Yeah, the eyes wide open scenario is really important. but I also wanted to make sure that there was an understanding of the cost for Bartell services. Their proposal is for 24,000 $500. which is, you know, a very fair amount for the work they're going to do. The question will be when we put together the RFP for financial and legal and what the rates they would charge. That's an unknown at this time. That's what we're doing a proposal, but we do have um, uh, an amount from Bartell that is, you know, fixed. with all of the options baked in that we've asked for. So, and that would be $24,500. So I wanted to make sure that was clear. typically it happened as a city manager could do that. without the council going through a process but I choose not to because I think it's that important. that the council understand, you know, that this is something that we believe has been asked for is necessary. And you know, it would have a full public So the Bartels contract, would be something I think what we'll also once it gets adopted with the council's approval, I will provide that to the public as well. |
| 01:55:32.01 | Jill Hoffman | Great clarification. Thank you for those numbers, Chris. So the recommendation from staff, pardon me, is to issue a request for proposals for a team to develop recommendations on the refinancing of the pension debt and in parallel schedule a pension workshop with Bartell and associates. I can tell you that the finance committee over the supports this. So I am in favor of this and I welcome other comments and other direction If there aren't other comments, I'd make a motion. the day. |
| 01:56:01.96 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | again. but did you have |
| 01:56:04.02 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | COMMENT BEFORE? |
| 01:56:04.72 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | i was just gonna say completely in favor and i was gonna do exactly what council member clavon knows just did so great sorry |
| 01:56:11.21 | Jill Hoffman | We didn't see her hands. |
| 01:56:11.60 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | See you again. Thank you. |
| 01:56:12.70 | Jill Hoffman | Great minds think to take. |
| 01:56:12.71 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | Great minds. |
| 01:56:14.22 | Jill Hoffman | We have a motion on the table. I'm gonna call the, Cobble vote. |
| 01:56:20.56 | Serge Avila | Council Member Sobieski. Yes. Council Member Club Union. |
| 01:56:24.54 | Jill Hoffman | Yes. |
| 01:56:25.64 | Serge Avila | Council member Hoffman. Yes. I'm not sure. Thank you. |
| 01:56:29.66 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah. |
| 01:56:29.86 | Serge Avila | Thank you. Mayor Coleman. |
| 01:56:31.44 | Jill Hoffman | Yes. |
| 01:56:35.16 | Jill Hoffman | Our motion passes. Thank you, and thank you again to Mr. Zapata. |
| 01:56:35.19 | Serge Avila | Thank you. |
| 01:56:38.97 | Jill Hoffman | Okay guys, we'll move on to item five, which is communications. So this is the time in the agenda for members of the public to provide any public comment for items that are not in the agenda. Except in limited situations, state law precludes the council from taking action on or engaging in discussions concerning items of business that are not on the agenda. However, the council may briefly respond to statements made or questions posed by a member of the public ask clarifying questions, make a brief announcement, or refer matters on the agenda to city staff or direct at the subject agendas for future meetings. If you'd like to provide a public comment, please raise your hand in the Zoom application. The city clerk will call on you. And I just remind everybody that please keep your comments respectful and focused. We do wanna listen to any individual who requests to speak and each speaker has responsibility to act in a civil and courteous manner defined by the chair. We will not tolerate hate speech, direct or indirect threats or abusive language. And we will mute anybody who fails to meet these guidelines. I'll ask I'll add an additional one, which is, and I meant to do this earlier today, but for all public speakers, please state your name for the record before you begin your statement so that we could all follow. And with that, Serge, we'll take items. Public comment items not on the agenda. |
| 01:57:45.71 | Serge Avila | Madam Mayor, we do have a hand raised, and that's Eva. Eva, you've been unmuted. Nice to share your video. |
| 01:57:52.11 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you, Serge. Please state your name for the record. Thank you. |
| 01:57:57.03 | Eva | Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Terrific. I wanted to share something that I saw today, right, you know, from right around the corner from Sausalito. I saw an absolutely stunning meeting, a presentation by Rose McLemore and the Golden Gate Village Resident Council, their plan to renovate Golden Gate Village to green renovations And it was absolutely the most stunning thing I've seen in Well. ages, maybe forever in this county. It was a brilliantly conceived plan. Royce McLemore organized all these experts. They donated all their time because it's a worthwhile project and they were proud to be part of it. Um, and it's up, it's up for review. And, um, it really was remarkable to see this woman who, you know, I don't think she's been elected to countywide office or, um, or on that level, but this was real leadership. Um, and to watch the presentation was just to see, what it takes and how long it takes and how many people, um, you know, I watched many times, uh, Ms. McElmore being derided at, we're in housing authority meetings and the whole time she knew exactly what she was doing and she was patient. And this presentation, this green renovation plan is really stunning. I think also from an environmental perspective, you know, it really should be a guiding light for Sausalito city council. What can we do with what we already have? How do we reinvest in what we already have instead of at great environmental cost, pouring new concrete and building things that won't have any guarantee of affordability to begin with. If you guys have time, check out what's happening next door in the city, because I think it is an example for you to follow. Thank you. and |
| 02:00:11.97 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you very much. Serge, please make the next person available. |
| 02:00:16.71 | Serge Avila | Madam Mayor, our next speaker is Jacob. And, Check that if you're now needed and ask to share your video. |
| 02:00:23.26 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Please state your name for the record, sir. |
| 02:00:36.67 | Jill Hoffman | It appears they may be having trouble connecting, Serge, is something on our end? |
| 02:00:42.29 | Serge Avila | and Medicare of the education. |
| 02:00:43.59 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:00:44.05 | Jeffrey Chase | We don't. Can you hear me now? Yes, please state your name, sir. Okay, my name's Jeff Jacob Chase. And I want to start by saying that I'm not anti-police or the policemen and women in Sausalito or anywhere else. THAT. This will come from the Gospels, but sometimes The only person that's going to pay attention by that by this side of the road. to that person that's lying there. looking like they might be dead. is going to be the Samaritan. And often that's the police that'll do that. They'll pay attention to things that nobody else will. So I'm not anti-police. but I am anti- obstruction of the vote in Sausalito. What is to be done when the right to vote and run for office is obstructed? The answer has always been in America to fight for all the people. the rights of blacks, women, Indians, immigrants, For the basics sharing the power are guaranteed with words in our constitution. and with the bodies of heroes and heroines when those high ideals are not being followed. by the representatives of temporary office. So I attempted to run for Sausalito City Council in 2018. I went to clean my boat and scrape the sides and I was in Sausalito waters. They said, well, the morning that I was on was taken. I have now the past three days been in Sausalito waters again, that there is no such thing as a division on the waters, but because Sausalito, Left RBRA does not mean they leave human rights. They don't leave civilization. This anchorage will not be divided ever. reason that I'm saying that in particular is for the lives of the Mariners. That to say that there are no boats allowed on the Sausalito side, is to put people's lives in danger. To say that there is no place to land except for half of one public dock is to put people's lives in danger. So I had been on the Sausalito side off of Turney Street. I was given a 72-hour notice. I'm now off of Marin ships. And I was again given a 72-hour notice. And my boat was threatened with being impounded. Because I was given that 72 hour notice, I am now a Sausalito resident and I can run for city council. My residency was challenged last time. If it's challenged again, I think that will be a loss for the city. So I will send a demand letter tomorrow. I've never filed a lawsuit against Sausalito. If there is not an answer to this, I'll be happy to file my first one. Thank you very much. |
| 02:03:43.63 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you, Mr. Jacobs. Serge, any other members of the public here to comment? |
| 02:03:48.54 | Serge Avila | Madam Mayor, we have no further hands raised. |
| 02:03:51.38 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, great. We're gonna close public comment items on the agenda. and move ahead to item six, council member committee reports. I know we have talked about having written reports and Council Member Sobieski and I told you about the finance committee meeting. Does anybody wish to update the council on anything verbally? Yes, Councilmember Hopper. I just want to let the council know that we did meet with the the bank of America working group met with the our Sausalito Center for the Arts yesterday, that group, and we talked about a term sheet that was put together by our new property manager Mike Wagner who did a really great job leading the meeting and it was good first meeting and we're committed to meeting I think weekly between now and our February 8th meeting and we hope to, you know, Yeah, optimistically, maybe aggressively, optimistically bring back uh draft lease at february 8th we'll see Anything else, Council Member Sobieski, you want to add anything? Right. |
| 02:04:58.15 | Councilmember Sobieski | Thank you very much. |
| 02:04:59.96 | Jill Hoffman | Thanks. Thank you. |
| 02:05:00.97 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | Thank you for that update. As usual, I have some great updates from the sustainability commission who continue to do excellent work for us. We had two really interesting presentations that I wanted to share out about The first is that we had a couple of folks, consultants working with us on implementation of SB 1383, which is the new rule for composting. and essentially waste and how we assess waste in Sausalito. And we should be seeing pretty soon before us after the sustainability commission reviews it, how we're going to implement SB 1383 here in Sausalito. We also heard from MCE about the Bayside MLK resilience hub plan, which is something that Greg Thompson has been working really hard on along with MCE. And so that is moving forward and it's really exciting. We will be hearing more about that. I did wanna note that one thing that was a little bit alarming during that conversation is that MCE referred to Sausalito as a quote, Charging desert because we have so few electric vehicle chargers. So I did you know, mention that again to the sustainability commission that we are working on it, but I just wanted to flag that It's a little bit embarrassing to have a County entity referred to us as such, and we should really work on our to charging stations going forward. And additionally, we've heard some letters from the general public about a gas leaf lower ban that was heard by the Sustainability Commission and they are taking the necessary steps to bring that forward to the Legislative Committee. So we should be seeing that. soon and and We will continue to hear from the sustainability commission. And I just wanted to add also that there are vacancies and we're close to no longer having a quorum because former chair Tingley, who was fantastic and as well as chair of the sustainability commission will be moving out of Sausalito. hoping that more folks, anyone that's watching might apply for the sustainability commission We're very excited about bringing on some new folks and it's a really great group of people. |
| 02:06:53.02 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you, Vice Mayor. Councilman McClendon-Lowse, did you want to add anything? |
| 02:06:56.98 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | Yeah, Mayor, I thought we might both report out on the housing, third housing element advisory committee meeting from last night that was, The subsidence discussion was about housing site criteria and We'll have more further discussion on that at our fourth. meeting i also was just searching for the date of the community forum which um i The 10th of February. Right, right. So I'm glad you have that at your fingertips. And then I think we are also looking for other council members. We're also looking for a date. where we can bring the progress on the housing element in front of the full council. So hopefully in March, I think, was what we were looking at. But I think both the mayor and I feel like we've that we're bringing it's a very aggressive, schedule it's going to be very compressed into this year because we were a little bit So keeping the council, the full council, um, of how we're going on is going to be really important. And I know a couple of you have been dropping in and listening only mode to the session. So really appreciate that. |
| 02:08:11.22 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you for that. I have nothing to add. Anybody else wish to make a committee report? Okay, well, thank you everybody. I really appreciate that. We'll move on to item seven. This is city manager reports, city council appointment is approved. |
| 02:08:23.16 | Serge Avila | I'm here. If I may, we still need to take public comment on Council Councilmember Committee report. |
| 02:08:31.48 | Jill Hoffman | Yes, I'm so sorry. Thank you for that. |
| 02:08:35.48 | Serge Avila | And with that, there are no hands raised. |
| 02:08:38.77 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, thank you, Serge. Really appreciate that. With that then we'll move on to seven, which is city manager reports, city council appointments and other council business. And we take public comment on items 7B through 7E at this time and all at one time. So if the city clerk will let us know if anybody would like to make a public comment. |
| 02:08:59.83 | Serge Avila | Madam Mayor, it appears as we don't have any hands raised at the moment. |
| 02:09:04.73 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, we'll go ahead and close public comment. And then we will. start off with the city manager information for the council. Is there a city manager report? |
| 02:09:14.06 | Chris Zapata | I'd like to provide an update, Mayor and Councilmembers of the public. on the community development department. a personnel move we just made First, I want to publicly thank Heidi Scoble for her Teamwork and Services Interim Community Development Director She did extremely well in the pinch. And also I'd like to thank Deborah much more. for bringing us a stellar pool of quality candidates for the director job. So after a rigorous process, I'm pleased to announce that We've hired Jim Moore. It was in Curtis this past week. uh jim morge our new community development director he will start uh next week. Jim is a Berkeley graduate, which is great. He has extensive private and public sector experience. significant California and Marin County experience And interestingly enough, he is a former resident of Sausalito |
| 02:10:11.22 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 02:10:11.50 | Chris Zapata | and actually served on the planning commission at the early 1999-2000 timeframe. So we're excited about getting Jim on board doing the work because as was mentioned earlier, There is obviously the housing element that is critical and other things related to that department that impact EDAC committee and certainly the community with code enforcement and permitting and all of those things so so we're happy to to finish that process and look forward to welcoming jim |
| 02:10:36.19 | Unknown | THE FAMILY. |
| 02:10:39.97 | Chris Zapata | and then bringing Heidi back into the city manager, city clerk fold. and then also to thank Serge Avila for his tremendous work and um serving as the acting city clerk while Heidi's been over at the the Community Development Department for the past four months. That concludes my report, Mayor and Councilman. |
| 02:10:59.87 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you and huge thank you to you for undertaking |
| 02:11:01.22 | Chris Zapata | you |
| 02:11:04.10 | Jill Hoffman | a massive search and making that happen so quickly for our Community Development Department. And I know that Jim has some history here with Cecilia, so we welcome him back. Appreciate all your hard efforts there. Councilman Fluminosa. |
| 02:11:15.74 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | Yeah, I was just hoping maybe the city manager could share for the public information. Just a quick abbreviated version, but the update on Southview Park. We've gotten a lot of public correspondence. about that and I know we've been hard at work making sure that important project We'll come to a So maybe you could just give a Sure. |
| 02:11:38.39 | Chris Zapata | Sure. |
| 02:11:38.41 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:11:39.15 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. |
| 02:11:39.17 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | Sure. |
| 02:11:39.19 | Chris Zapata | Sure, thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Cleveland. We've been getting communication from Saucyus Beautiful, on an ongoing basis about the need to make sure that that has our attention span There has been communication from residents that were involved in finding the funding for that project. users of the Southview Park. And so today we put out a communication, it will be broadcast more broadly about what the schedule is, what the responsibilities are, what are some of these decisions that need to be made What are some of the decisions that need to be made? so that we can get to completion in April. And at the end of April, we're looking to schedule a thank you event for all of the folks in the community benefited, participated, raised funds are working and have worked on Southview Park, which is something that is really tremendous that you see in very few communities when we see residents dig into their own pockets beyond a measure a bond measure, a measure to raise funds, as South Slug did, and I think it was in the neighborhood of $60,000. |
| 02:12:41.71 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:12:46.57 | Chris Zapata | it was really impressive so we want to thank people for that |
| 02:12:46.67 | Unknown | It was. |
| 02:12:50.78 | Chris Zapata | We'll provide an update on the actual schedule. milestones that We're working with Kevin and Lauren It's also the beautiful and other partners in this project. |
| 02:13:00.61 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Any other questions for Mr. Spock? Okay, seeing none, we'll move on. to the next item, appointments of boards, commissions and committees. I will note that we have posted the council appointments to various commission committees and working groups and I just really want to thank my colleagues for such a collegial and helpful and insightful process and working through this. You all were really helpful and I think everybody's in a place to leverage your strengths and your knowledge. So just wanna express my public appreciation for your help in creating this and look forward to working with you all on the various working groups and committees. Okay. Well, moving on then to future agenda items. Vice mayor. |
| 02:13:45.22 | Vice Mayor Bloussey | Thank you. i wanted to to acknowledge what ava chrisanti brought up in her public comment which was the golden gate village meeting which i heard from a number of residents about today and i would really like to get on the agenda having the opportunity to hear from the resident council about how we might be good neighbors in supporting that effort and at least giving them the opportunity to present so i just wanted to that up properly and hopefully we can address it in agenda setting. |
| 02:14:08.14 | Jill Hoffman | Great, great idea. Thank you. Council Member Huffman. I just looked on the future agenda items and I didn't see glass leaf blower ban. So. I was just, we go ahead and add that in. And I will note that that whole, you know, we went through a whole process about five years ago or four years ago about looking at this and it's been through the legislative committee once back when i was on the legislative committee so There's probably some staff reports. Um, and even I think there's a draft ordinance, so. that might be helpful. I'd also like to... the historic context statement context statement was i think tentatively on for tonight i just looked um it's not you know but that happens as I know on an agenda setting. But I didn't see it on future agenda items either. So I think that should be added back in at some point. I know it's an important document in the, historic preservation and planning commission both are waiting for that to come back and i think they're even holding up some projects because they want to be able to refer to the historic contact statement when we make their decision. And then we got a number of letters and emails about the Cypress Ridge Conservation Easement. Thank you. and so you know it suggests that we put that on the future agenda items list and you know try to get try to get to that at some point so All right, thank you, Councilmember Hoffman. Councilmember Cleveland, |
| 02:15:39.43 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | Yeah, I mentioned earlier that I thought it would be interesting to have at some, well, at some appropriate point, an update on the objective design standards from a substantive standpoint, as opposed to just the professional services contracts. I also just wanna, I have mentioned this several times, but at the risk of sounding like a broken record, I still haven't seen anything go out about vacancies for our boards and commissions. And I think We really are. getting to a point on a couple of them that they're very low. And And then just on the cypress ridge issue i do think it would be helpful if staff could let us know if that is a site that we'll be considering through the HAAC process, the HIAAC housing element process format. um And if it is, then that might be the better place for that discussion to start. And then head to the council. |
| 02:16:40.96 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you very much. I will just let you know that at our last agenda setting, Vice Mayor and I specifically talked about vacancies in the boards and commissions per your prior request, Council Member Cleveland rules. And we do have that on our radar too. |
| 02:16:42.95 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | I'll just let you know that |
| 02:16:54.49 | Jill Hoffman | to slot into a future agenda very soon. Councillor Szymanski. |
| 02:17:00.62 | Councilmember Sobieski | Yeah, just on the theme of broken record, I'll just articulate again, I'm looking at the link in the council agenda for our future agenda items in the February 8th meeting. six consent items and a special presentation, but no business items are foreshadowed for that meeting. And I know that there probably are some that are |
| 02:17:16.80 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:17:21.12 | Councilmember Sobieski | our, um, anticipated to be at that meeting. And it would be great if we could get into the habit of having them there. knowing that they might change. um, just so that we see them ahead of time. And again, I've just put in a plug for the idea of trying to get our agendas settled Um, week ahead of time let's say uh rather the tuesday before the following weekend rather than the than the Friday. So this is something we can talk again about in our workshop whenever we have it. there? or whenever we talk about our protocols or our way of working together. So we don't need to get into a full discussion about it now, but that's just something I wanted to comment on looking at this future agenda section. |
| 02:18:06.82 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you, Councillor Zabieski. And I'll just add, it already came up with I report on the HIAC. if we're going to try to bring the HIAG update to the council early March. So if you see that sort of jumps the queue, that's intended to educate everybody on the, on the council. And then the other one I would add is a joint planning commission and city council meeting needs to get agendized. So my list then is vacancies, Board of the Commissions, Colmigate Village, Leaf Blower Van, Historic Contact Statement. objective design standards, a joint PC council meeting, Cypress Ridge and a HEAC update. Thank you everybody. We'll work with staff to make sure that gets updated accordingly. I see two hands still raise, any other comments? Thank you. |
| 02:18:53.95 | Councilmember Cleveland-Mills | I just had one, I would just really echo Ian's comment about having these two advanced agendas, the February 8th and February 15th in the future, really. fleshed out. It's just so helpful to see what's coming up. And obviously things do change, but No. These don't look like there even I don't think so. |
| 02:19:15.69 | Jill Hoffman | Bye. Yeah, I'll commit myself and the vice mayor to follow up with staff on making sure those get built out and provided to you all so we can fill that. Okay, the next item here is other reports of significance. I don't believe we have any other reports of significance. So seeing none, I'm gonna move to adjournment, but before we do, I just wanna note that we are adjourning tonight. in honor of two really important people from our community, Harvey Skip Berg and Velma Gamble. So if council doesn't mind, I'd like to read a tribute to both. As we adjourn. Harvey Skipberg yeed his last haw on Sunday, 1-23 in hospice memory care in Santa Rosa, California, surrounded by his wife and six of his eight kids. He stopped breathing peacefully as they held his hands and rubbed his back and chest while singing him his favorite songs. Skip was 80 and had been afflicted for nearly a decade with Lewy body dementia, Parkinson's, and likely other neurodegenerative diseases. He met his wife Brenda at sushi run. had six kids. He also had two more from a previous marriage. Ran in the South Little Hills every day, loved building and racing cars, martial arts, barrel racing horses, doing deals, and in general spent his days working to bring forth of your destined just bucolic and bounteous vision of how things should be into reality. At his request, his nervous system will be donated to UCSF to study and aid and treatment of others like him. He was jokingly requested to be buried in jeans in a burlap sack under a particular fig tree he enjoyed. Apparently the government doesn't precisely allow that. So he'll be interred in a simple Jewish shroud, which his family will make sure is approximately burlapy at the Sacred Grove in front of Wood Cemetery, where her overlooks La Salina and Mount Tam. He had a wonderful life by any measure and will be missed very much. And I just wanna express my condolences to Carlito Berg and his family, who have been important members of our community, and thank you for the opportunity to honor your father. I'd also like to adjourn tonight in honor of Velma Gamble. Velma Gamble passed away peacefully at home at the age of 107 on the morning of December 18. Born in 1914 in Vanguard, Saskatchewan, Canada, Velma was witness to the changing tides of history from the horse and buggy days to these times of a screen-addicted populace. She often lamented this modern world. Those who knew her were mesmerized by her firsthand accounts of history. Belma worked hard to protect her beloved town of Susnita from a liberal development that would ruin its charming character. She was a regular speaker at city council meetings and backed ordinances and candidates who had worked to protect the town. She was fierce in her criticism of those whom she opposed. Quote, he ought to be run out of town on a rail, she would exclaim. She was loving, loyal, and gave wonderful parties. Bellman survived her daughter, Sandra Gamble, her son-in-law, Bill de Cooper and Cousins in Canada and England, shown with this by many friends, donations in our honor may be sent to the Marin Humane Society. And also ask if anybody else on the council who may have known Velma would like to just honor her or just acknowledge. uh, Acknowledge that perhaps council member Hoffman. Um, Boy, you know, we're a town full of characters, right? And she was definitely one of our leading light characters. And what a contribution she made to our town. Somebody who honestly loved Sausalito. So she will be missed, and we will miss her and her. her shining light. Thank you very much. I will also share Sandra Bushmaker sent me a wonderful photo of her and Velma from 1998. so should any council members wish to see that uh perhaps Sandra let me uh circulate that photo it's really wonderful Okay, well, with that said, I'll remind everybody our next regular scheduled meeting is February 8th, 2022. And we will adjourn. Thank you, everybody. Have a good evening. Thank you. |