| Time | Speaker | Text |
|---|---|---|
| 00:00:09.72 | Serge Avila | we're still running here. |
| 00:00:20.62 | Serge Avila | Madam Mayor, give us one more second. We'll start in just a moment. |
| 00:00:26.52 | Mayor Kelman | And now you're just given time for Councilman Sobieski to put glasses on so he Looks as nerdy as we all do. |
| 00:00:34.74 | Cindy Egging | I mean, |
| 00:00:36.40 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | Bring over some blue light glasses for you, Ian. I have a couple I've prepared, so. I hear you. |
| 00:00:41.14 | Cindy Egging | I hear you. There we go. There we go. |
| 00:00:44.78 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | Thank you. |
| 00:00:44.85 | Jill Hoffman | I don't know. |
| 00:00:47.15 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | Thank you. |
| 00:00:47.18 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:00:47.23 | Cindy Egging | Thank you. |
| 00:00:47.26 | Jill Hoffman | Wow. |
| 00:00:47.30 | Cindy Egging | Wow. |
| 00:00:49.10 | Jill Hoffman | Are you going to play the guitar during this Oh, I hope so. I think that'd be cool. |
| 00:00:51.30 | Cindy Egging | Oh, my God. |
| 00:00:51.48 | Sandra Bushmaker | I hope you're going to be |
| 00:00:53.86 | Jill Hoffman | I really hope so. |
| 00:00:54.35 | Ian Sobieski | I hope so. |
| 00:00:56.36 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:00:56.41 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | Thank you. |
| 00:00:56.43 | Jill Hoffman | Bye. |
| 00:00:56.56 | Ian Sobieski | I really am. |
| 00:00:56.63 | Cindy Egging | I'm ready. |
| 00:00:57.03 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | I'm really excited. |
| 00:00:57.79 | Jill Hoffman | I'm not sure. |
| 00:00:57.86 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | Thank you. |
| 00:00:58.60 | Ian Sobieski | I really am going to do that sometime. It was very soon. |
| 00:01:01.96 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | It was so soothing, I loved it. |
| 00:01:05.89 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. |
| 00:01:05.91 | Serge Avila | and men and men. |
| 00:01:06.45 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | I was surprised the whole meeting. |
| 00:01:07.46 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. |
| 00:01:08.86 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | Thank you. |
| 00:01:08.88 | Serge Avila | Yes, sir, we're back. Madam Mayor, we're good to go now. And good afternoon, Mayor Kelman and council members. This meeting has been held pursuant to government code section 54953E. And in light of the declared state of emergency, the regular meeting of the city council for May 10th, 2022 will be conducted telephonically through Zoom and broadcast live on the city's website and cable TV channel 27. |
| 00:01:35.93 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you, Mr. City Clerk. Can you please call the roll? |
| 00:01:38.50 | Serge Avila | Council member Sobbiowski. |
| 00:01:41.74 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. |
| 00:01:41.75 | Ian Sobieski | Not here. |
| 00:01:42.92 | Serge Avila | Councilmember Hoffman. |
| 00:01:45.13 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. |
| 00:01:45.14 | Mayor Kelman | Here. |
| 00:01:45.35 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. |
| 00:01:46.02 | Serge Avila | Vice Mayor Blasdain. |
| 00:01:47.61 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. |
| 00:01:47.66 | Mayor Kelman | Cheers. |
| 00:01:48.27 | Serge Avila | AND MAYOR KELMAN. |
| 00:01:49.62 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:01:51.05 | Serge Avila | Members are present and there's a forum. |
| 00:01:53.55 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. We have four items for closed session tonight. Item D1, Conference of Legal Counsel, Existing Litigation Pursuant to California Government Code Section 54956.9A, Gordon and Titus versus Caltrans City of Soslito. McNair versus Caltrans City of Sausalito. Rauda and Glass versus Caltrans City of Sausalito. Ashby and Johnson versus the Caltrans and City of Sausalito. Item D2, Conference of Legal Counsel, that is City of Sausalito versus the California Affiliated Risk Management Authorities. NMT3 Conference with Labor Negotiators, Item D4, Convents of Legal Counsel, Real Property Negotiations pursuant to California Government Code. 54956.8 and the property is the MLK property. I'll go ahead and open up the public comment for the post session items. any members of the public in here with us right now, so we can. |
| 00:02:43.97 | Serge Avila | Madam Mayor, there are no members of the public time. |
| 00:02:48.04 | Mayor Kelman | Okay, so then we will go ahead and close public comment and I will see you in closed session. Thank you. |
| 00:02:59.95 | Serge Avila | their audio sequence. |
| 00:03:01.37 | Mayor Kelman | I think we are ready. |
| 00:03:02.89 | Serge Avila | Okay? |
| 00:03:07.85 | Serge Avila | WE'RE ADMITING ALL THE public? you |
| 00:03:12.20 | Cindy Egging | Thank you. |
| 00:03:17.65 | Serge Avila | where in life now all public has been admitted |
| 00:03:22.68 | Mayor Kelman | And do you see the city manager? There we go. |
| 00:03:27.86 | Serge Avila | It's just joined by the mayor. |
| 00:03:29.79 | Mayor Kelman | Great. |
| 00:03:30.11 | Serge Avila | GREAT. |
| 00:03:32.93 | Mayor Kelman | All right, well, welcome everybody to the City Council meeting for May 10th, 2022. Coming back from closed session, we don't have any announcements for you all, but we'll go ahead and approve the agenda, do we have a motion and a second? |
| 00:03:48.52 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | So moved. |
| 00:03:51.42 | Mayor Kelman | Second. Second. Okay, great. Can you please call the roll, Serge? |
| 00:03:56.26 | Serge Avila | Councilmember Sobieski? with the medical removal. |
| 00:04:01.12 | Mayor Kelman | Yeah. |
| 00:04:01.38 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | Thank you. |
| 00:04:02.44 | Serge Avila | Council Member Hoffman. |
| 00:04:03.81 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | Thank you. |
| 00:04:03.82 | Mayor Kelman | No. |
| 00:04:03.98 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | Yes. |
| 00:04:04.25 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. |
| 00:04:04.85 | Serge Avila | Vice Mayor Blausdean. |
| 00:04:06.78 | Mayor Kelman | Yes. |
| 00:04:07.59 | Serge Avila | Mayor Kellman. Thank you. |
| 00:04:08.67 | Mayor Kelman | Yeah. |
| 00:04:08.89 | Serge Avila | Thank you. |
| 00:04:09.09 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. We're going to pass this five, zero. Wonderful. Well, tonight we actually have two special presentations. The first one, item 1A, is from our Planning Commission Chair, Christina Feller. And the second will be the Seal of the Rise Update from our Seal of the Rise Task Force. Serge, can you please make sure that Chair Feller as well as Cass Green and Michelle Orr all have co-hosts. RESPONSIBILITIES. |
| 00:04:34.27 | Cindy Egging | THE TURN. |
| 00:04:35.25 | Mayor Kelman | Okay. Well, then I will turn it over to Chair Feller and welcome her and thank you for making the time and for her service. So welcome Chair Feller, we look forward to hearing from you. |
| 00:04:45.22 | Unknown | Great, thank you so much. Thank you, Mayor Kelman, members of the city council for inviting me here this evening, just to give a brief update on the planning commission. I wanted to first acknowledge that I'm proud to also be representing the entire commission this evening. This includes Commissioner Graff, Commissioner Saad, Commissioner Luxenberg and Vice Chair Junius. This is a very formidable commission with impressive experience, diversity in their experience and a very high professional ethic. We work very hard to advocate both for the applicant and for the municipal codes, the zoning ordinances and best practices and planning principles. Many times this requires negotiation and compromise, but in the end, regardless of the findings, we're very committed to ensure that all members of the community and the public are treated fairly and respectfully. And this is very, very important in every aspect of what we do. I wanted to focus this evening just on three three major areas, the Planning Commission, outreach, collaboration, and proactive efforts, the community development department and planning department in our priority funding requests. So I'll try to keep my comments and sort of my briefing to you in those three major areas and then. and make some concluding remarks. So over the last year, the planning commission has worked to recalibrate itself, to focus more on proactive outreach partnering and collaboration through initiatives and joint commission sessions to help expedite sensitive developments in the interest of the city and community. This should be happening anyway, but with coming out of COVID and any kind of economic release and recovery, We have worked in every way that we can to ensure that we are expediting all the business in front of the planning commission as best we can. For example, we convened a special meeting with the Historic Preservation Commission to expedite joint approvals in a single evening for the Hotel Sausalito project. And again, that's in recognition of the importance of a viable business in this location as well as to minimize any disruption at high tourist season. So it was really important to do everything that we could to pull resources together to do that. But in addition, we've convened or been involved with or appointed to over 14 different working groups or committees or subcommittees over the last, I would say approximately 18 months to provide timely and substantive input to streamline and expedite critical matters in the interest of the community. This includes everything from parklet benchmarking to assigning enforcement liaisons to appointing an ombudsman, you know, landslide task force, sea level rise task force. We objective design standards, the SB9 working group, housing element working group and the housing element advisory committee and then also tree fund coordinates and a general plan working group and things like that. And we're finding that the more that we, really focus on smaller working groups or task forces the better we're expediting the work and also being a little bit more thorough with what we're doing rather than a larger group. So it's been I think very fruitful for us, and we're gonna continue to do that. |
| 00:08:20.27 | Unknown | I think that's a good question. |
| 00:08:25.98 | Unknown | So over the last year or so, we've also encouraged study sessions for applicants prior to their design review hearings. So this for us is resulting in significantly better results. Definitely expedited approvals. And what I mean by that is not multiple continued sessions, but a more expedited approval. and a better neighborhood outreach and communication with neighbors and and i think that that should always be at the forefront of what we do and what the city can do to help help our community We've also expanded mandatory EIR circulations to all boards, commissions, committees, institutions, NGOs. I mean, even if the council was not previously being automatically copied or circulated, So I think that that is something pretty important and we're gonna see more and more of that. here in the city and certainly in front of the planning commission. Some of our future initiatives and outreach include coordinating closer with the Southern Fire District specifically regarding evacuation routes and any considerations for potentially heightened designer view or other consideration due to the routes for potentially looking at an incentive program, to remove high hazard vegetation along those routes. Now, I say that we're not attempting to get into disaster preparedness, but many of these projects in front of us are subject to a lot of Southern wind fire review and approval. and obviously on those evacuation routes. So it's something that we wanna be very mindful of and do our part to make sure that we are achieving and helping Southern Moon Fire attain their goals as well. So moving on to the community development department and the planning department, As you know, as no secret to anybody, there's been a lot of churn within this department and we're looking forward to it settling down. In the past, most recently, we've had issues with completeness of a lot of projects. And of course that is gonna be subject to the staff and leadership that we can retain within the department. I want to definitely give praise where crazies do as well. I think our younger planner, Adam East, is outstanding. He is thorough and he has incredible soft skills with applicants and their consultants and is working very well to bridge any gaps with issues on projects with his soft skills. and having Heidi Scovel back in |
| 00:11:09.39 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:11:09.50 | Cindy Egging | How? |
| 00:11:09.56 | Unknown | I'm sorry. |
| 00:11:11.84 | Unknown | community development and in planning specifically has been really helpful, particularly running point on KEAC, but also helping with a lot of her institutional knowledge as well as working with staff to cultivate our staff. I think it's important, however, to note that if we look solely to consultants in the community development department, I think that that structure is fundamentally flawed. And the reason I think that respectfully is consultants, like any consultant in any business, look to please their clients. And in this case, with community development and what it is intended to be, the applicants aren't necessarily the client. And I think community development, at least on the leadership part, needs to be permanent staff. And permanent staff that is really the advocate for the community. And so we're looking forward to ensuring that we're doing our part to help secure that And then consultants have a very important role in the world of planning as well. They are particularly useful when it comes to peaks in and the ability to manage those and process those in a timely fashion. Much of what the planning department, community department, development department does in order to get things in front of the planning commission, many of them are very time sensitive. And so if you don't have the right staffing, then we could lose ministerial review from the department or any sort of review from the Planning Commission, of course, that's not the intention of this. So we're looking forward to availing ourselves in any way we can. Again, you've got a very deep bench with the planning commissioners themselves with a great diversity of experience to help in any way that we can. to ensure that we have a healthy and solid community development department. We all depend on it. And as long as we are able to ensure quality control and quality assurance on what we see in front of the commission, I'm hoping that we can improve the output The staff reporting that we are currently getting We're not really getting enough staff time to be able to generate the reports needed. that are defensible in front of the planning commission. So I'm hoping that we can talk a little bit more about that even perhaps in a joint session at an appropriate time. And then the third part that I wanted to, brief you on and talk to you about a little bit and certainly field any questions you might have is on the priority funding requests. and These were issued to the city council, I believe at the end of April, And the idea behind these is really focusing on getting back to basics. And ensuring that the planning commission Hi. has the proper tools in order to review, approve ordinances, zoning development and so on. So there's a list of six different items that we issued to you, including a citywide master plan, which is really the cornerstone of what we need to be able to thoughtfully look at development here in the city It's a great time to do that because we now have a general plan update. And we are very, in very short order, we will have a housing element as part of that, as an amendment to that as well. The Sausalito Municipal Code and Ordnance updates and revisions. are really very critical. And believe it or not, as we are working on the objective design standards, incorporate into the base, South State Municipal Code, we are uncovering more and more items for municipal code that date back to about 2003. And the issue with that is that many other jurisdictions here in California, there are court rulings that deem some of those codes and ordinance requirements is not constitutional. So we need to be very careful and mindful about maintaining and updating that municipal code on a regular basis. Part of that is the general plan update implementation plan. Much of the general plan, the update can inform the South Slater Municipal Code. And so these are very, very high on our list. You've heard previously in many different city councils about the implementation of all the lands like task force recommendations. Again, some of those are becoming more and more pressing, particularly when we're looking at high sloped lots. Much of the hill area is at a slope of 60% or more, which is pretty significant. So we really do need to look at that. We've also spoken very openly about the need for citywide parking and circulation plan study. This really could be part of the master plan but it really needs some focus and thought about, you know, overall transportation initiatives. And that's beyond just Sausalito. Obviously that includes, you know, Caltrans and municipal providers as well. And then lastly, I just wanted to touch on enforcement. and specifically enforcement of the conditional use permits, the the ministerial use permits, and then or minor use permit or or just building permits. I recognize that the commission, this is outside of the remit or the jurisdiction of the commission, but it's really important to us that whatever is approved is actually implemented. Otherwise, it sort of negates the, the body in some way of the commission and the city And it really undermines the whole process. And so I know it's not within our remit in jurisdiction. And I certainly recognize that there is a new enforcement officer that is part of the city part-time but I really think that maybe a little bit more focus or scoping this in a clever way is something that would be important and informative back to the Planning Commission, because it can inform future findings that we might need to make and make this all a little bit a little bit smoother for everybody. So in conclusion, we've put forth a lot of ideas and we're looking forward to continuing our outreach and collaboration with other bodies. The city council and the planning commission have not had a joint session in I believe over two years. And we've been asking for that for some time. There's quite a lot of legislation that is coming down from the state that is really impactful to both of us. And I think that there's a lot of opportunities there to work a little smarter if we work together on briefings on discussing these items and the potential impact they have to our community and to the city if we could do that together. I had sent a proposed agenda items. There was a list of about 10 items to the city manager and the mayor in January, just to start the conversation again. And I think it would be worthwhile to really look at this and think about this. So that's really in conclusion, what I wanted to cover today and certainly available to answer any questions and continue the dialogue with everybody here. So thank you very much for the time this evening. |
| 00:19:35.31 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you, Chair Feller, and thank you to you and fellow commissioners for all of your hard work. Councilor Cleveland-Knowles and I both know firsthand what it takes, so very much appreciate it. Long nights and some very interesting information. Any questions for Chair Feller? |
| 00:19:52.42 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | Thank you. Yes, Vice Mayor. I agree, we have a very deep bench on the planning commission. So thank you, Chair Feller, for your hard work of leading a great group of folks that we have serving there. We're really lucky to have such engaged volunteers in our community. I wanted to ask because you mentioned so many critical pieces that you're working on, whether it's from, you know, one requesting a mapping or municipal codes, And I wanted to ask about specifically as a member of the working group on diversity, equity, inclusion, if you had taken any steps at the planning commission to have conversations around how that might be impacted through planning. I know you had some review of some language around the historic preservation statement, for instance, and I know it's a priority for everybody that's on screen here. So I just wanted to ask about that specifically. |
| 00:20:39.06 | Unknown | That's a good question. So in both the general plan and the historic statement documents, there was a lot of language in there that the planning commission did comment upon. And what we want to avoid actually is being duplicative. So the general plan I think is a really important document. We've also even addressed that in the housing element that is really considered part of the planning commission. I don't see why it needs to be duplicated in both documents considering that they are actually tied together. So what we're looking at in terms of public policy documents or in terms of of approvals that come in front of us the issue about diversity, equity, or inclusion is not always specific to a design review application. is more specific in public policy. And in public policy, we've already commented on that as a commission and approved a lot of that language. |
| 00:21:43.40 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | Thanks again for your volunteer time and efforts and presenting to us this evening. |
| 00:21:43.64 | Unknown | I needed it. |
| 00:21:49.58 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | Thank you. |
| 00:21:53.43 | Mayor Kelman | Any other questions for the chair? I actually had just two, you mentioned a couple of priority projects and I just think it would be helpful to let the full council and the public know. Just briefly, if you can, any work that you guys have done on the park list, SB9, SB35, I know you have a number of subcommittees. Those seem to be some of the hot topics in town. Can you just maybe touch on the work you guys have done? Since I know you've really organized the subcommittees very effectively. |
| 00:22:23.87 | Unknown | Sure, well, let me start with the parklets because I believe it was the city council in October had requested staff. to put a group together and to pull together and proposed. Um, program that could be either amended into the code or approved as a standing item by the city council for parklets. the Planning Commission put together a group of two members, myself and Commissioner Luxembourg, and we worked along with the community development department as well as the department of public works And Sausalito Beautiful was interested in partaking in that part of it as it related to some of the landscape and softening, let's say the parklets. around town. And so that was a really, really effective working group. And I really need to applaud the work of engineer Ali Akbar with Department of Public Works who is really, really terrific and well versed on our municipal code and how to tie a lot of this back and really thinking through a lot of the issues that we had to look at to really put a program together from scratch. We also went out, the entire group together, to beta test what we were proposing as a program against existing parklets that were either pre-COVID or because of COVID and what it would take to come up to speed with the program and come into compliance with the program. And so everybody had a slightly different look at it and has a different perspective and view on it. And I think it was one of those really fruitful, very well-written, articulated programs We didn't take it so far as to propose where in the municipal code, everything could be changed We wanted to pull back and make sure it was what the city council was looking for. And then we would make recommendations on how to amend the ordinance, but it was premature to do that. But we did take all of those things into consideration to make sure it was viable. So that's as it relates to the parklets. And the precursor to that is knowing that the city council was interested in this and having discussions with yourself and council member Sobieski, as it related to EDAC the Planning Commission sort of proactively looked at benchmarking. from other jurisdictions and we provided a report back back to you about which jurisdictions we thought had really good programs and why and what the criteria was that we were looking for. So as much as possible, we were narrowing the focus to something that would be unique and special and responsive to what Sausalito needed. So those were two different efforts at two different times. Specific to SB9, because it is such an important issue and really all of this legislation coming down from the state is really critical. The draft ordinance that we received from the city council we really needed to take a very deep dive and look at that. Vice Chair Junius and Commissioner Waksenberg where the working group that could work together on that and really troubleshoot that and work with our city attorney Sergio Rudin to really also helps sort of benchmark what other jurisdictions are doing and how that may or may not relate to Sausalito and proposed language to actually simplify and not overcomplicate |
| 00:26:26.20 | Cindy Egging | Thank you. |
| 00:26:26.48 | Unknown | what that draft ordinance would be. We did vote on that last week as a commission, the draft ordinance to send back to you. So that should be coming back to you any day now, I would expect. |
| 00:26:40.98 | Mayor Kelman | Great, well, I know those are two huge lifts amongst others that you have. So thank you, really thank you. And I just wanna make sure the whole council knew about that work. Any other questions before we take public comment? Okay, so Serge, we're gonna go ahead and open this up to public comment as we do with all special presentations. If someone else wants to comment, specifically on the presentation from the chair of our planning commission, now would be the time. And Serge, if you could explain how to do that. |
| 00:27:08.01 | Serge Avila | Sure. 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 9, and each speaker will be notified when the time has elapsed. And a mayor, I do see one hand raised, and that's Arthur Bruce. You've been unmuted and has to share your video. |
| 00:27:36.80 | Mayor Kelman | And we're gonna two minutes tonight, please. |
| 00:27:39.69 | Serge Avila | A LITTLE BIT. |
| 00:27:40.57 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. Okay, Mr. Bruce, looks like Mr. Jacobs. |
| 00:27:45.32 | Jeffrey Chase | Yeah, thank you, Mayor Kelman. Uh. Thank you, Mayor and City and job for providing it all for us. That this beautiful place that we live in, that we water protectors, and land protectors care about. was here before humans, and there were stewards. They were called to me why. And some of the people on the water, some of the time, can feel that spirit and do our best to fulfill it. As far as a housing element, not just the one here in the tennis court, over to my left, |
| 00:28:27.41 | Unknown | over to my left. |
| 00:28:29.32 | Jeffrey Chase | Uh, I... want to commend Christina for saying that she's ready to take some of the responsibility and not give it to consultants. that the planning commission and the planning department have enough people there to decide with local roots. and it does not have to go to outside consultants. |
| 00:28:49.52 | Cindy Egging | Thank you. |
| 00:28:49.53 | Jeffrey Chase | that I was a little shocked that $850,000 |
| 00:28:49.90 | Cindy Egging | Thank you. |
| 00:28:53.67 | Jeffrey Chase | for the housing element is being spent. to a consultant. to see that phased out. And I'd like to see democracy phased in. So thank you very much. |
| 00:29:04.57 | Arthur Bruce | And also that's Arthur Bruce also hearing from the same Bye. The title on the Independent Journal today was bonds of homeless crossroad and the peers of the city in spite of... the city's own admissions at the last city council meeting of why there's such a horrible budget problem with the city that's actually related to the poor management of the city's own pension fund and why the city is scapegoating the homeless camp and the anchor outs for the, |
| 00:29:43.03 | Mayor Kelman | Mr. Bruce, this is a time to comment on the presentation from the Chair of the Planning Commission. |
| 00:29:43.28 | Arthur Bruce | Mr. Bruce, this is |
| 00:29:48.02 | Arthur Bruce | In regards to that, let me tie it back to the housing. And of course, the conditional use permit, which I think we all want to be expanded. We want the explanations of the conditional use. |
| 00:29:49.03 | Jeffrey Chase | Oh, it refers to |
| 00:29:49.69 | Mayor Kelman | How's it going? |
| 00:29:50.08 | Jeffrey Chase | I'm sorry. |
| 00:29:50.32 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. |
| 00:30:00.61 | Arthur Bruce | permits expanded on- Permit to hockey. |
| 00:30:01.74 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:30:01.89 | Jeffrey Chase | AND, |
| 00:30:02.20 | Mayor Kelman | permit to |
| 00:30:02.99 | Jeffrey Chase | I'm going to go. |
| 00:30:03.88 | Arthur Bruce | as possible, you know, or met stalking. Thank you. |
| 00:30:10.30 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. Thanks very much. |
| 00:30:14.72 | Mayor Kelman | Okay, any other public comments, sir? |
| 00:30:17.27 | Serge Avila | Meta Mayor, it appears as we have no other hands raised. |
| 00:30:19.97 | Mayor Kelman | Okay, great. Thank you very much. Chair Fowler, thank you. Thank you to all the commissioners, again, for the excellent hard work. We appreciate everything. all the streamlining you were helping us to proceed with re-envision City Hall, so thank you. |
| 00:30:34.07 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:30:36.18 | Mayor Kelman | Okay, we're gonna move on to our second special presentation, which just happens to be the sea level rise update. We have tonight two members of the task force, along with myself, actually Chair Feller and Council Member Hoffman as well. So presenting with me tonight will be Cass Green and Michelle Orr. And in fact, Serge, Michelle will be handling the presentation. And as luck would have it, I have an unstable connection. So I will go quickly through the presentation and hopefully, Won't be too painful. Okay, so we are back after our November, 2021 meeting to respond to questions from the city. Council. . on the slides, Cass Green will provide a thorough review of the interactive map. And then Michelle Orr is on hand along with Cass to answer questions. So welcome. to the Seal of Rights Task Force update for May 10th. On the next slide, |
| 00:31:41.52 | Mayor Kelman | I also want to welcome you to Sausalito. So what we're seeing here is flooding, not just from king tides, but high tides. Now, of course, this is in the north part of town. You may have seen this during any number of high tide events. We're seeing more and more frequent flooding in all parts of Sausalito, but particularly towards the north off of gate five and gate six roads. Next slide. So we gave our first presentation to everybody in November 16th, 2021. That was a 20 page report with 17 recommendations. We now have a specific page on the city's website, saucillo.gov forward slash C-level rise or SLR. And my apologies for not coming back to you sooner with responses to your questions. That was a heavy lift of that 20 page report. So we took a little break, but now we're back. So we had five follow-up questions presented by council members. We were asked to compare this to the general plan update to see where our recommendations dovetailed with that body of work. We were asked to respond to some questions about risk and probabilities. We had also embarked on a survey. We have results to share with you all. We made interactive map updates. And then because we had several asks, we came back to you with some funding overview, ideas and direction. Next slide. Great. So in comparison to the general plan, this was I think Council Member Kula Knowles' question. Each of the 17 recommendations in our 20 page report is in fact supported by a general plan update element. So I've listed them out here along with the programs or policies. We were very careful as we went through the general plan update to bake sustainability and long-term resilience planning, including sea level rise into each and every one of the elements. So you see this throughout, whether it's land use that has three programs or environmental quality that has one policy and 12 programs, or even economic with one policy and two programs. We also attach to today's agenda a thorough multi-page, I think it's probably almost 20 pages, analysis comparing our recommendations to the general plan. Huge gratitude to Michelle Orr for preparing that, but that is attached to the agenda for your review at your convenience. Next slide, please. Okay, we also received some questions around probability and risk. And so these numbers are from both the county as well as numbers that we see from the state. So, you know, it's also we can expect the following amount of sea level rise by 2030, 2050, and 2100. And the bottom end of the range, low rise and sea level rise, has a higher probability of occurring than the upper end. However, both the upper and lower ends of the range are immensely critical for decision-making. And also keep in mind that the one in 200 probability is common in flood protection planning, including used by federal agencies such as FEMA. So we've outlined here the lower end, that's a 66% probability. And this is an instances where there's no threat to human life, where you're looking at something like a park might be inundated. In contrast, the upper end with a 0.5% probability is higher stakes, critical infrastructure, whether it's something involving a hospital or sewer infrastructure or utilities. And so one way and a significant way that the federal agencies and the county applies risk and probability is what they call an engineering approach. So I'm sure some of you are familiar with this, that when a bridge is being designed, the steel is not engineered just to meet the likely low requirements, but you start with the maximum and then add an additional factor of safety. And that's the way many communities, if not most, are starting to plan for the risk associated with CWRES. Next slide. We also went ahead and created a survey. Again, massive thank you to Abbott Chambers who worked very closely with Wilford Welch and Lisa Cholino, two members of the task force in both developing and issuing the survey. We received 464 responses from the 6,500 citizens that we're aware of This is the top three most responded to survey. And at the bottom there, we included some of the key percentages and key response rates that indicate an urgency to act. And interestingly, I think the takeaway here is that most people feel Sausalito is not prepared and they do believe we need to start preparing now. But there's also a disconnect that they don't believe that their property will be flooded or that will impact them personally. I also want to point out that Sausaledans are so concerned about sea level rise that 25% of the respondents, which is 118 people, offered to engage more with the task force and provided their email addresses for subsequent contact. So again, this is a interesting to see the dynamic between an understanding, but maybe a little bit reticent to see how it applies in their own lives. In fact, only 88% of respondents said that they felt they would be impacted by sea level rise, while the Bay Wave report, which is the county sea level rise effort, indicates that all 7,000 plus sausage residents will be impacted in the short term. The next slide. This is just a teaser. This is the NOAA sea level rise viewer as the federal agency put this out. And what you see here is the high tide flooding. I'm sorry. Thank you. is sort of the last hundred years, which is you would only see massive flooding like this from a king tide. Now we're actually seeing it from high tides. And this is also interesting because it allows you to see the geologic and the hydrologic connection between the entire Richardson Bay area. So it's not just us, it's up the shoreline, Marin City, Tama Junction, all the way around into Belvedere and Tehran and certainly the lagoons. So you can see this is happening, it is happening more frequently, and it is happening from non-storm events, which is again, a massive deviation from past experiences. In a little bit, Cass Green, who as many of you know, is a GIS and mapping expert who advises several federal advisory committees, including NOAA and NASA, will take us through the interactive map she created for Sausalito. Next slide, please. And then finally funding. So we had a lot of lessons learned from working with another JPA or JPA in this area called One Shoreline, which is in San Mateo County, and working closely with their ED developed some funding opportunities. So last year there was something called the Regional Climate Collaboratives Program, the Strategic Growth Council. There's still money available for that with a focus on under-resourced communities. But interestingly enough, a lot of that funding was for outreach, not for capital projects. |
| 00:38:27.10 | Cindy Egging | It's a great day. |
| 00:38:31.96 | Mayor Kelman | This year, there's a large number of grants available, including Prop 68 and the California Coastal Conservancy. And then next year, and this is perhaps the most exciting bit, is that there is $3.3 billion for problems in the state budget for climate, up from $200 million. The task force made a request to McGuire and Levine for $4 million in coordination with Marin City for some shoreline planning in the new budget, which was well received and a drop in the bucket when you consider $3.3 billion. There's also some new legislation coming down the line, SB 52. SB 989 that will increase funding for climate resiliency. And then finally, I just wanna signal to staff and the city manager who knows this already, that Cal OES is actually sitting on millions of dollars and cities must have an active local hazard mitigation plan to access that and we do. So there are some huge opportunities here. One of the recommendations we had made was that we hire a grant writer. And in fact, we hired three. So huge kudos to the city manager for facilitating that and acting on that immediately. I believe that is the last slide, one more perhaps. THE END OF Okay, great. Yeah, so immediate next steps. This is an echo of what we saw in the 20-page report from November. We need to find funding to complete the vulnerability assessment. There are grants for that. Two weeks ago, maybe a week ago, I sent a list of those grants. I did some research on that and sent that over to one of the grant writers for their review, and it was well-received. We need funding again. There are grants for an adaptation strategy. Communities are now looking to incorporate sea level rise planning into zoning, both in terms of consistency and overlay zones. This is just in line with what we've done for many years now, the seismic risks, right? And so the massive difference right now between dealing the predicted or probabilistic risk of a seismic event is that seismic events are built into our zoning and building codes, whereas we have no such safety mechanisms or any analysis built into our zoning and building codes for sea level rise. We should continue to update the interactive map, find more grants for community engagement, and dovetailing with that, continue to look for ways to partner with Marin City on assessments and solutions and pursue proactive opportunities for environmental justice and racial justice measures as they relate to long-term resiliency. So I'll just remind you all, there's several things that were attached to the agenda. If you wanna dig in further, there is a further analysis on probability and risk. There is a lengthy analysis of the comparison to the general plan update. We also have analysis of all of the survey results and then a letter that we included for funding. So the rest of this presentation is some examples from around the Bay of sea level rise measures and projects that are being implemented. And I just included them here for your review at your convenience. So I will pause there. Thank you, Michelle, for running that. Let's hand it over to Cass, who can take us through the map. |
| 00:41:46.73 | Cass Green | Thank you, Mayor Kalman. Here we go. |
| 00:41:54.49 | Cass Green | Thank you. |
| 00:41:54.51 | Mayor Kelman | I'm hoping you can see my screen now. We see your home screen, but no map. Oops, sorry about that. |
| 00:42:11.36 | Cass Green | How about now? AND THERE ARE SOME |
| 00:42:14.07 | Mayor Kelman | you Thank you. |
| 00:42:14.54 | Cass Green | Thank you. |
| 00:42:14.57 | Mayor Kelman | you |
| 00:42:14.72 | Cass Green | Thank you very much. And I'm keeping my video off because... |
| 00:42:15.03 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you very much. THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 00:42:18.86 | Cass Green | this map takes down a lot of bandwidth. So one of the new things on the map is the disclaimer. And to get rid of the disclaimer, you just have to turn it off, but that means that you accept the disclaimer. That's an important thing to do. Because again, this map is made of models and not doesn't represent the world completely as we know it will be because we don't know it'll be in the future with sea level rise. So I'm going to take off the old disclaimer. Here's the imagery that shows you Sausalito, and I'm gonna pull that off so we can just have a map. Oh. that guy off and turn off the imagery. Whoops, turn off that guy. Okay, so we got a map of Sausalito. And I wanted to go over the different layers again that are available in this map. We've got Sausalito pipelines in purple, city water infrastructure points and I'll talk a little bit about those but the blue ones are the ones you really want to think about because that's the pump stations I'm sorry. Parcel boundaries coming up in yellow, a little faint to see on this. Building footprints. locations of the storm drains. And then of course we have the scenarios, the sea level rise scenarios. So a little bit about these scenarios. The levels themselves were generated by USGS using the models that they have for digital elevation models and diphtymetry throughout the Bay Area. The actual scenarios that are being shown were chosen by the county of Marin. And they are in compliant with the state's guidance for what the state guides, excuse me, tells counties what likely changes are gonna occur. And Mayor Kelman showed those probabilities earlier. But these are the ones that the county of Marin has chosen. |
| 00:44:13.25 | Cindy Egging | Yeah. |
| 00:44:13.47 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:44:13.54 | Cindy Egging | Thank you. |
| 00:44:13.69 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:44:14.72 | Cass Green | So we're gonna zoom in a little bit. That's the wrong way. Sorry. |
| 00:44:17.49 | Cindy Egging | Thank you. There we go. |
| 00:44:20.83 | Cass Green | Thank you. We'll do them a little bit. You've got the ferry terminal, my favorite place, of course, the end of a tide and other areas. And we'll get rid of the low resources thing, which is why my video is not on. And so we're gonna go through the different scenarios. Again, these are the county scenarios based on USGS modeling. Near term is considered to be 2030. and they're two scenarios for 2030, one is with no storm, and the second is with a 100-year storm. So what is a 100-year storm? And every year, there's a 1% chance that 100-year storms will occur. And unfortunately we've been having lots of hundred year storms over the last two decades. So they're starting to occur more often. So we've got without the 100-year storm, and then we'll add in the 100-year storm. We go to midterm, that's 2030. a 20 inch drive width, the the 100-year storm and, excuse me, turn that off for a minute, with the 100-year storm and then without and then with the 100-year storm. I wanted to point out for the near term, that the whole 10 inches with a 100 year storm, we're experiencing floods at that, flooding at that level now, especially with our King High. So this is not a rare event. It is something that does occur in Sausalito, and I'm sure all of you have experienced it in different areas of Sausalito. And then we get to the long term, which is considered to be 20, 100th. with no and then with the 100-year storm. And the flooding gets really extensive. Again, that's 2100 and 2100. Yeah. So it's quite a ways out, but not far enough, frankly, for me. If we look at some of the other areas of Sausalito, you can see that some of the, rise gets a little bit more extreme because of the topography of the area. So here's near Schoonmaker Beach. And you can, if I start to go each one of the scenarios, you can see the flooding increase. And then we'll go back to go back to where everybody looks to, which is friendship, And that's already experiencing flooding and I'll take off the layers and put it back on again. That's already experiencing flooding and will in the future. Amen. There's that. |
| 00:47:04.67 | Cindy Egging | Thank you. |
| 00:47:04.70 | Cass Green | So here's no, I've got one on his tail. There we go. Um, No sea level rise and we're going 10 inches without a storm, 10 inches with a storm. 20 inches without a storm. 20 inches with the storm and then 20, 100. 60 inches with no storm, 60 inches with a storm. So pretty significant flooding, even just in the short term, in the near term. if you go back to the near term, and you can see that there's gonna be significant impact. And again, we're all seeing that on a regular basis, especially with the king tide. And if you get a king tide in the storm, the flooding is pretty horrendous. So we're already at this near term. level. several days a year. and we are continuing towards the higher levels The scenarios that these are based on were a report that came out in 2017. The state's guidance came out in 2017. A new report is due out soon, and it'll be great to update the map for the new scenarios. I'm sure this county in Marin will come out with these scenarios then too. So thank you very much, Mayor Kellman. |
| 00:48:24.03 | Mayor Kelman | anything else that we wanted to show off? incredible cast you know I love this map every time I see it because I'm blown away by your by your skill set and talent. So thank you. Well, let's go ahead and see if any council members, if you want to stop sharing your screen and council members have questions for probably Cass or Michelle to respond. |
| 00:48:39.03 | Cindy Egging | I will. |
| 00:48:49.77 | Mayor Kelman | Okay, and not to cut anybody off, but not seeing any. So let's see if there's any, oh yeah. Casper Hoffman, please. |
| 00:48:56.01 | Jill Hoffman | So have we hung this map on our website? I know that we had talked about that. Is it, where are we at on that process? members of the public or whoever can council members, whoever can check on it. |
| 00:49:08.62 | Mayor Kelman | City Manager has promised me that he will work to get the ArcGIS passwords to CAS. CAS has very graciously offered to take care of managing the whole thing in terms of the GIS license and knows the people who own that software package. So City Manager, I will circle back with you on the status of that. Thank you for that reminder. |
| 00:49:31.60 | Cass Green | Wonderful. |
| 00:49:33.46 | Mayor Kelman | Okay. And then I also saw that our housing consultant has popped on here. So we've offered to make this available to Beth as well. And we will make that available to the whole public. Serge, let's see if there are any members of the public who would like to comment or have a question. |
| 00:49:50.77 | Serge Avila | Madam Mayor, as you know, and embrace at the moment, |
| 00:49:54.18 | Mayor Kelman | Okay, great. Well then I will just thank my fellow council members for and giving us the opportunity to come back to you. And we will move on then on the agenda. I'm not sure. |
| 00:50:06.75 | Serge Avila | Amen. Pardon me, Madam Mayor. It appears as we have two hands that are now raised, Arthur Bruce and John Dee. THE FEDERAL. |
| 00:50:16.42 | Mayor Kelman | Okay, let's keep the public comment again to two minutes. So Mr. Bruce, this is as to the presentation on sea level rise only. |
| 00:50:25.68 | Jeffrey Chase | THE END OF |
| 00:50:25.97 | Serge Avila | Thank you. |
| 00:50:26.02 | Jeffrey Chase | Thank you. |
| 00:50:30.29 | Serge Avila | Bruce, you are now unmuted and ask to share your video. |
| 00:50:34.31 | Jeffrey Chase | Tell him you're Jeff. Okay, this is Jeff Jacob again. We're talking about sea level rise. We're not that far away here over at Marin Chef. from the sea level rise, as we noticed after the storms when the leach field rose. And the one thing that will help anybody wanting to deal with sea level rise something called a boat. So the more gold you have, that we have and the less impact that they have with carbon output that directly leads to sea level rise. I think it's time. Red. Council members and city managers especially disclose the amount of carbon output they use in their lives. That's a citizen. can be inspired by that. And also become minimalist. without becoming nothing in. So money being the lifeblood, of the council. and of politics in a lot of ways. We need access to it from the bottom up and just not from the top down. Thank you very much. Thank you. |
| 00:51:47.68 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you, Mr. Jacobs. Okay, and the next public speaker, please start. |
| 00:51:51.63 | Serge Avila | Our next speaker is John V. John, you're being unmuted and asked to share your video. |
| 00:51:57.40 | John DeRay | Hello, thank you. I'm having bandwidth problems. It's John DeRay. I just had a couple quick questions. I understand you can't answer the questions, but I'll bring them up anyway. Just wondering if this flooding, the projected flooding includes subsidence, settling of the Bay fill and also the rising of the water table. on. Thank you. |
| 00:52:22.05 | Mayor Kelman | Great question, Sean. We'll connect with CASA. It's hard to pick subsidence if you don't have the right LiDAR data, but it does include some of the LiDAR data in the map. Okay, any other public comment on just the sea level virus presentation? |
| 00:52:35.82 | Serge Avila | metamayorizing elder hand phrases. |
| 00:52:38.49 | Mayor Kelman | Okay, well thank you again to fellow council members and we will Then move on. Again, this is available or will be available online hopefully next week. All right, onto item number two, which is the action minutes of the previous meeting. comments from council members, and then we'll have to public comment. Okay, not seeing any surge, any public comment on the meeting minutes. |
| 00:53:05.83 | Serge Avila | I SEE NO HANDS READ FOR THE the approval of the minutes. |
| 00:53:10.42 | Mayor Kelman | Okay, and then how about a motion to approve and a second? |
| 00:53:14.86 | Serge Avila | I'm not sure. Pardon me Madam Mayor, it appears that we do have one member of the public that has just raised their hand. |
| 00:53:21.66 | Mayor Kelman | Okay, this is as to the meeting minutes only. |
| 00:53:25.40 | Serge Avila | Okay, for two minutes. |
| 00:53:26.18 | Mayor Kelman | Two minutes. |
| 00:53:28.36 | Serge Avila | Cindy Egging. You didn't unmute it and ask you to share your video. |
| 00:53:39.51 | Serge Avila | Cindy, you're willing to unmute on your end. |
| 00:53:45.65 | Cindy Egging | you |
| 00:53:45.86 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. |
| 00:53:50.58 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. It may be that the speaker like others in town myself having bandwidth issues. So we'll look for that hand again. Hopefully another item. Okay. Thank you. All right, so then I'm looking for a motion and a second on the meeting minutes. I'm a little bit. Thank you. Okay, great. Can you please call the roll? |
| 00:54:13.40 | Serge Avila | Council member Sobieski. |
| 00:54:21.99 | Serge Avila | I don't. you Great. For some reason, your voice is not coming through, but I can see your mouth moving. Council Member Cleveland-Knowles? |
| 00:54:31.77 | Jill Hoffman | Yes. |
| 00:54:32.95 | Serge Avila | Councilmember Hoffman. |
| 00:54:34.27 | Jill Hoffman | Yes. |
| 00:54:35.11 | Serge Avila | VICE MAYOR BLOUSDEEN. |
| 00:54:36.73 | Jill Hoffman | That's it. |
| 00:54:36.97 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. |
| 00:54:37.53 | Serge Avila | AND MAYOR KELMAN. |
| 00:54:38.79 | Mayor Kelman | Yes. Very great, thank you all. I'll move on to the consent calendar. So we have five items. As you know, matters listed under the consent calendar are considered routine and non-controversial. Require no discussion or expected to have unanimous council support. It may be enacted by the council in one motion, but there'll be no separate discussion of consent calendar items. However, before the council votes on a motion to adopt the consent calendar, members of the public or council members or staff may request that specific items be removed from the consent calendar for separate action. So let me just list the five items. 3A is the quarterly report developed for the CFS off-sitter from the Southern Marine Fire Protection District. 3B is library Q3 report for fiscal year 2021-22. 3C is a fire season outlook and current preparations. 3D is adopting a resolution of the city council, the city of Saucelago accepting the gate six intersection modifications project as complete and direct the city engineer to file a notice of completion. And item 3E is a November 8th, 2022 consolidated election key dates and events. Council member Sobieski. |
| 00:55:42.48 | Ian Sobieski | I'd like to go 3E off the plea, consent calendar, please. |
| 00:55:46.36 | Mayor Kelman | Okay? Anybody else wish to make a comment? Yeah, Councilor Cleveland, also. |
| 00:55:51.20 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Yeah, I don't wanna pull anything off the consent calendar, but I did just wanna make a comment that we used to have, Chief Tubbs gave some really excellent presentations on pre-fire season. And I would just note that I don't think we've, we've had these on consent for about two years now. and haven't heard from the chief. So whether it's something recorded and put out in occurrence or some other form, I think it's really important as fire season rolls around to get this information out to the public. He always gives a really thorough presentation. and has some good and has the ability to answer a lot of good questions. So I would just note that we really haven't invited him to speak in quite a while and encouraged us to do something to promote the information in those victims. |
| 00:56:42.59 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. |
| 00:56:42.61 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 00:56:42.62 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. |
| 00:56:43.67 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 00:56:43.68 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. And the city manager could tell us the last time, I do believe we invited him to speak several months ago, as you indicated, and he was unable to. So perhaps next time, if you cannot join a video, would be great, so great idea. Any other comments from council members? Okay, we'll open up to public comment. I do see one hand raised. |
| 00:57:08.46 | Serge Avila | Arthur, you're being unmuted and after you share your video. |
| 00:57:17.16 | Jeffrey Chase | Okay, this is Jeff. for the final three minutes. tonight. I'll talk about 3E, and 3E is initiative. THAT, UH, Council member Sobieski wanted to take that off the consent calendar. sure what his reasoning is. But I think it's really important that people now with the amount of money that was disclosed today in the IJ and the amount of money that's being paid to consultants, get a chance to have a public voice on whether they think this is the right way to go or not. And a tried and true way to do this, and not just for a parking lot. Where the ferry landing is. or a park. Yeah. to have an initiative. on the ballot. I'll go see Serge about this. and he'll tell me when the deadline is. We only have to have 10% of the signatures of the people Thank you. |
| 00:58:14.78 | Mayor Kelman | Thanks very much. Any other public comment on consent? |
| 00:58:19.20 | Serge Avila | Madam Mayor, I see no other hands raised. |
| 00:58:21.59 | Mayor Kelman | Okay. So who would like to make a motion taking into account Councilmember Sylvia Szycki's request? |
| 00:58:29.81 | Jill Hoffman | I'll make a motion to approve the agenda except item E. That I believe that's the item that council member Sobieski was to remove from the agenda. Okay. Thank you. |
| 00:58:42.35 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | And will we hear that immediately? |
| 00:58:44.97 | Mayor Kelman | CONSENT? No, I believe we'll hear that as item 5C, because we do have a fair amount of public here, I believe for probably the housing element item. So can you please call the roll, sir? |
| 00:58:57.88 | Serge Avila | Council Member Sobieski. Yes. Councilmember Lenon. |
| 00:59:01.89 | Mayor Kelman | Yes. |
| 00:59:02.84 | Serge Avila | COUNCIL MEMBER HOFFMAN. |
| 00:59:04.05 | Mayor Kelman | Yes. |
| 00:59:04.78 | Serge Avila | Vice Mayor Blomstein. |
| 00:59:06.51 | Mayor Kelman | YES. |
| 00:59:07.26 | Serge Avila | May are coming. |
| 00:59:08.32 | Mayor Kelman | Yes. |
| 00:59:09.77 | Serge Avila | MOTION PASSES. |
| 00:59:10.97 | Mayor Kelman | Okay, great. Thanks very much. We have no public hearing items tonight. So we'll move on to business items. And the first part of the first business item is item 5A, the six cycle housing element update and consideration of forming a housing element working group, Heidi Scobor, our community development AND I THINK THAT'S A GOOD from the Community Development Department will be giving the presentation. Thank you. |
| 00:59:32.45 | Heidi Scoble | Thank you. |
| 00:59:32.47 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. |
| 00:59:32.65 | Heidi Scoble | Mayor Kallman and members of the city council. Thank you for the opportunity to provide an update on housing element. Let me pull up my presentation. I'll be providing a brief summary overview and we'll be able to field questions after this presentation. We also have Beth Thompson, our housing element consultant here with us this evening, and she can also help to field any questions that you may have. So the purpose of this item is really to provide a progress report on where the housing element is to date and also to have council consideration regarding whether or not we should establish a housing element working group. So in this presentation, we'll quickly provide a brief background and chronology to date, a summary of the town hall that we had last night, a discussion on schedule and consideration of a working group, and then again, field questions. So with that, as the council may know that the state of California requires all cities and counties to update their housing element every eight years. We're currently planning for our sixth housing cycle. Our last housing element was approved for the 2015 to 2023, and now we're planning for 2023 to 2031. We're planning for 724 units, which is the most amount, I mean the biggest amount that POSCLEDAR has ever had to face. And we're planning for 200 very low income units, 115 low income units, 114 moderate units, and 295 above moderate units. I have a slide that can briefly summarize what this actually means relative to very low, low, moderate and above moderate rates. The city did appeal this regional housing needs allocation to a bag and MTC at this past August to September. And then October, the hearing was heard and unfortunately the city lost the appeal and we're having to plan for this amount of units. The challenge is that this housing element is, requiring us to face is that softly there was a very dense community, relatively built out. There's little to no vacant land. And to add to that, the state is requiring that non-vacant parcels have to confirm development interest. That means that we have to plan for if we are going to count these non-vacant parcels, the property owner has to agree to a certain unit count for us to be able to count it. So in this next slide, you'll see the city's arena allocation and what it means to affordability. This presentation has been uploaded to the agenda and one can access it at any time, but you can basically see generally what those income rates. really too. So some housing element planning effort milestones that we have faced to date is that in February of 2021, the city council established an ad hoc committee to review proposals for the housing element to select a consultant and also to help develop the formation of a housing element advisory committee, which we refer to as the HEAC. In April of 2021, the city council adopted a resolution to form the HEAC. And in June, 2021, the city council approved I don't know. at the HEAC. In April of 2021, the city council adopted a resolution to form the HEAC. And in June, 2021, the city council approved a resolution to enter into a professional services agreement with DeNovo Planning Group. And that effort is led by Beth Thompson, the principal with DeNovo Planning Group. And in July, 2021, the city council made the appointments to the HEAC. And from October to present, the HEAC has conducted six public meetings. There have been two town halls, one of which was last night, We've issued two community surveys, a service provider and developer stakeholder survey, and conducted two focus groups. Focus groups consisted of stakeholder service providers and community organizations, and one regarding housing barriers and constraints. So some of the other challenges that we faced regarding these milestones is that it was originally envisioned that once the professional services agreement was de novo planning, was it approved in June, that the housing element would commence shortly thereafter once the PIAC members were appointed. but due to some staff turnover, we started the process in October and there have been some delays and hiccups throughout the way, again, due to some staff turnover, we started the process in October and there've been some delays and hiccups throughout the way, again, due to staff turnover. So the purpose of this slide is to provide a recap of the town hall that occurred last night. We had about 111 participants join this meeting. What was discussed was an overview of the housing element, how will Sausalito meet its housing needs? But there was a discussion on opportunity sites and there were some interactive polling activities and we did receive public comments. So regarding the discussion on the housing element overview, there was a discussion on what elements are included in the housing element and the graphic the upper right of the slide kind of provides an overview of what the housing element will contain. And there was also a discussion on community engagement opportunities as part of the housing element update process there are four scheduled town hall meetings that will occur. There are still multiple HIAC meetings that are scheduled and there will be opportunities for the public to participate during the draft, housing element review process, the draft environmental impact review process, final environmental impact report process, and then also the final approvals. So though, regarding how South Lido will meet its housing needs, there was a discussion on the regional housing needs allocation. There was a discussion on housing types and density and scale, and what that might look like. There was a discussion on opportunity sites, what would be a suitable site criteria to meet the different affordability levels. there was a discussion on existing affordable housing and what capacity the city has with its current housing opportunities what was most interesting is that our housing consultant has identified to date that with our current sites whether they're vacant or you could add additional accessory dwelling units or sb9 units or projects that are in the queue and the city can count 199 sites towards its 724 units which means that we have 525 additional units to plan for and a little buffer that we also have to plan for with this effort the city also needs to identify 6 to 11 acres of land to be zoned for multi- multifamily mixed-use housing to be able to accommodate our low-income arena requirements. And then I already discussed that polling activities, which was really fun. If you didn't participate, the video is available and you can see that when the housing opportunity sites were discussed in real time, you could enter in what you thought and you can see the different opinions regarding the different sites and what type of housing one could vision at those sites. And regarding the public comments at the end of the town hall, 17 public comments were received. Some of those comments included a request for in-person meetings. There were discussions regarding Cypress Ridge, the Marinship, individual lots, and there was a discussion on referring to a sensible housing Sausalito document that's been prepared. So onto schedule. So last night's town hall, this slide was presented to the community and it identifies the community engagement schedule. It identifies the different town hall workshops that are planned and the different opportunities to allow the public to be engaged during the different milestones. What's of concern regarding this community engagement schedule, and if you look to the far right, it identifies when the city council is expected to adopt the housing element document. And it looks like it is set to occur in February, 2023, where the city is trying to have this document approved in January, 2023. if the city doesn't adopt the housing element by january 2023 it just means that the city is going to be faced with a whole set of circumstances whereby we're going to need to rezone all of our sites to meet our housing element within a year whereas if we're able to meet our schedule then then we have three years to do the rezoning abbott chambers director of communications, sent me an article today that was really interesting that in Southern California, those cities and counties are on a different schedule and they were required to submit their housing elements in ahead of time. And I believe only six out of all the Southern California communities were actually able to get their housing elements in time. So this is a systemic problem that both Southern California and Northern California municipalities and counties are facing. So this is a real problem and we need to have a discussion on what this means in terms of do we want to try to stay on schedule and what does that look like? And Beth can speak to that this evening, or do we just accept that we may not meet our schedule and we have to reel in the effects of that and then have a conversation as to what the consequences of missing our deadlines would be? So with this slide, it shows the schedule that was attached to the staff report as part of this agenda. As you can see, the schedule has kind of shifted a little bit, this has not been updated. So this slide does show or identify that we are on, on schedule, but we're now gonna have to shift everything a month or two forward. So with that, it does present an opportunity to talk about consideration of creating a working group. The purpose of this working group would keep the housing element on track should the council consider wanting to have this group. This group wouldn't necessarily supersede the HEAC, but it could be done to help focus and refine the process to date and allow things to move forward. The working group would be similar to a working group that was established as part of the general plan in 2020. The recommendation if the council does consider pursuing this route would be that the council would have two members of the city council and two members of the planning commission act as part of this working group. And the working group would be subject to the Brown Act. So these meetings would be public meetings and agendas. So with that, that concludes my update. And both I and Beth are available to answer any questions you may have. |
| 01:11:15.77 | Mayor Kelman | Great, thank you, Heidi. I just wanna also thank you. I know you have been our common thread holding on to this through some iterations of the planning department and it's a huge lift. So just an enormous thank you to you for staying with us and helping us keep the consistency and really focused here. So much appreciated. Beth, thank you for joining tonight as well. I know that you guys have really put a lot of effort into this. And last night's effort was one of those examples. So thank you. So let's open up to council questions. Yeah, Councilman Hoffman. |
| 01:11:51.41 | Jill Hoffman | So one of the things that I was wondering when I was reading through the staff report, which by the way, I thought was a great job and sort of giving us a synopsis of where we're at and the challenges we have with our, with getting started with HIAC and the late start we got. kind of where we are in the schedule. You know, the questions to Heidi and Beth are, you know, this proposal for a working group, what exactly would be the scope for the working group? And, you know, is it your recommendation, Beth and Heidi, that this is necessary and that we should move forward on that path? |
| 01:12:33.98 | Heidi Scoble | I'll defer this question to Beth as the expert. |
| 01:12:37.17 | Beth Thompson | I think it would be very helpful. The HIAC is a wonderful group of committed individuals, but it's also an unwieldy process to be nimble and responsive to. And so having a working group that could provide us focused input on sites, on public comments as we're going through this process would help us get to the HIAC with more focused information because right now we're giving them a lot to digest and a lot to discuss. So we're giving them huge amounts of sites. There's all types of constraints on the sites |
| 01:13:06.89 | Unknown | ON THE |
| 01:13:08.36 | Beth Thompson | I feel like a working group would give us some local input on a more regular basis where we could really have a focused discussion. I typically consultants don't try to add additional groups and bodies into our schedules, but I feel like Sausalito is extremely unique. You have a limited number of sites. Almost all of your sites have one constraint or another on them. So there's really a huge balancing act in determining how and where to put the housing. So that was a really long answer to your question, but I would be heartily heartily embrace a working group. |
| 01:13:42.07 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thanks, Beth. I appreciate that. Thank you. |
| 01:13:44.82 | Beth Thompson | Thank you. |
| 01:13:44.84 | Jill Hoffman | Any other questions, Councilman Hoffman? No, I'll probably have some follow up, but go ahead and you can move on to the next council. |
| 01:13:50.71 | Mayor Kelman | Okay, great. Councilor McLevin-Hill. |
| 01:13:53.45 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I actually wanted to kind of zoom out because I feel like We have done a lot of work at the HEAC and haven't really had the chance for the full council to substantively engage. So I was really hoping that this focus of this presentation would be more on the the hard work that's going on right now. And I was hoping we would have had the draft opportunity sites attachment attached to the agenda for tonight. So I guess my first question is, why isn't that attached to our agenda? emailed. Heidi over the weekend about that. But also, you know, if other council members haven't really delved into that document, I would strongly recommend that we do and perhaps Beth or Heidi could maybe summarize the contents of that document and where we are in that process and when the council will be able to you you know, when that document will be finalized. We'll see you next time. |
| 01:14:54.22 | Beth Thompson | I can just quickly summarize. So when we went to the town hall last evening, we did have a collective or a list of all of the sites. So we reorganized the sites based on all of the HIAC input as well as some input from staff and presented sites to the community on neighborhoods. So based on the neighborhoods of Sausalito identified in the general plan. So we do now have a single list of sites which had been a request of the HIAC. And so we have a single list of sites that can be reviewed. These will continue to be refined and they may need to be added to because a number of the sites, of course, are constrained by requiring a voter initiative or a ballot measure to place housing on those sites. So we anticipate taking the town hall input back to the HIAC at the end of this month and hopefully getting a final list of sites. We would be happy to work with staff to also bring those to the council. And and the planning commission to get further feedback, the longer we take to finalize the sites, the longer it takes us to get the draft environmental impact and report underway and that continues to extend our timeline. In terms of the adoption deadline, so the council has from the January 31st, 2023 deadline. If you have 120 days after that deadline to have a housing element that's certified before the one-year rezone penalty, KICKS IN. AND I THINK THAT'S A The issue with all of the Southern California governments isn't that they haven't adopted housing elements, it's that their housing elements aren't being certified by the state. So they're going through the review process, they're making revisions, they're making multiple revisions, and they're still not being certified. And so I do want to Just raise that as a concern that you even even if you adopt in January of 2023, you still may not have a housing element that's certified just based on everything we're seeing in Southern California. |
| 01:16:45.45 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | All right, thanks. I mean, I guess I'm just, we're having this meeting tonight. We've got you here. I wasn't actually suggesting that we add any time in the process, but we do have a draft list from our advisory committee ready to go. And it does seem like before I mean, I just was kind of thinking this meeting would be our meeting to comment on this. So we'd be rocking, be ready to go and give that feedback back to the HIAC. and not lose any time in our schedule. So I just... I think we should think carefully about how we organize our times and the the points where substantive counsel considerations before we get out ahead of the of ourselves. And as we all know, once we start the draft environmental review process, If there are sites that aren't in there that we wanna add later, that's gonna add time. to do additional environmental issues. So we need to make sure we have a complete list. And to your point, Beth, about needing |
| 01:17:44.57 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:17:44.62 | Cindy Egging | IT'S NOT A LITTLE BIT. |
| 01:17:49.80 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah, we've got a lot of voter initiatives in Sausalito that restrict our ability to provide housing. So I don't think we're going to get a list at the end of the day that doesn't have some kind of VOTER APPROVAL. probably. So that's, I think, just a reality and even more important that we get to our ability to resume with a lot of extra time because we're gonna need to talk about community buy-in. So anyway, if that list, if the drop that opportunity sites list isn't posted tonight, I think it should be posted to our agenda and sent. to the council office. Thank you. for discussion. |
| 01:18:30.94 | Heidi Scoble | And just for clarification, are you looking for the list that would be updated that would include last night's town hall or just the list that we've been reviewing to date or those maps that we posted for the town hall? |
| 01:18:48.00 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So when I asked you if we had a list, you sent me a list. It says draft opportunity sites with potential to increase capacity. So... I think whatever, if we need a map that goes with that, then obviously the map, if there was some different, as in if it's reiterated since the weekend, then whatever that is, but I think that's like the heart of what we're doing right now. um And so if the rest of the council doesn't want to see this list before we march onward, that's fine. The mayor and I are on the HE Act. And we're going to have a lot of having that discussion, but it does seem like a pretty important. So it's up to other council members. and so did the mayor. |
| 01:19:32.43 | Cindy Egging | Thank you. |
| 01:19:32.64 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Um, but I just don't want, I mean, this does seem like the fundamental task. that we asked our advisory committee to do, And they are advisory to us. And so I'm just kind of, we need to have the point where they come and we have the draft list, So I think we should be making sure this is a list we're comfortable with. |
| 01:19:58.07 | Heidi Scoble | And I'd like to apologize for not including that in there. since I've been picking up the pieces on this housing element project to date, It appears as though that there wasn't any reference for this to go back to the City Council for review. And so that was my misunderstanding. So if the City, similar to what Beth had stated, if the City Council would like us to come back with the list for the City Council to vet, we'd be more than happy to do that. But it was my understanding that the HEAC would be doing the heavy lifting, identifying the sites that would be included in the environmental documents. |
| 01:20:33.74 | Mayor Kelman | You know, Heidi, thank you for that. And let's put a pin in that. Council Member Clifford Knowles is making some really excellent points, and I think we should discuss that. It's not on the agenda for tonight to be able to review it, and we don't have it. but we should talk about how that happens So thank you for raising that. THE FEDERAL. Okay, Vice Mayor, I see you have your hand up. |
| 01:20:54.55 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | Yeah, and I would echo Council Member Cleveland Knowles' concern about that. I was hoping to have an update on what sites have been, you know, looked at. And this was a really great timeline and overview of where we are. So, and I know Heidi, you're really picking up a lot of pieces on this and there's a lot on your plate with the housing elements. So thank you to you for, all of the exhaustive work you've done. Beth, I was wondering if you could explain why the Southern California housing elements are not getting certified, so that we might at least take that in stride and think about it as we move forward with our own housing element. |
| 01:21:29.97 | Beth Thompson | Sure. So similar to Sausalita's experience, you've received an unprecedented RHNA. So your allocation is over 800% of your previous allocation. And so many of the Southern California jurisdictions have received enormous RHNAs. They have many areas that are fully built out. And so a big change from the fifth cycle to the sixth cycle is when you have underutilized sites, there's a requirement to demonstrate if more than half of your sites are underutilized, that there's a realistic expectation that they'll become available during the cycle, so from 2023 to 2031. So where we have sites with existing commercial development or residential development, we need to be able to demonstrate that it's realistic that those sites could be developed and we're not just using those as a placeholder in hopes that it could be developed, but not really any actual data to back that up. So we've put out a property owner survey to assist us in knowing which property owners are interested in developing their sites. So the requirement that, that the underutilized sites be realistic is a new requirement for this cycle so that's held up a lot of the jurisdictions because hcd has sent back their inventories again and again to say hey you haven't provided enough information you haven't provided enough data these sites aren't adequate and what hcd doesn't do is they don't identify which specific sites in your inventory don't meet their requirements they just tell a a jurisdiction that your inventory doesn't work. And so you're sitting there looking at hundreds of sites and trying to figure out, okay, and you talk to your reviewer and they are, They are overworked as well at HCD, so they don't always have a lot of time to go over the individual sites with you. So it's been a really difficult cycle. Part of it is the actual sites and going through these new hurdles to identify sites. So that's one of the reasons. And another reason is there's a new requirement called affirmatively furthering fair housing. So Sausalito has to demonstrate What fair housing issues are present in Sausalito? How you compare to the region? What your capacity is to |
| 01:23:29.88 | Unknown | HERE. |
| 01:23:31.70 | Beth Thompson | enforce and encourage fair housing and then how the sites you've identified affirmatively further fair housing and create additional fair housing opportunities and this has been an evolving requirement and so hcd's expectations for what is provided for this topic have changed throughout the cycle and have continued to just become more and more strenuous. So we're preparing anywhere. We initially started off preparing about 10 maps that have demonstrated different affirmatively furthering fair housing factors. And now we're up to some, in some jurisdictions, we submit like 30 to 40 maps identifying all of these fair housing issues. And so there's just a ton of data that the state's looking for. They have a lot of boxes to be checked off. |
| 01:24:13.06 | Unknown | or they have a |
| 01:24:15.60 | Beth Thompson | And so they're just kicking elements back for a number of these topics. We're really taking all of that input from the Southern California jurisdictions and using that to inform what we're preparing for Sausalito in the hopes that we can check off a lot of the things they're expecting in this round. |
| 01:24:33.01 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | Yeah, I watched the town hall and it was very, was nice to see that you had already reached out to the property owners and had, you know, feedback on which ones were interested or not interested so you could eliminate or add sites. It sounds like, it's quite difficult to get HCD to sign off on the housing element. And we obviously appealed our arena and were unsuccessful. Is there any, how do we best work with HCD or do we have any room, should they say your housing element is not, I just want to set us up for success as much as possible and understanding what our were able to ask HCD for or not would be helpful. |
| 01:25:07.74 | Beth Thompson | Right, and so... There's not a lot of room for negotiation per se with HCD. They provide a letter. They identify where you need to make revisions. But one of the things we've started doing is we're making the revisions in your final housing element. And when you adopt the resolution to approve your housing element, we go through each of the state's findings and we demonstrate how your housing element responds to HCD's comments. And we're hoping that it to put the burden back on the state to find that you're not in substantial compliance by demonstrating that you have complied. And so we see this working in some of our Southern California jurisdictions where we've received compliance letters that once certain changes are adopted or made to the housing element, the HCD will then certify the housing element. So we're waiting on a few of those, but we're hoping that that's a tool to assist us in getting some buy-off from HCD. And so we do also, when they're reviewing the housing element, when they contact us, if they have minor issues, we try to be really nimble, make those revisions, send them to staff to just give a quick thumbs up, and then we send those to the state. and get their preliminary review of those changes. So wherever we can, we do try to send as many as much additional data to the state to address their comments during their review period so we can knock out items off of their their review list. |
| 01:26:25.55 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | And then another question I had was just, as we were looking at the sites last night at the town hall, for example, it seems like they're just sites on a, I mean, it's just an outline of a map. Have any of the organization, cities you've worked with done visualizations of what potential housing could look like in those locations beyond just an image Not that those images weren't helpful, I just, |
| 01:26:45.97 | Beth Thompson | RIGHT. So some jurisdictions do, a lot of them don't because it's expensive. So we did have an item on our scope of work to do visualization of about six or seven sites. And we ended up shifting that work to Opticos because they're preparing the objective design standards for the city design and development standards, the odds. AND SO, OptiCoast will be doing that visualization on about six sites so that you'll have an idea of what those sites would look like under the objective design and development standards. And so we will have an opportunity for some of that information. And then in addition to that, ABIG's actually doing some visualization work as well. And so I think the city will have a couple of sites that they can do through the ABIG process. |
| 01:27:33.08 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | And also just on the point of appointing a working group or not, I mean, are most of the communities you're working with also having additional smaller working groups or just working with the housing element group as a whole? |
| 01:27:45.59 | Beth Thompson | Most of the cities do not have a HEAC, so they just have staff that we work with directly. In some cases, we have a general plan update advisory group if a general plan is being prepared concurrently with their housing element. So we don't typically have a smaller working group, but I think in order because we're seeing housing elements get kicked back so frequently from the state, I think it would be nice to be able to get some quick response and ideas about the way we're proposing to either refine the element, address sites, and it would help us move a little bit more quickly since the timeline continues to shrink. |
| 01:28:20.69 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | Are you having issues with responses for members of the HIAC now? |
| 01:28:24.96 | Beth Thompson | No, we're not having issues with responses, but in terms of going through the sites and adjusting them, you know, we meet with the HIAC monthly. And so when we have one month between meetings, it takes a while to get back to the HIAC with a refined list to get their input. And in some cases, I think we have a number of sites that if we had additional information that we were presenting to the HIAC, like at the last HIAC meeting, Council Member Cleveland Knowles had identified, you know, it would have been really nice if you had given us all of the sites Thank you. had additional information that we were presenting to the HIAC, like at the last HIAC meeting, Council Member Cleveland Knowles had identified, it would have been really nice if you had given us all of the sites in one graphic, if you had provided it in a single graphic. And if we'd had a working group where they'd said that, hey, when you get to the HIAC, if you provide it this way, it'll make it easier. I think things like that would help the HIAC be more effective. |
| 01:29:08.01 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | What if we just had more frequent HIAC meetings? Just because we have such a great group of people involved in the HIAC, I mean, it's a really strong group of volunteers who are really engaged and actively responding. So if you were gonna do the additional meetings for the working group, Would you do additional meetings for the full HE Act? |
| 01:29:23.09 | Mayor Kelman | Yeah. |
| 01:29:23.92 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | I'm just trying to figure it out. |
| 01:29:24.00 | Mayor Kelman | What have you been doing? I have an idea about it I'd like to share with everybody. |
| 01:29:28.68 | Cindy Egging | Thank you. |
| 01:29:30.30 | Mayor Kelman | Well, because we heard from the consultant that she's definitely |
| 01:29:30.43 | Cindy Egging | I'm sorry. |
| 01:29:32.86 | Mayor Kelman | thinks it would be helpful. And so one of the ideas that Councilman Knolls and I had discussed is a working group to augment the work of the HIAC. So just to allay any fears or not, NECESSARILY TO DO AWAY WITH THE PUBLIC INPUT But to be able to provide the consultant with the detailed analysis, and to your point, Vice Mayor, let's take, visuals as an example. I know what SB 35 is, Councilman Cleveland Knowles knows what SB 35 is. We both know what it can do to a property and a project We haven't discussed it at the GI. |
| 01:30:03.14 | Unknown | WE DON'T KNOW. |
| 01:30:05.16 | Mayor Kelman | And so those types of density bonuses are things that you need a familiarity with to really be able to understand. I think I would go back to I think this council member Sobieski originally talked about driving for a vision and planning holistically and understanding. what we wanna do in this community, not what we're being forced to do, but what this community needs us to do. And it's tough because we're not on the same page about what's questions around, the machine shop, well, there's a deed restriction. SB35, we haven't talked about it. Infrastructure, what is positioned next to something else? Last night, somebody said, don't lose avatars. Or you could always move that parcel, you know, avatars to the street and you could still use that parcel. There's a lot of, I think, more nuanced aspects and Beth and her team spent a lot of time educating the HIAC and HIAC has done a tremendous at UMN's work trying to come up to speed but after we have had I think almost every meeting has been six hours which even beats our council meetings and consultants still doesn't have what she needs so I think the ideas could we augment to do a lot of the granular heavy lifting in between, continue to engage the public, and then continue to give, because I fear we're gonna miss our timeframes, because it's just such a heavy breath. Thank you. |
| 01:31:26.80 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | With all due respect, Mayor Kellman, I had asked the consultant a question about if it would be possible for her as a consultant if the HIAQ meetings met more frequently and then I didn't get a chance for her to answer. Okay, yeah. Sorry, Vice Mayor. Yes. |
| 01:31:37.28 | Mayor Kelman | Okay, yeah. No problem with respect to you as well. Why don't we hand it back over to the consultant? |
| 01:31:45.21 | Beth Thompson | The HIAC could meet more frequently. However, that means my team, so I'm anticipating a working group we would not prepare significant materials for. The HIAC, we prepare pretty detailed materials. And if the HIAC meets more frequently, we're taking that time away from actually preparing the housing element document to really focus on preparing more materials specific to the HIAC. So, and when we have the HIAC meetings, So we have a lot of members of the HIAC and for every item we go through each of the HIAC members. So we've had meetings where we've had 100 sites 50 of those sites are commented on HIAC member by HIAC member, which is why we're getting to those six-hour meetings. And so my concern is that we're going to grind the HIAC members through a lot of detail and have really lengthy meetings and still not have completed our housing element task because we're preparing materials after materials for the HIAC. So that was that's really my thought and why I felt like having a smaller focus group that we can vet some information with before we bring it to the HIAC would make the HIAC's time more meaningful and more focused. And so yet we're not anticipating taking away from the HIAC, but rather just giving them some better materials to work with. |
| 01:33:01.54 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | And would you anticipate, I'm just trying to understand I mean, I see that what you're saying about the extra work materials, but I think that the, for instance, the general plan working group, I was not part of the general plan working group, but I served on the general plan advisory committee. And the general plan working group's materials were vast and expansive and pretty much the same as the general plan committee meeting. In fact, it was just as much work for our consultants, and I think they would tell you that. And so I'm just trying to understand how this would be different given the requests of what would be the working group versus the HIEC as a whole, and knowing how passionate our group is about wanting to engage and converse on these issues. I'm just trying to, I mean, are you planning to just have an open discussion where you don't don't have any materials. Because from my experience with the general plan working group and the general plan advisory committee, members of the advisory committee actually didn't have as much of a chance to engage in or weigh in on the things that the working group did. And I just don't wanna see that happen yet. |
| 01:34:00.67 | Beth Thompson | Interesting. So we had not anticipated having a working group that we prepared detailed HIAC level materials for, but rather that we discussed the approach. We have materials like we just went through with town hall, so we could show those again to the working group, talk to them about how we're bringing things to the HIAC and really get some feedback on that. and maybe I have missed misinterpreted what is expected of the working group because I anticipated it would be very, very focused in kind of vetting information and sites with them and, and different approaches to policies and then taking information to the HEAC that's kind of, not not removing the opportunity for the HEAC to provide input but really giving them some more refined information so they're not they're not just sending us back to do more research that we could have done before we got to them. |
| 01:34:50.20 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | I just don't want you to think that there won't be a substantial amount of research and work required of you for a working group as well, knowing how judicious and, um, and smart with their questions all of our members. So I wouldn't expect it to necessarily be a lighter given the questions at hand here and the materials that we'd wanna be prepared, which I imagine the members of the HEAC would wanna see as well. I think that's about, If for my questions, I'll pass it over to other council members. Thank you very much, Beth, and thanks, Heidi, for preparing us. |
| 01:35:19.52 | Mayor Kelman | Great, okay, so guys, this is just the question time, not the debate time yet. So I see two council members already So I just want to remind everybody of that. I would love to ask a couple of questions, but let me hand it over to councilor Sobieski, who has not had the opportunity yet. |
| 01:35:37.56 | Ian Sobieski | I was behind the Jill and Susan. |
| 01:35:41.02 | Mayor Kelman | Yes, that's okay. And they both have already gone. So let's give you an opportunity and we'll come back home. |
| 01:35:45.58 | Ian Sobieski | So, Yeah when will the whole city council get to see all the sites to approve their advancement to the EIR stage? what's this schedule going? |
| 01:36:01.32 | Beth Thompson | And I'll coordinate with Heidi on that, but we're planning to go back to the HIAC at their May meeting and hoping to get final direction from the HIAC on the sites, in which case we could bring those then to the city council for direction in June. |
| 01:36:15.47 | Ian Sobieski | Um, I have a question about entitlements, about what it means for these sites to end up in the housing element. I've asked this question actually several several people who have gotten different answers so And it seems to me a very pivotal question. So the question is, when we put something into the housing, let's say we go all the way to January, and we include site A. in the housing element as a potential building site. it is along with putting it into the housing element, there's a plan for how to actually get to construction on that site. It includes changing the zoning let's say and doing various other activities associated with making that actually happen. for example, the site may require a valid initiative. that would have to be put on the ballot. and pass. So my question is, If a site is put in the housing element, that we send to HCD. uh, But... It does not and say the ballot measure doesn't pass. |
| 01:37:26.44 | Cindy Egging | Thank you. |
| 01:37:26.95 | Ian Sobieski | So is the site Are there any vested rights? from the property owner by the inclusion of the housing element, by the inclusion of the property in the housing element even if there was no change in zoning, and no other entitlements granted to the property? |
| 01:37:43.23 | Beth Thompson | So, And for sites with the ballot measure, I'm not sure exactly how that would happen. So typically what we try to do with the housing element is we don't wanna have the exact number of sites identified for rezoning that would, so say your short 525 units, We don't want to identify a reason program that only looks at sites that total 525 units, because yes, if you're short, then there's a presumption that those sites that you've identified. will have to accommodate housing at the anticipated densities so if we want to make sure that you aren't put in a situation where your sites are. |
| 01:38:13.37 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:38:20.53 | Beth Thompson | considered to be reasoned by the state. So we'll identify additional sites so that say a ballot major doesn't pass, you have some backup sites that you could then use. So that's why when we talked to the community, we told them we need to have a buffer of sites and that way you have some flexibility as a city. So if there are constraints that are outside of the city council's control, you have other sites you can look at. |
| 01:38:42.36 | Ian Sobieski | Well, that wasn't exactly my question. I appreciate the answer though. The exact question is, look, let's just be frank about a concern. The concern is that the site in the Marin is placed as a potential housing site. in the housing element. that would require a valid initiative. The amendment of the Fair Traffic Initiative actually may happen. Um, If that doesn't pass, Does under SB 35, the property owner and the merchant have the ability to sue and use SB 35 to ignore the vote of the people and simply build property. |
| 01:39:20.45 | Beth Thompson | I wouldn't say that they have the authority to just simply build the property, but state law does specifically identify what happens if you don't rezone the site. And so it, The state law says that should you not rezone the sites, you may not disapprove a housing development project nor require a conditional use permit, plan unit development permit, or other locally imposed discretionary permit Or... Impose a condition that would render the project infeasible if the housing development project is proposed to be located on a site that was required to be rezoned in your housing element. and complies with all of the applicable objective general plan and zoning standards and criteria. So if the site otherwise complies with all of your general plan and zoning requirements, it complies with the odds that it will be adopted by the city, then yes, if you haven't rezoned your sites, you would be obligated to allow housing on on those sites. And so I don't know when I don't know how that works for the Marin ship because housing there is constrained. BY MEASURES OTHER THAN Other than the zoning density that's allowed. So that's where I'm not quite sure, but you could have that problem definitely on sites that aren't constrained by an initiative. |
| 01:40:37.87 | Ian Sobieski | what if you added the extra burden of having a community development agreement on a property owner? So you would put site A on the housing element |
| 01:40:42.70 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:40:46.93 | Ian Sobieski | And you would say that we are going to rezone that property if the property owner and the city agree upon a certain set of quid pro quo public benefits in exchange for the right to have the property rezoned. and the CDA and the property owner to arrive at an agreement. |
| 01:41:08.75 | Beth Thompson | And you're saying that as part of the rezoning program or to address the requirement? THAT THIS |
| 01:41:15.35 | Ian Sobieski | that this- part of the rezoning effort. Again, we put a site A on the map. We say that there's We will rezone it if we can get a CDA agreement between the city and the property owner. The city and the property owner can never reach said agreement So we're not gonna rezone that property. Instead we're gonna go, as you pointed out, we will have been putting more sites on the map than we need. So we'll go to one of the other sites to meet our arena number. My question is, In that case for that property that we did not arrive in an agreement on even that we are meeting our RENA numbers with other sites. There's that property owner who failed to arrive at an agreement with the city under a CDA have any buy-right rights to develop his or her property. |
| 01:42:01.93 | Beth Thompson | No, not if you've completed the rezoning to accommodate your arena. So if you've completed it and you're using other sites to accommodate your arena, no, there are no entitlements given to that property owner just because they were included as a site to be considered for rezoning. |
| 01:42:16.32 | Ian Sobieski | So just to reiterate that, that is a profound thing you're saying. And I appreciate that you're speaking with authority, but I also want to emphasize that I've asked this question of several people who have credible authority on the question and gotten kind of different answers and to me this is a pivotal question that changes how we would think about mapping out our actions between now and January and then between January and when we are actually changing the zoning. But to reiterate your answer, a site could be put in the housing element with the CDA. So long as we're able to meet our RHNA numbers through other rezoning, that site would not have any rights to be developed. um, Would it actually be removed from the housing element then in some revised future version or Is it simply live in a limbo. |
| 01:43:08.95 | Beth Thompson | So it would live in a limbo, so to speak. However, it's not included in your inventory of sites. It would be included as a potential site to consider for rezoning. So after you rezone your sites, your inventory will be updated. And those are the sites you've identified to accommodate your arena. So any sites that aren't rezoned would not be placed on your inventory. So it would be in that program in the housing element, but it would never become a formal site that the city has endorsed and identified and established. |
| 01:43:39.95 | Ian Sobieski | Okay, so let me just, ask you a related question then you've talked about having Google are building a little bit of a buffer. between the number of sites we need and the number we're going to do identify because there may be some prompts are going to feel them. um, but, If we have say we have three property owners who own parcel A, parcel B and parcel C. uh, So if you Why did you try? the public benefit and you only needed one of those three parcels. If you wanted to maximize There is it. for I'm not sure. by creating the windfall to those property owners by re-owning their property. then presumably you would like to go to each of those property owner, put all three on the, on the housing element. even though you only need one. and negotiate with all three, a CDA, to get the maximum public benefit. and go with the one that gives the city and the people of Sausalito the best deal. I don't know how to redefine it. and move on from there. So why would we limit our housing element selection to just a modest margin above the number we need instead of being, um, designing a process that has a different role. And that is maximizing the public good, not just meeting our renin number, that has a second goal, of maximizing the benefit to Sausalito. And we can define many benefits because there are small town character, not just preserving but enhancing the working waterfront, providing housing to service workers, artists, studios to artists providing money or public benefits for public infrastructure that would be. be needed to both service the housing but also perhaps for the broader community a wide range of benefits that we could negotiate broadened our process to capture the windfall that we're otherwise giving property owners who zoning we changed. |
| 01:45:34.13 | Cindy Egging | Thank you. |
| 01:45:42.53 | Beth Thompson | Thank you. I have never seen a community, a community have such a process. And I don't know what HCD's comments would be if you had a re to me, that's kind of a rezoning plus process because it's not a straightforward rezoning, but you're actually doing some negotiation. I don't should HCD be on board with that. I don't see a problem with that. But when we've contacted property owners, we have not received, you know, we've received interest from some property owners, but even with those interested property owners, we still might have a hard time getting to that buffer. you may when we bring those to you, you'll see what the inventory looks like and kind of what where those opportunities are and maybe there might be some ideas where there could be further increases in density or additional sites that could be added, but I think I think you will be having a fairly tight number of sites to get through. |
| 01:46:37.14 | Ian Sobieski | well thank you for your answer it's an exciting answer what you just provided so thank you very much |
| 01:46:43.55 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you, Councilman Szeveski. I'd like to follow up on that. Following up on that, Councillor Sobieski, I think, phrased it as, why would we limit our housing element selection. And I think if I heard you correctly, Beth, it's because We could not avoid development if we were out of compliance with our renal quota. So to play the other side of this story, IF WE WERE TO APPROVE SITES ON THE LIST AND THEN FIND THAT THEY'RE NOT FEASIBLE AND THEY DROP OUT. and sites remain on the list that we might not have wanted WE CANNOT AVOID. PURSUING DEVELOPMENT WITH if in fact we are out of our arena quota. What I understood you just said. |
| 01:47:25.20 | Beth Thompson | Correct, if you do not, and it's not the quota in terms of developing the units, but if you have not rezoned enough sites to accommodate the units in the timeframe mandated by state law, then yes, all of those sites that are identified as potential sites must be allowed pursuant to the specific requirements of state law. |
| 01:47:44.88 | Mayor Kelman | So in some ways you sort of roll the dice with this strategy and you may find that you were presented with things that you can't deny and can't back out of. Um, in order to pursue a kind of boil the ocean type of scenarios. |
| 01:48:03.32 | Beth Thompson | It would really depend on how the negotiations with the property owners went. I think you could, We want to have extra sites in the reason program because some sites may not proceed for one reason or another, and a lot of those sites are going to be city owned sites, so there won't be. THE END OF as much opportunity for negotiation with those sites. And then we will have some sites that are privately owned. it would be a balancing act, definitely. |
| 01:48:32.30 | Mayor Kelman | It sounds like the devils would be in the details, the many details, and we'd have to really be fit to track and manage every single one of those. Am I correct on that? Yes. Okay. And then let me ask you this. There's some prior questions about what other communities have done. Have you ever seen a community THE FEDERAL Instead of trying to look at a one dimensional map and say, put it here, that looks empty, put it there. Have you ever seen a community in a more thoughtful planning type of manner, say, where could we put See you around. Let's just start there. We know we want that. Where would we put this? And then let's turn to the next bucket, right? Where would we put mixed use? What are our economic goals for the community such that we don't wanna just look at an empty shell and say, put it there because the developer told us he wants to build, but instead we plan for the community and we look at where such a mixed use would benefit most. Have you seen communities do that, actually deploy planning in front of site selection? Um... |
| 01:49:41.53 | Beth Thompson | Thank you. |
| 01:49:41.70 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. |
| 01:49:41.75 | Beth Thompson | We see that more in the general plan process and less in the housing element process because a lot of jurisdictions are just trying to get to their arena and they don't always have that flexibility to look at the type of housing that would go on a specific site. I mean, definitely mixed use versus multifamily we look at, but in terms of looking for senior housing opportunities, that doesn't always happen. but there's an opportunity to do that. And when we look at the affirmatively furthering fair housing component, we definitely will be looking at housing. opportunities that that doesn't always happen. But there's an opportunity to do that. And when we look at the affirmatively furthering fair housing component, we definitely will be looking at housing sites in terms of how they relate to different different populations and including seniors. So that is definitely a lens that we look at it through, but not quite in the manner that you could describe. |
| 01:50:25.51 | Mayor Kelman | Okay, and then for these other communities who have being committed as we have said we are to DEI and affordable housing. have they, started with a sort of a threshold policy TO INTEGRATE THAT HOUSING THROUGHOUT THE COMMUNITY RATHER THAN look at one portion and say, great, all the affordable housing is gonna go down, great. All of the 300 units are gonna go, as opposed to this part of town only accommodates a single family home. Have you seen that type of thoughtful planning where that commitment to DEI and equity and affordability is truly integrated through town at the beginning of the process, |
| 01:51:11.97 | Beth Thompson | We see that in areas that are less constrained, but in areas that have a lot of constraints, we don't see that as much because the sites, some of the sites narrow themselves down, but that definitely, and we, when we went to the community with the town hall, we tried to go neighborhood by neighborhood to highlight where we've identified sites and then get from the community if there are things we're overlooking or additional recommendations for each area. It didn't look at senior housing. It didn't look at integrating THE FAMILY. kind of at the smaller neighborhood level, which is the finer level of detail than the large neighborhoods that are identified in the general plan land use map. |
| 01:51:51.29 | Mayor Kelman | And Beth, how many responses did we get to the survey? |
| 01:51:53.94 | Beth Thompson | Thank you. I don't remember off of the top of my head, but quite a few. |
| 01:51:58.96 | Mayor Kelman | And how? |
| 01:51:59.25 | Beth Thompson | I'm going to get you. |
| 01:51:59.54 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. |
| 01:51:59.57 | Beth Thompson | OF FOLKS SHOULD BE |
| 01:52:00.43 | Mayor Kelman | showed up to the town hall yesterday. |
| 01:52:03.42 | Beth Thompson | I want to say about a hundred and I saw 116, I think was the maximum participants, but I was not monitoring it. And I don't know, and I was going to check with Kerns and West, if we get a total participant roll call at the end of the meeting or not. So I know we had in it well over a hundred. But I'm not sure exactly how many, since people kind of come and go during the meeting. |
| 01:52:25.96 | Mayor Kelman | And while that information is incredibly important and useful, and it's always excellent to be able to air that amongst the community, is that statistically significant to have 100 people in a community of 7,100? |
| 01:52:39.84 | Beth Thompson | statistically significant It's hard to have a workshop that's statistically significant because you'll never have, well, it's hard to get a randomized sample of people that show up to make it a statistically significant randomized group of people. So that's hard, but... So it probably would not be considered statistically significant. And that's why we have the survey, the workshops, the HIAC meetings, and a lot of different opportunities for the public to comment. And with the intent that over the course of these many, many different opportunities and engagement methods, we get input from a significant portion of the community, but not that any one one tool in and of itself would be reflective of the whole community. |
| 01:53:20.27 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:53:20.37 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. Yeah, Council Member Sobieski always makes me think outside the box, so thank you for indulging my questions. That's all I had. Councilman Hoffman, back to you. |
| 01:53:27.93 | Jill Hoffman | Thanks. So Beth, I think what I heard you say, to Council Member Sobieski's question about entitlements, I think we're also looking at, you know, just general consequences of including properties in which is kind of a different question, but really I think his point, which is what are the consequences of including a property in the housing element plan I believe I heard you say that if you include it, but we didn't get it rezoned and we didn't meet our arena number that that property owner can then build and has an entitlement to build, or I may not be using the right word, but I think that's what I just heard you say. Thank you. |
| 01:54:10.00 | Beth Thompson | So, |
| 01:54:10.77 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:54:11.26 | Beth Thompson | if it and it's not meeting the RHNA in terms of the permitted number of units, but if you have sites identified in the program to rezone those sites to accommodate your RHNA and you have not rezoned adequate sites to accommodate your arena, then those sites are allowed to proceed in a ministerial process, but they must comply with general plan zoning and other objective standards. So that's where you would, If you think you're not going to have adequate rezoning done in time, make sure you have objective standards that apply to all of your projects in place because you don't want to be faced with having to allow a lot of development by right. without having the correct parameters to address it. |
| 01:54:52.88 | Jill Hoffman | So I think when we come back, I assume we're gonna come back in June and look at the maps. That's one of the things I think we wanna know. And I'm interested in knowing that. I know Council Member Sobieski is interested in knowing that And so what are the consequences of including a site in the housing element plan. I THINK THAT'S A LOT OF PEOPLE either entitlements or whatever you want to call it. So I'm interested in that. And then my second question is, how does inclusion of sites in this housing element affect I know it's hard to see in the future. but how's that gonna affect a future housing element requirement, because if we include them in this, in this housing element, can we or can we not include them in the next housing element we're gonna have to do what, six years or eight years? |
| 01:55:46.42 | Beth Thompson | Okay, and so let me go back to the first, the rezoning requirement. So there is a requirement that those sites be allowed to proceed ministerially, but you may disapprove a housing development if there's a specific adverse impact on public health and safety, and the city can make a written finding related to that. So there is an opportunity to have some review over those sites, and if there are adverse impacts associated with those, they would not proceed. want to make sure that that's that's clear and then in terms of your seventh cycle housing element what it means to include a site in this cycle so for sites that have that are vacant that have been included in two or more cycles or sites that are I think non-vacant that have been included in one cycle you then have to have a program in place to allow by right development. So if you continue to include sites year after year and nothing happens on them, then you're in future cycles, you become more restricted as to what kind of discretionary approvals you can have on those sites. So that's the downside. But if you include sites in a rezone program that aren't rezoned, but you still had adequate sites to accommodate your RHNA, the sites in those rezone program aren't part of your inventory. So they aren't considered part of that the sites that are in the sick cycle. They are sites that are just being considered. So there's a distinction between sites in your inventory versus sites that are just considered for rezoning. |
| 01:57:14.24 | Jill Hoffman | So I think one of the things that we want to be careful about is unintended consequences from you know, including or over including sites in this cycle too. Like you have to be careful about that as well. I think that's something that I would be interested in you know, understanding when we start looking at actual maps and voting on opportunity sites. So. Okay, thanks. Thank you for responding to my questions. Thank you. |
| 01:57:42.67 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. |
| 01:57:42.69 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:57:42.71 | Mayor Kelman | Councilmember Cleveland Knowles and then back to Councilmember Sobieski. |
| 01:57:42.84 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:57:46.98 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah, just one kind of clarifying question comment given some of the I think we've got to think about this and I'm interested in best that there's two lists, right? There's our drafts, opportunity sites list. That's what we're talking about right now. And that's only what we're studying. And that will also give us an opportunity to review those for legal constraints and have our legal team and others working on those issues. So at the same time, that DeNovo was doing environmental review. we can look at those. So that's like what we're talking about now, just because we put something on the draft opportunity site list, doesn't mean we're gonna end up with these. afraid of horrible consequences. Is that correct? |
| 01:58:34.30 | Beth Thompson | So that is correct. As long as you've narrowed them down when you adopt your housing element, yes. |
| 01:58:41.13 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So that's the list we're looking at now. And that's the list that we need to get to by June to start the environmental review process. Is that correct? |
| 01:58:49.75 | Beth Thompson | That is. |
| 01:58:50.87 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Okay, and so yes, and I agree with everyone else that I think it would be helpful now also to understand the consequences of what we adopt at the end of the day. But I think we need to think about it in a two-phase process. Beth, other than maybe a slight increased cost in environmental review or maybe complexity, what are the downsides of including various options in the draft review. list. We know from prior experience, that's what we know. that people are gonna start getting you know, organized and we're going to have to drop out a significant number of sites. We just know that's going to happen. So we need not only a buffer, but we need like a A buffer for the buffer. Yes. But what's the downside? |
| 01:59:43.16 | Beth Thompson | The only downside really is the cost that there's, there may be additional environmental review requirements. You're planning to tier from the general plan EIR. So we'll really have to look at this list of sites in terms of how much coverage we have from the general planning EIR and how much additional analysis will need to be added to this EIR and if there is gonna be a, you know, a cost increase associated with that. But in terms of the downsides, no, it gives you more flexibility as a body to look at sites, to consider community input and to remove sites. Now, if there are sites where, you know that it's as a body, you know that it's not likely that they'll ever be approved or they're not appropriate, they shouldn't be included because if they're, then we're just examining and looking at something that is possibly diverting the public and HCD's time from the actual sites. And so it's nice to focus on the most realistic sites. But yeah, if there's a lot of sites that could go one way or the other, then yeah, there's really no downside other than the time and effort associated with them. |
| 02:00:39.85 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:00:39.86 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. Hans-Purr Sowiecki. |
| 02:00:47.35 | Mayor Kelman | YOU'RE ON MUTE. |
| 02:00:51.71 | Ian Sobieski | Yeah, I also, Council Member Cleveland Wells asked my question too. So the inclusion of a site at this stage doesn't have any entitlement, it's just the risk. of inclusion after we adopt the housing element. In your assessment of sites, I know you send people out to ask people the question of, Are you willing to develop the property? But... Uh, from the point of view of doing a CPA, for the larger parcels that you have identified on the list, have you engaged in any kind of meaningful conversation about the range of possibilities and the willingness of the property owner to, um, to provide benefits to the community in exchange for the right to rebuild their properties. |
| 02:01:39.28 | Beth Thompson | No, no discussion of benefits or amenities to Sausalito. So that would be a new lens to look at the sites through. |
| 02:01:47.63 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. I attended the forum last night, Um, you know, the choices we all had in the polling were between the equivalent of do you want fish, chicken, I know. vegetarian or our, um, kosher. like, you know, And that was a choice for every site. the devil's sort of in the details. I might like him. I mean, hate one version of a multi-unit property next to me. I might love a different version. One might be compatible with our architecture. one might be intermodal. Um, one might be accretive to the properties, one might not. how do you account for the lack of what you would call sort of integrated planning about how the sites work together and work with the community. in this entire process. |
| 02:02:35.79 | Beth Thompson | So the issue you've just brought up of how a site, how a development may occur, how it may look and feel is regulated by the city's zoning and objective design and development standards. So we're really focusing on the number of units that can occur on a site and identifying if needed where you may need to make changes to your zoning regulations or design standards to ensure that the maximum number that can be accommodated you have. appropriate. standards in place to address the aesthetics form and function of the site. So that's that's how we're looking at that in terms of the holistic view of the city as we get a better list of sites because we started off with, five or 600 sites when we first queried the city's, you know, the assessor database and came back with a lot of sites and we've been slowly slowly culling that list. And so as we get a list that becomes more realistic, we can look at them more holistically and we can start looking at how developments being spread throughout the city. If there are areas that are underserved by housing or under |
| 02:03:30.92 | Unknown | All right. |
| 02:03:30.96 | Cindy Egging | Thank you. |
| 02:03:31.09 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:03:37.91 | Beth Thompson | um, and not sharing their fair share. And we can look at ways to integrate that. One of the things that starts happening though, when we identify sites, particularly for the very low and low income group, the state requires that those sites meet a minimum size threshold, unless the city has in the fifth cycle demonstrated development of affordable housing of smaller sites, or we have development projects that we can point to that are recent and would be appropriate. So we really have a size threshold when we're looking at parcels. And in some areas of town, there just aren't with consistent property ownership that could meet that size threshold. So there are some barriers to having those be the sites in your inventory, but that's not a barrier to having other measures in place to ensure that those that as development occurs in that area, there are very low and low income units being provided as well. You just may not get credit in your inventory for those units. |
| 02:04:35.81 | Ian Sobieski | So earlier today, we heard a presentation from the chair of the planning commission who highlighted a letter that she wrote from the commission The first item being a recommendation to come up with a citywide master plan. I understand that the sites that we're currently selecting on this piecemeal basis, are really built around the idea of how to get to our RHNA number. They're not really built around a theory of, how we should be. an ambition about how Sausalito should best serve itself over not just this RENA cycle but every RENA cycle that we're going to have for the next two or three. Everyone costs, you know, this one costs almost a million dollars in fees. The next one will probably be even more. um, The planning commission is recommending having this citywide master plan THE the exercise of identifying units, locations now, could very well, instead of being in this piecemeal fashion of what could be built, they could be further informed perhaps by the inclusion of a coherent master plan that connects units together into broader goals in Sausalito. Do you have the capacity to integrate. an actual master planning element in the work that you are doing for this project? |
| 02:05:56.02 | Beth Thompson | we definitely could do that um so if you're looking at master planning for future renas because that's what i really see is you're not looking at sites just for this arena but how are you going to carry forward over the lifetime of the community what are the long-term plans to provide affordable housing through the next five or six arena cycles we would really be looking at I think I think you would want this to be two tiered you would you want to still get your housing element certified on time, and I think the master planning effort. To get that additional capacity is going to be a long process and not not necessarily something that would be completed at the same time as the housing element that could be used to inform future housing element cycles and I think are really. um, One of the reasons you have such a large arena this cycle is that the city didn't demonstrate to ABIG during its initial plan bay area process what your capacity was for housing or lack thereof. And so I think if you have a master plan that really identifies how you're planning to phase residential development and how you're planning to even reuse sites that aren't currently residential or provide new opportunities, it would really give you a good to work with ABAG early in the process so that your arenas are more reflective of your actual capacity, because this number is just based on, you know, they just threw a number at Sausalito and it didn't really look at any of your constraints on the ground. |
| 02:07:21.22 | Ian Sobieski | So if we look at more sites now in this preliminary phase rather than less, the information we gather from the EIR and other consideration of the site's public feedback, imagination about how the sites could work together, could be useful information for a master planning exercise like you just described. |
| 02:07:40.15 | Beth Thompson | Absolutely. |
| 02:07:41.84 | Ian Sobieski | THANK YOU. |
| 02:07:56.84 | Mayor Kelman | Sorry, I froze there. back then, okay. Well, excellent questions. You asked many that I had had in mind as well. And Beth, bravo to you for taking everything we swung at you today. It was a lot of information. As you can see, we were hungry for knowledge about the housing element as a group. So I really appreciate that very much. If it's okay, everybody, let's just pause and let's see some public comment. And then, of course, we'll bring it back up and give some direction. So, yeah. Serge, if you could help us share with public comment. I see some hands up. |
| 02:08:30.93 | Serge Avila | Sure, Madam Mayor, we do have several public commenters. We'll start off with, Jacob, and Jacob, you've been unmuted, and I have to share your video. |
| 02:08:42.15 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:08:42.32 | Jeffrey Chase | Thank you. |
| 02:08:42.34 | Serge Avila | Thank you. |
| 02:08:42.37 | Jeffrey Chase | Thank you. |
| 02:08:47.75 | Jeffrey Chase | Hello, City Council. Hello, Madam Mayor. Uh, It's a little difficult to listen to debate on building Very low income housing, low income housing, moderate income housing. and market rate. Housing when. In all of the years I've listened to this, there has been none. Drilled. It does. There can be. If we search our hearts, and our souls, and even our minds and our wallets. A change from NIMBY. to Wimby, yes, in my backyard. Thank you. When there was a war going on, there were 50,000 people that lived in Sausalito and Marin City. The idea that Sausalito has spent millions of dollars and proposes to spend millions more, for 70 boats And... 25 people. with a fence around them at the tennis courts. That's your very low-income housing now. I would search your souls to find a place where you're not discussing this anymore, but you're doing it. And I think the way to start is a vacancy tax. But there are offices that were built by previous city councils, and there are houses that nobody lives in, that nobody writes in, that nobody types in, that nobody parks next to. And the idea that these places remain vacant just to keep the property values up, is unconscionable. Thank you. HAPPY NIGHT. fine. |
| 02:10:43.36 | Serge Avila | Thank you. |
| 02:10:44.83 | Mayor Kelman | Thanks very much. |
| 02:10:47.97 | Serge Avila | Our next speaker is Jeff Putman, and she has been unmuted and has to show you a video. |
| 02:10:57.57 | Unknown | Hi, so I wanted to comment on the formation of the HEAC working group. I believe at the beginning of this meeting, it was said that the working group will be agendized. So as not to violate the Brown Act. So it seems to me that Any HEAC member that is interested in putting in the extra time and effort to attend these working group sessions should be allowed. And it shouldn't be restricted to just four members, three of whom right now seem to be the existing city council members and the planning commissioner, or one of the planning commissioners. Uh, especially given that there was an ethics violation at the last TEAC meeting with one of the planning commissioners bringing up Uh, an item not on the agenda. that then went to vote. and it being an item that she should have recused herself from anyway, given the housing site's proximity to her current residence. um, the working group makeup, despite the appearance of its impartiality to just speed the whole housing element Um, housing element report along. I think is gonna have an outsized level of influence on what sites and what type of housing make it into the final report. And so therefore, the makeup of the working group should compromise whoever wants to be included in it from the HEAC, especially if it's already going to be agendized and not in violation of the Brown Act. THANK YOU. |
| 02:12:58.80 | Mayor Kelman | Thanks very much. |
| 02:13:01.87 | Serge Avila | David Sutter, you've been unmuted and I have to share your video. |
| 02:13:08.17 | David Sudo | Good evening. Couple of items. One, as far as working groups, I mean, I think we have to remember at the end of the day that the decision on on this housing element is going to be at city council. if the working group reflects the majority of the city council opinion and it needs to be nimble, then I think working group is appropriate. I'm not sure. you know, as a subset of here, I'm not sure. And I got to see the... But my second comment is we really should have had the A TOWN HALL. a week prior to this so that some of that material could be included in this conversation. I think that would have been a really great idea. And the third thing is today I got to see the Berkeley students proposal for Caledonia Street. THE FAMILY IS NOT A there's Before this, I hadn't really thought of how City Hall could be redeveloped to add a substantial amount of you of housing. And I think that the Berkeley plan really highlights how an enormous number of houses housing units could be of various different types can be put in a relatively compact site. how it could really enhance the neighborhood and Sausalito. And so, I think that's worthy of. getting more discussion around town and how that would help. And the numbers that they proposed were way in excess of THE of our. current housing plan end. would go a long way to eliminating the need to have a referendum on other parts of the of Sausalito if we could agree on a few developments like this like the Berkeley plan for City Hall. Thank you. |
| 02:15:08.72 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you, David. |
| 02:15:10.24 | Serge Avila | Next speaker is Peter Van Meter. Then unmute it, message your video. |
| 02:15:15.73 | Peter Van Meter | Thank you. Okay, thank you, no video tonight. But regarding the working group, I think we have a lesson that can be learned from the general plan process, where the GPAC met for, in that case, about three years, The working group was formed. And it basically was starting over. So it doesn't speed up the process. It slows down the process. And so all the work that's been done by the HE Act All the public input that's been done, all the months and all the meetings that they've done is basically potentially a waste. because you're starting over and maybe four people are gonna be preempting all of those decisions and discussions and so on that they've had In fact, like what we saw in the case of the general plan, where you had a group of, what was it, 13 or 15 people or something on GPAC, that all these deliberations, and then you ended up having like, three to one votes. on the working group. that just overturned many decisions that the uh, GPAC had made over all those months. So I'm concerned about the fact that that same thing could happen here. So it really is discounting the work of the HE Act. I think we stick with the HE Act. you go through their next meeting where they narrow down the sites, you bring it to the city council and the city council acts. You don't really need to have a separate slowdown duplicate process. starting over again. with a, Working group. that can affect discounted work. valued words. that's been going over all these months, Thank you. |
| 02:16:50.50 | Mayor Kelman | Ms. Barrett? |
| 02:16:52.03 | Serge Avila | Our next speaker is Joan Cox. Joan, you've been unmuted. |
| 02:16:56.94 | Joan Cox | Thank you, good evening, council. I wanted to make a couple of points. This has been a very illuminating and interesting discussion. Aside from the risk that Beth spoke of regarding a developer being able to develop by right if his property is on the housing element, And inadequate places in the zone to meet the city's rena quota. There's also an SB 35 risk for cities that fail to meet their rena quotas. SB 35 allows for a streamlined approval process for in-hill developments in localities that have failed to meet their regional housing needs allocation. It does not allow secret analysis. It removes the requirement for discretionary entitlements granted by the planning commission. So that's another risk of not actually needing your rena quota, separate from not rezoning adequate sites in order to meet your arena quota. Second point I wanted to make is I want to respectfully disagree with my colleague on the GPAC, the General Plan Advisory Committee, Peter Van Meter, the GPAC working group did not start over. What the GPAC working group did was analyze hundreds of pages of the draft general plan go through each page and each program and each policy, page by page by page, in a very detailed manner that we were unable to accomplish with the 13 members of the GPAC. And it was never the intention, and I don't think it occurred, that the working group overturned decisions that had made been made by the GPAC. Ultimately, the city council made the final decision about what policies and programs to approve and to include or not include. And the working group facilitated the ability to do that. AND I THINK THAT'S A And finally, in terms of the consultant, I believe, the consultant should invite our HCD point person to Sausalito |
| 02:18:56.03 | Mayor Kelman | to inspect personally expecting sorry to interrupt you John thank you appreciate that |
| 02:19:04.01 | Serge Avila | Our next speaker is Bob. Bob, you're being unmuted. I'm going to share your video. |
| 02:19:09.02 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. |
| 02:19:09.04 | Cindy Egging | Thank you. |
| 02:19:11.87 | Unknown | Thank you. My name is Bob Pendole. I'm with the Marin Environmental Housing Collaborative. We support affordable housing that's environmentally appropriate and promotes social equity. Full disclosure, Jennifer Silva, who's a member of your HEAC, is a member of the Marin Environmental Housing Collaborative, and she brought this staff report to our attention. It's not clear to me from the staff report whether the proposed working group would be subject to the Brown Act or not. In the middle of the third page, the paragraph says that it would not be subject to the Brown Act, and then the following sentence says it would be. I think that needs to be clarified. My concern is that having the working group outside of the HE Act suggests that it's a filter suggest that it's developing a parallel plan, and I think you run the risk of losing credibility. On the other hand, I would say that there are real advantages to having members of the city council and the planning commission on housing element advisory and council as you do right now. It helps to move the process along. It helps to keep the overall advisory group on track and, frankly, realistic. And finally, for reference, I'm a retired city planner, about 35 years' experience, most of that time as either a county planning director or a city planning director. As a consultant, I had a really enjoyable year working as acting planning director for Sausalito. Thank you. Thank you for your time. |
| 02:20:53.04 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. |
| 02:20:53.06 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:20:53.51 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. |
| 02:20:54.08 | Serge Avila | Our next speaker is Sandra Bushmaker. Sandra, you've been on mute. |
| 02:20:58.52 | Sandra Bushmaker | Evening, Council. I have three things to say about this item. One, I support the working group. It worked for GPAC. It did not undo the work of the general plan advisory committee. It had facilitated the completion of the general plan. Our consultant for HIAC is begging us to do a working work, working group in order to complete this process. And the consequences are too dire to not do that. So I heartily support that. With regard to the statistics, I'm glad to hear that Mayor Kellman brought up the statistical significance of 111 Out of 7,100, People participating in last night's TASK. AND, UH, I think we need to be extraordinarily careful about tallying any numbers that come out of that session from last night. as being statistically insignificant And lastly, I hate to bring this up, but one of the speakers brought up an issue of one of the HEAC members voting on a property that was close to her residence. I wish to bring to the attention that there was a A HIAC member at the March meeting who voted on a site that is adjacent to her residence, and that happened to be at 35 Central, the parcel. Site number 30. Thank you. |
| 02:22:21.38 | Mayor Kelman | Okay, thank you very much, Sandra. Any other members of the public wish to weigh in? |
| 02:22:26.85 | Serge Avila | Bye. |
| 02:22:26.90 | Mayor Kelman | Bye. Bye. |
| 02:22:29.12 | Serge Avila | Madam Mayor, we do have Greg. and then unmuted and asked to share your video. |
| 02:22:44.78 | Unknown | Thank you members of the council. I have two points here that I'd like to raise tonight. And the first one is I think there's been some confusion or misunderstanding on the part of some members of the PDAQ with respect to the working waterfront coalition's position on the housing in the marineship question. In order to clarify that, I WOULD LIKE TO FORWARD IMMEDIATELY a list of 114 PEOPLE. who have responded as of 4 p.m. today to the question of housing in the Marineship. And essentially that calls for protecting the working waterfront in ways that have not yet been understood by the heat act. in the sense that they voted narrowly primarily five to four boats to surround the working waterfront with incompatible, i.e. residential uses and eventually calling for the extermination of the working waterfront. Those are being forwarded to you now. And I would urge you to take a look at those. Secondly, I have another matter And it concerns a question about an individual serving on the HEAD Act. who represented that they were a resident of Sausalito when in fact they may be a resident of San Francisco. something they failed to disclose on their application. Something that bears an investigation by the city attorney to determine if in fact this person who has an apartment, who has a residence, who has a mailbox at that apartment and appears from some facts to be actually living there Um, the same person I would note has been gone Um, for extended periods of time for a month. |
| 02:24:46.72 | Mayor Kelman | Sorry to cut you off, Craig, I'm sorry. Thank you. Okay, any other members of the public wish to comment on this item? |
| 02:25:01.32 | Serge Avila | Madam Mayor, I see no further handspring. Okay, then the mayor, we just have another hand. Okay. |
| 02:25:08.09 | Cindy Egging | AND I'M GOING TO BE MOVING. |
| 02:25:08.97 | Serge Avila | John Gerais. Thank you. |
| 02:25:10.42 | Cindy Egging | under the... |
| 02:25:10.70 | Serge Avila | John, you've been unmuted and I can share your video. |
| 02:25:10.84 | John DeRay | Thank you. |
| 02:25:10.87 | Cindy Egging | Thank you. |
| 02:25:13.91 | John DeRay | Thank you. I wanted to comment about the HEAC. I consider them the eyes and ears of the community |
| 02:25:19.26 | Serge Avila | you. Yeah. |
| 02:25:24.58 | John DeRay | Yet I'm a little bit bothered by certain comments I heard at the last meeting, I'm gonna quote them. First is, I'm not exactly sure where the property is. That's one quote. Here's another one. Next time we vote on these properties, I would appreciate it if someone would tell me where it is exactly and what's on either side of it. Well, my understanding is that's the main task of KEYAC was to do the little bit of the heavy lifting and figure out what you're voting on and do the homework. The other thing I wanted to talk about was Councilperson Sobieski's sort of hypothetical plan where there is a to the city as part of a deal. I'd like to understand how that can be earmarked for a specific purpose versus a future city council or the same city council saying that that large amount of cash should go to something like the $30 million unfunded liability. And then the last thing I would like to just comment on is this concept of a deal or a competition between property owner A, B, and C is sort of a variation on the prisoner's dilemma where cooperation is the best outcome And you have to understand also as time goes on, there is less and less incentive for whatever property owner there is to cooperate with the city, since in the end, if he does not cooperate, one of the three will get their way. Thank you. |
| 02:26:54.13 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you, gentlemen. Okay, any other public comment, Serge? |
| 02:26:59.31 | Serge Avila | Madam Mayor, there are no further hampering. |
| 02:27:01.67 | Mayor Kelman | Okay, so public comment is officially closed. bring it back up to the HIAC, I believe. pardon me, the city council, the direction required from us is regarding the working group. And so who would like to start us off on whether or not our working group would facilitate this process? Thank you. Yeah, please, Councilor Hawkins. |
| 02:27:30.56 | Mayor Kelman | Are you still on mute there? |
| 02:27:32.88 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Yeah, thank you. So what I heard from our consultant was that they're requesting a smaller working group and to help them speed along to get this processed. you know, to accelerate it to conclusion because we are behind and there is still a lot of work to be done. And as the consultant said, Um, the HEAC committee that we formed is a little bit a little bit different than other efforts that she's worked on with in other cities. And we did that so that we could broaden the diversity of opinions and, you know, public comment, to the process, which I think is a good thing. I think there's been a lot of that in the long, the meetings that I've watched have had a lot of discussion and a lot of input from the members on HIAC. You know, and I looked down to see what, you know, what our criteria was for HEAC and that was to review and provide guidance to city staff and the consultant on goals and policy related to the update to the housing element. A lot of that has been done. |
| 02:28:45.00 | Cindy Egging | da-da-da. Thank you. |
| 02:28:46.57 | Jill Hoffman | Ensure sufficient public outreach and stakeholder input regarding the housing element update including innovative ways to reach multiple segments of population stakeholders. I think we did that at the town hall last night showed that that was a good effort. And a lot of public engagement, especially 500 responses, to the prior survey, provide assistance to the department, seeking grant funding opportunities. I don't know what the status is on that and provide department with grant writing assistance. I don't know. if HEAC has been able to do that or not. Relay information from the consult to the city council regarding technical expertise and new state legislation and provide benchmarking with other Marine communities I don't know the status on that. Work with staff to dialogue with the county on potential for collaborative approaches and identify possible pathways to 100% affordable housing projects in Sausalito. So that was a criteria that we set out for GIAC. And so, Admittedly, as was reflected in the staff report, he had got a late start. And we are where we are. to me it makes a lot of sense to have a smaller working group assist the consultant and assist staff, which we know is stressed and shorthanded anyway. to try to get in a format that can be more easily I think, speeded along and digested by the larger heiach. And so to me, it makes a lot of sense. It makes a lot of sense that it's the two city council members because ultimately it's gonna come back to us anyway. So the feedback that's given from the council members is good. the technical experts from the planning commission also makes sense to me because this is a planning document and speaking out language is important. I'm in favor of that. I'm also in favor of some of these other dire consequences that people are talking about as a result of, you know, having a working group in conjunction with the HE Act, I'm happy to put conditions on what the HEAC working group would be doing and sort of what the parameters are and what I think what I would expect the NIEAC working group to be doing is what Beth, laid out our consultant sort of described. I, you know, I look forward to hearing what the other council members have to say, but to me, it makes a lot of sense and we need to get us to the point where we're ready in June, we are not ready right now. That is what our consultant told us. |
| 02:31:13.90 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you, Council Member. |
| 02:31:14.90 | Jill Hoffman | I'm not sure. |
| 02:31:14.97 | Mayor Kelman | Let's go, Councilor Cleveland-Knowles, the Vice Mayor, and then Councilor Sobieski. |
| 02:31:20.47 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. You know, I think just last Saturday, we were talking about decreasing the number of committees that our staff have to work with and not increasing the number. And so I understand the current proposal it would be to add a committee that would work in tandem with the HIAC and not displace the HIAC. I have a bunch of thoughts about this and I'm not in support of the current proposal in front of us, but I do have some thoughts. I mean, first of all, we spent quite a lot of time this summer giving very thoughtful deliberations in light of how the GPAC and the GPAC subcommittee worked and didn't work. to forming a smaller Yeah. So we made that conscious decision and we spent quite a lot of time and effort in choosing some really excellent committee members. So I want to respect that. We're also right in the middle of the HIAC scope of work. Um, AND this idea hasn't even been brought in front of them. I also think that a lot of the issues that we've had with the HEAC and maybe some of the problems with getting started were really not the fault of the nine-member committee. but had to deal with a lot of staff turnover. and frankly just some disarray with canceling various meetings. So I think we're on a really great track right now. We meet mom plays. Things are working smoothly. I WANT TO TALK ABOUT We now have one staff liaison who, as we've recognized several times tonight, is an expert in this area, is well organized, and is gonna be very thoughtful and helpful to the consultant. So I'd like to give that staff member the bandwidth and the leash to help the consultant and see how the process improves. with one senior staff person at the helm. Um, There have been a lot of Comparisons of this process to the GPAC subcommittee that the mayor and I work on And that I formed that committee was formed to work through drafts of the final general plan. It was formed after the GPAC scope of work had been completed. when we still had some work left. and it they were brown act meeting and i just i really hope that beth understands this they were fully staffed FULLY PREPARED STAFF REPORTS. fully Brown Act compliant. They were a lot of work and they went for hours and hours. So that's not gonna save stuff. IT'S NOT GOING TO SAVE CONSULTANT TIME. Given all that, I think council member Hoffman just articulated some really legitimate concerns with where we are in the process and the need to expedite that. So I mean, I think if we're trying to expedite things, one, I think, We, you know, the HIC meetings, I think are back on track. I'm not sure. I think we could handle some of the more quick questions the way that we have with other consultants If they need quick input, Mayor Kelman and I can be City Council liaisons to the consultant. We can then report out publicly at our two City Council meetings. a month on any conversation that we've had with the consultants. So there's some transparency and public process there. So that's one idea. I'm not sure. I think another idea is more frequent VEAC meetings or subcommittee of the VEAC. um, which the HEAC can form at any point in time. Um, If the rest of the council wants to do a working group, such as the one that's proposed by staff, I would definitely, I recommend that it be more Thank you. of the council policy. and more reflective of the TF votes that have been going on and I think if we did that we could do the chair and the vice chair of the HEAC and the two council members raised on. but I'm just not sure that's gonna be any more efficient or helpful to our consultants. to add that process, especially with Browning meetings and staff reports and all the work that went into our former GPAC. I'm really cognizant of the fact we need to move this along. But, I want to do it in a way that's most productive. And most helpful and the GPAC subcommittee process, while I thought it was a good process for that point in time for the general plan. I just don't think we're there. We don't have a draft housing element to review. We're not wordsmithing. AND WE'RE JUST NOT AT THAT POINT. So. Those are my thoughts. And, you know, obviously we'll defer to the rest of the council on what they think works. |
| 02:36:31.31 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you for the thoughtful comments. Much appreciated, Councilman Liu. Vice Mayor. |
| 02:36:36.89 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | Thank you. I think based on what we've heard from members of the council and also from members of the public, just a public comment this evening. It's really clear that there is a serious need for a diverse range of voices on the conversations around our housing element. And that there are a variety of opinions and we worked really hard to select a housing element that represents different, you know, 94965 liaison, different groups in different parts of town. |
| 02:36:53.31 | Unknown | in. |
| 02:36:53.58 | Cindy Egging | Thank you. |
| 02:36:53.61 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:37:03.47 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | And I just really worry that if our approach to the process is to make a smaller group committee to move things forward, we're going to miss some really critical voices, especially given the direction of some of the votes of the housing element. I would like it to be if we were going to have a committee which I don't think is going to be the best way forward, that it would be more representative, or at least that the HE Act themselves would have the opportunity to weigh in on whether or not they think that this is the approach they would like to take to finish their criteria and their scope of work, or if it's something that they would would prefer to just continue to have additional meetings and engage further and meet more frequently because as I've mentioned, I'm really impressed by the commitment of all of the members of the HIAC and the amount of time they put in and their interests and passion for this issue and their commitment to our community, we all really share and respect. And so I wouldn't want them to not have the opportunity to have a say in how they complete their scope in this process, given how impactful the work is going to be and has been. That said, I do know we need to speed things up around the housing elements. So I would be supportive of perhaps having |
| 02:37:57.79 | Unknown | it. |
| 02:38:09.92 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | additional meetings, if that makes the most sense. But I don't think that, since this will be a Brown Act committee, it will require staffing. I'm worried it will not be particularly efficient and we'll be in the same situation of having more staff time taken up when we could have utilized the time of so many dedicated volunteers. I'm open to, I mean, I do think Council Member Hoffman made good points about needing to move things along. So I would like to have a conversation about the best way to do that, but my concern is that we're gonna miss really critical collaborative voices. And this is an opportunity for everyone to come together and collaborate. And frankly, based on the town hall last night and the discussions this evening, I think it would be helpful to take a big step back and consider a lot of the questions that council member Sobieski brought up tonight. And also that the mayor brought up about considering Do we think about here's where we would want senior housing? Here's where we would perhaps want particularly affordable housing. Everyone's brought up some bigger picture items and I look forward to being able to consider the sites in June hopefully with more of that perspective, but I don't necessarily think that this working group is the way forward to solve all of our problems. |
| 02:39:16.87 | Mayor Kelman | Thanks very much. Council members. |
| 02:39:20.16 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you very much, Mayor. Yeah, I, as you know, I'm a bit of an outlier here because I voted against having the $900,000 consultant to have the website here. Um, because I felt like this approach didn't serve it served only one goal which is how to make the RENA number it didn't serve the goal of how to enhance the and avoid bad things instead of trying to figure out how to meet the many goals we have in Sausalito, preserving our strong and strong character, providing a place for service workers to work, to live and work, artists to live and work, not just preserving but enhancing the activity of our working waterfront. we have a lot of goals here in town. And so I feel like we should have a year ago embarked on a master planning exercise that was funded that would explore various sites, not simply for whether they could accumulate to 724, but what they would actually build and who they would serve. how they would be financed. I think it's a good thing. and the realism that they would actually be built. uh, It's late. But it's not too late to still engage in elements of that process. I feel like the working group question is a distraction. There, we ascribed a process, as my colleague, Susan Cleveland Knowles outlined, of a relatively small HIAC Um, It, of course, is dissatisfying because I think fundamentally this process is dissatisfying. It plays through our fears and not our hopes, and it is constrained in its opportunity for synergy and creativity and amazing outcomes. So the planning commission sent us a letter encouraging a master plan I think that we can consider having a parallel process of master planning on top of this current process, some sort of expenditure of funds is what I recommend to engage with an operation that, an effort to actually tie the sites together to speak about what actually would be where and to try to highlight some of the trade-offs. um, Bob Silvestri is known to many people as an authority on this subject. He posts a lot in the Marin Post and he points out that affordable housing often only works on free land, but free land is hard to get. I note that if you give free land to a developer, that might make the numbers work for the developer. but it's not free to the city. That land is on our balance sheet. And when we give it away, our balance sheet is hit. It's a million, $2 million, $3 million, more, $10 million costs to the city. It's hidden. but it's real. I'm not sure. we give that land to build affordable housing, a meaningful goal. But never in that dialogue do we actually engage in the trade-off about other ways we could achieve the goal of building affordable housing. I'm not sure. The reality is that When we change zoning, on a property owner. We're often giving that property owner a windfall. and a Cornerstone principle my engagement in this process and my votes on this matter and the effort I would like to lead or push is not to give any property owners free cookies. I want to get as many cookies for the city of Sausalito and its residents as we can possibly accumulate in our jar. John DeRay asked a question, technical question about how money could flow, and it's a question worth answering with a definitive answer. uh, But there are a lot of societal benefits that you can require on a property owner in exchange for the windfall that you would otherwise give them. And I'm concerned that you can require them to build infrastructure. for the benefit of the city. you can require them to provide an envelope. you could work harder than to build housing and deed it. to a nonprofit. that could house workers, that could house artists. that could be a live workspace for artists, so that we could pull them out of the shadow, out of the corners, the liminal corners, Um, You know, right now there's artists in the Marin ship that live behind their kilns. They live behind their kiln because it's the affordable place to live. And the working thesis of our preservation of this incredibly important part of Sausalito is that we need to fight. um, the economic forces to make, to keep things affordable for these individuals. But affordable often means very liminal spaces. Um, Wouldn't it be exciting if we could have a incredible colony of artists, live workspaces, a world-class 21st century working waterfront uh, These things can be possible if we actually view this as an opportunity. If we play judo instead of box, instead of going toe to toe, if we use the energy, that's there. to our advantage, but it requires a deliberate approach. So I would really encourage my colleagues to I'm not sure. I'm not in favor of the establishing working group. I am in favor of letting that process play out. I'm in favor of having more sites considered in the EIR at this stage than less. I feel like we should direct city staff to expend the legal resources to really take a sharp pencil and answer the questions about all the risks that SB 35 presents. and that and that inclusion of an element in the housing, property in the housing element that's not built might present. But at this stage before that is achieved, we should try to achieve what the, at least an approximation of what the planning commission proposed, which is, the integration of these sites with some sense of what could be built there and the trade-offs between uh, what could be built on different sites and the consequences across town if you uh, If you allow more dense locations in one spot, you may be able to avoid any construction in another. And this guacamole, where everyone is opposed nearest them. is not. the best way to design our city. And I'll end my comments just by saying that this is just this Reno. Are we really signed up every eight years, spending another million, $2 million and all the time here? to just get by with the minimum. Is that really our, is that our plan? And why not? not plan for 724 units, plan for what we anticipate over the next three RHNA cycles. and we'll only include in the current renus cycle, the sites that we are gonna build in the current renus cycle. but we already have an understanding of the way these current sites would fit in with future sites that would provide everyone a clear roadmap of how things would develop. It would also, by the way, stamp out any ambition that some property owner may have that their property would be rezoned if not in this cycle, in some future one. It would really take off the map. for three rena cycles. potential building and that would provide some clarity. But we would also have a clear idea on the numbers, not for this cycle, but the others, and the opportunity actually to integrate all this into something that achieves all our goals for our city. |
| 02:46:43.28 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you very much, Councilor Sobieski. I'm smiling because I love these conversations because they're so interesting and they're so informative. And I think they really drive us to do a better job collectively. And I just wanna say I am committed above all else to not put politics in front of results. And so I am gonna try for a minute to present I think a middle path. And it might require Councilman Sobieski changing his mind, but I'm gonna go for it. Because here's why, I completely agree around the lack of innovative planning I love the way you said there's no theory or ambition of how Saucedo helps itself. And you called out three very specific efforts, citywide master plan, SB335, CDA, And then we also heard from the consultant how much a more streamlined working group would help achieve results, would help keep us on track. And so my compromise suggestion is that we do in fact I UTILIZE A WORKING GROUP to engage in some of those specific tasks that council member Sobieski articulated, move this along in a manner that is consistent with what the HEAC is working on in a manner that reduces staff time, because it's not a six hour HIAC meeting. where then staff doesn't have what they need. Instead, perhaps it is two two-hour meetings And I would further recommend that to aid that effort, we have people who are familiar with planning and zoning. And so that would be in fact, the two council members and the two planning commissioners And I believe we have one or two architects who are on the HIAC. who I think would be welcome additions to a working group such as that. So I do think this is an opportunity, much like council member Sobieski mentioned, I think this is the opportunity to guide that and to to work on the master plan component of it and help shepherd this process along. And so I wanna take advantage of that. So that would be my idea for a middle solution here where the working group aids a kind of three masters right it's helping the consultant who has asked for the help and we're paying a lot of money to it, with aides staff who is sitting through six hour meetings with still not getting what they want. And then it aids us in creating a theory or ambition of how Sausliu helps itself. So I would be in favor of the working group as articulated for those goals and those objectives. I think it's a really pivotal opportunity for us. So. With that said, would anybody like to make a motion? |
| 02:49:26.16 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I just have a question, Mayor. |
| 02:49:28.28 | Mayor Kelman | Yeah. |
| 02:49:30.00 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | So this is a totally different idea than what we started out with, which is fine. That's why we have these discussions and have good debates. I don't really understand exactly what who would staff this and how it fits within the scope of work. I'm not, it sounds intriguing, so I would just suggest that we add this to the end of our meeting on the 24th. you know, where we vote on boards and commissions to just get greater clarity. I don't know if you and council member Sobieski want to, get together if you and I would take a pen to paper just to clarify the membership. and the purpose, but this whole master planning process is intriguing but I don't understand if we have the bandwidth on staff and with the consultants BETWEEN NOW AND JUNE TO ACTUALLY to do that. If we do, great it sounds like it would add a lot of um flavor and you know what it would add to the process. But we just you know again we were just talking at our Saturday workshop about how we're overburdening our staff. and we're overburdening the process. So I'm just very cognizant of our commitment that we made that day. to simplify and streamline. I like the direction in general. I'm just not entirely sure that WHAT WE'RE DOING. |
| 02:51:04.08 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. |
| 02:51:04.11 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:51:04.18 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. |
| 02:51:04.22 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | moving on. Thank you. |
| 02:51:05.55 | Mayor Kelman | Well, it's a great point and we have the consultant here and we have staff here. So Beth, if you are still around here, Any feedback on that concept there? |
| 02:51:20.65 | Beth Thompson | SO, THE END OF THE END OF THE Yes. I... I like the idea of a broader concept. I definitely think it would be good to identify specifically what you're looking for for us and help us figure out the best way to help you get there. Because this definitely broadens a more holistic approach to the housing element, which is very worthwhile because you'll end up with a document that I think the city will There will be more support from the community for a housing element that considers all of the concerns of the community and has a longer term path forward. And I kind of envisioned two separate documents of a master plan for housing that looks at your longer term housing needs that doesn't go to the state for approval. So I see you get two different venues here and I also like the idea that was brought forward that wasn't what you just suggested, just where we have a couple of council members that are available to staff and the consultant to bounce ideas off of from time to time. And a lot of jurisdictions we work in, you know, we work with staff, but it's nice to have additional minds available because It is so difficult to develop affordable housing these days and to identify sites that it's nice to have more input. So I know I didn't answer your question exactly, but kind of floated a few additional things there. |
| 02:52:45.06 | Mayor Kelman | So Beth, would you mind just then for me turning on you just real quick, can you articulate just again for us what what you need in order to streamline this. |
| 02:52:56.08 | Beth Thompson | We would need just, it would be nice if we have materials that we're about to present just to have a quick preview of those materials and feedback on if we should be providing additional information or potential pitfalls are we did we overlook huge issues that are going to be a stumbling block and we could have avoided if we'd added additional information or or just if we were aware of. So I think we're looking for kind of touching base with the group before we get to the HIAC so that we're bringing the HIAC something that's meaningful. |
| 02:53:28.70 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. I'm sure we'll need you again. So councilman, so be asked his hand up. See the city manager has his video on. So if he wants to make a comment too, but Ian, please. |
| 02:53:37.85 | Ian Sobieski | Yeah, I was just going to say that my notion of the opportunity here can't be taken advantage of by well-meaning non-urban designers. And I think you kind of get to some degree what you pay for and or at least the background of the people I imagine being involved in this parallel process people that have done urban have done designs for communities it's a challenging problem but it shouldn't be done by by lawyers or engineers, it should be done by designers. And so I still say that the process of trying to Um, And developers, by the way, it would be like the A team would be a developer who works for us, not for a property owner, a sort of neutral. an expert for us, an architect, and an architect working together to try to take advantage of the sites that we are considering for the maximum benefit of Sausalito. These goals that I outlined about artist housing, we've invigorating the 21st century and working waterfront. as well as maintaining our small town character and achieving our arena goals. Those are additional important constraints in addition to our arena goals that aren't being served by this process. So a master plan has to come from people that have a background in planning and design. So I still advocate for that. or would be satisfied by that kind of approach. not adding another group of volunteers who might not have that background. |
| 02:55:32.55 | Mayor Kelman | City Manager, did you want to chime in? |
| 02:55:35.68 | Chris Zapata | I don't, but I will if you'd like me to. Sure, that's cool, right? |
| 02:55:39.19 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. |
| 02:55:39.21 | Cindy Egging | Absolutely. |
| 02:55:40.43 | Chris Zapata | I heard the public comment, I heard the consultant comment, I heard the staff comment. And I was present in the meeting when this concept was floated. My thought then is the same as it then as it is now. This is a council decision. I think earlier what you heard from the consultant, this is my third housing element in California. And your approach as a city is different than anything I've seen. So when you talk about advisory committees to a housing element process, The two that were adopted. in prior experiences than have a housing element advisory committee. So I see how much you value public inputs here. At the same time, you know, I have been talking pretty aggressively about the staff constraints. And I am really appreciative of your thankfulness for Heidi, because she has picked this up and been really hard at work with Beth and the group and folks. But this is your call, not mine. So you all need to make it and tell us what you want to do. And if it turns into a working group, we'll staff it. If it doesn't, you know, you'll do other things because we have plenty to do. |
| 02:56:43.50 | Mayor Kelman | Okay, thank you for that city manager. For those of, you know, Susan knows this because she's been with me on it, but... The HIAC meetings are six hours, five hours long. So don't underestimate the amount of effort. The idea would be to maybe give two and two, but thank you for that city manager. And I know we're all very concerned. Oh, sorry. I couldn't see your hand there. Council member. |
| 02:57:05.05 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Yeah, well, just to kind of move the two balls, I think, that are in the air forward. I think what I would suggest, or make a motion, you mayor and I as the liaison to the working group do what other City Council liaison such as with the homeless encampment, et cetera, do, is we facilitate whatever staff needs, the consultant and staff needs, FROM THE CITY, IN ADDITION TO WHAT HEIDI CAN PROVIDE. in the short term and see how that works. We'll have a dedicated staff in Heidi, we'll have the two of us, and if it works out over the next month or two, that feels like she needs more or that that's not working, we can reevaluate and We could also work up this idea that council member So the SV and others have been adding to tonight about a more robust conversation |
| 02:58:00.05 | Cindy Egging | you |
| 02:58:00.42 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE A CONVERSATION you know with with you mayor and beth and maybe the city manager about whether that would be adding or we could do it within our scope of budget and then just further to council member Sobieski's it seems like he's looking for people outside the current, yeah. and how that would even work, and if we'd have to go through another selection process, DO WE REALLY WANT TO TAKE ALL THAT ON? um, But I think that needs a little more fleshing out. at least from what I can hear tonight. Anyway, I'd be unable to move forward tonight in that vein, but. you SO I'LL MAKE A MOTION TO THAT. |
| 02:58:38.96 | Mayor Kelman | . Right? We have a motion pending. Does somebody want to? We have a comment on the motion. |
| 02:58:45.19 | Ian Sobieski | recognize. |
| 02:58:47.54 | Mayor Kelman | Okay, can you then please call the roll? |
| 02:58:51.11 | Serge Avila | Councilmember Sobieski? Councilmember Coulthard-No? |
| 02:58:54.83 | Mayor Kelman | Yeah. |
| 02:58:55.75 | Serge Avila | Council Member Hoffman. |
| 02:58:57.04 | Mayor Kelman | Yes. |
| 02:58:57.78 | Serge Avila | Vice Mayor Blomstein? |
| 02:58:59.30 | Mayor Kelman | Yes. |
| 02:59:00.11 | Serge Avila | Mayor Kellman. |
| 02:59:01.20 | Mayor Kelman | No. |
| 02:59:03.87 | Serge Avila | Motion passes or one? |
| 02:59:06.39 | Mayor Kelman | Okay, great. Well, thank you everybody. That was an extremely helpful conversation. I think we're all aware what is happening and the direction to go in. I'll just say for the record, my no vote was, cause it was a very broad direction. I'm always available and and I will continue to work with you and to help streamline that. So that was not a no as to that, that was an assumed. So thank you. um, Huge thank you to staff. Okay, on to the next. I'm cognizant that it's 10 o'clock. We do have a handful more of items. Anybody wanna comment on the agenda? uh, |
| 02:59:40.57 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 02:59:41.15 | Mayor Kelman | before you move on? |
| 02:59:42.68 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:59:42.89 | Cindy Egging | Thank you. |
| 02:59:42.94 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I'm just gonna have to apologize to the council that I need to step away for at least a half an hour and if you are still going I will you |
| 02:59:53.36 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. Okay, we're gonna turn the agenda to the next item. Yes, council member, so yes. |
| 02:59:58.70 | Ian Sobieski | Only that the matter I pulled off consent, I think can be dispatched in two minutes. So don't worry about that taking a long time. |
| 03:00:06.92 | Mayor Kelman | All right, well then let's move on then to our next agenda item. Thanks everybody. So this is item 5B, receive the report and provide direction to staff on whether to proceed with implementing improvements to 429 1 1 1 Johnson Street, formerly the Dorothy Gibson House. So I believe that Director McGowan, our Public Works Director will be present. |
| 03:00:26.39 | Kevin McGowan | Good evening, Mayor. Can you see my screen at this point? Yes, sir, we can. wonderful so good evening council members um thank you for letting me present this item this evening with me tonight is mike wagner our real estate manager as well i'm hoping that he can step in and help me with some of the slides as we move our way along item 5b before you this evening relates to 429 and a half johnson street this property was bequeathed to the city of Sausalito under the Dorothy Gibson Trust in 2019, and it has not been occupied since that time. |
| 03:00:36.21 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. |
| 03:00:36.45 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:01:04.29 | Kevin McGowan | Dorothy Gibson who was a staunch supporter of the community donated the property to the city as long as it is used for low income housing for one or more full-time employees of the city including police and fire personnel the lot located off of Johnson Street is a long flag-shaped lot with a small house dating back to the 1950s with wood stairs and a wood-shaped roof. In 2021, an inspection of the reference structure was performed by Golden Gate Home Inspection. The report identifies several issues related to the existing structure that need to be addressed. The structure currently utilizes a wood shake roof and wood siding. The inspection report identified these areas and several others that should be addressed at this time in order to avoid additional damage to the structure itself. The structure has several wood decks and wood stairways that are also in a deteriorated condition. The stairways are currently not compliant with the accessibility standards and are in need of replacement. The replacement of these systems will be required if the city decides to allow occupancy to occur. The interior of the building has an upper level and a lower level. The upper level is essentially a one-room bedroom, kitchen and living area with a separate bathroom. The lower level consists of a restroom and an auxiliary room, I was beginning late, can't say that word, which could be used as a living unit. The lower level has a one vehicle garage area with a very low ceiling. There may be a possibility of modifying this space to also become a living unit. Based on the vintage of the building, other upgrades will probably be needed, such as updating the electrical system and adding kitchenettes to the units on the lower level. Accessibility is one specific, um, accessibility for one specific unit is needed. Reconstruction of the lower restroom area will be needed to provide facilitation in this area. City staff reviewed the site and developed a rough estimate for the repairs with the intent of making the structure a viable site for city employees or low income housing. In order to specifically identify improvements needed, staff is recommending acquiring a professional architect to assist to develop biddable plans for the improvements. Since the city is a public entity, we need to comply with a public contracts code in seeking the most responsive and responsible bidder to perform the construction work. Utilizing an architect to identify these improvements is also recommended at this point in time there are some other delivery approaches that are mentioned in the staff report generally these delivery approaches are used for much larger projects such as in san rafael i was involved with the development of a new fire station. And those usual alternatives, such as a design build alternative, are mentioned in the public contracts code, but you have to have a certain threshold. And that's the cost of the work. This is so small that they don't think it's worthwhile to approach those types of alternatives at this point in time. Staff is recommending proceeding with the acquisition of an architect to develop a biddable plan for the improvements necessary to utilize the structure for city employee housing. The project has not been identified in previous years capital improvement program and the improvement costs have not been previously budgeted. In order to move forward, staff is recommending the allocation of reserve funds for the project in the amount of about 200,000 dollars. In addition, Mike Wagner has helped out with the staff report and may be able to add some context to some of the issues that have been mentioned in there as well. At that, this concludes my portion of the staff report. I'm not too sure if Mike would like to make any comments at this point in time before we turn it back over to Council. |
| 03:05:33.30 | Mike Wagner | uh just a brief comment i think it's helpful to understand the uh the restrictive covenant that's contained in the deed for the property. It specifically says that the property may only be used to provide moderate to low income housing. for one or more full-time employees of the city of Sasoito including employees of the city's police and fire department. And so what's key here is that it has to be rented for moderate and low income housing purposes. can't release it for any other purpose. including the city employees. I think they have to, they have to, to meet those income requirements. Although they're not specifically defined in the grant, the intention is declared. |
| 03:06:21.25 | Mayor Kelman | Great, thank you Mike and thank you Director McGowan. Council members, any questions for staff? Hmm. |
| 03:06:29.93 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 03:06:30.57 | Mayor Kelman | Councilman Roberts. |
| 03:06:31.02 | Jill Hoffman | Go ahead, sorry, sorry for my hand thing. Um, yeah, hey, I saw on the slide, um, the estimate was 200,000, but I think on the first slide you had architect, 200,000 and then your construction estimate is a 167. I think that was, yeah, I think that was maybe a typo or something. |
| 03:06:55.17 | Cass Green | Um, |
| 03:06:55.59 | Jill Hoffman | I'm just looking for what the 200,000 would include the architect or not include, and that's, Go ahead. |
| 03:07:02.04 | Kevin McGowan | Yes, the 200,000 would include the architect. |
| 03:07:05.53 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, gotcha. So the construction, The construction estimate is like 167 or something like that. |
| 03:07:11.22 | Kevin McGowan | That's correct. |
| 03:07:12.15 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, all right, thanks, that was the only question I had. |
| 03:07:15.68 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. Other questions? Okay, why don't we go ahead and open |
| 03:07:21.04 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | Oh, yeah. I have a question for Mike. Knowing that the significant value of a single family or even a lot, in Fasalito, from a financial standpoint, is there a way that we could leverage an equity line to pay for these repairs, or is there any way we can come out financially ahead as a result of this that you might speak to? |
| 03:07:41.60 | Mike Wagner | Well, there's a couple of things here. I did look into financing the improvements. One thing to bear in mind is the cost of arranging a public financing, which is not like going to the bank to get a loan. requires a large document suite, bond attorneys, legal opinions, financial consultants as a whole slew people to comply with the law. The fixed costs of financing are so high that in this case, the average percentage rate, you know, APR, if you will, gets up as high as six and a half, seven, even higher percent. And interest rates have risen since I checked into this. Moreover, I think it would be difficult to get a bank to agree to a lease financing on a property that deed restrictions such as this. because the value of a property with such a restriction is relatively low in the market. You know it's not like just any single family house. So we did look into a type of asset substitution where we would try to to add to the financing that's already on the police fire Amen. that was used for B of A. to that in an effort to minimize risk costs, but still the payback is much too long You know, I don't recommend it in this case. |
| 03:09:12.13 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | Okay, and maybe this is a question for the city manager, but could we perhaps have our grant team explore if there's a affordable housing grant that might qualify for the cost of these repairs, given our financial situation? |
| 03:09:24.67 | Chris Zapata | that. We can do that. We can look for some other funding, Yeah, I concur with what the property manager said. It's pretty expensive to borrow that small sum. My recommendation would be is you just take it out of your general fund reserve and get that money back over time. I think in my conversations with some of you, I've suggested that $200,000 for housing in Sausalito is quite the bargain. So we recommend you go forward with option two |
| 03:09:52.97 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | Yeah, no, it certainly is. I'm just saying there's no indication that we couldn't receive grant funding after the fact to support the project or otherwise after the RFP. So it might make sense to explore what grants qualify in terms of incentivizing affordable housing. So I would love to see if we could explore that option as well. |
| 03:10:10.11 | Chris Zapata | I concur. We'll look into it for sure. |
| 03:10:13.84 | Mayor Kelman | Any other council members have questions for stuff? Okay, Serge, will please let us know, members of the public. |
| 03:10:20.90 | Serge Avila | of comments. Madam Mayor, we do have two public commenters. Kevin Carroll, you've been unmuted and I can share your video. |
| 03:10:29.00 | Cindy Egging | Thank you. |
| 03:10:29.08 | Kevin Carroll | Thank you. |
| 03:10:29.18 | Serge Avila | Thank you. |
| 03:10:34.72 | Kevin Carroll | Good evening, counsel. I'm just curious how many city employees would qualify for low and moderate income housing? I'm thinking in terms of police and fire rookie firemen versus supervisory personnel, but I would suspect more people in maybe park and wrecks other city positions and I'm just curious anyone has a rough number of how many people would qualify for low and moderate housing. Thank you. |
| 03:11:04.64 | Unknown | Thank you, Kevin. |
| 03:11:06.85 | Serge Avila | Our next speaker is Arthur Bruce. Arthur, you've been unmuted. |
| 03:11:18.49 | Arthur Bruce | you |
| 03:11:22.76 | Arthur Bruce | Can you hear me? |
| 03:11:24.85 | Sandra Bushmaker | You can. |
| 03:11:26.10 | Arthur Bruce | Thank you. |
| 03:11:26.12 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. |
| 03:11:26.14 | Arthur Bruce | I'll be in regards to this particular property, I'd be happy to assist the city. and helping find the proper funding THE perform these repairs. on this particular property to ultimately make it a permanent Um... Low income housing possibility. I'm not sure. Sounds like $200,000. That's a good starting off point. And if it pleases, from Madam Mayor and Council members, I'd be happy to do my due diligence THE FEDERAL. see if I could secure the funding through my own resources. Um, and Hope you guys make that happen. Thank you. |
| 03:12:20.27 | Mayor Kelman | THANK YOU, SIR. |
| 03:12:22.92 | Serge Avila | Our next speaker is David Sudo. David, you've been unmuted and asked to share your video. |
| 03:12:30.58 | David Sudo | Good evening again, city council. I guess I kind of ran... I think it's a lot of basic numbers in my head. And we're talking about a rather long return on investment. I think there's a lot of intangibles here that you know, besides recruitment or retention bonus, if we could maybe look at targeting employees that are on an on-call basis whether that's police firemen or maintenance staff that that would create an additional benefit for our community, you know, in times of disaster, landslides, fires, whatever, that we have our staff living closer to us. and have the ability to respond to help the community when we need it rather than being across a bridge somewhere |
| 03:13:21.78 | John DeRay | I'm not sure. |
| 03:13:21.83 | Unknown | Bye. |
| 03:13:26.00 | David Sudo | dealing with their own community. disasters and possibly at the same time, you know, some real pluses here. Um, to providing relatively inexpensive housing to our staff. Thank you. |
| 03:13:42.15 | Arthur Bruce | Is there anything? |
| 03:13:43.95 | David Sudo | THE NEXT SPEAKER? |
| 03:13:44.86 | Serge Avila | is Vicky Nichols, Vicky you've been unmuted. |
| 03:13:49.57 | Unknown | THANK YOU. Good evening, Mayor Kielman. AND COUNCILMEMBERS, I just am listening to this, and I think that I appreciate what I believe it's Mr. Wagner said. Having known Dorothy for years, she was very clear that she wanted this for police and fire safety. public safety employees, So I would suggest that it be a full-time employee. And to just add on to David Sudo's comments when we did the review for the public safety buildings, I believe that there is like some extra rooms in there for If say an officer lives out of town and needs to stay overnight for an early court appearance, there's a facility there. I know the fire department has room for that too. It wouldn't certainly, provide extra space for a whole crew to come in on an emergency basis or on call, but neither would this location. I think that you have a great plan here. I'd love to see this get put back into shape so someone can be using it. Thank you. THANK YOU. |
| 03:14:55.27 | Serge Avila | Our next speaker is Karen Colergan. Karen, you've been unmuted. Nice to share your video. |
| 03:15:03.35 | Karen Colergan | right there. Um, Earlier, Council Member Sobieski was mentioning our assets as cookies. And this is a cokey event for at least the last three, almost three years in the state. The city's possession has just been getting rained on, getting left out to rot, probably nibbled cookies getting nibbled on by rodents and whatnot. uh, pretty poor way to treat our assets. So let's spend the, I know budget sites, spend the $200,000. We can find people, I mean, the income limits, it sounds kind of crazy where we are in Marin, I think moderate is something like 128,000. $2,000 per year for a one-person household, and it just goes up from there if it's multi-person stuff. My sense is we can find ways to make it work, and that's, I think the rents It actually will be a little bit higher. so the payback gets better. Let's get some ADUs on there. It looks like a great opportunity. Thanks. |
| 03:15:58.68 | Unknown | HE'S TRYING TO GET |
| 03:15:59.04 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. |
| 03:16:00.76 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:16:00.77 | Mayor Kelman | Any other members of the public? |
| 03:16:02.65 | Serge Avila | META MAYOR, IS HE NO? |
| 03:16:04.99 | Mayor Kelman | Okay, I can't. Go ahead and close public comment. Back to the council. Any comments or would someone like to make a motion? I WOULD... |
| 03:16:14.04 | Jill Hoffman | I'm sorry. Sorry. I keep trying to find my hand, it's up. up. I just wanted to let you guys know too that I've also reached out to Rotary, Lions, and Sausalito Plus. about, I'm sorry, South Zoo Beautiful. about helping with this project too. They've all expressed interest in supporting it. They, you know, on a project sort of based and I think that's a good question. So when we get our construction project, and I think they're bringing it to all of their boards this week, it was just the timing was off. I didn't, they didn't have time in between the, anyway, the posting of the agenda to getting back to their boards for a vote, but the idea is that they would help us on certain defined construction projects that we have with this project. I would expect that we would get some help from the community to sort of bring our construction costs down. in a way that these groups always give us fantastic support on anything that we do. So I wanted to pass that along and I'm ready to make a motion if anybody You know, unless it's for nails. |
| 03:17:20.69 | Mayor Kelman | unless they're not. |
| 03:17:25.05 | Mayor Kelman | Great, please call the roll. We have a person in a second. |
| 03:17:29.17 | Serge Avila | Council Member Sobieski? Councilmember Villanueva. |
| 03:17:34.28 | Jill Hoffman | I don't believe she's with us. |
| 03:17:36.32 | Serge Avila | Oh, my apologies. I believe I have to co-host her just a moment. |
| 03:17:43.24 | Cindy Egging | Amen. |
| 03:17:45.94 | Serge Avila | Council Member, clearly acknowledge you've been self-assured. |
| 03:17:49.10 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. Great, thank you. And if it's okay to vote on this item, I'd vote yes. It was just fine. I wasn't listening to the whole item, but I've read the staff report. If I need to abstain, that's fine. But I would vote yes if I can. |
| 03:18:09.53 | Serge Avila | Thank you. |
| 03:18:09.57 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Council Member Hoffman? Mary, do you have a... Sorry, I just don't, this isn't like a due process issue, I don't think, it's just a problem. |
| 03:18:17.67 | Mary Wagner | It's not. as long as you've read the report and It's not like a land use decision that has a due process requirement. I think you can participate. All right, thank you. |
| 03:18:32.70 | Serge Avila | PENCILMEMBER HOFFMAN? |
| 03:18:33.95 | Mary Wagner | Thank you. |
| 03:18:34.03 | Sandra Bushmaker | Yes. |
| 03:18:36.30 | Serge Avila | by Mayor Blasby. |
| 03:18:37.76 | Sandra Bushmaker | Yes. |
| 03:18:38.71 | Serge Avila | And may I come in. |
| 03:18:39.77 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. |
| 03:18:39.79 | Jill Hoffman | Yes. Great. |
| 03:18:42.61 | Serge Avila | Motion passes. |
| 03:18:42.89 | Jill Hoffman | and passes and passes. Well done. Thank you, Kevin. |
| 03:18:44.97 | Mayor Kelman | Thanks, thanks, guys, for working on this. Thanks everybody. Okay, we're gonna move to the consent item, which is November 8th, 2022 consolidated election key dates and events. Council member Sobieski requested that this be taken off the calendar. don't believe that there is any type of presentation since it was on consent so member Every city manager or the city attorney wants to just tee it up and then we'll So whatever discussion we'll have. |
| 03:19:15.33 | Chris Zapata | I think city attorney should. She's the one to prepare the report It's a legal scenario she should discuss. |
| 03:19:24.10 | Mary Wagner | Sure, Mayor Kelman, excuse me, members of the city council. At your special meeting, Friday, April the 30th, |
| 03:19:32.30 | Cindy Egging | Thank you. |
| 03:19:32.41 | Mary Wagner | The council had a discussion related to Measure O in particular. and asked that the city attorney's office prepare an outline and schedule of key dates related to the November 8th, I believe it's November 8th upcoming, yes, November 8th, general election so that you could plan out when items would need to come to the council for consideration and action. So that's what you have in your packet tonight. And I'm happy to address any questions that you may have. . |
| 03:20:08.03 | Mayor Kelman | Okay. So, Councilor Zabieski, you asked this to be taken off consent. Do you have a comment? |
| 03:20:13.87 | Ian Sobieski | Do you have a comment? I did only because I've been, as you know, advocating that we do a city satisfaction survey on our city manager otherwise, and the city council already has approved. a small budget item and hired a survey firm to do a city manager satisfaction survey that is being put together. And it so happens that at the same time we are considering going to the ballot for Measure O and also have other issues on the ballot, potentially one and potentially two, cannabis issues. And there may be other ballot issues and I volunteered to try to work with And I wanted to be volunteering to work with city staff on using our FM3 firm to to do survey questions associated with these ballot initiatives and in support of crafting the ballot measures. in the best effective way. And so I wanted to propose that there be a working group and I'm volunteering to be on it. I've spoken to one of my colleagues, you know, about it also, to to on this effort in preparation for Bye. So, That's what I wanted to just run by my colleagues to see if that's okay. |
| 03:21:37.75 | Mayor Kelman | So you want to create a new working group. |
| 03:21:40.59 | Ian Sobieski | just a task force or whatever for this, six weeks between now and when, We're out of time for the to get the ballot dirty. |
| 03:21:51.84 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. |
| 03:21:51.86 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Council Member Clemona. So I just haven't heard about this idea, but I do know that we did an FM3 survey, maybe council member Hoffman remembers before we did measure O. or So it was measure O. Anyway, I think it's a really good idea. I think it provides very valuable assistance and understanding what messages and needs and, I... you know, desires kind of resonate with the community. I think especially if we are considering increasing measure O from the half cent that it currently is, and perhaps discussing bifurcating it I just think we need to know and understand what, might work. I know that there's limited, you know, we have to retain our city functions and other functions. So we need to be careful around that. So it would definitely need Mary's assistance in working with council members of BSV and whoever else or it's not council member, so we just see who it is. I just worry about the timelines. because I know these surveys take time to prepare. They need to be very, Thank you. carefully worded, So if we have time and budget already in this budget, council member Sobieski is talking about, I'm not sure we can vote on this tonight, but maybe adding an item to consent at our next meeting. Um, would work. But I think getting public FEEDBACK WOULD BE REALLY VALUABLE. Thanks. because it's a good reflection on how we're doing. and for these measures as well. THE END OF THE END OF THE Thank you. |
| 03:23:50.24 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | I just, in the interest of our concerns about staff time and more working groups, et cetera, I'd like to understand what Council Member Sobieski's vision for this is. And if it's just meeting with Council Member Hoffman and talking about, I just, I wanna get a sense of staff time requirements. And so realistic about that as well. |
| 03:24:08.48 | Ian Sobieski | Thanks, Vice Mayor. This is only because I was talking, Chris wants to Chris is supportive as you know of Measure O. I should let him speak for himself. My understanding, and he can tell me if I'm wrong, is he thinks Measure O is really important and we have these, other initiatives that have Voter support. like cannabis that we may want to take some position on or action on and so since we're sending a survey out anyway it doesn't cost us anything more to add a few questions to the survey and it could potentially help us position our positions on any any and all ballot initiatives that are part of this cycle and I was told by Mary, I think that if we're going to do it, we have to do it now. for exactly the reason that Susan said and when I was talking to Chris he said well you know I always like to have more than one council person chiming in so that's why I I thought to pull it off the agenda and have this discussion now. about whether to take advantage of this opportunity to do. We already have budgeted money and we're gonna be sending out the survey. with a couple questions about the city and so the issues, when else to stick to on the survey. |
| 03:25:20.79 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | I also have a question if we're going to include the cannabis initiatives on there. I'm not sure. I guess I'd like to understand why we would do that since we made a decision to allow for the democratic process to play out around the existing cannabis initiative. and not just agree to it as is. So I don't know if we would have both of them or one or what the process would be for that. and then also, Again, I just want to understand, I'd love to hear from the city manager about if he feels like there's capacity and staff time and what he would require of the working group. It's not that I'm not in favor of it, but I'm very concerned about creating given what we've all committed to and what we've all said just the the feeling around additional working groups, what the staff response would be. |
| 03:26:01.96 | Mayor Kelman | I'D LIKE TO KNOW THAT TOO. |
| 03:26:03.35 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:26:03.48 | Mayor Kelman | And also, that's a great question. The city attorney also should try man is not agendized to create a working group. |
| 03:26:10.59 | Mary Wagner | Yeah, so the item before you tonight was really just to bring you the election calendar, and it was brought forward as an information item, not an item for action. So if the council would like to take other steps, to talk about a survey, to talk about creation of a council working group, we'd have to bring that back to you at your next meeting in May. I mean, I do note you have an existing council working group that's working on the Ferry land side improvements. That is one of the, potential voter initiatives that will be brought forward. You may want to just take advantage of the fact that you've got that existing working group that could work with the city manager if that's the council's pleasure. But just to be clear, this was really a limited item to here are the upcoming election dates and that if you wanna do more than that, we would need you to give us direction to put that on a future agenda. |
| 03:27:01.55 | Ian Sobieski | just Thank you. |
| 03:27:02.34 | Chris Zapata | Look to Chris to see what he needs. Yeah, limited, limited. Thank you, Vice Mayor for your concerns. I really appreciate it. This is one of those that actually would Cool. because as we all know, this expires in 2024. And if it does, you'll have bigger problems in staff times because a lot of things could go wrong. So we need to get it out there if we can this cycle. And so I'm happy to work on this committee. |
| 03:27:31.18 | Mayor Kelman | Guys, I have to just chime in. We just had a whole conversation about staff time. I was advocating for a working group Now I'm getting this launched. No one talked to me about it beforehand. I'm having a lot of trouble with it. but, SO I I just wanna express that. It just feels pretty, hypocritical and so I'm not quite sure how to remedy that GIVEN THAT I WAS JUST WASN'T GIVEN A HEADS UP AND THERE WAS A LOT OF very clear DIALOGUE ABOUT WHY NO OTHER WORKING GROUPS. I just wanna let you all know I'm having some difficulty with this rate in the moment. Councilor Barbara Hoffman, please. Thank you. |
| 03:28:12.63 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 03:28:12.66 | Mayor Kelman | THANKS. |
| 03:28:13.17 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah, there is some irony. in this discussion, no doubt. But so, I mean, it's not on the agenda for both, right? I think council member, I mean, I don't know. discussed it with council member Sobieski prior, Um, I think perhaps he just saw the opportunity to discuss this and bring it up, right? So it's not only a Jennifer vote, so we're accepting the schedule, the election schedule as is, There's already a very working group, that's Council Member Sobieski and me, or whoever, And so I think it's, we would ask them to be, worked on it between now and maybe the next city council meeting and asked that it be agendized maybe as a working group, I may just come back as, Here's the recommendation. We do the FMG. survey, we do these questions. And that's what's on the agenda. It's not a working group. I mean, it's not, I don't think his suggestion is like an involved rocket science kind of thing, even though he is a rocket scientist, as we all know. That's kind of what I'm feeling. That's what I'm hearing. I'm happy to work on it. I'm happy to not work on it. And that's sort of the way I see it. So that's just my point. |
| 03:29:34.40 | Ian Sobieski | That's a little bit. Joe that's exactly right and sorry I used the phrase working group to have thought later I meant that Chris said he wanted a little help. And I was trying to help without it just being me and having it be me and somebody else. So that's all. And I think what Jill just outlined. is perfectly fine and just we have the city survey going out and maybe we can fill out to everybody and it can be you can contribute to the things you want to be on the survey to as a city manager. and that's it. So we can hash it out on the next city council meeting or we can give staff some direction about the kinds of things that should be asked. and they can sort it out. |
| 03:30:24.69 | Mayor Kelman | Vice Mayor your hand is up. |
| 03:30:26.08 | Ian Sobieski | I'm sorry the point only is as as our city attorney said In support of the ballot initiative, Measure O and others you know, if we're going to take advantage of this lending or spending on the survey, person then we got to do it soon so it would have to be on the next agenda and next city council meeting sorry |
| 03:30:47.79 | Mayor Kelman | OK. Well, um, In addition to the other comment I made, I'd just like to state them that if this is about measure O, What's added to the Finance Committee agenda? and we can certainly talk about it. If this is, however, about 11-28. That's a whole different topic. And I think that needs to get more fully and more transparently vetted with the entire council. before a working group undertakes. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. |
| 03:31:17.46 | Mayor Kelman | want there to be a little bit more transparency around what the request is regarding this. And it feels a little... obscure to me or like it's being a little obscure. And so I'm not entirely comfortable with the dialogue. VICE PRESIDENT. |
| 03:31:36.31 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | Yeah, just out of respect for the mayor's discomfort, maybe we all just kind of agree that this will be future agendized but that the city manager will get the support he needs on Measure O somehow. I think that the situation here is that that council member Sobieski was, correct me if I'm wrong, looking for a way to support the city manager on measure O, which we had all requested, and maybe we needed a more robust agenda item just on measure O. But I, I, just trying to find a way that we can all leave the item comfortably with a plan forward that makes sense and is transparent. I would agree with the mayor's comments about 1128 being a separate measure. |
| 03:32:16.47 | Mayor Kelman | Yeah, thank you, Vice Mayor. |
| 03:32:20.18 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thanks. So I'm just thinking back and kind of having my memory jogged. I mean, one of the issues with these surveys is I don't think we did, we authorized the survey and we said the kind of general topics, So I think that's important and that probably is a finance committee thing to authorize the survey and the scope of the survey. but, We definitely didn't get involved as a council in framing questions. Because I think that's like, we don't want I think we just wanted the survey person to come up with neutral objective questions. this isn't a campaign, right? We're not acting as a city council in gathering information about public We're not campaigning. You know, we're not, I'm not supposed to be, no one's supposed to be campaigning at this point. So I do think, and Mary, you know, maybe Mary needs to kind of give some guidance, not maybe tonight, but just in the background also. Like, I don't think we're gonna vote on questions. I think we're just talking about the contract. And so if that's the issue, maybe the finance committee is the best place we need to augment the contract. That sounds fine. But I think the most expeditious thing, most expeditious way to get what we need going forward, just sort of echoing the vice mayor's comments, On measure O, that's my priority. And the other stuff is not particularly at this point a priority, but obviously if we can get more for our money. But again, I don't really want to be debating here what kinds of survey questions we should ask with that. THAT WE COULD HAVE. negative all out. That's all. I'm... Sorry, I'm not very organized, but I'm trying to search my memory for where, I know we had this conversation at council level before and we decided we're not, |
| 03:34:11.36 | Cindy Egging | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 03:34:11.96 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. |
| 03:34:12.00 | Cindy Egging | Yeah. |
| 03:34:12.17 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. |
| 03:34:17.92 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | We're not getting into those weeks. for various reasons. |
| 03:34:21.19 | Mary Wagner | Mayor Kelman, if I may, just to bring us back to the topic at hand. which is the Schedule. I think in a more in-depth conversation about a survey may be necessary. but it's not on your agenda. |
| 03:34:38.34 | Mayor Kelman | Okay. THANK YOU. Okay, Councilman Hoffman, that in mind, comments? |
| 03:34:44.03 | Jill Hoffman | With that in mind, So let me ask a follow-up. So can we, what needs to happen if we want at least the measure othing to be considered on the next finance committee, like, like we need to get the survey out soon. I'm cool with the finance committee. Measure O, if it comes back to us, then I agree with council member Cleveland Knowles. asking the questions or drafting the questions for a survey is an art form, right? Like that I get, that's why we hired the survey company. The subjects though that we might wanna add to it opportunistically because we're sending it out you know, we may need to have that conversation along with, hey, let's add in Measure O. So, Mayor, I guess. I think that's a whole, maybe it's another agenda or maybe it's just, hey, finance committee talk about measure O and then we'll figure out when it comes back to the council, right? Is that the way? this procedural question. |
| 03:35:48.69 | Mary Wagner | Yeah, so if the city manager wants to bring the discussion about Measure O to the Finance Committee and include a survey discussion, then that's fine. It's not on your agenda tonight. So I really recommend that we stop talking about it as part of this agenda item. the council could also, at future agenda items, where you want this to go. And I don't recall, and the city manager may very well, if you've already entered into a contract with FM3, if we'd be expanding the scope of that contract, if it's a new contract, and if that would be under his authority or if that would need to come back to the city council. |
| 03:36:29.68 | Mary Wagner | Thank you. |
| 03:36:29.70 | Mayor Kelman | Okay, so I'm hearing this is the full breadth of the conversation we can have here at this time. but there's interest in having further conversation and certainly supporting this as to Measure O. I have to confess, I cannot remember if we have taken public comment on this. Does anybody recall? We have not, Madam Mayor. Okay, great. So let's open it and take public comment. |
| 03:36:52.33 | Serge Avila | Madam Mayor, we do have some public comments. Arthur Bruce, you've been unmuted and I ask you to share your video. |
| 03:36:58.74 | Mayor Kelman | GREAT, THANK YOU. |
| 03:37:06.47 | Arthur Bruce | Madam Mayor... Vice Mayor, Council Members, Just in regards to the consulting, et cetera. I just wanted to. go on record letting everyone know that But I do offer a class, it's a one hour class, I can teach it to you guys. I can teach it to the police department. It's free of charge and it teaches civil servants how to not violate constitutional and double rides of their constituents. Once again, I do offer this class for free. and it, Thank you. be available at any time. Thank you. |
| 03:37:51.54 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you, Mr. Bruce. |
| 03:38:00.94 | Serge Avila | You've been unmuted. |
| 03:38:03.66 | Sandra Bushmaker | I'm here now. All right. I have to say I was very disturbed by this discussion you just had on this item that was removed from the consent calendar. It feels like there is a subterranean agenda going on and it does not meet the daylight test, the sunlight test, the open meeting act test. It doesn't meet any of that. And it leaves me as a member of the public FEELING. extraordinarily distrustful of why this agenda item was removed from the consent calendar and what the motivation really was behind it. So I just wanted to say that I don't like what I heard. And I appreciate the fact that the city attorney shut down the conversation. and put it in its proper place. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 03:38:55.53 | Mayor Kelman | Okay, thanks very much. Any other members of the public, sir? |
| 03:38:58.30 | Serge Avila | Madam Mayor, I see no other hands raised. |
| 03:39:00.76 | Mayor Kelman | Okay, we'll close public comment back to the dais. No action required, but I think we can commit to making this a further agenda, future agenda item. Tell us what we're supposed to be asking. |
| 03:39:12.19 | Ian Sobieski | I just would like to apologize for making anyone feel uncomfortable. simply trying to trying to do the right thing. So we have this discussion about Measure O and we have this survey we already paid for So I wanted to alert people to that. And that's why I asked for it to be pulled off the talk about and um because it had to do with the ballot initiative, I thought that was the appropriate way to have this discussion among us all. I THINK And what we know now that everyone has forgotten is that we've paid for this survey. And if we want to send it out to learn whether our residents are supportive of continuing measure O or increasing it? or doing something else with it, then we should, we should take advantage of that opportunity. And while we still have a window on Thank you. |
| 03:40:10.03 | Mayor Kelman | you |
| 03:40:10.24 | Ian Sobieski | I'm considering what to do with Measure O. |
| 03:40:12.13 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. Fair enough and excellent point. Okay, so we will turn to this at a future agenda item. And we do have agenda setting later this week. So thanks everybody. Okay, if nothing else on that matter, then we'll move on to item six, communications. This is a time for city council to hear from citizens regarding matters not on the agenda. except in very limited situations, state law precludes the council from taking action or engaging in discussions concerning items of business that are not on the agenda. IF WE HAVE ANY MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC, |
| 03:40:45.27 | Serge Avila | Madam Mayor, there is a hand raised, and Sandra Bushmaker, you've been unmuted, and I'll share your video. |
| 03:40:53.62 | Sandra Bushmaker | Calm now. I just wanted to ASK YOU If you've been following the COVID numbers in Marin County, We had 280 new cases in the last 24 hours. I happen to. look at these statistics every day. And it's pretty shocking to see what's happening. I know in Marin County, our children are being asked to remask AND SO, I just want to bring that issue up so that we are careful that we are not out of the woods yet and that we continue to have safe meetings for yourselves and for the staff and for the public. Thank you. Thank you very much. Mr. Bruce? |
| 03:41:43.45 | Serge Avila | Could you have been unmuted? |
| 03:41:55.54 | Arthur Bruce | I wanted to raise the question again. Where? I did. The city. stated clearly in the last city council meeting that the reason that the city was basically have an budget crisis was because of the improper management of the on in Yeah. They continue to, the city continues to scapegoat the, homeless camp and anchor out as the reason for for not having enough funding for being broke. It seems obvious to me that The reason the city is broke is because of the mismanagement of pensions and I just... I'd like to ask you to stop doing that. Oh, nice. |
| 03:43:08.69 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you, Mr. Bruce. Appreciate your comments. |
| 03:43:11.88 | Serge Avila | And Madam Mayor, there are no other hands raised. |
| 03:43:14.29 | Mayor Kelman | Okay, public comment on item six is closed. Council Member Committee reports. Does anybody have anything to share on that topic? We can take public comment on council member committee reports of which we had done. So I'm not sure if anybody has public comment. |
| 03:43:30.95 | Serge Avila | SEARCH. Meta mayor, there are no hands raised for that item. |
| 03:43:34.73 | Mayor Kelman | Public comment is now closed on that item. Moving along. We are now on item eight, city manager report, city council appointments, and other council business. We do in fact have city council appointments tonight. So we will start off with public comment on city manager reports, city council appointments and other council business. public comment. Yeah. |
| 03:43:54.22 | Serge Avila | Madam Mayor, I... I see no members of the public with their rights. |
| 03:44:00.33 | Mayor Kelman | OK. Thank you. |
| 03:44:01.04 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | Great, so now back up, Vice Mayor. Yeah, I just from the, I'm sorry, I'm a little late to the game because I didn't know where to report this out, but I realized it's a working group report out. I just wanted to make sure that we shared that the city of Sausalito is going to... is going to recognize Juneteenth as a national holiday and Abbott Chambers from the library has been working very hard on some really excellent programming around the celebration of Juneteenth, a play performance that will tell the story of Brown v. Board of Education. And it's a really great, of talented actors that are gonna come here. City Manager, do you have the exact date? It's May, it's at the end of May. So I don't have the- June 12th. |
| 03:44:44.27 | John DeRay | I DON'T HAVE TO DO THAT. |
| 03:44:46.65 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | Sorry, pardon me. |
| 03:44:47.92 | John DeRay | Bye. Well, |
| 03:44:52.81 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | So I just wanted to make sure that was noted. Of course, we'll go out in currents, but that's something that the mayor and I have been working on in our racial justice DEI working group and wanted to share and thank Abbott Chambers for his hard work on bringing that opportunity to the city of Cecilyda. |
| 03:45:07.93 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you, Vice Mayor. Thank you for remembering to share that with everybody. And again, the hard work of Abbott, so thank you for that. Okay, over to our city manager, information for council. |
| 03:45:20.84 | Chris Zapata | So to kind of segue on the vice mayor report on the Juneteenth activity. I want to make clear that Intentionally, we made sure that it didn't or compete with any Marin City activities. that it would complement what they do the following week and that we partner. So I hope that's clear to the public. I'll be brief. I just want to inform the city council and the public Urban Alchemist contract will expire in June, on June 30th and it won't be renewed. Mayor Kelman and Vice Mayor Blaustein will be working with our staff. to work on a transition plan to ensure the safety and management of the temporary encampment at the Marine ship. THAT CONCLUDES MY REPORT. |
| 03:46:02.23 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you, city manager. Any questions for the city manager? Okay, not see any, we'll move on to item, let's see, 8C, Performance of Boards, Commissions and Committees. Okay, so tonight we are making a series of appointments. It looks like If you recall on April 30th, we interviewed for the New York Preservations Commission, the Library Board of Trustees, the Parks and Recreation Commission and the Economic Development Advisory Committee. And then we also have a number of to make reappointments to. So I'm gonna try to follow this Um, I'm trying to follow the staff report And as we've done in the past, make a recommendation that we just simply vote. There's no council discussion. And then we move from there. |
| 03:46:52.60 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | I'm just a little bit uncomfortable with us making appointments right now when the city manager just sent out a memo to all of our boards and commissions giving them 45 days to circle back with what their purpose is going to be and how they'd like to be made up. And especially given that some of the boards and commissions that are going to continue as Brown Act, maybe folks who were on other committees, we want to apply to those or otherwise. I feel like we should wait until we know what the makeup of all the boards and commissions are going to be before we appoint new people or reinstate people. I would like to just get the 45 days to see what the boards and commissions come back with so we know what the makeup is as opposed to reinstating people right now, given the robust discussion that we just had. I don't know what the other council members feel like, but I would be pretty disappointed if I got appointed to the EDAC and then a couple of weeks later find out that that was no longer a valid appointment because it had changed or, so I just, I would really like to have more information given our meeting last week. But I'm open to discussion, that's just a concern I have. |
| 03:47:53.69 | Mayor Kelman | Yeah, valid concern. Councilor Hoffman and then the City of Minnesota |
| 03:47:56.97 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Actually, yeah, I agree with that. I also sense the irony. us doing an interview with men you know talking about how we were going to So, but you know, obviously I'm always happy to listen to other council members, but, Yeah, I see the logic in that. Okay. City Manager. |
| 03:48:19.76 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. |
| 03:48:20.57 | Chris Zapata | Thank you, Mayor and Council of Public. Vice Mayor is right. that letter is going out. It was sent out to the council in draft. I'm getting comments and I will send it out So no one's actually received it yet, but they will be receiving it. |
| 03:48:34.83 | Cindy Egging | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 03:48:34.95 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. |
| 03:48:34.97 | Cindy Egging | Thank you. |
| 03:48:34.99 | Chris Zapata | once I insert comments that you provided me on that particular memo. |
| 03:48:35.00 | Cindy Egging | Thank you. |
| 03:48:35.15 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. |
| 03:48:42.00 | Mayor Kelman | Okay. Council Member Cleveland Knowles or Council Member Sobieski, do either of you have different perspectives on that? Okay, I fully support that as well. So I'll just, yes, Councilman McRibnall. |
| 03:48:55.01 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | I fully support it. I just, I think given that we were pretty clear last Saturday that we were going to get back to the folks that we interviewed, I just think if we could ask our clerk to send out a very just like, you know, a thank you email to everyone that interviewed and then just explain that we later that day have this conversation and that will be, it'll just be longer. just to respect the people's time that they took to come. spend with us on a Saturday. So as long as that happens, I'm fully supportive. |
| 03:49:28.04 | Mayor Kelman | And I'll add, so that's why I see several folks still on the call and I just want to apologize. for not alerting you to this sooner. And thank you for having spent the evening with us. I hope it was beneficial in some way, but I do apologize for not alerting to this in an earlier hour. but I think that is the direction. So it sounds like we were gonna hold off then on making appointments. and there's no action then required So then, With that said, we're on to future agenda items. |
| 03:49:59.76 | Serge Avila | Madam Mayor, if I may, would it be possible for council to consider |
| 03:50:01.81 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. |
| 03:50:05.06 | Serge Avila | doing some of the I'm not sure. to accept the resignations that we have? |
| 03:50:12.61 | Mayor Kelman | Yes, great, great. Thank you. That's excellent. Thank you for bringing that back to us. |
| 03:50:15.81 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Thank you. |
| 03:50:18.72 | Mayor Kelman | So let's see. I accept motion to accept the resignation. |
| 03:50:19.64 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | And it's very, very, very |
| 03:50:22.75 | Mayor Kelman | Do we have to do two separate motions, one for EDAC, one for FEVAC, or can it be? YOU CAN DO THIS. |
| 03:50:27.46 | Mary Wagner | YOU CAN DO THIS. of the |
| 03:50:28.30 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. Okay, great. Then I'll second that. |
| 03:50:30.88 | Serge Avila | Thank you. |
| 03:50:32.23 | Mayor Kelman | Please call the roll. |
| 03:50:33.83 | Serge Avila | Council member Sobieski? Council Member Villeneuve. |
| 03:50:38.02 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. |
| 03:50:38.04 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | Yeah. |
| 03:50:38.95 | Serge Avila | Council Member Hoffman? |
| 03:50:40.08 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | Yes. |
| 03:50:40.87 | Serge Avila | VICE MAYOR BLOESBEEN. |
| 03:50:42.20 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | Yes. |
| 03:50:43.03 | Serge Avila | And Mayor Kelman. |
| 03:50:45.60 | Mayor Kelman | Yes. |
| 03:50:47.28 | Serge Avila | Thank you. |
| 03:50:47.94 | Mayor Kelman | Okay, thank you for that, Serge, good call. All right, now we're on to future agenda items, item 8D. Anybody have anything to add? Yes, Vice Mayor. Oh, let's look. |
| 03:50:59.03 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | Council Member Hoffman go, because you can't see her little hand emoji. |
| 03:51:01.93 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. |
| 03:51:01.97 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | Thank you. |
| 03:51:01.98 | Mayor Kelman | I know. I'm good. It's the same color |
| 03:51:02.03 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | I know. |
| 03:51:04.99 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. background as I keep missing it. I know. Um, Yeah, okay, so the joint planning and city council meeting, that we've been talking about for a year and a half now. So just to add it in there at some point. |
| 03:51:26.86 | Cindy Egging | I'm sorry. |
| 03:51:27.25 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 03:51:33.02 | Vice Mayor Blomstein | Okay, I have a couple. One is that I had had some conversations with the folks at Tideline about potentially creating a ferry service from like that would bounce from Tiberon to Sausalito to the city and they are working a little bit with some of the members of EDAC on a proposal and I'd love to get that on a future agenda item for consideration because it would be fun to have as a summertime. pilot, if at all possible, potentially. The other is that we had received some correspondence. I think I mentioned this last time, but I would love to hear again from the folks running the tunnel project between Marin City and Sausalito and the status of that. is and what it looks like. We also received some correspondence from the Salcedo Community Boating Center asking for an opportunity to give us an updated report. So I just wanted to mention that for additions to future agenda items. And finally, the Sustainability Commission is still considering an electrification for new building ordinance, which the County of Marin is working on now. And I'd like to just get it on the radar that we have a presentation from the County of um, their new regulations and how we might take that on as well. Great, great list. Thank you. |
| 03:52:39.49 | Susan Cleveland-Knowles | Councilor Cleveland also. yeah I just want I just worked with a city manager about this but I did just want to note that it would be good at our next budget item to get a calendar revised calendar I think we were supposed to have workshop today. I know we just adopted the mid-year budget but I want you know we're We're well into May and we need to adopt our budget by the end of June. So we've got three meetings and I just want to understand Um, that schedule and what we're going to do at each of the three. I see it on our future agenda items, but I just want to make sure that we're paying attention to the calendar and that time is ticking. And then the only comment I have on the joint hearing with the planning commission is I have never had a general I've never been involved in that. I think it's going to be more planning commission and city council and any kind of, And you know, free ranging joint meeting, they're always about a particular thing. So for example, we had several meetings about the ferry landing. I guess that was joint with the HBC. I don't. even know if we ever had a joint meeting with the city council. And we haven't had one since I've been on the city council. given that there's 10 people on the dais, They are very awkward, very time consuming. Everyone's comments are confined. We have to put people on the clock. It's not. you know, it's very hard to have a productive dialogue. So if we have a focused issue, like one particular thing i'd be happy to consider that um but i I just think our time will be better and with individual briefings and perhaps one or two members of the planning commission coming to one of our meetings or vice versa. Thank you. it's cumbersome unless it's super focused. So I would just add that to the council number Hoffman. Yeah. No. So not unsupportive, but just really wary of the time we've been spending and staff time. making sure we understand why we're meeting and what the focus of that meeting is. REAN, NEGEL. |
| 03:54:58.98 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. Okay, I know that the Planning Commission has sent over priorities or things that they are working on. And I think maybe the vice mayor and I can look through those and either just add those as an agenda item for us all to talk about to say what what topics we think we might want to focus more on and and bring the Chair and the Vice Chair from the Planning Commission in to discuss with us I THINK I'M GOING TO BE ABLE TO you know, kind of run through those and see how they dovetail with the things that are working on might be one way to do it. |
| 03:55:29.74 | Jill Hoffman | I know there's a lot of, planning and ordinances that are coming down that really affect our housing element and what we're doing there. And also the idea of the master plan. |
| 03:55:37.79 | Unknown | I'm really excited. |
| 03:55:44.54 | Jill Hoffman | Those might be to, you know, council member Cleo's point, what's the focused conversation with the planning commission and why would you have a joint meeting? Those might be two. I'm not sure. two good things for us to focus on. |
| 03:55:57.62 | Mayor Kelman | Thank you. Yeah. I've got just a handful. I'd love at some point to talk about smart city app and how that benefits our community. We'll talk about the fishing pier. I think I actually said that last time. And I feel like we need an update on EV charging I still don't quite know where we are with that in our level 2 chargers. And I know that council member for the Knowles and the vice mayor have been working really hard and different efforts related to that. just kind of nail that down and be able to not have Sussleet to be a charging desert anymore. And the vice mayor and I looked at something that was a charging station on a electrical pole that looked pretty interesting this week. Okay, any other agenda items? Okay, any other reports of significance? Define that as you may. Okay, great. Well then, may I make this suggestion that we adjourn? And I'll see you on May 24th. THANKS, EVERYBODY. Good night. |
Arthur Bruce — Neutral: Referenced an Independent Journal article about homelessness and city budget issues, attempted to tie comments to housing and conditional use permits, but was cut off by the mayor for not focusing on the Planning Commission presentation. ▶ 📄