| Time | Speaker | Text |
|---|---|---|
| 00:00:02.00 | Walfred Solorzano | meeting the special meeting of g i was gonna say may 27 2025 is being held at 420 litho street on council chambers it's also being shown live on the city's website website it's live on zoom and it's on live on tv uh cable tv channel 27. |
| 00:00:20.11 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Good afternoon, all, and welcome to the special city council meeting for Tuesday, May 27th, 2025. It is 4 p.m., and I will ask the city clerk to call the roll. |
| 00:00:31.59 | Walfred Solorzano | on some of them lost him. |
| 00:00:32.95 | Steven Woodside | here? |
| 00:00:33.80 | Walfred Solorzano | Council Member Hoffman? |
| 00:00:35.05 | Steven Woodside | Yeah. |
| 00:00:35.08 | Walfred Solorzano | you Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Sobieski? Here. Vice Mayor Woodside? |
| 00:00:39.20 | Steven Woodside | will be slightly delayed. |
| 00:00:40.85 | Walfred Solorzano | and Mayor Cox. |
| 00:00:42.12 | Steven Woodside | year. Thank you. Okay, first item of business is our closed session. We will be discussing items C1 through C3. C1 is Conference with Legal Counsel Existing Litigation, YIMBY versus City of Sausalito. C2 is Conference with Legal Counsel Anticipated Litigation. And C3 is Conference with Labor Negotiators, Employee Organization, Sausalito Police Association. Is there any public comment on closed session items? |
| 00:01:10.70 | Ian Sobieski | And mayor, I'll just point out that I will have to accuse myself from the second item. I understand the location of the property is, and nature is such that it may have a financial impact on my nearby property. |
| 00:01:20.73 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:01:22.31 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. |
| 00:01:22.33 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. |
| 00:01:22.52 | Walfred Solorzano | No, |
| 00:01:22.85 | Ian Sobieski | So, |
| 00:01:22.97 | Walfred Solorzano | to comment? |
| 00:01:23.61 | Steven Woodside | All right. With that, we will adjourn to closed session. We will reconvene upon the conclusion. |
| 00:01:44.39 | Walfred Solorzano | All right, we're ready, Mayor. |
| 00:01:45.62 | Steven Woodside | Okay. Good afternoon, everybody, and welcome back to the special meeting of the City of Sausalito City Council for Tuesday, May 27th at 2025. It is 4.55 p.m. We have returned from closed session and there are no closed session announcements. At this point, I'll ask the city clerk to call roll. |
| 00:02:11.67 | Walfred Solorzano | Councilmember Blaustein. |
| 00:02:13.99 | Steven Woodside | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 00:02:14.61 | Walfred Solorzano | Councilmember Hoffman. Here. Councilmember Sobieski. |
| 00:02:15.98 | Steven Woodside | here. |
| 00:02:17.90 | Walfred Solorzano | Here. Vice Mayor Woodside? Here. And Mayor Cox? |
| 00:02:21.93 | Steven Woodside | We are all here for this important meeting. I will ask us to rise and say the Pledge of Allegiance. |
| 00:02:34.03 | Unknown | I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. |
| 00:02:34.35 | Steven Woodside | to the flag. America. to the region. |
| 00:02:48.43 | Steven Woodside | All right, I'll ask for a motion approving our agenda. |
| 00:02:52.75 | Joan Cox | So moved. Second. |
| 00:02:52.76 | Steven Woodside | I'm so moved. All in favor? Aye. That motion carries five zero. The first item on our agenda is a public hearing. Certification of amended 2023 to 2031 housing element environmental impact report. Adoption of CEQA findings statement of overriding considerations and mitigation monitoring and reporting program and approval of amended 2023 2023 2031 housing element and adoption of amendments to general plan chapters one land use and growth management element for community design historic and cultural preservation element and five circulation and parking element |
| 00:03:15.34 | Unknown | 20. |
| 00:03:31.02 | Steven Woodside | to ensure consistency with the draft proposed amended housing element. I will invite our Community and Economic Development Director Brandon Phipps to provide a staff report. I do want to note preliminarily that this meeting this afternoon culminates literally 18 months of work ever since we adopted first adopted our housing element in January of 2023. Almost immediately, the Housing and Community Development Department, I dent, although they certified our housing element, Thank you. Um, identified some changes they wanted to see. And we realized the importance of undertaking a comprehensive environmental impact report related to our housing element. And so we did that. During that process, we received extensive public feedback. There are literally, you know, over a thousand pages of letters and responses in the housing element EIR. Report and so we dutifully considered all of those comments and incorporated them to the extent possible in this amended housing element which then went back to hcd. For review, we received last Friday a certification from HCD, for which we are very grateful, which is the prerequisite to our being able to go ahead and adopt a housing element this evening. The reason I share all this with you is that this housing element already reflects all of the feedback received from the Planning Commission and the City Council in February of this year. And this is the document that has been reviewed and certified by the. THE END OF Housing and Community Development Department. And so there is limited opportunity tonight for us to make further revisions rather than It's important that we understand and approve The revisions that have been made since February in response to questions and comments from the housing and community development department and so Thank you. With that, I'm very proud and pleased to turn this over to Brandon for a report. And also, our wonderful... For consultant Beth Thompson, who has really been instrumental in navigating the very complicated process as you can see from our 1100 over 1100 page staff report on these two items |
| 00:05:57.71 | Brandon Phipps | Thank you, Mayor, for the excellent introduction and good afternoon to you, vice mayor, council members, members of the public and staff. Thank you for being here today, as mentioned for this very important special meeting. Happy to be with you this afternoon, as always, this time to introduce item 1A. As the mayor read in its entirety, I'll summarize a public hearing on the certification of the city's housing element, EIR, approval of the amended housing element and adoption of amendments to the general plan to ensure consistency with the amended housing element. As Council's aware, the City's been working on an amended housing element since around the third quarter of 2024. This process has been highlighted by a number of public hearings and study sessions by both the City Council and Planning Commission, collaboration with the Department of Housing and Community Development, City Council housing element working group a number of community stakeholder groups as well as a concerted public outreach process which generated numerous comments from stakeholders and community members which we thank the community for providing and congratulations Council members on getting to this point Even while city council members and staff have engaged in the concerted process to amend the previously adopted housing element, the city has not lost sight of the primary goal at hand, which is in short, increased housing production as detailed at a recent May six budget presentation. The city has recently approved numerous housing units over 100 in total since the start of the sixth cycle, which started in around 2023, excuse me in 2023. And is currently processing approximately 147 units at different stages of the development review process. Congratulations, council members, on that as well. As council recalls, this item was most recently heard by the city council on February 25 of this year, where council directed a number of changes to the draft amended housing elements, such as the conversion of certain opportunity sites to inventory sites amending the overlay designation for site 84 and integrating recent project applications into our approved or entitled pending project list to reflect reflect recent development interest these changes motivated a number of updates to programs in our amended housing element as well such as changes to program four related to the ensuring the inventory of sites accommodates Thank you. a number of updates to programs in our amended housing element as well, such as changes to program four related to the ensuring the inventory of sites accommodates our arena. Program 8, related to public property conversion to housing, and Program 15, related to inclusionary housing, and Program 19, related to development procedure review. Once these changes were reflected, following a seven-day public posting period, which began on May 6, staff transmitted the latest version of the amended housing element to HCD for their review. And I am very pleased to report, as stated by the mayor, that on May 22nd, staff received a letter from HCD stating that the amended housing element, as proposed, meets the statutory requirements necessary to remain in substantial compliance with state housing element law. This letter of substantial compliance was one of the last dominoes that needed to fall to allow for the city council to approve the housing element and the. related items that we're presenting this evening. With this letter in hand, the City Council has the opportunity to adopt the proposed amended housing element and associated items and remain in compliance with state housing element law. Before I pass it off to Beth Thompson of DeNovo Planning Group to discuss details associated with the item, I'd like to remind City Council and the public of the follow-on need to meet state timelines to rezone housing element opportunity sites by January 30th, 2026. We have developed a somewhat aggressive schedule in order to support a ballot measure in November of this year for the rezoning of certain opportunity sites impacted by voter initiatives. And Council's action this evening will keep us on course to meet that schedule. Thank you very much, Council. I am and will be available to answer any questions. For now, I will pass the mic on to Beth Thompson. Beth, welcome, and the floor is yours. |
| 00:10:12.31 | Beth Thompson | Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and members of the Council. It's a pleasure. |
| 00:10:13.03 | Brian O'Neill | Thank you. |
| 00:10:16.49 | Beth Thompson | To be back with you tonight for the amended housing element project. And I see that. We're already sharing the presentation on the screen. So I'll just quickly go through this. You've seen this a number of times before this evening. So next slide. So we've made the... presentation a little more brief tonight. |
| 00:10:35.05 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. |
| 00:10:38.12 | Beth Thompson | So the housing element addresses how Sausalito will meet its state housing requirements, including accommodating its regional housing need allocation or arena of 724 units. You're going to want to go back just one slide. There we go. The adopted housing element is available on the city's website and the revised draft amended housing element is also available on the city's website and those include, of course, the iterations of the housing element between the adoption and now so there's a trail of housing element revisions and up to available for review on the city's website. Next slide. On February 19th of this year, the planning commission did review and consider the housing element amendment project and they recommended that the city council adopt the amended housing element and that's not the modified amended housing element alternative that had also been presented. And they recommended the following revisions, which are provided as well in the attachments site 84, the MLK Park site, they indicated should be reduced to at least 80 units. Site 202 Altamira to change and reduce the overlay from the housing 70 to housing 49, decreasing the maximum allowed density and reducing the capacity of the site. site 63. Removing that site as a potential opportunity site and site in the element and then site 303-1-3 Harbor Drive, adjusting the units by income allocation to increase the very low income units by 20 units reduce moderate income units by five units. and reduce the above moderate income by 15 units with no net change and the total units. The planning Commission also recommended to the city council that both the city hall and Spencer avenue fire station sites be removed from consideration in the housing element. Next slide. |
| 00:12:35.27 | Beth Thompson | So the revised amended housing element does include the changes that were recommended by the planning commission and considered by the city council, as well as additional revisions that were identified by the city council when you met to consider the housing element in late February. And the direction we received from the city council included to remove the opportunity site status from sites 201, 202, and 63, and retain these sites as inventory sites with their current zoning. So what that means is that there is no overlay applied to these sites, and there is no increase in capacity beyond what is accommodated under the current zoning for these sites. So, for example, site 202 would be up to 28 units. So each of these would remain at what could be developed under their current zoning and the current general plan design. ZONING FOR THESE SITES. SO FOR EXAMPLE, SITE 202 WOULD BE UP TO 28 UNITS. SO EACH OF THESE WOULD REMAIN WHAT COULD BE DEVELOPED UNDER THEIR CURRENT ZONING AND THE CURRENT GENERAL PLAN DESIGNATION. Site 44, which is 1315, 1319 Bridgeway. We were asked to revise to reflect the project that's been approved for that site, which accommodates four new units. Site 55 at 109 Napa. to reveal I think that is actually 409 NEPA, to revise this to reflect the project also proposed for this site, which includes five total units and three net new units. Site 84, the MLK site. to, reduce the MU49 overlay to the H29 overlay, allowing up to a maximum of 29 units per acre at the MLK site, and also reducing the total accommodated capacity to 50 units. We also, based on conversations with HCD, did update the city's approved, entitled, and pending project information. So since the housing element was adopted in 2023, the city has had a lot of development act A lot of accessory dwelling unit projects, some multifamily projects, a lot of project applications have been processed, some approved, and some are still in the pipeline. And so we did update the housing element to reflect the capacity from all of those projects, and then also to update the projected accessory dwelling units to reflect the recent trends. And so these revisions provided an overall increase of 52 units, so increase the capacity of what can be accommodated under the housing element. Next slide. We also made some changes. We revised program four as directed by the council to provide guidance to address the potential shortage to accommodate the RHNA in the event that occurs. Program eight was revised to include additional measures to encourage development of sites 73 and 75, publicly owned sites included in the housing element, Program 15 was revised to ensure that the inclusion program. is effective at encouraging opportunities for affordable housing. which relates to some corrections and analysis of the inclusionary housing program. Some additional revisions are made to program 19, which addresses the city's permitting process, as well as the objective design and development standards. And these measures were identified to ensure the effectiveness of the proposed objective design and development standards, their odds and the city's permit tracking and processing procedures by reviewing and analyzing how implementation of these works and making adjustments down the road, if necessary. There were also revisions to the background report to provide further information regarding the odds, regarding inclusionary housing requirements, how the site selection criteria and methodologies were used to refine the opportunity sites and the inventory sites. There was also significant information added to address the comments that had been received from the public on the amended housing element, and then also to update the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Analysis, the AFFH analysis, to address the changes to the sites that have now been identified to accommodate the arena. So those adjustments to the opportunity and inventory sites are reflected in the background report. Next slide. So with all of these changes, we have some updated figures. These are throughout the housing element. So where these overlay sites have been revised, those three sites that I mentioned are now converted to inventory sites and shown in red. The blue, yellow, orange, green, purple, and pink still identify sites that are the overlay sites that would be rezoned in future actions, some tonight and then some through subsequent ballot measures. Next slide. And then I won't go through this slide in detail. It's just the same figure with these underlying zoning shown. Next slide. So with these changes to the housing element, there are some revisions to the capacity. So the adopted housing element accommodated about 908 units, which provided a buffer towards the arena. Planning commissions recommendation would accommodate about 924 units. And the city council's recommendation with the adjustments to address the pending and approved projects would accommodate 923 units. Each of these scenarios continues to accommodate the arena and to provide a buffer and the various income categories. Next slide. The amended housing element was reviewed for environmental impacts in the Environmental Impact Report or EIR for the Sausalito amended six cycle housing element project. And that draft EIR was circulated for a 45 day public review and comment period. And subsequently portions of the draft EIR were recirculated for another 45 day comment period Upon the close of those comment periods, all of the comments received, the comment letters were included in a final EIR, which identifies in response to each of the comments made on the EIR, and then there's also an additional errata to the final EIR as well that further refine some of the information provided. The revised draft amended housing element does include some modifications to the project as reviewed in the EIR. And these changes from the city council direction So these changes that are in the March 27th and May 5th housing element that have been circulated do result in an overall reduction in the number of units. These changes would not require rezoning or other actions that would increase the lab densities when compared to the amended housing element project as reviewed and the draft and recirculated draft EIR. There's no increase in the significance of environmental impacts, nor are there any new significant environmental impacts associated with these modifications to the revised draft housing element in comparison with the project as analyzed. The environmental review has been conducted in compliance with CEQA, and as I had mentioned, there are no new environmental issues identified that would require substantial revisions to the program EIR or require further environmental review. Next slide. And with that, the recommendation is that the City Council adopt a resolution of the City Council of the City of Sausalito, rescinding the six cycle housing element, certifying the amended 2023 to 2031 housing element program EIR Adopting the CEQA findings, statement of overriding considerations and mitigation monitoring and reporting program for the amended 2023 to 2031 housing element. Adopting and approving the amended 2023 to 2031 housing element. Adopting and approving the related general plan amendments. directing staff to file a notice of determination. and making findings related to compliance with state law, non-vacant sites, and mixed-use sites. And with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions regarding the project. |
| 00:20:13.85 | Steven Woodside | Thank you, Director Phipps and Beth. Any questions for staff? Yes, Councilmember Sobieski. |
| 00:20:23.33 | Ian Sobieski | Director Phipps, you highlighted some numbers I wanted to write down about housing applications that are already in process against our RENA number. Could you just summarize those again? |
| 00:20:33.46 | Brandon Phipps | Yes, happy to. Thank you for the question, Council Member. So these are also in a presentation on record that was presented at a May 6 City Council meeting. It was an accompanying slide in my PowerPoint presentation. But to repeat, we have approved over 100 units in total since the start of the sixth cycle, so that's since 2023. And we are currently processing approximately 147 units at different stages of the development review process. |
| 00:21:06.80 | Ian Sobieski | So even today when we're going to finally be approving this, you're already 14% of the way towards the RHNA number. |
| 00:21:14.99 | Brandon Phipps | I think we're making great progress. |
| 00:21:20.13 | Steven Woodside | Other questions? |
| 00:21:24.69 | Steven Woodside | City Clerk, any questions online? |
| 00:21:31.46 | Walfred Solorzano | seeing none but we do Thank you. You want to open public comment? Yes. |
| 00:21:34.53 | Steven Woodside | Yes, I'm now going to open it up for public comment. I will first call on Sophia Collier. Welcome. |
| 00:21:47.12 | Steven Woodside | And thank you for your kind note to the city council and staff. |
| 00:21:50.22 | Sophia Collier | Yes. Well, first of all, I just want to acknowledge what an amazing effort this is. Like, this is unbelievable amount of work. that is involved here. and the leadership of the council to carry this forward and to try to make, find a solution that works and listen to the public is just awesome. I mean, I know that when we were in here with Save Our Sausalito, with 670 folks making different points passionately so, and very grateful to hear the receptivity to those Wonderful to work with the team, Brandon, and everybody who worked on it. It's a very tough job. We're under a lot of pressure here. And I think that we did an admirable job. Certainly, there's going to be people like not happy about this or that. But in balance, I think this housing element is much better, much more improved. than the one we began with. So I really have to, Steven Woodside who joined the council and put his shoulder right to the wheel, our mayor leading us through this entire process. So I just wanna thank everybody that's been part of it on behalf of Save Our Sausalito and on behalf of myself. I just think it is great effort and very pleased to see it. I fully endorse moving forward as we are recommended to do so. Thank you. |
| 00:23:17.63 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Who else? |
| 00:23:20.03 | Walfred Solorzano | Seeing none. |
| 00:23:20.62 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. I see a hand raised. Please step forward, sir. and no one online. |
| 00:23:27.49 | Walfred Solorzano | Now we have somebody online. |
| 00:23:28.60 | Steven Woodside | at the end. |
| 00:23:28.67 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. |
| 00:23:28.69 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:23:28.84 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. |
| 00:23:31.46 | Scott Robinson | Scott Robinson, 625 Olima, Sausalito. I'm curious. to know a little more about the building proposed in the MLK Park. well about tall and so forth. |
| 00:23:43.61 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Any other comments? |
| 00:23:47.54 | Walfred Solorzano | Brian O'Neill's online. |
| 00:23:53.07 | Steven Woodside | Welcome, Brian. Long time no see. |
| 00:23:56.60 | Brian O'Neill | Good afternoon. This is Brian O'Neill on behalf of EMB Law. The proposed amendment does not address the fundamental flaws that permeated the prior housing amendment attempt and in fact compounds those issues by removing units on sites that are available which EMB has already explained in detail in prior comments to the city and to HCD. Among other things, the city has failed to provide substantial evidence or make findings that non-vacant sites will be available for residential development during the upcoming cycle. The prior housing element was not in substantial compliance, and the city cannot amend a housing element that does not comply with the law. The amendment does not change the fact that the city has been out of compliance this entire cycle. Further, it is procedurally improper to certify an EIR after the fact. The EIR identifies significant impacts from the prior housing and element confirming that the EIR must be certified prior to adoption, not after. The entire amendment could have been avoided had the city prepared an EIR prior to adoption as legally required. Thank you. |
| 00:25:07.19 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. No further public comment. |
| 00:25:10.26 | Steven Woodside | Any further public comment here? All right, seeing none, I will bring it up here for discussion and for a motion. Does anyone want to go ahead and make the motion that we can be discussing? All right, I will move. Thank you. Thank you all. Um, |
| 00:25:35.86 | Steven Woodside | I will move that we adopt a resolution certifying the amended 2023-2031 housing element EIR and adopting the CEQA findings, statement of overriding considerations, and mitigation monitoring and reporting program, rescinding the sixth cycle housing element, and approving the general plan amendments to adopt the amended 2023-2031 housing element and to adopt the amended and amendments to the land use and growth management, community design, historic and cultural preservation, and circulation and parking elements. So, |
| 00:26:11.30 | Joan Cox | Second. |
| 00:26:12.92 | Steven Woodside | All right, and with that, we can start our discussion. I'm gonna go ahead and just lead off briefly to address the comments that we just heard from Brian O'Neill. So first of all, I did not understand the comment that there are no findings that non-vacant sites will be developed. Beth or Brandon, do you have feedback? To that, I was not aware that we needed to make a finding that non-vacant sites would be developed. |
| 00:26:40.71 | Sergio Rudin | So I will address that. There is findings specifically in the draft resolution of adoption. Housing element law requires that you make specific findings with respect to non-vacant sites and the likelihood that they are going to be, the existing uses will be discontinued. |
| 00:26:58.87 | Sergio Rudin | or that they will not pose an impediment for development during the housing element cycle. So those findings are set forth in the draft resolution before you this evening. Additionally, perhaps Beth can comment on some of the non-vacant sites and the extensive outreach that was done to property owners with respect to gauging development potential and development interest on non-vaconsites. |
| 00:27:25.75 | Steven Woodside | Thank you for that. I will note that our resolution at Section 8 does have a specific section devoted to non-vacant sites. I will say I am personally aware of at least three non-vacant sites that are planned for development. One is the FedEx site in the Marin Ship. Another is the site owned by Dan Morgangan where we have avatar uh restaurant and the former chinese restaurant and a third is the city's own corporation yard a fourth is the city's mlk property assuming that the relevant resolution passes and so i am very well aware of um of not only the existence of the findings but also um the plans to develop uh non-vacant sites i also wanted to address the comment by mr o'neill about asserting that we cannot adopt a non-compliant housing element i would like to note for the record that first our housing element that was adopted in january of 2023 was specifically found to be compliant by the housing and community development department so I don't know how much further evidence we could have in place of having a compliant housing element in addition we received and it is attached as an exhibit to our staff report, attachment 14, a May 22, 2025 letter from HCD finding substantial compliance with housing element law of. the amended housing element that we are considering this evening. Finally, there was a comment made that you cannot approve an after-the-fact environmental impact report. I will note that the city undertook great lengths and efforts to ensure that we circulated and received comment and responded to that comment on an environmental impact report specific to this amended housing element. And so... We not only circulated at once we circulated it twice because we inadvertently left out a chapter during the first circulation and so the city. Has been very vigilant and thorough in ensuring that it's process for adoption of this housing element is appropriate and so those are just my preliminary comments to respond to. those comments from Thank you. A lawyer on behalf of a party with whom we are in litigation. And with that, I'll turn it over to others for comments. |
| 00:30:04.26 | Sybil | and I'll start. |
| 00:30:05.20 | Joan Cox | I'll start and I wanna just first point out that I've only participated on this side of the dais in the last few months and previously I was in the audience and paying attention and as time went on paying even more attention because there were things in |
| 00:30:05.81 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:30:05.84 | Sybil | you |
| 00:30:23.39 | Joan Cox | the housing element that I liked and things that I didn't like. And I think that's probably true for almost everybody looking at the document now. You're going to find things that you think are imperfect, but I think it's important to look at the big picture. We have an approved housing element in compliance with the law. We are moving forward to provide more housing. And from my point of view, the more affordable housing, the better. And it's a challenge. unlike, or we are like most cities, we have been given a number far greater than than at any time in history of Sausalito, and that's true of many cities. And the reason we're given this number is because the legislature has said that the lack of affordable housing is a matter of statewide concern, and the legislature then took it upon itself to mandate that cities create a housing element with these large numbers. I have to compliment my colleagues here on the dais. You voted unanimously along with my predecessor, Janelle Kelman, to approve the housing element. And you did so within the deadline. And it was compliant legally. And you deserve a lot of credit for doing that, even though I'm sure each one of you can find flaws in aspects of it from your personal point of view. But we have to act as a whole on behalf of the city to keep us not only out of trouble, but to do the right thing, to do our best to provide affordable housing in our town. So with that, I'm certainly happy at this point. to vote yes. I have to admit I'm feeling a little bit of a letdown because we're at the end of a very laborious project that took the time of many, many people, too many to single out at this point. But I do want to say something about the mayor. The last few weeks, I have witnessed her every Monday morning riding herd on the staff, as she is very capable of doing doing to make sure we meet the deadlines and she deserves a lot of praise for bringing us to this point. Thank you. |
| 00:32:50.41 | Jill Hoffman | Yes, thank you. So anybody, well, at the May 20th meeting, I made comments about my concerns about changes to modifying Sossley Ordinance 10.44.190, and that was changes that had to do with our inclusionary housing program that required at least one affordable housing unit. It also had to do with our requirements for residential housing on the second floor throughout our commercial districts. And my issue with that was that we seem to be undoing our current affordable housing programs at the same time on one hand and on the other hand, creating more housing requirements throughout town, on the other hand. that As part of that, we did not have any inventory about what units that applied to. And these were commercial districts across town and were going to affect neighborhoods across town and residents across town. And so I didn't understand the urgency with that. I didn't understand why we were doing that without the metrics for the council to make that decision or Residents that it was that these decisions are going to affect or tenants that this was going to affect and the affordable housing current affordable housing stock or future affordable housing stock nor how that was going to affect future programs that we were going to be voting on this summer and the burdens the new burdens THAT WAS GOING TO place on neighborhoods. And I was not comfortable voting on that ordinance and changes that ordinance, nor did I see the urgency to vote on that prior to this vote tonight, nor do I currently see that. Councils make these kinds of decisions all the time. Affordable housing policy decisions are often and constantly, primarily not driven solely by financial considerations. Other factors such as social equity, community needs, and policy considerations. also play crucial role in shaping affordable housing policies for example Councils may prioritize and often prioritize housing for seniors or residents who can age in place, even if it means less financial return. This this ordinance that we voted on specifically gives the planning commission the ability to do away with a residential affordable housing stock simply on a consideration that's not economically feasible or that is just not easily Physically feasible to retain residential housing stock. We did that without community input without notice to the residents who actually live in these units I think that's wrong and so I voted against that ordinance change and I don't believe I'm prepared to vote for this Vote for this this housing element for that reason tonight. There was no urgency for that vote last week |
| 00:35:54.24 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:35:55.41 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:35:55.76 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 00:35:55.80 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:35:55.85 | Melissa Blaustein | Sure. Okay. I just want to directly respond to address the concern that the recent changes in inclusionary housing compromise the integrity of our housing element because a lot of time and effort has been put into consideration with regards to affordability in this housing element. As someone who has voted for basically every housing project because I'm a strong advocate of affordability, I feel like I need to say something to the effect of that. So just to be clear, HCD already issued a letter confirming that our housing element is in substantial compliance with state law. That funding acknowledges our commitments under Program 15, including our plan to, quote, study, monitor, and refine our inclusionary housing strategy over time. Program 15, this program commits the city to monitoring the efficacy of its inclusionary requirements. requirements by initiating a fee nexus study in 2025 and by December 2025 adopting in lieu fees for smaller residential developments it goes on to say HTC received public comment indicating the City Council recently exempted projects of four dwelling units they remind the city this action should be evaluated for consistency with the program commitments the amendment we passed actually does not walk away from affordability it reflects our recognition that smaller projects might require a different more tailored approach approach, one that we're already working to actively define. We are not just making general promises. We've actually agendized specific actions for July 1st that include an inventory of affordable housing in the downtown, the launch of a fee nexus study aligned with the December 2025 commitment, development of a new inclusionary fee structure, and proposals for renter protections and anti-eviction policies. And to that end, I want to bring up another program in our housing element, Program 22, Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing. This program includes commitment to implement a variety of critical actions within the city. For example, programs committing to anti-displacement actions, including the development of an anti-eviction protection and rent stabilization ordinance, also requested to be agendized by July of 2025. These steps that we are taking for affordability as a council now demonstrate that we're taking not only a data-driven approach, but an equity-focused approach that not only meets our RENA obligations, but it meets the needs of our entire local community. Because for me, this housing element was an opportunity to show our community that we stand for more affordable housing and for doing the right thing. And the housing element is not just a standalone. It's a living, evolving document. And it does require adaptation. And certifying it tonight, while continuing to implement all of these policies and refine them, is how we're not only going to uphold our state compliance, but also the public trust and amount of time that we've put into this process. So I will be voting yes on this housing element and I stand beside our, our programs that will improve affordability in our community. |
| 00:38:32.07 | Jill Hoffman | Mayor, may I make this? Oh, sure. Thank you. |
| 00:38:39.38 | Steven Woodside | All right, I'll make some preliminary comments just to address Sausalito's commitment to affordable housing. So since, you know, I started serving on the Planning Commission in 2008 and worked with my first housing element for the city in 2010. So this is my third or fourth housing element for the city. And I will say that we have long demonstrated a commitment to affordable housing. In fact, that is the metric we have most easily met over all of these years. It is the moderate and above moderate requirements that we have been more challenged to meet due to the built-out nature of of Sausalito. So for example, in 2010, we considered our liveaboards, some of whom had lived on their boats longer than many of our hillside dwellers have lived on hills, we considered them to be transients. We changed that law. We reached out to the U.S. Census and actually had liveaboards reclassified to become residents to enjoy the ability to get mail, to vote in Sausalito, and to be stakeholders in Sausalito. And our example has since been followed by various other marine communities throughout California. We adopted first an accessory dwelling unit ordinance. Not only did we adopt that ordinance, we put in place an amnesty program so that anybody who had built an accessory dwelling unit during the time that they were prohibited in Sausalito could go ahead and come forward and very easily have that housing approved by the city of Sausalito. We quickly followed that with an extension of the amnesty program for accessory dwelling units and the adoption of a junior accessory dwelling unit program. In addition, the city personally is undertaking the facilitation of the development of affordable housing on city properties so that we can guarantee, ensure that it is 100% affordable and that it serves our seniors, which is the biggest demographic here in town, both at the corporation yard and and at the MLK site, which is Site 84, which will come up for voter approval later this year. And so at least for the 15 years that I have been involved with Sausalito's housing element, we have done more than our fair share, I believe, to demonstrate our commitment to affordable housing throughout town. Much of our, many of our inventory sites and other sites that are within our housing element are throughout town. We are not focusing affordability on just one sector. Again, I want to address the ordinance that we approved first reading last week. We will be bringing back the very issue that Councilmember Hoffman raised for a full hearing in front of the City Council on July 1. And so we have not just walked away from that. We adopted that ordinance to keep moving forward, but we are coming back to bring the data specifically requested by Council Members Blaustein and Hoffman on July 1st. Councilmember Hoffman. |
| 00:41:49.70 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thank you. With regard to the comments that have been made. There's no indication that HCD has been informed of the actions that we took on May 20th. Or the changes to the ordinance. So there's nothing in the letter that they sent to us that speaks to the the issue. or the actions that we took. or that they were aware of the actions that we took. So there's comments in their letter, but there's nothing that indicates, or there's no, I don't believe that they were informed of the actions that we took. And so. |
| 00:42:21.47 | Sergio Rudin | I would recommend that the council defer discussion of this item until we can properly agenda it. under the Brown Act. because as a practical matter, I don't think that this item, which is the discussion of our prior ordinance, which passed, is salient or necessarily directly germane to the action the council is proposing to take this evening and which has been agendized. |
| 00:42:46.33 | Jill Hoffman | I'm not understanding that direction from our city attorney. This is- |
| 00:42:50.41 | Sergio Rudin | I would recommend that if you want to have a deeper discussion about these issues or this agenda or revisiting the prior ordinance the council passed the last meeting that we agendize it and put it on a agenda under the brown. |
| 00:43:10.75 | Steven Woodside | I'll move that we accept the city attorney's direction on this point. |
| 00:43:17.30 | Joan Cox | second. |
| 00:43:18.56 | Steven Woodside | City clerk, would you call the roll? |
| 00:43:23.22 | Walfred Solorzano | Councilmember Blaustein. Council Member Hoffman. |
| 00:43:30.64 | Jill Hoffman | Hoffman. It's my name. I believe I'm next on the roll call. |
| 00:43:35.28 | Walfred Solorzano | Sorry, I called Blaustein and then I called Hoffman. |
| 00:43:39.91 | Jill Hoffman | Hoffman. |
| 00:43:40.77 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. |
| 00:43:40.80 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:43:41.01 | Sybil | Thank you. |
| 00:43:42.09 | Walfred Solorzano | like that. |
| 00:43:42.68 | Jill Hoffman | Yes, city clerk. I believe I'm next. My vote is no. Okay. |
| 00:43:46.69 | Walfred Solorzano | Okay. Thank you. Council Member Sobieski, Vice Mayor Woodside. Yes. And Mayor Cox. |
| 00:43:47.50 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:43:53.31 | Steven Woodside | Yes, that motion carries for one. All right, any further, yes. |
| 00:43:58.51 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you councilmember. So I was new on the city council and I'm not a lawyer. I often say that I'm an engineer. And when I joined the city council in 20, 21, one of our first votes was the beginning of this process hiring the consultant and engaging in this quite complicated legal morass process. And it's not. It's not. And it was hard for everybody, but I want to commend everyone for where we are now. In the last housing cycle, that's the previous housing cycle, in total we built something like 80 units across town, 80 new units. So already we haven't even certified our amended housing element. We're doing that today. But according to our director, Phipps, we are almost twice that. So, It is kind of a different era in Sausalito where we actually are building housing at a rate dramatically faster than in previous cycles. So we're responding to the challenge from the state. Change can be hard, And the concern always is that this kind of housing could undermine the character of our town. And that's always been the fear. And in the face of that fear, we perhaps cited too much on not building housing. But this new housing element actually is already exceeding that. So I voted against this housing approach when I first joined the council because I felt like we should have an urban planning approach. And I still advocate for it. But I want to commend the outcome here in that it is more serious and a compromise among many factions to actually identify sites that can build housing and that we are building housing we got a bunch of comments from people that intend to actually build housing and we're on a good track to do so so i want to give kudos to everybody who's endured this long march to success uh last week we got a letter from hcd uh certifying our housing element or saying it's in compliant with state law and tonight we're going to certify it uh bringing an end to that part of this journey uh and future agenda items in the future i hope we will continue to go with this momentum and set aggressive targets on actually adding the kinds of housing we want in sal salido many of our employees can't afford to live here many young families can't afford to move here. And I think we should be more aggressive in being proactive in designing programs that actually are fiscally realistic in promoting that kind of achievement. And I look forward to engaging on that subject in the future. So thank you, Mayor. Thank you. |
| 00:46:43.96 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Yep, I think. |
| 00:46:48.98 | Melissa Blaustein | I have been involved with the housing element, I would say, in a lot of ways since the mayor and I served on the general plan advisory committee, where we had the opportunity to say, wait, we're going to do that on the housing element. And this has been an incredible collaborative effort by our staff, by everyone on the dais, by our planning commission, and by our community. And again, I've continued to be impressed and moved by the amount of community input and how much our residents really care about what the makeup of our town looks like and I'm really excited because as I've said many times before I feel like the people you know, serving our community, deserve to live in our community. And it looks like we're going to have a lot of opportunity for more workforce housing. We're going to have an opportunity for more senior housing. And we got here because we took the time necessary, the months and months, and I would argue even years, to get us to a place where not everyone is thrilled. And that probably means we did a pretty good job. If no one, if everyone, if one group of people is especially happy and the other group is unhappy then we didn't exactly compromise and I think we're going to see new housing opportunities across our community in every pocket in in the best way possible and I'm really looking forward to working with our community development department and our city manager to see more of that housing actually come to fruition. So thank you so much to everyone who's been involved and everyone who, even everyone who just wrote one letter. We read all of them and it meant a lot. |
| 00:48:16.39 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. I will echo those comments and I will say this has truly been an iterative process. It's funny, council member blasting that you mentioned the general plan advisory committee. You did not mention the blue ribbon housing committee in 2018. Thank you. in which we sat down with local architects and other residents to figure out how can we better streamline the production of housing in Sausalito. And we came up with a number of programs, which now... Oh. We are in there and are in the process of being adopted through our odds. And so, um, that it truly has been a years long iterative process to which all of these council members and so many of our devoted staff, our city manager, our city attorney. have invested hours and hours and hours, literally, you're right, Vice Mayor, for the last, what, at least eight weeks, we have met every Monday morning at 9 a.m. We have had conference calls with HCD. We have had internal discussions, myriad, to ensure that we are addressing all of our various stakeholders' concerns in an equitable and appropriate fashion. I also want to point out that the housing element, sort of like the general plan, is a blueprint. But it's the implementation programs that will truly carry out the intent of the housing element. So the housing element doesn't contain a whole lot of detail. it instead relies on implementation programs to carry out its goals, such as the production of affordable housing, the streamlining of development permits that meet certain objective design standards, various mechanisms to ensure, as Council Member So sobieski pointed out that we indeed are facilitating and meeting production goals during the cycle. And so I'm really proud of this document. It reflects so much energy, effort, thoughtfulness, and really the best of intentions by all of those And so I will encourage us to adopt this by a 5-0 vote and to really allow the details to be worked out as we work through the implementation of the housing element. And so thank you all for your efforts. And unless there are any further comments, I'm ready to call the question. |
| 00:50:50.27 | Steven Woodside | All right, city clerk. |
| 00:50:52.11 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 00:50:53.82 | Steven Woodside | No, we voted to discontinue discussion of ordinance 10 point related to 10.44, but we have not to adopt the city attorney's recommendation. We have not voted on the adoption of the housing element. Did you have any more comments you wanted to make about the housing elements? Okay. All right. So city clerk. |
| 00:51:15.36 | Walfred Solorzano | Council Member Blastin. |
| 00:51:17.36 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:51:17.37 | Jill Hoffman | Enthusiastically, yes. |
| 00:51:19.18 | Walfred Solorzano | Councilmember Hoffman. |
| 00:51:20.68 | Jill Hoffman | No. |
| 00:51:21.59 | Walfred Solorzano | Councilmember Sabieski? Yes. Vice Mayor Woodside? Yes. Mayor Cox. |
| 00:51:26.77 | Steven Woodside | Enthusiastically, yes. All right, that motion carries 4-1. Congratulations to all. A truly phenomenal accomplishment. Okay. That's okay. |
| 00:51:37.88 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 00:51:37.89 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Thank you. With that, we will move on to our second public hearing, Introduction Waiver of First Reading of Ordinance Number 06-2025, an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Sausalito amending the official zoning map of the City of Sausalito and adopting various textual amendments to Title 10 of the Sausalito Municipal Code for the implementation of the sixth cycle housing element. And again, I will invite our Community and Economic Development Director, Brandon Phipps. |
| 00:52:07.71 | Brandon Phipps | Thank you very much, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council members, members of the public, and staff. This item is primarily a follow-on item to the action that Council just took. This is, as stated by the Mayor, a public hearing of an ordinance amending the official zoning map for the City of Sausalito and reflecting textual amendments to Title X of the Sausalito Municipal Code. Again, primarily for and to create and in connection with the implementation of the sixth cycle housing element. This amendment primarily creates consistency with program four of the city's housing element, which involves the city completing its program of rezoning and adopting overlay zones to allow development of residential units, identified opportunity sites at densities identified in the amended housing element. The action before council this evening is to approve the rezoning of opportunity sites not impacted by voter initiatives 1022 or 1128. And as council is aware and as stipulated in the staff report, the rezoning of sites impacted by those voter initiatives will be brought before voters via a ballot in the upcoming November election. In addition to the rezoning of sites not impacted by voter initiatives, the proposed ordinance also creates the overlay zones, which reflect the overlay zones presented in the city's housing element. And details on those zones are shown in the staff report as well as the proposed ordinance. There is also a specific site list that's being considered in connection with this item, and the specific development standards as well. Those are called out. I'll leave it there, and I will open it up to any questions. Thank you. |
| 00:53:44.91 | Melissa Blaustein | Councilmember Blaustein. Just a quick question, Director Phipps. Just to be clear, the ballot measures and the language for the ballot measures will be agendized at a later date so the community can weigh in. |
| 00:53:45.77 | Brandon Phipps | Thank you. |
| 00:53:55.09 | Brandon Phipps | Absolutely really appreciate that question council member Blaustein and I'm just going to pull up my calendar so I can ensure that I'm getting this on record. We're tentatively scheduled to bring the ballot measure item that you mentioned before council on July 1. So that's another excellent opportunity for the community to be able to weigh in in connection with these important items. Thank you. |
| 00:54:17.53 | Steven Woodside | Vice Mayor Woodside. |
| 00:54:19.13 | Joan Cox | Quick question. Director Phipps, the zoning changes that we would authorize if we pass this tonight are, as you said, only affect those that are not subject to the initiative. That would mean they're not changing the zoning for MLK tonight, correct? |
| 00:54:39.62 | Brandon Phipps | That is an excellent wrinkle. Thank you very much for that, Vice Mayor. I will, yes, I will clarify that. And you are correct. Site 84 is not a part of City Council's decision this evening. That will be up to the voters to consider in November. And that is assuming that all of the appropriate dominoes fall in connection with how we're bringing this item before Council, the ballots be provided to the county and to have those items put on with the appropriate ballot language. |
| 00:55:10.48 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 00:55:12.78 | Steven Woodside | Other questions? City Clerk. |
| 00:55:19.19 | Walfred Solorzano | Sorry, I see no public comment right now. Thank you. |
| 00:55:21.27 | Steven Woodside | No questions. Oh, questions. Okay. Oh, wait, sorry. I'm ready for public comment. I have no speaker cards from the, and I am opening the public hearing. I see no speaker cards from the audience. Is there anyone online? |
| 00:55:21.28 | Walfred Solorzano | No, questions. |
| 00:55:36.54 | Walfred Solorzano | See you later. |
| 00:55:38.97 | Steven Woodside | Welcome, Sybil. |
| 00:55:39.85 | Sybil | Thank you. |
| 00:55:43.85 | Sybil | Thank you, Mayor, City Council members. I'm so excited that you were actually past the housing element. And as you start to look at these implementation programs, I notice that one really is missing, which is an implementation program to really see that we build housing that's accessible for seniors and people with disabilities for the now 3,140 people over age 55. that are current voters in South Salido 2,629 of them over age 60, according to our election board. And so we need to think about that. And I'm looking forward to working with you on a potential visitability ordinance to make available more suitable housing for folks that need a little bit more accessibility built into the residents that are being constructed. So I thank you very much for saying that you'll contemplate making such a, except, you know, passing such a ordinance in the future. And I'm working with folks in the city to develop a draft to suggest and bring to you. And of course, with Mr. Fitz when he has time to work on this. But we want to provide something to give you a starting point. So we've been doing a lot of research in that area and hope to be helpful in that way. Thank you very much. |
| 00:57:27.61 | Steven Woodside | Thank you, Sybil, and thank you for your ongoing, decades-long commitment to our seniors here in Sausalito. And you have my commitment that the agenda setting committee will place a visitability ordinance on our agenda for consideration as soon as the Community Development Department has a chance to take a breath and survive the first six months of 2025. |
| 00:57:53.43 | Walfred Solorzano | No further public comment? |
| 00:57:54.97 | Steven Woodside | All right, I will close public comment and bring it up here for discussion. Who would like to lead off? |
| 00:58:02.84 | Steven Woodside | I'm going to lead off by making a motion. I move that, and by the way, I've closed the public hearing. I'm going to move that the City Council, introduced by title only and waive first reading of Ordinance Number 06-2025, an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Sausalito, California, amending the official zoning map of the City of Sausalito and adopting various textual amendments to Title 10 of the Sausalito Municipal Code for the implementation of the sixth cycle housing element. |
| 00:58:33.24 | Melissa Blaustein | second. |
| 00:58:34.89 | Steven Woodside | All right, any discussion? All in favor? Aye. That motion carries five zero. |
| 00:58:38.87 | Melissa Blaustein | Aye. |
| 00:58:42.45 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:58:48.16 | Steven Woodside | Okay, with that, we are ready for adjournment. The next regularly scheduled city council meeting will be held June 3, 2025, with the open session due to commence at approximately 7 p.m. Thank you all. |
| 00:59:03.92 | Joan Cox | you |
| 00:59:04.93 | Sybil | Thank you. |
Scott Robinson — Neutral: Asked for more information about the building proposed at MLK Park, specifically regarding its height. ▶ 📄
Brian O'Neill — Against: Argued the amendment does not address fundamental flaws, fails to provide evidence non-vacant sites will be available, claims the prior element was not compliant, and states it is improper to certify an EIR after the fact. ▶ 📄