| Time | Speaker | Text |
|---|---|---|
| 00:00:08.60 | Walfred Solorzano | afternoon mayor and city council. Tonight's city council meeting for the special meeting for the city of Sausalito is being held in council chambers at 420 Little Street. And it's also being held at 3 McKinley Square, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109. This meeting is also being broadcast on Zoom, also live on the city's website and on cable TV channel 27. |
| 00:00:34.56 | Steven Woodside | Thank you, city clerk. I'll call the meeting to order. Will you call the roll, please? |
| 00:00:41.56 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. |
| 00:00:41.97 | John Wales | Thank you. |
| 00:00:42.03 | Chris Zapata | Blaustein. |
| 00:00:43.03 | Melissa Blaustein | here. |
| 00:00:44.04 | Chris Zapata | Councilmember Hoffman. |
| 00:00:45.16 | John Wales | Thank you. |
| 00:00:45.29 | Melissa Blaustein | Here. |
| 00:00:45.49 | John Wales | Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:00:46.17 | Chris Zapata | Councilmember Sobieski. and he'll be, he is not present yet. |
| 00:00:51.75 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. |
| 00:00:51.77 | Melissa Blaustein | Yeah. |
| 00:00:51.95 | Steven Woodside | you |
| 00:00:52.07 | Melissa Blaustein | for the regular portion of the meeting. |
| 00:00:53.86 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. |
| 00:00:53.90 | Walfred Solorzano | and we'll see you next time. Vice mayor Woodside here. And Mayor Cox. |
| 00:00:59.60 | Steven Woodside | Is the city attorney on? |
| 00:01:02.44 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. |
| 00:01:02.45 | John Wales | The city attorney is on. |
| 00:01:04.07 | Steven Woodside | Okay. Do we need to approve remote participation, city attorney? It's already noticed on our agenda, but it's... This is a portion of my agenda. It says approval of remote participation. |
| 00:01:17.17 | Sergio Rudin | No, I believe we do not. As I believe Councilmember Sobieski indicated he was planning on attending in person when he's able to join us. And I believe we have noticed Council Member Woodside's participation under the traditional Brown Act rules. |
| 00:01:33.79 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 00:01:33.81 | Steven Woodside | We have. Okay, wonderful. All right, with that, we will move on to closed session. We will be discussing one item in closed session conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation, pursuant to government code section 54956.9 D for initiation of litigation. One case. Is there any public comment on our closed session? |
| 00:01:53.97 | Walfred Solorzano | See none. |
| 00:01:55.25 | Steven Woodside | With that, we will adjourn to closed session. We'll resume at 5 p.m. Thank you. |
| 00:03:02.23 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. |
| 00:03:02.25 | Jerry Spolter | Thank you, sir. Be good. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:03:05.44 | Steven Woodside | He cannot hear you. He can't hear us? |
| 00:03:06.80 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. |
| 00:03:06.82 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Yep. |
| 00:03:08.07 | John Flavin | Now I can. OK. |
| 00:03:09.35 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. All right, roll call. Vice Tamir Woodside? |
| 00:03:12.31 | John Flavin | Here. |
| 00:03:12.73 | Walfred Solorzano | you and Mayor Cox. |
| 00:03:14.94 | Melissa Blaustein | THE END OF |
| 00:03:14.99 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. |
| 00:03:16.07 | Melissa Blaustein | Okay, we will start with the Pledge of Allegiance. |
| 00:03:23.07 | Steven Woodside | I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States. |
| 00:03:27.93 | Babette McDougall | Thank you. |
| 00:03:28.69 | Steven Woodside | for which of sadness, one given under God, and do this at all with me. |
| 00:03:35.03 | Jill Hoffman | and justice for all. |
| 00:03:40.50 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:03:42.32 | Steven Woodside | We held a closed session this evening. There are no closed session announcements. I'm going to ask for approval of the agenda, but I've had a request. that we move item 5C to become item 5A. Is there any objection to that? |
| 00:04:03.98 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:04:04.03 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:04:04.28 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:04:04.74 | Steven Woodside | Okay, that means moving the. |
| 00:04:06.29 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:04:07.15 | Steven Woodside | It just means we'll hear the road reconstruction item as our first business item. |
| 00:04:12.31 | Chris Zapata | Yeah. |
| 00:04:13.12 | Steven Woodside | All right. May I have a question for |
| 00:04:13.91 | Chris Zapata | Yeah, America. Thank you. Mayor, if I can. Yes. City manager. We're hidden. |
| 00:04:16.88 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:04:19.01 | Chris Zapata | The police item, we want to have that removed from the consent calendar as well, if that's possible. Yes. |
| 00:04:25.44 | Steven Woodside | Yes, we will remove item 3I, and we are going to move, we're going to move item 3C to become a business item. That will be business item 5D. With those amendments, may I have a motion approving the amended agenda? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Please call roll. |
| 00:04:53.57 | John Flavin | on some... |
| 00:04:54.18 | Steven Woodside | Pardon me. And so item 5A is now 5B? Item 5A is now 5B. Okay, that's fine. Thank you. |
| 00:05:01.98 | Unknown | Whoa. |
| 00:05:05.45 | Steven Woodside | Roll call. |
| 00:05:05.84 | Annie Porter | Thank you. |
| 00:05:06.45 | Walfred Solorzano | Council member Blasdine. you |
| 00:05:08.10 | Annie Porter | Yes. |
| 00:05:09.20 | Walfred Solorzano | Councilmember Hoffman. |
| 00:05:09.96 | Ben Canberra | Thank you. |
| 00:05:10.50 | Annie Porter | Yes. |
| 00:05:11.44 | Walfred Solorzano | Councilmember Sobieski is still absent. Vice Mayor Woodside? Yes. Mayor Cox? |
| 00:05:18.24 | Steven Woodside | Yes, that motion carries 4-0. Folks, I want to let you know, we know, we realize that there are a lot of you here and our parking lot is full. And so to put your minds at rest, the police will not be issuing parking citations around this area during our meeting. So please don't worry about rushing out. Our chief is here. You can thank her for that. So. Okay, with that, there are no special presentations this evening. I'll now open it up to communications. This is the time for the City Council to hear from citizens regarding matters within the jurisdiction of the City Council that were not on the agenda. Except in very limited situations, state law precludes the council from taking action on or engaging in discussions concerning items that are not on the agenda. I have some request forms. The first is Lisa B. Pierapont. |
| 00:06:18.28 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:06:21.54 | Babette McDougall | Hello. I would like to express my strong objection to the 605-613 Broadway It destroys historic Sausalito forever, altering Thank you. how it is lived and viewed. Everything about it reminds me of the Fontana 1968 apartment in San Francisco. Don't let this gross overreach move forward. Thank you. |
| 00:06:51.19 | Steven Woodside | Next is Fred Moore and then Mary Goff. |
| 00:07:05.40 | George von Mest | EDV Mayor and members of the Council. I thank each of you for the many |
| 00:07:08.98 | Walfred Solorzano | that you devote to make the city better. Please continue to support the economic spark downtown and the reuse of the Wells Fargo Bank building. The pocket has the support of overwhelming number of city residents. Also, please remain diligent and unanimously reject any proposal downtown that fails to address our historic requirements or so large that is out of scale or lacks any architectural style whatsoever. The state of California continues to pass broad brush legislation like the housing mandates and the daylighting laws. So we need to implement creative solutions to adapt our city and limit liability while maintaining our salty character. During these efforts, we cannot let our pursuit of perfection blind us to solutions of excellence. Our city needs creative solutions which enhance our economics, ensure appropriate infrastructure exists, and protects the city from liability. These solutions mean we can no longer do things the way we have been doing them for past decades. Priorities should be given to projects that enhance the city both now and in the future, protect the environment, support businesses, and minimize city liability. Please consider using design professionals to address these challenges and seek resident input through study sessions and community meetings. As Gail noted in her book, Passages, if we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we aren't really living. We all need to join together as the city grows. Thank you. |
| 00:08:41.99 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 00:08:42.50 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:08:42.53 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. Mary Goff and |
| 00:08:43.97 | Steven Woodside | then Kay Mitzel, and then John Wales. Thank you. |
| 00:08:49.32 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. My concern is to protect the beautiful historic district of Sausalito. |
| 00:08:51.24 | Steven Woodside | Okay. |
| 00:08:57.60 | Sandra Bushmaker | There's only one. I equate that to Tinsley Island that says, There's only one place in the world like this. Please. Yes. Thank you. |
| 00:09:09.25 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Kay Mitzel, then John Wales, then Tully Friedman. |
| 00:09:14.44 | Kay Mitzel | Thank you. Good evening, Council. Thank you for the time. I'm Kay Mitzel. I've been a resident for almost 50 years in this lovely little town. And I just simply want to echo what Mary just said in the first speaker. I am very much opposed to the monster building that is being considered on Bridgeway. And I encourage you to do everything possible. Do not allow that. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:09:38.35 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:09:39.35 | Kay Mitzel | John Wynne. |
| 00:09:39.97 | Steven Woodside | then Tully Friedman, and then Faye Rudio. |
| 00:09:45.75 | John Wales | My name is John Wales. I've been a CPA and resident of Sausalito for over 50 years. Jackie Amrigas is also a CPA, asked me to review the budget with her. And we had several discussions, and she drafted a letter to the city council, et cetera, that I also signed. we discussed that the budget that was approved had some numbers in it for this year. It didn't show the audited results from a couple of years ago. It did not show the projected end of the year results. So you couldn't do a comparison between what had taken place and what the city was planning for the future. So I know that a proposal has been made for a forensic audit which could be helpful and and coming up with a format for the budget to be approved and passed by the city council so i would recommend i would support that proposal |
| 00:10:54.09 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 00:10:56.49 | Steven Woodside | Tully Friedman, then Fay Rudio, Then Robert Machulat. |
| 00:11:03.40 | Tully Friedman | Good evening. I hope I'm speaking to the converted. I would, to save time, I would simply enthusiastically endorse our neighbors. |
| 00:11:07.62 | Steven Woodside | to the |
| 00:11:07.69 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:11:07.89 | Steven Woodside | THE END OF |
| 00:11:07.98 | Sandra Bushmaker | Please. |
| 00:11:11.08 | Tully Friedman | concerns about the historic district and oppose any development or construction that impairs that valuable district. Thank you. |
| 00:11:19.47 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 00:11:23.96 | Steven Woodside | Fay Rudio, then Robert Matchelat, then Laura Wright. |
| 00:11:33.42 | Faye Rudio | Good evening. I'm Faye Rudio. I've lived here for 20 years. I thought the big building was over. that the planning commission said no and it didn't sit So I was amazed that this is up again. And I urge you to follow what the planning department said Just deny the request. It would really ruin our city. Thank you. |
| 00:11:52.02 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Robert Machelat. Laura Wright, and then Annie Porter. |
| 00:12:00.17 | Robert Machulat | Excellent pronunciation of a difficult name. Thank you. |
| 00:12:03.43 | Steven Woodside | I tried. |
| 00:12:03.95 | Robert Machulat | Thank you all for your time and care on these subjects. I just want to add something which has been said in a little different way, which is, I think, you know, a lot of what's going on is the product of a very well intentioned. |
| 00:12:04.04 | Steven Woodside | THE END OF |
| 00:12:19.43 | Robert Machulat | But ill-advised housing plan out of Sacramento, at least one opinion. Something needs to be done, but it needs to take into account communities like ours, which are unique and different and require much more than a broad brush. Thank you. paraphrase Star Wars, you are Jedi or our last and only hope. So I hope that you are find a way to, to manage this difficult problem, but in a way that, that saves our, our town for what it needs to be and is. |
| 00:12:54.59 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. Laura Wright, then Annie Porter, then Diana Dempsey. |
| 00:13:00.55 | Steven Woodside | I want to let you know, I am going to make a brief statement at the end of this public comment. So I invite you to stay or else listen to the tape later on so that you can hear our perspective. |
| 00:13:11.64 | Lori Wright | Right. Good evening, Madam Mayor and City Council. Thank you. My name is Lori Wright, and I've lived in Sausalito for 25 years now. I think it's very critical that we protect our historic district. And I would really... hope that the council will reject the developer appeal. on 605 Bridgeway, this monster project. The staff and planning commission did their job and documented that the project does not comply with Sausalito zoning and laws. I'm hoping that the council must and will follow through and reject the appeal now. Thank you. |
| 00:13:50.94 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 00:13:50.96 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Annie Porter, then Diana Dempsey, then Swinney. |
| 00:13:56.03 | Annie Porter | and Sammels. |
| 00:13:56.95 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:13:56.96 | Annie Porter | you Good evening, council. I'm Annie Porter. I've lived in Sausalito for 35 years. I adamantly oppose the proposal at 605 Bridgeway. We need to protect the historic district. This proposal is totally out of sync with its surroundings. In my 35 years here, I've seen quite a few proposals. This one pretty much takes the cake. for being completely out of character. Please reject the appeal by the developer for 605 Bridgeway. Thank you. Thank you. Day. |
| 00:14:32.98 | Steven Woodside | Hannah Dempsey, then Susan Samuels, then Sear Ware. CG Ware, yeah. |
| 00:14:40.32 | Diana Dempsey | Good evening. I, like so many Sausalitans that you're hearing tonight, I'm also here to ask you to please reject the appeal from the developer of 605 Bridgeway. What I'd like to mention that I haven't heard anyone speak of yet tonight is the, we know what pressure the council is under from the developer. And I just encourage you to keep in mind that appeasement now will not make things easier down the road. It'll only make things tougher down the road. Um, We all can think of a certain bully who wants to go after American universities and shows us his first target, Columbia. And what did Columbia do? Columbia caved. Columbia decided to appease. Did the bully stop? The bully did not stop. So I encourage you to just stand firm. Remember what the vast majority of the people of Sausalito want you to do, which is oppose this appeal. and we will be eternally grateful. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:15:48.05 | Steven Woodside | Susan Samuels, CG Ware, and then Jed Dempsey. See you. |
| 00:15:54.95 | Susan Samuels | I like others, I'm here in vehement opposition of 605 Bridgeway in our historic district. And I hope that the council |
| 00:16:03.04 | Diana Dempsey | and the Planning Commission, this Council and Planning Commission, and future councils and Planning Commissions will continue to reject similar developments, not just in our historic district, but throughout our community that destroy the unique character. Thank you. |
| 00:16:24.25 | Steven Woodside | C.G., then Dempsey, then. Chica Raymond. |
| 00:16:30.68 | CG Ware | Good evening. Hi, I'm CG Ware. I live at 171 San Carlos. Been a resident for over 25 years. And I want to say, whatever, if this monstrosity got built, it would not block my view. I'm here as someone who supported historic preservation for years and years. And this is why I'm just adamantly opposed to this. You know, your staff, as you have known, has gone into this, and has looked at it and has said, no, this is not a good idea. So I think one of the crucial things is that you support your staff who's taken the time and trouble to do this. One little thing I wanted to mention, I went to the Marin women lawyers meeting. I'm not a lawyer, but I was invited as a guest. And I heard the lieutenant governor, who was Um, assaulted really with all the lawyers saying what a terrible idea this nine story thing would be for our town. And she was very interested and she said, you know, I think that there are some very horrible unintended consequences coming from this law and there needs to be some remedies. So I think you should link up with the lieutenant governor of the state of California and find out if she can give you some support here. to find a way to carve out things like Thank you. a historic district that's one of only 11 |
| 00:17:47.61 | Unknown | and I'm not sure. |
| 00:17:49.28 | CG Ware | in the entire state. Because I grew up in Carmel, and Carmel is now only for the wealthy. This building will be for second and third and fourth homes for the rich. It will not solve any of our problems, which we need so much, which is better housing for people who can afford it. So just check in with the lieutenant governor and see if you can get some help. Thank you. |
| 00:18:10.76 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:18:10.78 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you, CG. I will note |
| 00:18:12.97 | Steven Woodside | For the record that our Councilmember Sobieski arrived at 520, welcome. He has been traveling all day. but made the effort to be here. We very much appreciate that. Next up is Jed Dempsey, then Chuck Raymond, then Sophia Collier. |
| 00:18:27.84 | Jed Dempsey | Hi, my name is Jed Dempsey. I live on Bulkley Avenue. |
| 00:18:31.57 | Sophia Collier | Thank you. |
| 00:18:31.92 | Jed Dempsey | Thank you. |
| 00:18:32.03 | Sophia Collier | I'd like to thank the city council and staff again for all their work on our behalf. As many other people have been, I'm here to talk about an item that is not on the agenda, the monster development proposed at 605 Bridgeway. My goal is twofold, to remind the city council how important this issue is to me and many other Sausalitans, as we're seeing, and to encourage its council members to do everything they can to fight this project and to protect the historic district. I don't have to tell you that the proposed project is ridiculously unsuitable for the location and would severely damage the historic district. more than 2000 Sausalitans who may not agree about anything else. have signed a petition opposing the project. |
| 00:19:16.47 | Jed Dempsey | Thank you. Indeed, there's probably only one person in Sausalito |
| 00:19:20.83 | John Wales | Thank you. you |
| 00:19:21.40 | Jed Dempsey | Thank you. |
| 00:19:21.42 | John Wales | that thinks it's a good idea. I'd like to make two points. |
| 00:19:25.25 | Sophia Collier | Thank you. |
| 00:19:25.72 | John Wales | First, |
| 00:19:26.03 | Sophia Collier | you This isn't about preserving views for a few nearby residents. It's about preserving the character and charm of the historic district that is the heart of Sausalito's appeal, and is its economic engine. That charm is why many of us came here and why more than a million visitors a year support the local economy. Imagine if the monster project makes sauce leader, just 5% less attractive. How many of our Bridgeway businesses could survive with 5% less revenue? Second. While it may be tempting to look for an accommodation that will make this conflict go away, It is foolhard. Once Sausalito is seen as a soft target, you can be sure that 10 more developers or the same one again. We'll try to play |
| 00:20:14.96 | Jed Dempsey | same game. So one project will become two. and two will become 10. There is no easy way out. |
| 00:20:23.97 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:20:24.79 | Jed Dempsey | the time to stand |
| 00:20:25.97 | Steven Woodside | fight is now. I'm here. Thank you so much. |
| 00:20:34.98 | Steven Woodside | Chuck Raymond, then Sophia Collier, and then Jan Johnson. |
| 00:20:46.91 | Steven Woodside | I don't see Chuck, so come on up, Safiya. Welcome. |
| 00:20:50.10 | Jed Dempsey | Thank you. Thank you very much. And I also want to echo what others have said in the sense that I really do appreciate so much the efforts of the council. And I know that this is a difficult situation trying to balance many different things and make good decisions for us going forward. And I am very grateful for that effort and work. And I want to particularly acknowledge the mayor in her kindness to our organization and listening to us and trying to find solutions, as she always is trying to do. as well as of course our other council members, So I want to just say that I'm here to ask to deny the appeal. and that on November 14th, the staff issued an 18-page letter, which really should be awarded a Pulitzer Prize for a letter that was so well-documented, wonderful staff talent that we have. Our planning commissioners, Commission properly denied it. And it's impossible to overstate how devastating this project would be for Sausalito. As the city's own contracted architectural stories have found in two detailed reports. this project would destroy the historic district. And that that's not my words, that's their words in their reports. So we cannot allow our legacy to be the destruction of the historic district. And I know that we're in a difficult political and legal environment, but I want to urge the council to remember that 2200 people did sign a petition against the project. And as our representatives, we need you to fight for us and also for you to know that we stand behind you. The Sausalito we treasure and love exists because generations of people in Sausalito have worked hard to create it and preserve it. And we cannot fail now in our moment. Thank you. Thank you. JAM. |
| 00:22:41.98 | Steven Woodside | Johnson, then John Flavin. And then... Sonia Hanson. |
| 00:22:48.26 | Diana Dempsey | Thank you. |
| 00:22:48.27 | Susan Samuels | I agree with everything Sophia said. I call it the beached Queen Mary, except it's more hideous than the Queen Mary. And I think I should just add that I believe that there's a baby monster project soon to be proposed for the McCain historic white cottage that's behind this site. It should be squashed like a bug as soon as humanly possible. Thank you and please, |
| 00:23:18.97 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Welcome, John Flavin, then Sonia Hansen, and then Alice Merrill. |
| 00:23:30.44 | John Flavin | I just want to advise you all that Hay City Council has posted a petition on the web on the Internet, and you can reach it by going through Hay City Council and just tapping on the little box that has the petition in it. I have a copy of the petition results to the hour almost. |
| 00:23:46.32 | Sergio Rudin | Yeah. |
| 00:23:46.34 | Chris Zapata | Yeah. |
| 00:23:51.65 | Sergio Rudin | And we have well over 100 of these I'm still going to be down with my |
| 00:23:58.10 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. |
| 00:23:58.25 | John Flavin | Bye. Yeah. |
| 00:23:58.88 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. |
| 00:23:58.93 | Sergio Rudin | Thank you. |
| 00:23:58.96 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. |
| 00:23:59.01 | Sergio Rudin | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:24:00.03 | Walfred Solorzano | Um, a lot of this |
| 00:24:04.03 | John Flavin | And the frustration stems from transparency. And so I would encourage you all, if you decide to do this step, that you get a citizens committee to be involved throughout the process. So that we take any idea of favoritism, whatever out of the picture, it'll be professionals. Uh, and then, |
| 00:24:27.03 | Unknown | A would be in choosing the forensic firm to conduct the investigation. I know a lot of people have concerns, but it needs to be done. You need to restore the sense of |
| 00:24:42.97 | John Flavin | your shepherd of a good financial situation for the city of Sausage Meadon. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:24:50.75 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Sonia Hansen, then Alice Merrill, Then Bob Freeman. |
| 00:24:59.93 | Sonia Hansen | Sonia Hansen, Sausalito resident. I don't even want to think about how many years. First, I'd like to say I certainly agree with John. We need a forensic review of the financial situation in this town. Many, many, many of us are very concerned, and until there is a forensic audit, We're skeptical and very suspicious of what's going on. So thank you. Second of all, this room full of people includes people out there because there's no room. And we've asked about this before, and I'm going to ask again. When you're going to have a full chamber, and you usually are going to know when that happens, please arrange for this to happen. ID Test Hall, the Spinnaker, you have choices. And it would be actually quite a, we would be considering the rest of us. So please, in the future. And if anybody looks at the ceiling in this room, This room is a disgrace. And I know coming up later in the agenda, you're talking about spending millions and millions of dollars unnecessarily. How about we take care of what we've got? Thank you. |
| 00:26:09.42 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. And thank you for your comment about choosing a bigger venue. I had no idea we were going to have this many people here this evening. I learned when I walked in the door this evening, one of you advised me that there was going to be a gathering of people. So I invite you, if you know that a number of you are going to show up to be heard, let us know and we will absolutely do our best to make accommodations so that all of you have a seat and all of you are comfortable as you chat with us. Welcome, Alice. Hello. Next, Bob Freeman. And then next, Chuck Raymond. |
| 00:26:40.40 | Unknown | And the. |
| 00:26:40.49 | Annie Porter | Oh. |
| 00:26:45.45 | Alice Merrill | Okay, I have two things. On the subject of the forensic audit, I think that full transparency at this point is a good idea. Why not? Why not? Um, people have asked for this in very many ways and very different venues and, um, I'm not sure. I think that our fellow who is working on the budget all right now is a wonderful guy. I think he's a wonderful guy. I'm not suggesting anything. I'm suggesting that for full transparency with the concerns that people have, you just go ahead and get the... |
| 00:27:24.97 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:27:25.02 | Alice Merrill | Forensic Audit. |
| 00:27:25.97 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:27:26.04 | Alice Merrill | that is fully transparent, please. Then, on the subject of this big house, it's terrible, awful, I don't get it, why she's doing it, but the house up in the back that Jan Johnson mentioned, |
| 00:27:35.60 | Unknown | He's doing it. |
| 00:27:40.48 | Alice Merrill | Um, I think that's a historic house, and I don't know if you guys all know that, but William Tiffany lived there. And he is one of the sort of founding father fellows here in Sausalito. He was here a long time ago, and there's a park named after him. But when we were kids, we would come down that hill, and my mom would point it out that it had the... It had the widow's walk and she said that was the Tiffany house. Turns out. He was a relative, which I did not know. Until he came back. But anyway, it is a historic building because it is... William Tiffany's house. Thank you. |
| 00:28:24.62 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you, Bob Freeman, and then Chuck Raymond. |
| 00:28:30.41 | Bob Freeman | Good evening. I'm Bob Freeman. I have the Trident Building across the street from this project. I basically concur with all the comments before, or 99% of them. I think it's very important that we protect the historic preservation of the town. It's something, once it goes away, you'll never get it back. It's going to run like a train down the street. So I think it has to be denied as far as i'm concerned one of the other problems that nobody seems to draw on is while this is under construction which i would guesstimate a nine story building if the statue would be a one and a half to two year project i would think the strain that's going to be put on downtown parking, which will strain every business up and down the block or blocks, I think it would be a major headache for the downtown. I strongly hope that you'll deny this appeal. Thank you. |
| 00:29:33.54 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. I have one more speaker card and I called it earlier Chuck Raymond. I don't know if he perhaps left after turning in a speaker card. Okay. Is anyone online, City Clerk? |
| 00:29:45.31 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 00:29:46.03 | Walfred Solorzano | Yes, we do have about six speakers. First one is Sandra Bushmaker. |
| 00:29:54.91 | Sandra Bushmaker | Good evening, counsel. I have a slightly different issue to raise with you. You may not be aware, but the July 15th, |
| 00:30:03.78 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:30:03.80 | Sandra Bushmaker | agenda. was purged under items number 5 was purged of all the staff reports and all the attachments. I do believe that's improper. As that was a. Hosted. and a meeting, official meeting of this city. So we don't have the documents that were under Item 5. Interestingly enough, all the consent items are still there on the website. So I just want to bring that to your attention because I think it's important to have a full, complete public record. Now I realize what happened at the July 15th meeting that we had to be adjourned after communications because of a quorum was not Um, Not at all. existing any longer. |
| 00:30:54.22 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:30:54.24 | Sandra Bushmaker | I realize that I don't know if that explains this issue, but I do want to make sure that our public record is complete and I want to see a restoration of all those reports. to be put back under item five for the July 15th, 2020 six, a 2025 agenda. |
| 00:31:13.78 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:31:14.37 | Sandra Bushmaker | And a |
| 00:31:14.98 | Steven Woodside | Lastly, I do support the forensic audit particularly in light of the firing of our finance director, We don't know what we don't know, and I think we should be looking at ourselves to reassure the public and you as stewards of our Thank you. |
| 00:31:32.24 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. |
| 00:31:32.26 | Steven Woodside | city. |
| 00:31:33.04 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. |
| 00:31:33.15 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:31:33.17 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:31:33.47 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:31:33.52 | Sandra Bushmaker | of what is going on with our financial situation. Thank you. |
| 00:31:40.39 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Thank you for the heads up about the agenda. I will ask the city clerk to look into that and find out what happened. Who's next? |
| 00:31:51.61 | Walfred Solorzano | by Beth McDougal. |
| 00:31:56.69 | Babette McDougall | Good evening. Thank you so much, Babette McDougall, a resident. So I just would like to weigh in generally. First of all, are we still in public comment generally, Madam Mayor? I think we are because so many people have drilled down on certain issues. Just want to make sure we're still in broad public conversation. |
| 00:32:13.97 | Steven Woodside | And And with that in mind, I would like to just again appeal to all of us and each of you. to know that if we do not come together, and rise above what you can clearly see is a deep concern Thank you. |
| 00:32:29.09 | Alice Merrill | Thank you. |
| 00:32:29.13 | Steven Woodside | or trust. |
| 00:32:29.97 | Alice Merrill | I'm not. in the leadership of this community. This has been a rolling problem, and I think it's at critical mass now because the stakes are so high and they can't be avoided anymore. They're right in front of us, so we need a lot of daylighting. of what we are truly facing. That's why, for example, the Senate Bill 79 thing, is really important. Now, |
| 00:32:53.97 | Steven Woodside | Like Ms. Bushmaker, I'm really kind of unclear on where that stands, too. So I'd love some clarification there. There are so many things that are on the line for our town. So if we don't stand together, then we're going to lose that character that all of us are saying we love so much and would like to hold on to. Thank you. |
| 00:33:14.03 | Alice Merrill | Thank you. |
| 00:33:14.05 | Steven Woodside | So thank you so much for listening. I yield back my time. |
| 00:33:18.45 | Alice Merrill | City Clerk. |
| 00:33:21.02 | Walfred Solorzano | Judy W. |
| 00:33:28.97 | Sandra Bushmaker | Good evening. Thank you for your time. |
| 00:33:32.04 | CG Ware | 30-year resident of Sausalito, living in the historic district since |
| 00:33:37.03 | Sandra Bushmaker | seven. |
| 00:33:37.74 | CG Ware | Amen. |
| 00:33:38.03 | Sandra Bushmaker | We must protect our historic district Please reject the developer appeal on the entirely inappropriate project proposed for 605 Bridgeway. Thank you to the staff and planning commission who did |
| 00:33:53.03 | Annie Porter | that the project does not comply with Sausalito's zoning and laws. I urge the council to follow through and reject the appeal now once and for all. |
| 00:34:02.97 | CG Ware | Thank you. |
| 00:34:03.17 | Annie Porter | Thank you. |
| 00:34:03.42 | CG Ware | Thank you. |
| 00:34:06.04 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. Next speaker is Daniel T. |
| 00:34:16.18 | Dan Chagru | Love you. Can you hear me? Oh, hello. Well, I want to thank you, Mayor Cox, and the council for all your hard work. My name is Dan Chagru. I have lived in Sausalito for most of my life. I would like to encourage the council to protect the historic district and stand with city staff, the planning commission, and nearly 2,400 of our fellow citizens and reject the developer's appeal for the project at 605 Bridgeway. Thank you. |
| 00:34:17.63 | Lily Deschampis | Can you hear me? |
| 00:34:50.47 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. Next speaker is Maral Boyadijan. |
| 00:34:59.79 | Jill Hoffman | Hi, I am also obviously a resident of Sausalito and am hoping that you will... |
| 00:35:09.03 | Unknown | reject the appeal. |
| 00:35:11.03 | Alice Merrill | And follow what most, if not all of the residents have requested is that we maintain the historic district. |
| 00:35:21.59 | Jill Hoffman | the way that it is current. |
| 00:35:23.02 | Melissa Blaustein | Like, Thank you. Thank you. City clerk? |
| 00:35:28.51 | John Wales | Next speaker is Bonnie McGregor. |
| 00:35:32.68 | Melissa Blaustein | Welcome, Bonnie. |
| 00:35:40.69 | John Wales | You're going to unmute yourself. |
| 00:35:43.24 | Alice Merrill | Thank you. City Council and the Planning Commission. The staff and the planning commission did their job and documented that the project does not comply with social legal zoning. or the laws. And to say nothing else, I believe the gloves are off. They've been, The person behind this development has continuously demonstrated her disdain for Sausalito with her insistence on destroying the character of our historical district By pushing to be built in the middle of it, a behemoth of an architecturally hideous apartment complex. Even if it were attractive, it would destroy the property values of every property on Princeton Street, Bulkley South. And probably all of those on Harrison by blocking their videos due to his height. As a 44 year resident in Sausalito, I'm requesting that the city council must follow through and reject the appeal now. Thank you. |
| 00:36:36.30 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:36:38.12 | Walfred Solorzano | Next speaker is Jerry Spalter. |
| 00:36:44.14 | Jerry Spolter | Yes, my name is Jerry Spolter. My wife and I, Laurel, live in Sausalito and have been here for about 25 years. And at the last election, we were very, very active because it was so important to us to get the right people on the council that reflected our values. And one of our values is to keep this village as charming as it currently is. And this despicable project will do nothing but undermine what we have come to love every morning that we wake up and walk down to Bridgeway. So we are so happy that you are the representatives of us. You have worked hard. You've got an excellent staff. And we can't thank you enough to deny this appeal. |
| 00:37:41.69 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you, Jerry. City Clerk. |
| 00:37:43.76 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:37:43.80 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. Next speaker is Joan Saxton. |
| 00:37:47.53 | Steven Woodside | Welcome, Dr. Saxton. |
| 00:37:57.51 | Robert Machulat | You can unmute yourself. |
| 00:38:07.20 | John Wales | All right. We'll go with Evan, Jane, Chris. |
| 00:38:17.02 | Evan Jane Criss | Hi, I'm Evan Jane Criss. I, my family has been in Sausalito since 1972. And I would just like to reiterate what I have said in a previous meeting. that I feel that All of the research that you've all done on this project at on Bridgeway at 605 Bridgeway, has shown that it's just really, it's not really feasible. It's just the wrong project for this particular part of town. It would destroy our historic district, as others have said. And it would set a terrible precedent for building in Sausalito. So with that in mind, and also I want to just a nod to everyone who's worked so hard on this and all the support that we've gotten from Sausalito residents, and I feel that it's time to just shelve this project for good. The other thing I'd like to comment on is I do think that a forensic audit would be wise, it would indicate transparency, which is extremely important, especially in today's political environment. We all deserve to know where our finances are. And we would like to reiterate that we, would like to have maintenance as a top priority, especially considering the influx that is coming. with the mandated state housing. We should be prepared. Thank you so much. |
| 00:40:01.56 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. Next speaker is Lily Deschampis. |
| 00:40:08.26 | Lily Deschampis | AstroTomas. |
| 00:40:13.95 | John Wales | You can speak, Lily. |
| 00:40:15.70 | Lily Deschampis | Sorry, my mic was off. Can you hear me? |
| 00:40:18.40 | John Wales | Yes. |
| 00:40:18.69 | John Flavin | Thank you. |
| 00:40:19.28 | Lily Deschampis | Sorry. I'm a sixth generation Sausalito and my family has been involved in Sausalito since 1869. So that's quite a bit of time. And I have a question. If this building sees the light of day, knowing that it's not compliant with the Sausalito zoning, how is that fair in any way, shape or form to all the other multifamily homeowners who do rent and who have strived for years, decades, to rent to renters in Sausalito at fair prices in houses that do comply with zoning codes and all the regulations that they have to comply with to have owned homes and maintain them in Salcedo. And what kind of precedent would that set in that regards? That is my question. Thank you. |
| 00:41:12.29 | John Wales | And then we have Joan Saxton again. |
| 00:41:20.40 | Steven Woodside | Am I unmuted now? You are welcome. Excellent. |
| 00:41:24.37 | Faye Rudio | Bye. Thank you. |
| 00:41:25.63 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. 43. Pardon me. You delivered Councilmember Blaustein. |
| 00:41:35.20 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:41:35.22 | Sonia Hansen | Thank you. |
| 00:41:35.25 | Jill Hoffman | Sorry. |
| 00:41:35.57 | Sonia Hansen | years ago. Oh, okay. Thank you. |
| 00:41:39.86 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:41:39.93 | Sonia Hansen | That was a good deed on my part. |
| 00:41:39.98 | Unknown | That was just... |
| 00:41:40.48 | Jill Hoffman | So. |
| 00:41:43.79 | Sonia Hansen | Um, 43-year resident of... Alexander Avenue. Love every inch of Sausalito, especially our beautiful little downtown. And I'm just adding my voice to the loud chorus of good folks who are are asking you, pleading with you to reject this developer's appeal for this project. Thank you very much. |
| 00:42:09.95 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 00:42:12.28 | Steven Woodside | And then here in the chambers, we have Ellie Gibbs. |
| 00:42:24.28 | Lily Deschampis | Thank you. |
| 00:42:24.29 | Susan Samuels | I wasn't going to speak, but I just was thinking, sitting there. We keep talking about historical. We keep talking about... tourism in Sausalito. And I think about that most of the people in this room have traveled a lot in their lives. |
| 00:42:43.97 | Steven Woodside | They've gone places. And they kind of when they go there, when they take their kids there. Thank you. |
| 00:42:51.48 | Susan Samuels | They kind of expect to see the same. |
| 00:42:53.67 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:42:54.50 | Susan Samuels | the same feeling. that maybe they saw when they came to Sausalito when they were kids. |
| 00:43:00.66 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:43:01.69 | Susan Samuels | And. They bring their kids over the ferry. And they're talking about all the charm and how sweet it is and blah, blah, blah. And then they see this monster. |
| 00:43:10.18 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. |
| 00:43:10.48 | Susan Samuels | It's like, |
| 00:43:10.97 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:43:11.76 | Steven Woodside | That's just not it, guys. It's not it. Do you get it? Thanks. Thank you. |
| 00:43:18.04 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. Ben Campbeller. |
| 00:43:21.92 | Ben Canberra | Thank you. Madam Mayor, council members. My name is Ben Canberra. I'm a nine-year Sausalito resident. I actually wanted to talk about, kind of echoing others' points, the safety of getting to Sausalito. I also support the rejection of the new development, but I'm very concerned, as I'm sure many have observed, commuting to Sausalito every day. The Alexander Avenue corridor is incredibly dangerous for pedestrians, for bikers. This is an interesting jurisdictional issue. I am not a legal expert, a lawyer, but I am aware of the concern, which is that many hundreds, if not thousands, of tourists are walking from the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito on a daily basis within inches of cars and bikers. I don't think that we are doing enough currently to support the transition of those pedestrians to the city. I am aware that the Golden Gate Bridge District Board did approve this May a new safety plan for the corridor. It's a critical first step. Looking at Strava data alone, there are hundreds of people riding on this corridor daily, which are pushing pedestrians even further into a wall, which is incredibly dangerous. And I want to urge the council to explore ways of representing this issue to the bridge district, which I understand is a federal district. Right now. The road is designed with a 12-foot-wide freeway-style lanes that encourage speeding. I rarely see speed enforced by any law enforcement. For pedestrians, there are no dedicated sidewalks. What I am proposing to the council to champion however you see fit, and I agree that I'm not a legal expert, I don't know how to proceed with this exactly, is to advocate for a physically separated gateway-standard pedestrian walkway, which would be the centerpiece of a new design which means some kind of physical barrier to protect pedestrians. physically separated gateway standard pedestrian walkway, which would be the centerpiece of a new design, which means some kind of physical barrier to protect pedestrians to improve tourism to the city. Thank you. |
| 00:45:15.96 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:45:25.73 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. We do have one more person online, Joris Van Menz. |
| 00:45:36.40 | George von Mest | I can't so can people hear me? |
| 00:45:42.29 | George von Mest | Can people hear me? |
| 00:45:43.99 | Unknown | you |
| 00:45:44.01 | George von Mest | you |
| 00:45:44.02 | Unknown | Yes. |
| 00:45:44.31 | George von Mest | I'm just hearing you. |
| 00:45:44.33 | Unknown | to the |
| 00:45:45.34 | George von Mest | Great. I wanted to quickly chime in. I heard the last comment and I very much agree. I am a... Sausalito homeowner resident and I live here with my daughter and my wife and I wish that traffic throughout the town would be better speed enforced. Cars are driving way too fast. The infrastructure is not really enabling safety for pedestrians and cyclists. We cycle here every day with our daughter. So we'd love better enforcement of speed limits. About the project, I didn't realize we were talking about the project on Bridgeway today. It's not a perfect project, but I do really like that we're trying to build additional housing in Sausalito. We need more housing here, we need more people living here, not just tourists. And I'm excited to see at least some proposals here for additional housing. Thank you. |
| 00:46:43.91 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:46:46.07 | John Wales | you |
| 00:46:46.09 | Steven Woodside | No more further public. |
| 00:46:46.97 | John Wales | speakers. |
| 00:46:47.57 | Steven Woodside | All right, we will close the communications section. I'm going to go ahead and address a couple of things that were said. First of all, I want to let those who may have arrived after the beginning of the meeting know that because our chambers are full, our parking lot is full, the police will not be ticketing in surrounding streets during the pendency of our meeting. So don't worry about being here and receiving a gift while you're here. I wanted to comment on the city council chambers. Thank you, Sonia. We've already done some work. That's why you see, that's why the ceiling looks like it looks today. The work is going to be concluded during the month of August, which will include finishing the ceiling, lights, and the carpet. So when we return from our August break on September 2nd, you will see, different chambers. And then I wanted to address the 605 bridgeway project, so thank you all. For all of your comments this evening, of course, we can't provide any response to you as a group until such time as this project shows up on our agenda. But I want you to know your voice absolutely counts and I just wanted to clarify the background, a little bit so. Years ago in 2021, the city filed a lengthy appeal opposing our RENA, our Regional Housing Needs Allocation Numbers, on several grounds. One, that they did not mitigate issues raised in the Bay Area 2050 EIR. and two, that they included territory that is actually in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and underwater when they were counting the area of Sausalito eligible for construction. So we raised these. We wrote a 50-page appeal that was summarily denied. We are exploring with our neighboring municipalities a new methodology for allocating the RHNA numbers amongst the cities within the county so that towns, small towns such as Sausalito are not so overwhelmed with the required number of units to be built. we also thank you we also worked very hard to be sure that no area in Sausalito was overwhelmed with new development so the housing element that we did adopt spread out the required 724 units throughout town so as not to overwhelm any one single area of town. Notably, our housing element listed the 605 Bridgeway site for 29 units. many more units are being proposed in the current project. If at some point the owner of 605 Bridgeway listens to the voices of the Planning Commission and the residents of Sausalito and considers downsizing the proposed project to address the issues raised by the Planning Commission and by the Architectural Commission, consultant Verplank, who provided some parameters that would be important to consider when designing a project to be built within our unique historic district, then of course, we will want to give it due consideration. We are not opposed to new housing and new construction in Sausalito. THE FAMILY. We are absolutely pursuing a political solution on a parallel path. We have met with our local leaders, including Senator Mike McGuire, Assemblymember Damon Connolly, Supervisor Moulton Peters, and others, to discuss the importance of revamping the the RENA process as a whole. We are also preparing a response that will be included in the audit of the housing element process presently being conducted by the state auditor's office. And so we are not sitting idly by. We live here too. And we were elected because we care about this city. That's why we volunteer our time to address many challenging projects. So we appreciate your feedback. We take it seriously. I just wanted to provide a little bit more background of where we stand. So thank you all very much. And the one other thing that I wanted to announce while you're all here is that Please come to the police department's national night out on August 5. It will be held at the police department from 5 to 7 p.m. We, unfortunately, will be in a city council meeting that evening at 5 p.m., but please visit and meet our wonderful police department. Okay, and with that, that will conclude the communications portion of the agenda, and so we'll move on to the consent calendar. we have items 3a through 3i on the consent calendar we have already removed item 3c which will be heard as item 5d this evening we are also removing all together item 3i um Although we will, of course, still take public comment on that item. So the items, thank you, everybody. The items to be considered are adopt the meeting minutes of June 17, 2025, adopt a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute an agreement with MCCI for citywide records services, approve the, uh, uh, sorry, approval of a three-year agreement with Springbrook software for citywide financial information management system software services in the amount of 168 $1,203.21. Receive and file the tri-annual update to BCDC's enforcement committee. Authorize staff to proceed with soliciting for construction bid process for the Dunphy Park Improvement Phase II project. Adopt a resolution approving the Downtown Sausalito Business Improvement District Association budget for fiscal year 2526. receive the Sausalito Police Department's Crime and Traffic Report, calendar year 2025, second quarter year to date report. Any questions on consent items? All right. I'll open it up to public comment on items 3A through 3A. B, and 3D through 3I. I have two speaker cards. The first is Sophia Collier. Oh, but Sophia, the 3C is going to be heard as 5D at the end of our business items. And that's the same for Jan Johnson. So, yeah. |
| 00:53:21.37 | Walfred Solorzano | We do have Sandra Bushmaker online. |
| 00:53:25.01 | Steven Woodside | Welcome, Sandra. Oh, all right. |
| 00:53:26.74 | Walfred Solorzano | she left |
| 00:53:28.04 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. I think she's here for 3C as well. Guys, do you want to hear 3C as 5A? No. Since we have three people here? No. That want to talk to it? |
| 00:53:38.14 | Melissa Blaustein | No. |
| 00:53:39.92 | Steven Woodside | No. |
| 00:53:39.98 | Unknown | No. |
| 00:53:40.05 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:53:40.19 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:53:40.22 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:53:40.51 | Steven Woodside | What do you think? No, because we've already told people |
| 00:53:41.45 | Jill Hoffman | No. |
| 00:53:43.29 | Steven Woodside | We've already told people we're going to hear the roads is 5A. |
| 00:53:46.82 | Jill Hoffman | I defer to you. Whatever. Yeah, whatever. Whatever you want to do, same. |
| 00:53:50.24 | Steven Woodside | No, I'm going to so I move that we move three C instead of being five D it will be a new five a I Oppose that I we can't keep moving on is there a second? I mean, we can't keep moving our schedules around. |
| 00:54:04.13 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:54:05.38 | Steven Woodside | Okay, so there's a motion and a second. Any other discussion? City clerk, please call rollback. |
| 00:54:13.58 | Walfred Solorzano | Can't remember Blastham. |
| 00:54:14.93 | Steven Woodside | Yes. |
| 00:54:15.91 | Walfred Solorzano | Councilmember Hoffman. |
| 00:54:16.70 | John Wales | you |
| 00:54:16.89 | Steven Woodside | No. |
| 00:54:17.95 | John Wales | Councilmember Sobieski, Vice Mayor Woodside. Yes. And Mayor Cox. |
| 00:54:21.01 | Steven Woodside | Yeah. Yes, that motion carries 4-1. And so item 3C will be heard as our first business item this evening to accommodate those who wanted to have public comments. |
| 00:54:33.63 | Jill Hoffman | Mayor, I'm going to request that 5G also be removed since we're talking about |
| 00:54:36.97 | Steven Woodside | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 00:54:37.04 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:54:37.05 | Steven Woodside | So, yeah. |
| 00:54:37.21 | Jill Hoffman | might as well go in. |
| 00:54:37.88 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. What is it, 5G? Sorry, 3G. I had already... 3G. Okay. The business improvement. So since we're talking about this, I don't know where you want to put it. All right. I'm going to put 3G as 5D. That's fine. |
| 00:54:47.87 | Jill Hoffman | Bye. |
| 00:54:51.91 | Steven Woodside | Actually, the new 5F. Okay. Any other public comment on the consent calendar? City clerk. |
| 00:54:59.80 | Evan Jane Criss | See you then. |
| 00:55:00.58 | Steven Woodside | All right, I'm going to close public comment on the Consent calendar, I'll entertain a motion approving items 3A, 3B, and 3D through 3H. Sorry, 3D, 3E, 3F, and 3H. So moved. Thank you. |
| 00:55:18.31 | Melissa Blaustein | Is there a second? |
| 00:55:20.19 | John Flavin | I'll second it. |
| 00:55:21.28 | Melissa Blaustein | All right, city clerk, please call roll. |
| 00:55:26.21 | Walfred Solorzano | Councilmember Blastham. |
| 00:55:27.31 | Melissa Blaustein | Yes. |
| 00:55:28.20 | Walfred Solorzano | Councilmember Hoffman? |
| 00:55:30.45 | Melissa Blaustein | Yes. |
| 00:55:31.63 | Walfred Solorzano | Councilmember Sobieski, Vice Mayor Woodside? Yes. And Mayor Cox. |
| 00:55:36.64 | Steven Woodside | Yes, that motion carries unanimously. Okay, we'll now move on to item 5A, which is the old item. of 3C, approve the SB79 correspondence to Senator Weiner, offering to remove objection if historic district exemption is added to the bill. So the reason that I removed this from the consent calendar is that since this item was posted, um, We learned today through Councilmember Hoffman and Nancy Hall Bennett that there have been various additional revisions to SB 79. We don't yet know what those revisions are the schedule for it to be heard internally through the process. has changed as well. And so with that, I feel as though there's not enough information out there to necessarily determine, take a position we have previously already taken an opposed position. So that's my reason for pulling it for discussion. Are there any questions of anyone? Otherwise, I'm going to open it to public comment, and then we can discuss it. Sure, I have some additional information. I support that by the mayor. if the council members want some additional. I would love additional info, but I wanted us to have a chance to discuss it as well. So, well, this is sort of the staff report because staff doesn't know what's going on with this. So this is going to serve as a staff report. Then I'll open it up to public comment and then we'll have discussions. |
| 00:56:58.08 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. So, |
| 00:57:04.68 | Alice Merrill | Thank you. |
| 00:57:09.20 | Steven Woodside | Okay. |
| 00:57:09.28 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:57:09.37 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. So the information that I received from our lobbyist in the state capitol is that the author agreed to take about 25 amendments last week, that these amendments are not in print so we don't know what the amendments are. |
| 00:57:28.03 | Jill Hoffman | that it has not been to Assemblymember Connolly's |
| 00:57:36.98 | Steven Woodside | committee. It did not go through his committee. And that, so there's no way for us to review the current status of the bill at this point. Nobody knows what's in it at this point. And so that's why the recommendation is that the most prudent course is to not submit a letter at this point, that we need to see what's in the bill before we take action. Thank you. All right. With that, I'll open it up to public comment. I have a couple of speaker cards here. Jan Johnson. |
| 00:58:17.41 | Steven Woodside | Jan, can someone let Sophia, she's outside, can someone let her know that we're taking public comment on 3C right now? But, |
| 00:58:25.26 | Susan Samuels | Thank you very much. I had two issues with the letter that was supposedly already sent. |
| 00:58:32.93 | Steven Woodside | It was not sent, it's a draft letter for council consideration. |
| 00:58:35.45 | Susan Samuels | No, it wasn't sent. |
| 00:58:36.55 | Steven Woodside | No, it was not sent. |
| 00:58:36.85 | Susan Samuels | It was not safe. Okay, well then I... withdraw that objection because it seemed like approving something after the fact was a little bit squirrely. |
| 00:58:43.95 | Alice Merrill | go. |
| 00:58:44.29 | Susan Samuels | Um, As I understand it, SB 79 applies to our bus stops and to our ferry terminal as a TOD tier three. If that's the case, a quarter mile from all those bus stops puts 75% of the town at risk of 55 foot Heights and 80 units per square per acre. And the half mile distance from the bus stops and the tremor puts 100% of Sausalito at risk of 44 feet and 60 units per acre. If it passes, it will devastate town and we will become North Beach. So please do everything you can to oppose it to the last ounce of energy. Thank you. |
| 00:59:35.61 | Diana Dempsey | Thank you. |
| 00:59:37.46 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 00:59:41.33 | Melissa Blaustein | Sophia called. |
| 00:59:41.97 | Steven Woodside | here. And then I have, I understand that there are others, but I don't, those are all the speaker cards I have. Sandra Bushmaker was online as well. Yeah. but. I understand that also Uh. Mike and Loretta Rogers. So they will go next. |
| 01:00:05.05 | Jed Dempsey | Thank you. |
| 01:00:05.07 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 01:00:05.09 | Jed Dempsey | Go ahead, Sophia. Okay. I have a slightly different take than the last speaker, and although I do support every single thing she said. The fact of the matter is that If this does, it's likely to pass. So I feel like since SB 79 is likely to pass, Therefore, we need to make sure that we seek to amend it. so that it protects our historic district. I mean, we just had a lot of discussion about our historic district and its importance to us. how grievous it would be to work out some resolution on that current project and then have, by right, 55 feet buildings being built throughout the district. So I really think that we should seek an amendment that protects the historic district. And because of our unique status as one of 12, we have the ability to say, hey, dear Scott Wiener and friends, let us protect these treasured districts and let us protect Sausalito in this small area, this tiny area that we have. So I feel like we definitely need to make a strong statement and we definitely need to seek the amendment. And if people say, well, maybe they don't want to support it, we could go to a position of not oppose. Thank you. |
| 01:01:23.02 | Melissa Blaustein | That is how the letter is drafted. Yes. |
| 01:01:24.47 | Jed Dempsey | The letter says that we will withdraw our opposition if they add that provision. Right, and that to me, like that's not a, It's not like we're jumping forward and supporting it. So. Thank you. All right. |
| 01:01:38.96 | Steven Woodside | Mike Rogers. |
| 01:01:44.65 | Chris Zapata | Mayor, I believe that to clarify that, they want to speak on item, what was 5C and I believe is now 5A. |
| 01:01:50.93 | Melissa Blaustein | Got it. Okay. All right. Okay. We'll be taking |
| 01:01:56.97 | Steven Woodside | that up soon. All right, let's go to online. Anybody online, city clerk? |
| 01:02:01.98 | Walfred Solorzano | A bet, Mactugo? |
| 01:02:05.20 | Steven Woodside | Well, I'm a little confused about the order of things now too, but let me just say, |
| 01:02:09.96 | Alice Merrill | And generally, again, I'd like to emphasize that whether we're talking about the |
| 01:02:14.97 | Babette McDougall | SB 79, which is just the current assault. And I'm glad to know that everyone's paying attention. |
| 01:02:22.03 | Alice Merrill | Because this whole thing about transit-oriented communities on top of these punitive housing elements, and I don't know if anybody ever looked up the denial, the summary denial of Sausalito's appeal, but it was all done by form letters generated by MTC. MTC. |
| 01:02:39.85 | Steven Woodside | So there you go. That was the big nasty wind that blew it down. So I just think it's time for us to stand up and push back. Because the reality is none of us want to let go of the unique charm of this town. And as someone pointed out, you are the guard. So we have to rely on you to represent us. I just want you to remember that, that we have to stand together. We have to stop this infighting and we have to stand together. We'll have a lot to celebrate if we do. Thank you. I yield back my time. |
| 01:03:17.83 | Walfred Solorzano | Next speaker is Senator Bushmaker. |
| 01:03:23.77 | Sandra Bushmaker | Hello, council. I was very happy to see Sausalito send an SB 79 uh, objection to the entire bill. I was very disturbed to see that there is a We will not. |
| 01:03:38.98 | Steven Woodside | object if you have exclude the historic district. I want to, you know, protect the historic district, but this is not the vehicle to do it. SB 79 is a very dangerous bill. I had a meeting recently |
| 01:03:53.03 | Sandra Bushmaker | with a bunch of |
| 01:03:53.96 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 01:03:54.03 | Sandra Bushmaker | leaders. |
| 01:03:54.98 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 01:03:55.03 | Sandra Bushmaker | throughout California, and they are all sending very strong opposition letters. And they expressed to me a concern about amend and gut the bill so that we have a uh, Bill that is far worse than the existing SB 79 I think we need to be very, very strong in opposition to SB 79 and not flip flop or get wishy washy by saying, well, we'll withdraw our objection if you do this. Now, like I said, I support that. |
| 01:04:27.04 | Alice Merrill | retention of the historic district. I just am afraid given the Sacramento |
| 01:04:33.97 | Steven Woodside | So temperament with regard to housing. And by the way, this is my understanding. This is going to it appropriations who is led by Buffy wicks. who is a very big... |
| 01:04:46.02 | Sandra Bushmaker | proponent of housing anywhere and everywhere. And I think we need to be very, very careful. So I don't think we should have a wishy-washy I think we need a strong, strong position to SB 79. And it does apply to areas other than the ferry landing It applies to bus stops. that have certain recognition, certain designation, which can be at a flip of a switch, |
| 01:05:06.97 | Unknown | HAVE SOME OF THEM. |
| 01:05:12.03 | Sandra Bushmaker | implemented by a state agency. So strong SB 79 |
| 01:05:18.03 | Jed Dempsey | opposition, please. Thank you. |
| 01:05:19.91 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. |
| 01:05:22.95 | John Wales | George von Mest. |
| 01:05:31.01 | John Wales | or your response. you |
| 01:05:34.47 | George von Mest | Peace. |
| 01:05:34.84 | John Wales | Thank you. |
| 01:05:34.86 | George von Mest | Thank you. |
| 01:05:35.86 | Melissa Blaustein | Is he on mute? |
| 01:05:38.35 | George von Mest | I believe I'm unmuted now. |
| 01:05:41.34 | Melissa Blaustein | Yes, we hear you. |
| 01:05:42.61 | George von Mest | Thank you, City Council. With full respect to all opinions being shared here, I personally believe SB 79 is a great initiative. I think we need a lot more housing throughout California. And I think we can also play a role there. That being said, I understand the issue at hand here is whether to retract our letter of objection by requesting that the historic district is excluded. I think that is a great middle ground. And I support that initiative. Thank you. |
| 01:05:42.67 | Melissa Blaustein | And you see, |
| 01:06:12.27 | George von Mest | Thank you. |
| 01:06:12.30 | Steven Woodside | THANK YOU. |
| 01:06:13.97 | Walfred Solorzano | No more for the public speaker. |
| 01:06:15.28 | Steven Woodside | All right, I'll close public comment on this item and bring it up here for discussion. A number of people said they think we should oppose. We already strongly opposed SB 79. This is a follow-up letter that was requested by members by various residents. And so it is here for consideration. And so who would like to lead off? |
| 01:06:38.95 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:06:39.03 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Councilmember Hoffman. Thank you. |
| 01:06:42.46 | Jill Hoffman | Sure. |
| 01:06:42.70 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 01:06:42.73 | Jill Hoffman | I'm happy to. Uh, I, I would suggest that, um, that we wait and see what the amendments are and that we can do the, follow the process that we've already followed and we'll do an update to the memo for the next city council meeting. If there's a printed, |
| 01:07:01.97 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 01:07:02.03 | Jill Hoffman | a draft of what |
| 01:07:02.96 | Steven Woodside | The |
| 01:07:03.03 | Jill Hoffman | amendments are. Thank you. |
| 01:07:04.21 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 01:07:04.25 | Jill Hoffman | And. |
| 01:07:05.11 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 01:07:05.14 | Jill Hoffman | what the 25 amendments have been so that we can see what the new draft of the bill is. And then decide at that point, if we still want to go forward. I mean, it may be that There's no need to do. A letter. |
| 01:07:18.94 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 01:07:19.50 | Jill Hoffman | you |
| 01:07:19.52 | Steven Woodside | You know, fingers crossed. You never know. So that would be my suggestion for our course of action. |
| 01:07:27.43 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah, I appreciate that. And I understand that the bill is in process. And as such, I just don't want us to miss an opportunity. throughout this process to be able to make a request for the bill |
| 01:07:39.18 | Joan Cox | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 01:07:39.57 | Jill Hoffman | as much as |
| 01:07:40.04 | Joan Cox | folks are concerned about the momentum in Sacramento around housing. I think we have agreed as a community that we absolutely need more housing, in particular housing for the people serving our community, housing for seniors. And while maintaining our historic district is critical, we're unlikely to not see the passage of SB 79. If you review voting records on other contentious housing bills to which there were aggressive opposition letters from the League of Cities and from cities Sausalito, for example, SB 423 where there was a 61 yes, 8 no vote and SB 9 where there was a 45 yes and 19 no vote. The likelihood of this bill moving forward is very strong because housing is |
| 01:08:22.97 | Jill Hoffman | It's a reality and it's something that we should be as we have through our comprehensive thinking about talking about and building around to create |
| 01:08:30.04 | Joan Cox | community that |
| 01:08:30.98 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:08:31.02 | Joan Cox | allows us to maintain our historic district while embracing housing opportunities. And so the reason that, I think it's important to request this amendment in the context of that. is so that we don't lose any chance to weigh in on this bill and any chance to Also. Uh, really emphasize our historic district. We just heard 40 plus comments from people saying how important it is to maintain our historic district. |
| 01:08:52.80 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:08:52.85 | Joan Cox | And I think that a lot of our |
| 01:08:53.97 | Jill Hoffman | community cares deeply about both housing and historic district and requesting this |
| 01:08:58.03 | Joan Cox | would. |
| 01:08:58.56 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:08:58.57 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 01:08:58.88 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:08:58.94 | Joan Cox | at least show that we are a community that embraces housing and Embraces our rich character so that's that's my and I would I would meet halfway on. I mean I don't know what the timeline is for the amendments and I would potentially consider we reach out to the resources committee or appropriations committee and request to see those amendments or reach out to. Assembly member Haney, assembly member Wicks, who co-chair those, Macy. And I think that's a great question. But I just think if we miss the opportunity entirely and the bill passed |
| 01:09:26.98 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:09:27.09 | Joan Cox | and we haven't waited. |
| 01:09:27.97 | Jill Hoffman | AND YOU CAN SEE THEM |
| 01:09:28.04 | Joan Cox | knowing that this was |
| 01:09:29.03 | Joan Cox | amendment we could have requested or supported we'd be missing that chance. |
| 01:09:35.01 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Vice mayor or council member? |
| 01:09:41.05 | John Flavin | Sure, I'll just speak up a little bit. I think tonight, since we don't know the full extent of the amendments that apparently are extensive, It's hard to come to a conclusion, but I am intrigued by the possibility that we might succeed even though we're a small city, in achieving an amendment that could help protect the historic district. And if that's an opportunity, I'd like us to seriously consider it, because I think it may be our only chance. The juggernaut in Sacramento is strong. These bills, as we know, impose great burdens on our small communities, things that we don't like. But one in particular we heard a lot tonight is how do we protect the historic district? And this may be a small opportunity to do so. And if so, I think we should consider it seriously when we're more fully aware of what else is in the bill. |
| 01:10:40.72 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. Councilman. |
| 01:10:42.02 | Steven Woodside | Yeah, I think my colleagues know how I feel about it. I love our little historic district. It's unique and charming and special and it can be devastated by projects that are out of scale and architecturally don't fit in. But I just, since we have an audience of people that care, I just want to emphasize that this whole thing with the housing element and these pressures from Sacramento is like squeezing a balloon. If you squeeze it in one place, it pops up somewhere else. So... You know, the reality is we have literally empty lots along Bridgeway north in the north part of town. And because we are justifiably concerned about things and squeeze the balloon there, it popped up somewhere else. So we have to be wise as a community. And so I support whatever my colleagues in the community want to do in terms of the tactics to win the battle to save. the character, integrity of the historic town, but this is going to be one battle of a war. And the goal is to preserve the culture of Sausalito while also accommodating the housing demands from Sacramento. And if we're blind to that, We're going to lose the war, even if we win a battle here or there. When you look at literally empty lots right next to a four-lane road in town, and say that we can't build there. it's going to crop up somewhere else. So I would encourage us to think strategically as well as tactically. Thank you. |
| 01:12:02.34 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 01:12:02.49 | Jill Hoffman | Is there a way, just because I really, I mean, Townsend Hoffman is the president of the North Bay Council League of Cities, so she is, very much in tune to what's going on. I'm wondering if there's a way given the League of Cities objection to the bill. that we might request the amendment without taking a position, or if you have a timeline through which we would be able to, at the very least, ensure that our request is in some way reviewed. |
| 01:12:26.96 | Steven Woodside | like us to get to consensus on this in a positive way. Well, I think the first thing, the first step is to see what the new, obviously to see what |
| 01:12:34.03 | Jill Hoffman | amendments say. So that's number one. Like you would want to see before you engage with anybody, especially waste the time of our representatives, our elected representatives, you have to be knowledgeable about what the amendments say. So that's number one. And I was in touch, as I said today, with our representatives. |
| 01:12:52.97 | Steven Woodside | THE END OF |
| 01:12:53.03 | Jill Hoffman | And I think that's a good thing. |
| 01:12:53.96 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 01:12:54.03 | Jill Hoffman | Sacramento. |
| 01:12:54.98 | Steven Woodside | Yeah. |
| 01:12:55.03 | Jill Hoffman | And that's how I, |
| 01:12:55.97 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 01:12:56.04 | Jill Hoffman | receive the information. |
| 01:12:56.97 | Steven Woodside | Thanks. |
| 01:12:57.03 | Jill Hoffman | So. As soon as that's printed, we'll have that. and I'll pass that along to the rest of the council members. So That's typically how you would proceed. And then we would look at that and talk about what the strategy would be going forward. But, you know, you would want to use your engagement at the moment when you have the most leverage. Now is not the time or the moment when we have the most leverage, particularly when you don't know what's in the amendments. So the strategy at this point is wait and see what's in the amendments and then see how we want to proceed going forward. I don't know. there would be no, I don't think, pathway where you would request amendment without still objecting. I don't know what pathway |
| 01:13:43.96 | Steven Woodside | that would be. |
| 01:13:45.85 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:13:46.28 | Steven Woodside | But I'm hearing what you're saying. I'm trying to understand what a strategy or how you might go with that. |
| 01:13:54.04 | Jill Hoffman | But, you know, and I'm thinking also, you know, Councilmember Sobi Eze's point. as always, we do still have the rest of town. And that we have to think about and protect and think about how this bill affects the rest of town and how it might impact. |
| 01:14:10.64 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. every place else in town. So we wouldn't want to do anything with a request for an amendment that would negatively impact every place else in town, and that's why we need to see what else. |
| 01:14:22.03 | Jill Hoffman | what other amendments were made to the bill that we haven't seen yet. So that's why we wouldn't want to take any action tonight without understanding and knowing what's in the amendment. So |
| 01:14:31.43 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 01:14:31.96 | Jill Hoffman | you |
| 01:14:31.97 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 01:14:32.02 | Jill Hoffman | That's why |
| 01:14:32.97 | Steven Woodside | to the community. |
| 01:14:33.04 | Jill Hoffman | the |
| 01:14:33.51 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 01:14:34.03 | Jill Hoffman | the course of action. |
| 01:14:34.98 | Steven Woodside | I'm sorry. |
| 01:14:35.03 | Jill Hoffman | would suggest. |
| 01:14:35.97 | Steven Woodside | is. |
| 01:14:36.02 | Jill Hoffman | is what we've already talked about, which is not moving forward at this point. As soon as we get the amendments, you know, my understanding is they're up to this point. There have been a lot of amendments to this bill since it's been in the Assembly. I expect there will be a lot more amendments before it goes back to the Senate. |
| 01:14:56.97 | Steven Woodside | Um, |
| 01:14:57.54 | Jill Hoffman | you |
| 01:14:57.61 | Steven Woodside | and then it will go to the governor for signature. So we'll see in that intervening time period, it goes back to the full assembly. and it may have more amendments at that point. you know, the strategy is if we have a suggestion for an amendment, when do we do that? uh, at the point where we might actually get the amendment. Um, And so that's what we would want to wait for. |
| 01:15:26.02 | Jill Hoffman | Do you know what committee it goes to next? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. |
| 01:15:29.50 | Steven Woodside | I just... |
| 01:15:29.62 | Jill Hoffman | I'm not sure. |
| 01:15:29.70 | Melissa Blaustein | . |
| 01:15:29.74 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:15:29.77 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. I think. |
| 01:15:31.32 | Jill Hoffman | I don't know that it is. |
| 01:15:33.08 | Steven Woodside | I just looked online and it said appropriations, but I think the answer is we don't know for sure. |
| 01:15:33.11 | Jill Hoffman | I thought... |
| 01:15:38.65 | Jill Hoffman | So that's what I'm keeping my eye on. I'll keep you guys informed. |
| 01:15:41.97 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 01:15:41.99 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:15:42.01 | Steven Woodside | Council member so be asking I just wanted there was one thought I wanted I forgot to mention to complete round out my thought just because there's so many members of the community here there's a little provision in that bill which I don't like the bill but it has a provision allegedly because of this concern about historic districts that if the town can get around to in our case our historic district is 17 acres of finding 17 other acres in town |
| 01:15:43.00 | Faye Rudio | Thank you. |
| 01:15:43.02 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah, I just... |
| 01:15:43.56 | Faye Rudio | Thank you. |
| 01:16:06.52 | Steven Woodside | there would be no building necessary in the historic district. So in other words, you find another 17 acres in town, you can avoid any impacts of the historic district, but practically speaking, We know in this town and pretty much any small town how hard that is, practically speaking. But some of those tools are at our disposal if we could be nimble, like life's... I just live here and I'm trying to help. It's about making tough choices. If you wanted to save the historic district, even in this bill, even if it passed, you could do it if you could do a hurry up process of building somewhere else in town, empty fields or places that RVs are stored. And then we could save parts of our historic district. So I say that only because If push comes to shove and we ever wanted to do something like that, you know what would end up happening. |
| 01:16:49.57 | Jill Hoffman | Which is an interesting point, and back to my point of, |
| 01:16:49.59 | Steven Woodside | which is... |
| 01:16:53.13 | Jill Hoffman | Um, We represent all of Sausalito. |
| 01:16:55.97 | Steven Woodside | AND I THINK IT'S A |
| 01:16:56.03 | Jill Hoffman | and making sure |
| 01:16:57.03 | Jill Hoffman | hacks. |
| 01:16:57.98 | Steven Woodside | are spread throughout town and don't just |
| 01:17:01.03 | Jill Hoffman | on one side of town or the other and don't shift impacts from one side of town or one district to another side of Sausalito. And so I'm not even sure that that provision is still in the bill. So we don't just automatically shift impacts from one district to another, |
| 01:17:11.97 | Steven Woodside | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 01:17:15.97 | Steven Woodside | I hope that we don't. Yeah, but that is, of course, the point is whether you do that as a negative impact. So if you want to speak, raise your hand. I'll call on you. Thank you so much. |
| 01:17:18.65 | Jill Hoffman | I don't know if you guys, |
| 01:17:19.96 | Unknown | I need to go back. |
| 01:17:24.60 | Sophia Collier | Mary. |
| 01:17:25.63 | Steven Woodside | You're right. Yes, go ahead. Indeed, but that's of course, if you view all housing as negative in the historic district, the big building devastates the historic district. in other areas of town, it could create a vibrant community. And so the details matter. And in fact, even in the historic district, something modest in scale or fitting in somehow could actually work. And so that's why, you know, this question as a community of trying to actually win the war of accepting what's being pushed on us, but doing our own Sausalito creative magic of making it work for our community has got to be the strategic goal. If housing is just an evil that needs to be fought everywhere, it's going to be squeezing that balloon and it's going to pop up somewhere else. So I know we're a little far from the letter, but I do feel like it's relevant if we're talking about what our strategy is in regards to the letter. We could accommodate housing and build beautiful neighborhoods Thank you. the letter, but I do feel like it's relevant if we're playing, talking about what our strategy is in regards to the letter. You know, we could accommodate housing and build beautiful neighborhoods that would enliven our community in some parts of town, but the historic district is fully built out. Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and call the question. Um, I am in favor of postponing the decision on this until August 5 when we have, because we have another meeting. I don't think it's going to get through committee in two weeks and in that way we'll have full information. So that's my motion. Second. Is it an alternative motion? Okay, call the roll. |
| 01:18:53.15 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. Councilmember Brossi. |
| 01:18:54.82 | Steven Woodside | it. |
| 01:18:55.04 | Jill Hoffman | Christine. |
| 01:18:56.51 | Walfred Solorzano | Councilmember Hoffman. |
| 01:18:57.96 | Jill Hoffman | Yes. |
| 01:18:59.07 | Walfred Solorzano | Councilmember Sobieski. Vice Mayor Woodside? Yes. And Mayor Cox. |
| 01:19:05.64 | Steven Woodside | Yes, that motion carries 4-1. Okay, with that, we'll... Or with an abstention. for one with one it's abstention with that we will move on to uh business items Pursuant to the change we made earlier, the first business item we will hear is 5C, authorize staff to proceed with soliciting for construction bids for the 2024 roadway rehabilitation project for an engineer's estimate of 1.86 million. Welcome, Kevin McGowan. |
| 01:19:43.30 | Steven Woodside | Good evening, Mayor. Public Works Director. Good evening. Welcome. Sorry, we opened the other room next door and it just took me a second to get over here. |
| 01:19:51.13 | Jill Hoffman | I'm sorry, Mayor. I do have one. I have a disclosure to make. I do have property... |
| 01:19:51.16 | Steven Woodside | Absolutely. |
| 01:19:59.97 | Steven Woodside | Um, that's near, actually, I think it's, it has to do with all three of our business. |
| 01:20:07.03 | Jill Hoffman | items to |
| 01:20:07.97 | Steven Woodside | I appreciate it. |
| 01:20:09.03 | Jill Hoffman | However, |
| 01:20:10.54 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 01:20:11.03 | Jill Hoffman | Let's see, I thought I had it written down. |
| 01:20:13.44 | Steven Woodside | Is there a property near one of the roads recommended for rehabilitation? |
| 01:20:14.79 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah. Bye, too. |
| 01:20:16.90 | Steven Woodside | So, city attorney, would that not be within the public generally as opposed to an item that would require recusal? |
| 01:20:23.28 | Jill Hoffman | Yes. |
| 01:20:27.23 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 01:20:27.34 | Sergio Rudin | So we have a couple exceptions that potentially could apply for some of these items, for example, the AB 413 item where it if it affects more than 25% of residential real property or commercial real property. |
| 01:20:27.36 | Steven Woodside | So. |
| 01:20:44.32 | Sergio Rudin | the public general exception does apply. There is specifically also an exception exception where the decision concerns repairs, replacement, or maintenance of existing streets, water, sewer, storm drainage, or similar facilities, which would apply to this particular item. |
| 01:21:04.96 | Steven Woodside | And so I'm relying on our city attorney, and I'm not recusing for these items. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you for raising that. That's a very valid discussion. |
| 01:21:09.04 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:21:15.32 | Steven Woodside | All right. |
| 01:21:16.13 | Melissa Blaustein | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 01:21:16.47 | Steven Woodside | THE END OF THE END OF THE Thank you so much. I apologize. I wanted to have a tie this evening, but I forgot one at home. So my apologies. It's not as professional as I would like to be. And then in addition, Mr. Ali Iqbal, one of our project managers, helped me with the slide presentation. But I'm going to take over at this point because there might be some little nuances that I will present. So next slide, please. So on November 19, 2024, your council approved the 2024 roadway resurfacing project. It had a full list of roads, which are here. On this list, we have removed two of them, which is the end of Locust Street and Easterby on the list itself. Now, I'm going to go over those, and we'll talk about those fairly shortly. The project, this resurfacing project, was designed by a company out of Novato known as CSW Stuber Stroh. They're a local firm and they prepared most all of the documentation. Next slide, please. As you well know, and maybe some of us in the room do not, we have 26 miles of roads. And for the 2024 resurfacing project, we have four of those roads that get completely reconstructed or at least a portion of them. And 11 streets get a surface treatment, such as a micro seal or other treatments as well. The budget for that project is about $2.3 million, which includes soft costs and construction costs. This project is predominantly supported by Measure L funds, local funds, as well as the construction impact fees and Measure AA funds. Next slide. All right. In the last few weeks, council and members of the public have voiced concerns related to addressing complete streets, which is including bioretention areas, road diets, cool paving, and safety considerations for access. Many of these topics are covered in the preliminary design or the things that we look at initially kind of behind the scenes however staff has revisited the plan said and removed two streets Easterby and Locust for identifying um for identifying options that include bioretention. We're going to review some of those shortly as well. Next slide. So what's Complete Streets? So Complete Streets is a concept that requires the design to review and examine many aspects of each roadway project. They include sustainability concerns, bicycle access, sidewalks, road diets, stormwater, and accessibility. While this project is primarily a maintenance project, there are opportunities on some of the streets that we are treating for this project. Next slide, please. our sustainability committee. Your council and members of the public indicated that we should be considering systems such as bioretention facilities, things called rainways, vegetated swales, road diets, and other systems when we consider roadway resurfacing. With each road, we do look at these, and we take a look at the options. Engineers must also look at whether these systems can be built, so this is an important aspect, and whether they present an additional safety issue if they are installed. Other issues such as financial impact and utilities come into play as well. Next slide, please. So bioretention, bioretention. is intended to place stormwater back into the soil or sub base areas. This allows plants and vegetations to grow, reducing greenhouse gases and providing filtration areas for stormwater. However, Placing such a system on steep slopes, I think we have a few of those here, such as in Sausalito, could have unintended consequences, such as reducing slides or causing more subterranean water going through the system. That can be problematic. The best place to install such a facility is in the flatter portions of town, such as flatter portions in town where water can sit for a while and infiltrate the sub-base without causing additional problems. Areas like flat open space or down towards the bay area are best suited for this. There is a cost implication for this as well. Installing these type of facilities can be obviously more expensive than just resurfacing. Next slide. So as I mentioned, some flatter areas of town are better suited for bioretention. And we have to take into account what's lurking underneath. For us, we have a lot of utilities, and we don't always know exactly where they are, so we have to make sure to coordinate with utilities. And also, there are other unintended consequences. Putting some of these bioretention areas in the roadway itself could, in fact, limit the geometry of some of the trucks or ambulances or garbage trucks that may be accessing throughout the area. So we have to study that a little bit to make sure that if we do install a bioretention system, that it doesn't encroach too far into the road and cause problems. Site distance and safety issues are also an issue, especially if you have vegetation that can be a little too tall. Next slide, please. All right. The end of locus was originally on the resurfacing list. There may be an opportunity to install a bioretention facility at this location. However, In order to do this, we'd have to remove some parking. And I don't think that's a favorable approach. DPW doesn't necessarily suggest doing that. Another alternative here could be to install A and small pavers, something that where rainwater can infiltrate into the sub base on its own. These type of pavers that are shown on this slide have their own issues as well, such as they have to be consistently maintained so that there's not a tripping hazard for somebody getting out of their car. Another alternative could be pervious concrete, which tends to be very expensive. So we can look at those options, and we intend to. That's one of the reasons we pulled off the end of locus from the list, is to look at that. Next slide, please. Road diets. So it's not your normal diet where you don't just eat certain things. So this is a road diet. And the intent here is in some communities with wider roads and multiple lanes, roads can be reduced in lane width or even go as far as to remove an entire lane. This lets the community provide new systems such as bike lanes or, like we talked about, bioretention areas. This approach can reduce speeds for vehicles and has been discussed several times at the city's Pedestrian Bicycle Advisory Committee in years past. Sausalito has several wide roads that could be considered for a road diet. roadways such as Coloma, which we are looking at to put in new sidewalks, because we have a grant down there. wide roads that could be considered for a road diet. Roadways such as Coloma, which we are looking at to put in new sidewalks because we have a grant down there as well to do so. Easterby, Locust, and Tourney have generally the same geometry. So a little bit of study may be needed there to take a look at where and whether a road diet can be used. The intent is not to reduce parking. We want to keep the number of parking as much as possible. Next slide, please. All right, let's take a look at Easterby. So looking at Easterby, to be considered for a road diet, its general width all the way across from flow line of gutter to flow line of gutter is about 40 feet. It changes a little bit here and there, but about 40 feet. If a vehicle lane were reduced in some ways down to 10 feet, instead of a normal 12 feet, we could possibly get another four feet out of the side of the road in order to install a bioretention area. Again, some of this street is fairly steep and I would not recommend putting a bioretention on the upper slopes. Why? Because the water will just run off and it won't infiltrate the areas closer to where it's flat may be considered. Keep in mind, we don't want to reduce parking at all, like I mentioned. And there are other things to study as well. Director McGowan, I'm going to interrupt you. I'm so sorry. But based on the staff report, I had communications with at least 40 residents telling them that we would not be considering bioretention and road diets this evening for these streets, that that would be postponed to a subsequent item. So I just want to be clear. Are you asking us to now evaluate bioretention, swales, and road diets this evening? Or is that something we will hear for certain streets at a later date? In previous council meetings, you asked us as staff to look at these issues. We did that for lot one. I don't recall ever asking you to look at these issues for the remaining streets in Sausalito. And I don't recall asking you to recommend adoption of a plan for road diets and bioretention ponds and other facilities without first hearing public comment. And that's why we have so many letters coming in to us. Well, thank you. That's kind. I'd appreciate it if I could get through the conversation or at least the presentation. Yeah. Can you just clarify what a road diet is? Right. But are you asking us for others at this point in time? There's a lot of different items here that I wouldn't mind covering. |
| 01:31:04.43 | Unknown | Yeah. But are you asking |
| 01:31:08.32 | Susan Samuels | You know? |
| 01:31:16.52 | Steven Woodside | Can you just answer my question about whether you're asking us this evening to consider a road diet, for Easterby, Coloma, Turney, or whether you're asking us this evening to approve a bioretention, vegetated swales, rainways, or other facilities on any streets, or whether this evening you're simply asking us to approve resurfacing, because that is what I had understood and that is what I communicated to at least 50 residents. You are correct, Mayor. We are not asking to have any road diets or anything associated with that. We are simply asking to approve the list so that we can go out to bid. Great. Okay. With that, please continue. Why don't we move on then? Next slide, please. So I'm not too sure it's relevant to go through the rest of these at this point. So let's go keep going, CoolPave. Cool pavement was mentioned before. This is a material that can be placed on asphalt that reduce the heat imprint from paving. The idea is to reduce our greenhouse effect and reduce the amount of heat that comes off of each paved surface. Next slide, please. The idea was to place this on El Portal. And we do have a bid alternative to do so. And that goes in the bid package. Next slide, please. So as I've noted before, we want to study Easterby a little bit more and Locust in order to determine whether a bioretention system can be installed. That's not necessary at this point. If the council wants to proceed with getting this road resurfacing done, we can put it in the package, get it bid, even put the asphalt down specifically and come back and put a bioretention facility in at a later point in time. Um, Like I mentioned before, there are other issues associated with the geometry which need to be studied, but we'll get to that at a later point in time. Next slide. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 01:33:25.03 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. Any questions of staff? |
| 01:33:29.67 | Lauren Little Willow | I'm not sure. |
| 01:33:29.85 | Jill Hoffman | I have a... |
| 01:33:30.72 | Lauren Little Willow | I think you have a question. |
| 01:33:31.48 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:33:32.08 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 01:33:32.10 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Kevin, Thank you for your time this afternoon. And I had a follow-up question. We had talked briefly about, among other things, about the cool pavement and the cool surface surfacing. And we had talked a little bit about heat index. And I had emailed you a couple of maps, heat index maps. in And based on the heat index map that I have, |
| 01:34:01.97 | Steven Woodside | that indicated there really wasn't much of a heat index or heat |
| 01:34:08.03 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:34:08.36 | Steven Woodside | INCREASED HEAT INDEX |
| 01:34:10.03 | Jill Hoffman | for Sausalito and your concerns about the surface of the product. Could you tell us a little bit about your concerns about the cool surface product? |
| 01:34:21.46 | Steven Woodside | Thank you, Council Member. Yes, as mentioned in the staff report, I do have concerns about a material that's placed on a roadway that hasn't been tested, at least through the Caltrans system. So my concerns relate to initially friction factors, making sure that a vehicle can stop on that surface, even if it's wet. In addition, I've found in years past that any type of surface material we put on a roadway If it's not bonded correctly to the underlying asphalt, it'll unravel, and that'll cause even more problems down the road. So I do have a concern of that. At this point, we are simply asking in the bid package to give us a price of what it would cost to do that. And we'd have to do a little bit more research associated with the product itself to make sure that it complies with state of California standards. Thank you. And I would like to ask that I could share my screen and that I did share this map, I emailed this map earlier |
| 01:35:16.03 | Jill Hoffman | to Sarah and Or shit-a-fard. Yeah, to Sarah and Kevin. |
| 01:35:20.20 | Sonia Hansen | I'm shit-a-fard. |
| 01:35:27.07 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 01:35:30.56 | Steven Woodside | And yes, this product is usually used in very hot areas, New Mexico, Arizona. |
| 01:35:39.67 | Steven Woodside | And so this is the EPA... |
| 01:35:43.03 | Jill Hoffman | for the state index map for San Rafael, and you can see down here in the corner, this is Sausalito. So this is the heat index map, and you can see we're in the 0 to 10 range. There's no increase in the heat index at all for Sausalito. So there's no heat index increase at all for Sausalito. There's no indication, especially if we're talking about a tiny road, we're done and we're and we're gonna I think it was brought up in the staff report also for the There's no indication, especially if we're talking about a tiny road. And I think it was brought up in the staff report also for the other item, for the parking lot one. And so that's why I don't think it's, and we had talked about that in our discussion. It's not really married. |
| 01:36:24.97 | Steven Woodside | or warranted for this |
| 01:36:26.03 | Jill Hoffman | or for the parking lot one. |
| 01:36:27.68 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. I'm seeing in our staff report, it hasn't been tested. And so it was brought up to council as an alternative material that can reduce heat in our area. But I agree with the documentation that you've provided. There isn't much heat in this area anyway. |
| 01:36:46.13 | Jill Hoffman | And I would ask that this be attached to the staff. Well, I attached to the agenda under this item so other people can see the heat index map, or at least the one that I found from the Cal EPA website. |
| 01:36:59.02 | Steven Woodside | Do you want to transmit it to the city clerk? |
| 01:37:02.01 | Jill Hoffman | Sure. Well, Sarah's got it. Yeah. |
| 01:37:03.97 | Steven Woodside | happy to do that. |
| 01:37:04.44 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:37:04.61 | Steven Woodside | to the |
| 01:37:05.06 | Melissa Blaustein | He's the city clerk. He's the one who attaches. |
| 01:37:06.73 | Steven Woodside | Yeah. |
| 01:37:06.97 | Melissa Blaustein | you |
| 01:37:07.93 | Steven Woodside | Okay, and I had some other questions, but if we're going to approve the, if we're going to approve locusts and |
| 01:37:17.97 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:37:18.04 | Steven Woodside | for repaving them. |
| 01:37:19.96 | Jill Hoffman | I won't go to my other questions. Thank you. |
| 01:37:21.99 | Faye Rudio | Thank you. |
| 01:37:22.02 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 01:37:22.04 | Faye Rudio | you. |
| 01:37:22.65 | Jill Hoffman | questions. |
| 01:37:23.34 | Faye Rudio | Yeah. |
| 01:37:24.65 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you, Director McGowan for that presentation. I just want to clarify it because we did receive quite a bit of correspondence just asking specifically about the. |
| 01:37:34.04 | Joan Cox | approval of the November 2024 CIP considerations. What you brought forward to us this evening is, in fact, just a request |
| 01:37:42.96 | Jill Hoffman | for proposal for the resurfacing of those four streets and 11 streets to micro seal correct |
| 01:37:48.53 | Joan Cox | you |
| 01:37:48.55 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:37:49.22 | Steven Woodside | It's ready to go out to bid to get construction bids, yes. |
| 01:37:51.55 | Joan Cox | Right. Okay, great. And that's consistent with what we approved in November. Yes. Okay, thank you. |
| 01:37:58.00 | Steven Woodside | I do want to ask the city attorney, So what we approved in December, November, I believe, did include Easterby. But please don't leave. I have something else for the director as well. Included Easterby and the end of locust. The staff report says that those were on the original resurfacing list. However, because they have the potential to include a bioretention system or stormwater filtration system, they've been removed for further study and should be included in next year's resurfacing. Can we give direction this evening to adopt the public works director's suggestion that we can include those in this year's resurfacing project? Because a number of residents have written regarding their concerns about the current status, and the public works director has proposed an ideal solution in which is we go ahead and repave, and then we examine and install bioretention, if appropriate, after the fact. Is that something we can give direction about tonight, given the content of the staff report? |
| 01:39:06.29 | Sergio Rudin | I think so, yes. |
| 01:39:08.03 | Steven Woodside | Okay, great. I have a question there. Yes. |
| 01:39:11.83 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 01:39:11.88 | Steven Woodside | Yeah. So thank you, Director McGowan. So I think some of the confusion, because it confused me when I joined city council, is this idea of policy that we set at the council and then the way staff takes that and executes against it. So what I learned is that in our general plan, that's this million dollar exercise as he goes through every 10 years. There's a section 5.10 called complete streets, and that required the city to. come up with a policy of complete streets. and I'm sharing this only because it was news to me and I thought it might be news to my neighbors. Yeah, leading to a question about how it interacts with the with your decision-making there's this resolution of 56 53 that direct staff to look at complete street alternatives whenever you're a street is being repaved or is being worked on. And it's up to you to decide where, when to do it and when not to do it. looking for approval of your work product. Is and so with that as in mind, since we have so many people that care you did have that one picture of locust that's not what we're going to be approving tonight we're approving the paving of that street, but as the mayor pointed out in the future, you may be coming back. And since people are paying attention right now, could you just put that slide back up? just so that I think one key It needs to be. want to make sure I understand it. And if I understand it correctly, I think the people that live on Easterby I met Easter be, uh, would be interested too. So you. The green box used to be the one with the three little green box where you said it was relatively flat. |
| 01:40:48.60 | Bob Freeman | Sure. |
| 01:40:56.52 | Steven Woodside | Slide 12. Yeah. you put that up. |
| 01:41:04.11 | Steven Woodside | So when you're talking about a road diet in this particular application in furtherance of the direction that the city council gave you in 2017 with this resolution, You're not talking about narrowing all of Easterby. up the hill. You're talking about three specific spots that currently are red curbs that no one can park at. that you might put some of these stormwater treatment facilities at. Is that correct? Is that what I'm thinking? Yes, we're trying to identify spaces |
| 01:41:29.49 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:41:32.99 | Steven Woodside | or on Easterby that wouldn't impact parking. And in this case, there are already no parking areas. All right. So there's nothing further up the street that you're even contemplating here. Not at this point. I think it's too steep. |
| 01:41:43.57 | Unknown | Not at this point. |
| 01:41:45.62 | Steven Woodside | Yeah, okay, so I think that was important. Now, just on the stormwater business, Currently, water that isn't retained in the hillside goes down out into the bay, right? As I presume, right? That may be a trick question, but let's just assume. Yeah, well. Let's be aware of our risk management stance as well, Council Member Sobieski. Yeah, I just know that in the past we've been sued for silt contributions to some of our marinas and that we have an interest in risk management in trying to mitigate how much stormwater we flush into our system. |
| 01:41:58.31 | Bob Freeman | Where is the |
| 01:42:03.70 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:42:17.86 | Steven Woodside | Is that one of your goals behind this sort of thing? We want to filter some of the stormwater that comes off of the hillside. And there are other issues. It's not just siltation. It's garbage that goes into the bay. That's one reason to look at bioretention. And so there was one other specific at the end of locust, a flat portion of locust that you talked about. One particular design might require. Slide nine. Might require removing parking, but wouldn't it would it be possible to have a solution like you have there on the right? These permeable pavers where cars can still park, but the water seeps into the ground rather than our stormwater drain system? It would still go to the stormwater drainage system. It would sit there for a while before it gets to it. But yes, that is a possibility. And I covered that in saying that I think it's going to be rather expensive. We can study it and get back to you on what that would cost. Got it. So as the mayor said, these are proposals that you may come back for additional. Would it be additional funding for or project approvals? Or is it something that you implement under the existing policy just as part of your maintenance program? I think the way we're moving this evening If we approve Easterby and the end of locus for resurfacing. We would come back to you as a separate project to put in this type of system in the future. Okay. Thank you. Thanks, man. Yeah, thank you. And thank you, Director McGowan. And I know you've put an awful lot of work into what you presented to us in November and what you've presented to us, were prepared to present to us last week and this week. But of course we have to be so responsive to our residents' concerns. And so thank you for pivoting to address our residents' concerns in your updated staff report this week and your presentation. I wanted to follow on about the complete streets and ask you whether you were here I can't remember whether it was you or Jonathan Goldman. when we had a discussion about complete streets and about Measure AA funding. and about the infeasibility In Sausalito. of actually accomplishing complete streets throughout town. Do you recall that meeting and that discussion? I was not here at that point in time, and the studies that I've done on this current list have pretty much proven exactly what you've said, is that it's really difficult to address this, especially on our very steep hillsides. So were you aware that David Parisi had performed a study that showed different streets throughout Sausalito where complete streets could be feasible and where they would not be feasible, and that in accepting the Measure AA funds, we actually included a proviso that we would not be required to adopt complete streets in areas where it was geographically infeasible. I am not aware of that. I would be very helpful to see that. Okay. I will see if I can identify that information for you. All right, and I see that the vice mayor has his hand raised. |
| 01:45:20.56 | John Flavin | Yeah, and this is probably a redundant question, but just for my make sure I'm clear tonight, what is being recommended by DPW is that we go forward on bit to have bid documents and so forth for all of these streets, including Locust and Easterby. Is that is that my understanding? Is that correct? Yes. |
| 01:45:42.35 | George von Mest | Yes, Vice Mayor. |
| 01:45:43.51 | John Flavin | Okay, thank you. |
| 01:45:45.74 | Steven Woodside | Okay, I think that's all the questions for now. Okay, go ahead. I did have one more question about this. Do we have any speaker cards? |
| 01:45:51.39 | Unknown | Right. |
| 01:45:51.73 | Evan Jane Criss | Thank you. |
| 01:45:52.74 | Steven Woodside | Lane, lane with business and traffic calming, which is also part of this complete street. So one way you have a road diet is of course actually making the road narrower. Another is just by striping the lanes narrower. And. you know. I'm not a traffic expert, but I'm really asking you and with with an audience of people that care. It has been asserted that narrowing the lane somewhat causes people to drive slower. So we've we as a city council lowered the speed limit on Bridgeway and people still drive faster than the speed limit. sometimes substantially faster. The police, of course, can cite them. That's one way. of controlling excessive speed. But I've been told that psychology and human behavior is such that if you make the painting Smaller, not the road surface. The road surface stays the same, but just the lane a little bit narrower. that that will actually cause people intuitively to slow down. And that for that reason, Caltrans the professional traffic people of the state. have a standard of something like 10 and a half feet or maybe it's, yeah, I think it's 10 and a half feet for our lanes. And our lanes, I think in the proposal on Bridgeway are 12. And so my question to you is would a cheap, way, of doing a complete streets implementation on bridgeway, not be making this asphalt any narrower, but simply making the painted lines a little bit narrower to help slow things down. So firstly, it wasn't me, Chief, who was speeding. Second, I have heard that too, that as you narrow lanes, your speed does drop. Your striping has to really pop as well. So it's got to be very vibrant. However, reducing it probably less than 10 and a half feet can be problematic as well. So, I would have to do a little bit of an investigation with our traffic engineer. But I think you're correct. There is some traffic calming as you narrow some lanes. So as part of this decision here tonight, when we're approving asphalt, laying millions of dollars, do you need additional direction to maybe adopt the Caltrans standard for our lane width on Bridgeway? Or at least take a serious look at it and make your own decisions? So as a point of order, I would object to considering that direction this evening since it's not part of our staff report and we aren't able to take public comment from people. We already received a number of comments concerned about street narrowing because of trucks and other vehicles. So I would ask that we take that up as a topic for a future date. Mayor, just a question for you then on that point. I thought we were approving some work on Bridgeway. Maybe I mixed it up. Is there no Bridgeway work on this? No, that's not correct. We do have a micro seal on Bridgeway. So as part of that, the striping is a pertinent There, my hand. |
| 01:48:42.13 | George von Mest | Thank you. She's there. |
| 01:48:44.16 | Steven Woodside | So that's why I mentioned it as part of that. I'm raising this as a point of order. I don't think so. I this perhaps the city attorney can weigh in. I don't think it's on our agenda this evening to consider. |
| 01:48:46.72 | Melissa Blaustein | I'm really excited. |
| 01:48:54.81 | Steven Woodside | re-striping Bridgeway to narrow the traffic lanes in order to accomplish traffic calming. And I believe my hand is. City of Durring? |
| 01:49:03.23 | Lily Deschampis | Yeah. Thank you. |
| 01:49:03.97 | Sergio Rudin | it. |
| 01:49:04.19 | Lily Deschampis | I know. |
| 01:49:04.24 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:49:04.27 | Sergio Rudin | So I will say that you do have on your agenda, the plans for construction for the 2024. |
| 01:49:04.34 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:49:04.38 | Steven Woodside | Yeah. |
| 01:49:12.27 | Sergio Rudin | Pavement projects, so I think it is within It's permissible under the Brown Act, at least, for you to consider directing staff to make revisions to your construction plans. |
| 01:49:24.51 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. |
| 01:49:25.16 | Steven Woodside | Councilmember Hoffman. |
| 01:49:26.36 | Jill Hoffman | I thought I read somewhere in the staff report that we're specifically not looking at any other road narrowing or road diet projects other than Easter Bee and this |
| 01:49:37.99 | Steven Woodside | Located. |
| 01:49:38.02 | Jill Hoffman | location. I'm not going to be able to get a |
| 01:49:38.97 | Steven Woodside | projects that were called out for Easterby and locusts. At the bottom of page, of the road diet page, it says... |
| 01:49:43.04 | Unknown | that the |
| 01:49:49.30 | Steven Woodside | Staff have pulled both Easterby and Locust to allow city consultant time to research these two roadways for bioretention rainways and road dieting improvements. |
| 01:49:59.64 | Jill Hoffman | And I thought somewhere in your, and I can find it, there are no other road diet projects that are considered other than those two. |
| 01:50:08.79 | Steven Woodside | I have a question. |
| 01:50:10.34 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah. |
| 01:50:10.78 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 01:50:10.80 | Jill Hoffman | Does that, I don't know that, does the drawing of the like striping for Bridgeway to accommodate bike lanes and slowing constitute a road diet? I mean, I feel like we're allowed to direct in the context of this. |
| 01:50:23.57 | Steven Woodside | we were, |
| 01:50:24.50 | Jill Hoffman | I'm asking Dr. McGowan. |
| 01:50:26.37 | Steven Woodside | We're going to veer into that. |
| 01:50:29.04 | Jill Hoffman | of public comment both for and against, how that would affect bicyclists both for and against. I saw public comments that I was able to |
| 01:50:40.97 | Steven Woodside | review written public comments that I was able to review before we came in. Here, it's right here. |
| 01:50:45.68 | Unknown | It's right here. |
| 01:50:47.16 | Steven Woodside | This concept will require significant discussion and development, such that considering a road diet at this time for Bridgeway between Nevada and Easterby is not reasonable, and staff recommends micro-sealing this portion of Bridgeway with the intent of extending the life of the existing road surface. I appreciate that. And it's during question time. So we can actually ask the author of that himself. I believe that entire sentence is about the physical construction of the roadway, not about the striping of the lane with the thing you said, the road diet, making the notions of making bridgeway narrower physically is what is a big project. But the notion of possibly just paint redoing the asphalt, just like we're proposing, but directing staff to use the Caltrans standard for the lane is easy to do, it's just paint. Well, Caltrans Standard is 12 feet, and that's what it is now. or the 11 feet that we want to have for the traffic calming. I'm not sure the state of California has come up with something that says it's less than 12 feet. Okay. then, but we could give that direction and I'm learning direction to come back to, to us, to. |
| 01:51:50.68 | Walfred Solorzano | We can give direction. |
| 01:51:55.52 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 01:51:55.54 | Walfred Solorzano | So. |
| 01:51:56.28 | Steven Woodside | I really think this is a controversial issue for our residents. And so... And if the Caltrans standard is 12 feet, I would say let's have him come back when he comes back to us to talk about bioretention. Let's talk about road diets and everything else, but let's do it in an orderly, thoughtful fashion that allows the residents to weigh in. Yeah, I certainly know what the Caltrans standard is, so. |
| 01:52:16.35 | Dan Chagru | of the world. |
| 01:52:19.08 | Sergio Rudin | Thank you. |
| 01:52:19.13 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 01:52:19.18 | Sergio Rudin | Thank you. |
| 01:52:19.20 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 01:52:19.30 | Sergio Rudin | Thank you. Yeah. Besides the California manual on uniform traffic control devices, I would want to double check that the Lane width standards are not prescribed by the vehicle code, which the city does have to follow. |
| 01:52:34.77 | Faye Rudio | Thank you. |
| 01:52:34.79 | Steven Woodside | Great. Thank you. Other questions? |
| 01:52:35.38 | Faye Rudio | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 01:52:36.88 | Steven Woodside | Okay. All right. I'm going to close our questions and open it up for public comment. The first public commenter is John Johnson. Director McGowan, will you stick around in case? Yeah. All right. And after Jan, I'll hear from Morgan Pierce and then Catherine Streetman. |
| 01:52:56.63 | Susan Samuels | Hi, thank you for tolerating me again. hidden in that staff report is a mention of the now defunct PBAC's plan to, quote, narrow North Bridgeway to two lanes from Gate 5 Road to the Ferry Terminal to put in Class 1 bike lanes. The concept was developed in a... and out to study and conserve as a connection to the North-South Greenway and as part of the Bay Trail Network. And it's mentioned that it would need to be studied et cetera. Sausalito is basically a tinderbox public easement. |
| 01:53:39.03 | Alice Merrill | and private property are full of dead debris |
| 01:53:41.97 | Susan Samuels | highly flammable |
| 01:53:43.03 | Alice Merrill | trees we could easily burn at |
| 01:53:46.04 | Susan Samuels | as did the Pacific Palisades. I think any, this... previous P back concept should be permanently shelved The northern bridgeway is the major evacuation route out of town. Everything else is two narrow lanes with housing on either side, and for the westward, Spencer, and Montemore, a lot of that is essentially one lane because of parking. You can't widen 2nd Street or South Street unless you take out housing. So it would make me feel a lot better if somehow this plan is removed permanently from any study by staff that might somehow happen, costing us money and |
| 01:54:37.25 | Diana Dempsey | Thank you. |
| 01:54:37.59 | Susan Samuels | reducing our evacuation |
| 01:54:39.02 | Diana Dempsey | capabilities. Thank you. |
| 01:54:41.37 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Morgan Pierce, then Catherine Streetman, then Mark Palmer. Good evening. |
| 01:54:48.73 | Bob Freeman | Oh, thank you. Good evening, Mayor Cox, Vice Mayor Woodside, members of the City Council, City staff, and my fellow Sausalitans. My name is Morgan Pierce. I'm an architect, landscape architect, past chair of both the Planning and Historic Preservation Commissions, longtime resident and currently president of Sausalita Beautiful. I'd like to thank the council, the city manager, and the director of public works and their staff for proactively embracing the concept of design thinking as it pertains to civic maintenance and improvement, and composing revised programs that focuses immediate remedial work where most needed, and introduces new case studies to explore the potential application of new methodologies in how we approach our infrastructure. The benefits to be realized include safer roadways, reduced heat island effects, which the EPA may not recognize, but each of us certainly does when we walk downtown on a hot, sunny day. enhanced stormwater management and improved water quality, all while preserving circulation and parking and increasing civic beauty. It's time for us to not settle for status quo solutions and instead take more consideration for the community we are leaving for |
| 01:55:46.96 | Sophia Collier | to be able to do that. |
| 01:55:47.03 | Bob Freeman | generations. |
| 01:55:47.81 | Sophia Collier | For what it's worth, there are bioretention systems that work in some sloped conditions, |
| 01:55:51.97 | Bob Freeman | Thank you. |
| 01:55:52.02 | Sophia Collier | We shouldn't abandon that community. |
| 01:55:52.97 | Bob Freeman | Why you may ask Isasle to beautiful weigh in on this topic? It's simple, in addition to the other |
| 01:55:58.03 | Sophia Collier | if it's cited. |
| 01:55:58.61 | Bob Freeman | Thank you. |
| 01:55:58.84 | Sophia Collier | We are committed to improving Salcita's public green spaces, and this gives us more opportunities to do so. |
| 01:56:04.66 | Bob Freeman | Thank you. |
| 01:56:04.73 | Sophia Collier | Thank you. We recommend the council |
| 01:56:05.96 | Bob Freeman | improve this project and undertake the much-needed repairs as scheduled, and pursue case studies for applying new technologies for improving our roadways as part of a long-term investment in our community. Thank you. |
| 01:56:16.80 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. That was a mouthful. Catherine Streetman, Mark Palmer, and then Lori Volt. |
| 01:56:23.24 | Lauren Little Willow | Thank you for letting me have this chance to speak. I'm a little worried. |
| 01:56:27.02 | Unknown | the road diets. When I was a kid, I lived on Bulkley for the first seven years of my life and very close to San Carlos. So it was pretty good place to be a kid, but there were no sidewalks and there wasn't much parking. So I can remember my parents having the discussion off and like Where is the car? Well, it's down the street, around the corner, up the hill. It drove my dad crazy. And eventually we left, but when my husband and I came back 33 years ago, we bought our fixer upper down in the flats. We forego a view just so that we could have a lot of parking and also be in a walkable neighborhood. So we'd get to shops and the beach and, |
| 01:56:49.64 | Unknown | AM I SURE THAT? |
| 01:57:02.09 | Unknown | The bookstore is everything, you know, in our neighborhood, some people have driveways and garages. Some people don't. Most people don't. So they are dependent on what happens in the street to have a place to park. And there's room for bikes to go both ways and cars to go both ways. And there are sidewalks and street trees. It works out pretty well. And also it's not just the residents, it's the visitors and the people that patronize the businesses on Caledonia and Bridgeway. Also the people that work at the restaurants, as far as down as Poggio park on my block, So there's workers from all the way from downtown parking up there. And it's just that we need that parking. So I would be. |
| 01:57:40.02 | Steven Woodside | I'm just hoping that |
| 01:57:40.97 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:57:41.04 | Steven Woodside | reduce our parking. And that's it. Thanks. Thank you. Mark Palmer, then Laurie Vialt. and then Mike Rogers. Welcome. |
| 01:57:53.59 | Sophia Collier | Good evening, Mayor, City Council members, Mark Palmer. |
| 01:57:56.04 | Bob Freeman | Thank you. |
| 01:57:57.22 | Sophia Collier | Oh, yeah. |
| 01:57:57.29 | Bob Freeman | I'm here to support the roadway rehabilitation project. This investment in our streets is critical, but it's also a chance to go beyond basic resurfacing and move toward an approach that better serves all users. I strongly support incorporating elements like bioretention, |
| 01:58:12.97 | Steven Woodside | balanced street design and traffic calming to make our streets safer, greener, and more walkable. These improvements not only extend the life of our |
| 01:58:21.98 | Bob Freeman | infrastructure, but also support public health and climate resilience. I commend staff for taking a closer look at locust and Easterby. These streets present unique opportunities and challenges that deserve careful attention. This project could be a stepping stone toward a more strategic, long-term vision for roadway improvements in Sausalito. Thank you. |
| 01:58:43.44 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Laurie Vialt, Mike Rogers, Lorette Rogers. |
| 01:58:50.56 | Susan Samuels | Hello. Thank you very much. I live up on Central Avenue. And the reason I wanted to speak tonight is because it was mentioned in the proposal about narrowing of streets and Bridgeway was listed as one of those streets to be narrowed. In order to narrow bridgeway, we would have to remove the center median, which is critical for safety vehicles who will have no way around if removed. The center median is also crucial for residents who live on bridgeway to access garages and driveways. And removal of the center median on bridgeway would create unimaginable traffic backups. also narrowing bridgeway and potentially removing parking presents a lot of issues because we already have limited parking and we really can't afford to lose more parking as a city, especially if we are proposing 724 new housing units. And those spaces on Bridgeway are used quite a lot, especially for the parking after six limitations that are nearby. So I would encourage us not to narrow Bridgeway and to accept the ruling that was made a couple of months ago on a very passionate topic on this issue. So thank you very much. |
| 02:00:08.27 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Mike Rogers, then Laurette Rogers, and then Niels Carlson. |
| 02:00:18.63 | Faye Rudio | Welcome. |
| 02:00:19.14 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 02:00:19.93 | Faye Rudio | Thank you. |
| 02:00:20.08 | Steven Woodside | Good evening, Mayor Cox and council members. It seems like Easterby Street and the road paving is going to It sounds like we're just going to go ahead and pave it and maybe come back to bioswale and look at that another time. But I'd like to point out a few different things about it anyway, according to slide, I think was slide number nine. where they show where the bioswales would be, bioretention would be. I used to sell those bricks and they break all the time. They're open in the inside. It's trucks go over them, garbage trucks, cement trucks, moving trucks that I saw today in the area. I live, I should have said also that I'm a third generation Sausaleden. We've been here since 1920. I overlook Pearl Spring, Easterby all the time. And to put bioretention those bricks that crack all the time. Someone would have to be... on that all the time, watching it as trucks go over, because those are roadways. Pedestrian areas, there are roadways, so trucks and stuff go through them all the time. It would be horrible. |
| 02:01:25.36 | Melissa Blaustein | Are you talking about the pavers? Yes. |
| 02:01:26.71 | Steven Woodside | Yes, those pavers, yeah. And they really aren't pavers. They used to sell their locking pavers. They're not solid pavers. They have the openings in them. and there are They're great for bioretention in a residence, situation in your own driveway in a residence or in a backyard, not in a commercial application. not in a commercial application unless something new has been made. I don't know of that. Also, they make a lot of noise. Those are in traffic spots. As tires go over it, it goes rickety, rickety, rickety, rickety. I don't think anybody in the town wants to hear that noise in their neighborhoods. So that's just two other points. Also, Easterby Street has been in need of paving for 50 years. I have a movie of a female actor who came out of a house at the top of Easterby Street and came down Easterby. And the movie shows all of Easterby Street. Walford, you have to give him a few more seconds because I interrupted him with a question. Okay. |
| 02:02:23.02 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:02:26.58 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. She came down Easterby Street and they showed Easterby Street on this movie from 1970 and showing the waterfront that she was on her way down to. |
| 02:02:27.35 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:02:35.84 | Steven Woodside | And it was in horrible shape then it's in horrible shape now I drove over here today it's got potholders all through it, and it needs to be paid now it's been approved, pave it now pave the whole thing and and no. uh, restrictions on dieting. Dieting, that's a horrible horrible thing. We have 40 foot streets there. Thank you, sir. That's actually the end of your time. |
| 02:02:57.65 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 02:02:59.98 | Steven Woodside | Thank you so much. Okay, thank you. Lorette Rogers. Hi, Lorette Rogers. And Niels Carlson, then Jacques Ullman. |
| 02:03:05.39 | Unknown | And Niels. Lorette Rogers, Spring Valley. Yes, I'm here also to tell you, please beg you to don't delay in paving spring Easterby locust and the other streets that have have been called out. No road diets. We have large commercial trucks that use these streets every day. Come see what's going on. In addition, emergency vehicles use those streets to go up to the hills, and we need to keep them wide and smooth. I'm an environmentalist, so bioretention and all that, I know about all that. I think it's a great thing not here, not on the streets called out. I thought Mr. McGowan gave a great presentation about it, but I would hope that you remove the study and not continue with that. Some of the things that we lose with road diets and some of the things you talked about are parking. And I guess I just wanted to show you, if you haven't seen it, most marin households get this magazine every month and as i started to read mimi tau the editor's letter the first thing she said was urging everyone to get out and have fun summer she said it's july in marin which means lots of downtown parking any town except maybe sausalito Okay, so you know the words out there that Sausalito is not open for business that things are kind of closing down and I think as we lose more and more parking spaces, we lose opportunities to thrive as a city. So I urge you to reconsider that and all the different things projects that you're thinking about. Um. Yeah, and the other thing to say is just, you know, Spring Valley is part of the historic Sausalito too. Putting the big building in the north is not the answer. I mean, my husband's family has been here for 100 years. Both our grandfathers worked on Marin's ship. It's historic, you guys. So when the big, ugly building needs to be placed somewhere, please consider that Spring Valley also is historic. And I wanted to thank you for your service, and I really urge you to pave all these streets right now. I appreciate it. Thank you. |
| 02:05:10.30 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 02:05:10.32 | Unknown | All right, Neil's |
| 02:05:10.98 | Steven Woodside | Carlson, then Jacques Ullman, then DJ Puffer. |
| 02:05:18.06 | Steven Woodside | Okay, so |
| 02:05:23.16 | Babette McDougall | you |
| 02:05:25.67 | Steven Woodside | Okay. What about Jacques? Yeah. |
| 02:05:31.02 | Walfred Solorzano | Well, first, I want to second everything that Morgan Pierce said. I back all of that. I just want to mention that El Portal, there is an effort to raise El Portal to sidewalk level. And there's support from all the local businesses there. And so it would seem a shame to use that as an experiment. you know that's kind of a waste of money if we're going to because we have I think half the funds from private sources so I think you should reconsider that. Locust Street the city manager very rightfully recommended that we do some planning of the private properties south of Dunphy Park, and we have the city streets. |
| 02:05:42.67 | Unknown | isn't. |
| 02:06:28.84 | Walfred Solorzano | and we have the BCDC restrictions on what you can build near the shoreline, all of that combined in that area could be a plan where the streets, even where we have the parking lot there, that could all be changed into a plan where all these properties would work together. parking could be below housing that could all be changed into a plan where all these properties would work together. Parking could be below housing or all sorts of things. So I wouldn't do too much improvement to Locust Street until that planning is done. Thank you. |
| 02:06:54.47 | Unknown | We're going to... |
| 02:07:07.31 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 02:07:09.17 | Steven Woodside | DJ Puffer. And next is Adrienne Britton. |
| 02:07:16.61 | Unknown | Madam Mayor and city council members, thank you very much for hearing me. This is kind of like same time again next year. This is my seventh time up here talking about repaving Easterby. I've been in a residence at on Easterby Street since July 2nd, 1972. I raised my two daughters there, who are now 54. I've been there for 53 years of them, 54. We started in 1978 asking to have that street repaved, and we dealt with that issue. At that time, economics was a consideration, and it just keeps going up. I'll bypass all the other times that I've been up speaking about the street coming in and getting repaved, and that's all I'm concerned about is the public safety and the street. The city has been sued at one time that I know of for sure because of the potholes there and somebody injuring themselves. I've seen countless people fall over. There are plenty of potholes there. There's plenty of damage to the street. 53 years, the only thing that happens is the street gets dug up and various entities pave them. And some do a good job, some don't. As was mentioned tonight, it is an emergency street. |
| 02:07:30.73 | Unknown | Bye. of the |
| 02:07:36.30 | Unknown | that we're going to do. |
| 02:08:40.75 | Unknown | What hasn't been mentioned is that it's also on waves. So if there's a backup on the freeway, Rodeo was used to go to Woodward, and it's recommended to go down Easterby Street. The street's in horrible shape. Take a walk on it. That level area of Easterby, that's an interesting thought. There is a level area, but it's all red curbed, or we have a fire hydrant right in the middle of the sidewalk. It could be revisited if the street were paved and it was taken care of, it could be revisited. you very much. |
| 02:09:21.22 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you so much. Thank you for that history. Adrienne Brinton, then Diane Johnson, |
| 02:09:25.97 | Steven Woodside | then Sonia Hansen. And I still have Gilles Carlson on here as well. |
| 02:09:28.28 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:09:28.39 | Bob Freeman | Some have guilt. |
| 02:09:29.21 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:09:31.81 | Steven Woodside | Go ahead, Adrienne. Welcome. |
| 02:09:33.45 | Bob Freeman | I, City Council, thank you for taking my comment. I'd like to start by just pointing out that we're still talking about the 2024 road repaving program, because repaving roads is difficult and it takes a long time. We've been talking about repaving these roads for over a year. They've been on a list. Before that, we had, as one of the council members mentioned, |
| 02:09:53.02 | Sophia Collier | um, |
| 02:09:53.60 | Bob Freeman | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:09:54.36 | Sophia Collier | our general plan, talking about complete streets, about doing things differently. And I think through this whole road paving process, we brought up that We should be thinking about these things a little bit differently. |
| 02:10:02.96 | George von Mest | For me that means how do we get the most out of our money? We're gonna put a huge investment into our infrastructure. How do we maximize that? One way to maximize that that's been brought up is to reduce our pavement area. And when I see a 40-foot-wide road |
| 02:10:14.98 | Bob Freeman | and they're not going to be good. I know that's more road than we need. And we have some roads like that. |
| 02:10:19.40 | Sophia Collier | Thank you. |
| 02:10:19.45 | Bob Freeman | Thank you. are you? |
| 02:10:19.97 | Sophia Collier | I'd love to be able to look back when I'm 80 and I'm up here and I'm shaking my fist and say, when we started that infrastructure improvement project, we got our money's worth out of it. And I feel like by going in and doing it the way we're doing it. We'll get it done and I'm really, really glad that we're getting these streets done because they badly need it. But we're not going to get our full money's worth out of it, I don't feel. What would it take to do that? It would take a lot more than what we're doing. Our process for doing this and our process for doing something different is broken. Kevin, Director McGowan has put a ton of work into this. One of the pieces that I feel like really should have been done was there should have been outreach at that point in the process where we were talking about how to do this differently, bring in the community, bring in other ideas, bring in designers who have done this in other places, who understand where the opportunities are, and present those to people that live on the streets. When it comes into the last minute like this, people are confused, people are angry, |
| 02:11:16.98 | George von Mest | Like, where's my parking? My lane's gonna go away, this, that. I don't see those things as being necessary or even being asked for here. And so to see that much confusion |
| 02:11:26.04 | Sophia Collier | generated at the last minute and this much anger about doing something that ultimately is going to benefit all of us is just amazing. |
| 02:11:31.96 | George von Mest | opportunity. So I hope with 26, we can do it better. Thank you. |
| 02:11:35.76 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Diane Johnson. Niels Carlson and Sonia Hansen. |
| 02:11:47.08 | Faye Rudio | Hello, I'm Diane Johnson. I live on Filbert, and so I need Easterby when I turn off of Bridgeway to get up to my street, |
| 02:11:55.98 | Steven Woodside | narrow that street, this diet, the Ozempic for roads, is really ridiculous because that is such an impacted intersection already. It's, there's an area where people are not to block that area, they block it all the time. We need that extra space just to get through. I have been nearly rear-ended making that turn onto Filbert, on Easterby, onto Filbert, right there. |
| 02:12:20.04 | Faye Rudio | It's just a dangerous intersection. And yes, Easterbeet does need to be resurfaced soon. And it's been a long time. |
| 02:12:26.98 | Alice Merrill | we've been waiting for this. And then another, |
| 02:12:30.03 | Steven Woodside | Another street that I think is really important is Monty Mar, going up to the freeway. That's our exit route when we don't want to go on bridgeway, especially on the weekends when there's all the bicycles and the traffic. So we go up the back way on all those streets. Monty Mar has so many deep potholes that my whole alignment of my car is screwed up all the time from these huge, huge potholes. And we've been told for years that they're going to take care of that street. And it's a major, it's a freeway entrance, exit and entrance. |
| 02:13:03.04 | Faye Rudio | I end up going to the wrong side of the street, driving across what would be a double line if there was a line there, and endangering myself with oncoming downward-facing traffic because I'm trying not to fall into these potholes. So I would really urge this to be an immediate fix of the roads. Thank you. |
| 02:13:25.16 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 02:13:25.68 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Nils Carlson. I heard he had stepped out to speak in the hallway, but is he back? Mila. Okay. All right, then Sonia Hansen. That's the last speaker card I have from the gallery, and then we'll go to online. |
| 02:13:45.97 | Sonia Hansen | Welcome. Okay. Thank you, Sonia Hanson, Spring Street resident for... Yeah. More than half a century. I guess the thing that I'd really like to clarify now from listening to what all you you've all been saying, are we now focused on paving all these roads first? |
| 02:13:59.01 | Unknown | No. |
| 02:14:08.49 | Sonia Hansen | And then all the other things can come afterwards, but that would be fantastic. I was gonna tell you the story about a member of the Southern Men Fire District who has been a neighbor. He's now 47, so I've known him his whole life. He was, they were called Southern Men Fire District to the 7-Eleven. They always park right in front of the fire hydrant. He stepped out of the truck, fell in a pothole, was taken to the emergency room and for six weeks could not work. Easterby is a nightmare. So thank you for paving it. Thank you for paving the other roads. And what happens going forward, I wish you all well. |
| 02:14:51.15 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. All right, Walfred. |
| 02:14:56.42 | Walfred Solorzano | All right, we have Babette McDougall. |
| 02:15:03.05 | Babette McDougall | Thank you. So, you know, Like so many others, I'm asking myself, why do we have such a full council tonight? as we did just recently when it had to get kicked over to tonight. And why are so many people paying attention? And it's because we are at that moment of inflection for our community. which is why I'm glad we're having this discussion |
| 02:15:25.02 | Steven Woodside | But first of all, you have to realize This whole thing about placemaking This is our moment, and I think what we're hearing finally is your people are coming forward saying, don't forget that we are our own place. That's important. And then are we going to spend money on infrastructure or not? You've been promising infrastructure for so long. And I think you hear that frustration because is it, you know, if it's Tuesday, it must be infrastructure. And then the final thing is the narrowing of streets. The whole thing about repainting streets takes the whole town by shock. And this shakes confidence in governance because it comes across like, well, are we going to get the pavements or not? Are we going to fill the potholes or not? Are you suddenly going to blindside us with another fastball that nobody expected, and now suddenly because we're supposed to do Planet A. We're going to do plant B and we're going to repaint everything to our great detriment and constriction. When there's no consensus on how we're going to rebuild, the town to preserve this character. that we care so much about because it's on a direct collision with the transit worker housing hub concept. So we really need to daylight all of this data going forward. And I just beg of you, what you're seeing here are smatterings in, please don't let us lose the last of confidence we have in this governance. We're imploring you to work with us, not against us. Thank you. Thank you. City Clerk? |
| 02:17:02.32 | John Wales | We have Joris Von Menz. |
| 02:17:07.34 | George von Mest | Hey, there's Dear city council, thank you. I just wanted to say that great to see we're improving the roads. I'm a big fan of that. I do want to make a comment about The speed of cars on our streets, which is, I love that we have pretty limited speed limits, but as we all know, when you walk on the streets, the cars are driving far over the speed limits. And this is an excellent opportunity also to think about proposals such as traffic calming, even if it's just repainting the lines, as was suggested here. So thank you for taking that into consideration. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:17:42.18 | John Wales | All right, next speaker is Elina Frankov. |
| 02:17:48.31 | Jill Hoffman | Hi, City Council. Thanks for considering the plans. And I'd like to ask that you do engage in forward-looking designs that consider all stakeholders that use the streets, not just cars. However, I also recognize that some streets are in dire need of repaving and so balancing that is important as well. But one to urge considering making the streets safer for cyclists. as I cycle on the road with my daughter all the time. And I'm a Sausalito resident and a homeowner. Thank you. |
| 02:18:22.08 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 02:18:25.43 | Walfred Solorzano | Next speaker is Sandra Bushmaker. |
| 02:18:29.45 | Sandra Bushmaker | Good evening again. I think I like the direction that the council is going on this. I just wanted to remind you that you had a meeting |
| 02:18:38.97 | Steven Woodside | in November of 2024 in which you approved a list. of the streets. On July 1st, you had a consent count. Thank you. |
| 02:18:49.19 | Sandra Bushmaker | under matter to approve the going out to bid on that list from November 2024. The matter got pulled and opened up Pandora's box and all these other things. We need to get these roads paved I'm not opposed to looking at these other items that have been raised but what has |
| 02:19:09.97 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 02:19:10.03 | Sandra Bushmaker | started off |
| 02:19:10.64 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:19:11.03 | Sandra Bushmaker | as a repeat. |
| 02:19:11.98 | Steven Woodside | program approved by the council and |
| 02:19:15.03 | Sandra Bushmaker | to the end. |
| 02:19:15.96 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 02:19:15.97 | Sandra Bushmaker | approved. In the 2526 capital improvement program, I have the number if you're interested. We need to get on with it. It's really shameful that we haven't paved Easterby in 50 years. I was just on it the other day and it truly is abhorrent. So let's get on with what the council approved in November of 2024 and thereafter with a capital improvement allocation. So let's do that if the council desires to look at these other issues. In the future, Well, as someone else said, Good on you. Okay, thank you. |
| 02:20:03.19 | Walfred Solorzano | Next speaker is Kieran Culligan. |
| 02:20:09.03 | John Wales | I'm Eric Kieran Culligan, Sausalito resident. Thank you. |
| 02:20:12.08 | Ben Canberra | Our infrastructure is old. No surprises there. We're hearing about things not being repaved in 50 years. I'll tell you one thing, traffic, the concept of traffic engineering looks fundamentally different today than it did 50 years ago. And many of these modern designs are counterintuitive for many of us. It looks different, like why would you want narrower travel lane. Doesn't mean making the street narrower, just making the lines narrower. Things like that can make a huge difference in terms of safety, in terms of how a community feels, in terms of how vulnerable road users feel. So paving is great, but we need to look at how to do things better. It shouldn't just be an afterthought. I think people are kind of rejoicing of like, oh, we'll pave now and fix it later. Like, all right, we're not actually going to fix it later. Right. We should be looking at doing these things now. There's a particular concern that I would like to see addressed tonight. And it's for Bridgeway and it's a concern about going backwards in terms of traffic calming. and increasing the highwayification of bridgeways. And that has to do with the 12 foot travel lanes that are shown on the drawings. That's wider than pretty much anywhere I could measure on Bridgeway currently. That's the typical lane on a freeway, and it encourages high speeds. then it equally makes a bicycle lane, which is already substandard, even smaller. And so I would like to see city council direct staff that they should maintain travel lanes at 11 feet or less when next to a bike lane |
| 02:21:34.97 | Jed Dempsey | with the goal to increase the width of the bike lane with restriping. That has two effects. |
| 02:21:39.97 | Ben Canberra | Thank you. |
| 02:21:40.32 | Jed Dempsey | One, |
| 02:21:41.03 | Ben Canberra | a proven safety counter measure that slows down traffic. When you feel a narrower lane, you don't drive as fast. |
| 02:21:47.97 | Steven Woodside | versus feeling like it's a highway and wanting to go highway speeds. |
| 02:21:50.82 | Ben Canberra | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:21:51.17 | Steven Woodside | And two, it creates |
| 02:21:51.97 | Ben Canberra | more room for other users. So that's a benefit for our cyclists. It's a benefit for our pedestrians. And it's a benefit for the drivers as well, because you're gonna have a lower accident rate and a lower likelihood of a serious injury when you have lower speeds. So please consider that change and direction for tonight. Thank you. |
| 02:22:09.11 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. Next speaker is Alice Merrill. |
| 02:22:15.07 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 02:22:15.10 | Faye Rudio | Welcome back. |
| 02:22:15.66 | Steven Woodside | Callous. Thank you. |
| 02:22:16.70 | Alice Merrill | Thank you. I'm just grateful that you've just decided to go ahead and get the streets paved. And then, think about other kinds of ideas after that's been done and the money's been spent and we know what we have left. before doing fancy stuff and not getting the streets paid. That's all. Thank you very much for listening to us. I appreciate it. Thank you. |
| 02:22:42.24 | Walfred Solorzano | Next speaker is Pat. |
| 02:22:46.27 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 02:22:46.30 | Lily Deschampis | Bye. |
| 02:22:46.69 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:22:47.13 | Lily Deschampis | Can you hear me? |
| 02:22:48.25 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:22:48.38 | Unknown | I hear you. |
| 02:22:49.31 | Lily Deschampis | Um, A quick thumbs up. |
| 02:22:52.02 | Babette McDougall | to getting the paving done. including Easter Bee and Locust, And I live on Montemar and I have to second the comments that were made not long ago. about the condition of Lower Montemor and Upper Montemor. |
| 02:23:05.03 | Alice Merrill | anymore. It's a disgrace. Easter bee is a |
| 02:23:07.97 | Babette McDougall | real disgrace. And here we have a chance to get something constructive done. There may be better ways to do things, which can be looked at in the future. Let us not wait for the perfect before doing the good. I hope you approve the plans with Easter Bee and Locust, and let's get it done. Thank you, Pat. |
| 02:23:32.54 | John Wales | No more further public speakers. |
| 02:23:35.44 | Steven Woodside | All right. I will close public comment. I will note for the record, and I am giving to the city clerk a petition that was handed up to us with 114 signatures that says, listen to residents, maintain our streets, don't narrow our streets. So I'm going to give this to the city clerk to add as a correspondence to the committee. Um, this item. And with that, and I also do want to comment preliminarily that Montimar is the very first street on the plan. So Montimar is on there. All right. And so I'm going to lead off with a motion to authorize staff to proceed with soliciting for construction bids for a portion of the 2024 roadway rehabilitation project for an engineer's estimate of, I'm going to change this to 2.3 million construction, and to further study sustainability solution on specified roadways, and with the amendment that we will include locust and those portions of locust and Easter bee that were included in the 2024 street rehabilitation project. Can I just ask for a friendly amendment? Yes, absolutely. Just in regards to the conversation. |
| 02:24:55.60 | Jill Hoffman | Yes. |
| 02:24:55.82 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 02:24:58.03 | Jill Hoffman | the comments that Councilmember Sobieski brought up and the letters of correspondence we received regarding bike safety. Could we direct staff as well to study the striping associated or would that be associated with this in context of the sustainability measures? |
| 02:25:11.89 | Steven Woodside | Can I make sure that you have my second? Thank you. So I'm willing to accept, I'm willing to give direction to staff to study that and come back to us. I'm not willing that we're ready to send it, put these bid out tomorrow. Of course. Yeah, that's so. Well, in that same vein though, this is just paint on the street. I understand. So, |
| 02:25:25.52 | Joan Cox | Okay. Yeah. |
| 02:25:31.83 | Steven Woodside | I'm not willing to delay soliciting for bids. No. |
| 02:25:33.57 | Joan Cox | This is the listening. |
| 02:25:35.21 | Steven Woodside | Yeah, not delay, but when we could do it as a suburb motion, or it could be part of this one, which is before the paint is painted on the street. Let's have a report from the city attorney and director McGowan about the appropriate lane width, taking into account our complete streets policy and what we learned about saving lives with caught traffic calling. So I'm not willing to say before the paint is on the streets because I don't know if that's happening in August, and we're not coming back until September. |
| 02:26:08.16 | Unknown | in August. |
| 02:26:08.91 | Steven Woodside | I mean, I doubt it. So but I fully endorse giving direction to come back to us with information for us to evaluate striping in a different manner. And it should be part of this project. I'd like to see if you need to. It should be part of this project. Okay. So I don't know how to do it to preserve your order, Mayor. if you could give us some help on how to make that. |
| 02:26:34.17 | Jill Hoffman | I don't think that's within the scope of what's in our staff report or what's noticed, because we were |
| 02:26:41.96 | Steven Woodside | specifically say, |
| 02:26:43.03 | Jill Hoffman | the staff report that we're not |
| 02:26:43.97 | Steven Woodside | . |
| 02:26:44.04 | Jill Hoffman | talking about. |
| 02:26:44.97 | Steven Woodside | Bridgeway, we're not talking about |
| 02:26:47.03 | Jill Hoffman | road diets. |
| 02:26:47.97 | Steven Woodside | right? |
| 02:26:48.04 | Jill Hoffman | narrowing. |
| 02:26:49.32 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 02:26:49.67 | Jill Hoffman | If we're gonna talk about that issue, that was a hot issue that many people weighed in on. And we specifically said, we're not talking about narrowing roads and that could be considered within the scope of what we say we're not talking about. So I wouldn't want people to think, I'm not showing up at the city council meeting, I'm not weighing any further, because we've specifically said in the staff report, we're not talking about narrowing roads. |
| 02:27:12.95 | Steven Woodside | road, so I don't want to put your issue at risk. And we're willing to give direction |
| 02:27:18.02 | Jill Hoffman | the staff to come back. If we're going to change the striping, we can change the striping. That's not that tough. |
| 02:27:23.27 | Steven Woodside | I'm happy to say have the staff come back in September. Is that doable? Yes, so I see a thumbs up. So my motion will be accompanied by direction to staff to return to us in one of our meetings in September to have a discussion regarding possibly changing the manner in which Bridgeway is striped. Their recommendations. whatever their professional recommendation is. |
| 02:27:49.60 | Sonia Hansen | Yeah. |
| 02:27:49.89 | Unknown | Professional recommendations. |
| 02:27:51.50 | Steven Woodside | Yeah. And I would want to hear from the city attorney as well regarding Caltrans' 12-foot standard. Wig and tears and all that. Yeah. |
| 02:27:52.94 | Unknown | and I'm not going to do that. |
| 02:27:59.96 | Steven Woodside | I'm sorry I said what the mayor said is director direction is for director McGowan to come back after talking to the city attorney and with all his expert knowledge about traffic and the direction from city council about complete streets and in September just report about what he thinks the lane with of bridgeway should be. |
| 02:28:18.50 | Jill Hoffman | Well, let's. |
| 02:28:18.98 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 02:28:19.03 | Jill Hoffman | Let's do the motion. |
| 02:28:19.97 | Steven Woodside | So there's a motion in a second. We're about to have discussion on the motion. I'm not revising the motion. I'm adding to the motion direction to staff to return to us in September. The motion has already been seconded. It's now open for discussion. Who would like to lead off? I guess I will. I'm proud. I know this has been going on for a while, but the budget that we approved four to one two months ago has the largest investment in infrastructure in Zosolito's history. And I'm really pleased that the road program of repaving started or was approved in November, which was one of the last meetings I got the honor of serving as mayor on. So I'm really pleased that this project gets to move forward. And at the same time, I am lamenting that we still have so much more work to do. There is a huge amount of deferred infrastructure in the city of Sausalito, literally tens of millions of dollars. So this is a good first step. But there is so much more to do. And I hope that we can have a future meeting and meetings to talk about where we're going to find the money to literally get the tens of millions of dollars we need to have first class infrastructure in town. But I'm really excited for this step. I'm also a little, it would be remiss on me not to lament the public angst created by the way that communication |
| 02:28:42.87 | Sonia Hansen | Thank you. |
| 02:29:45.11 | Steven Woodside | filter occurs in town as you saw No one even talked about narrowing Easterby from top to bottom. three spots that are red curbs currently. And that is not the entire streak. Now, of course, you only see that when there's the actual presentation and the opportunity to engage. I do feel I think one of the public commenters, you know, highlighted how much we could benefit from a very deliberate way of moving forward with our design considerations when they affect people who live here in town. And so it would be good as part of future processes, whether it's around the bioretention or anything else, that we have a very prescribed public outreach mechanism so that we can get this kind of feedback early. Maybe, and I would love to speak with Ms. Rogers afterwards if she's willing to chat with me. I'm curious whether she would be in favor of buyer retention at those spots with the red curve or not. She lives on Easterby, and I'd love to hear from the Easterby residents about their opinion about those sorts of locations. He's shaking your head now. Yeah, OK, I didn't see where she is. So yeah, I mean, that feedback matters. But it would be good to understand exactly why. The fact of the matter, and this I think is really important just for the people that are still paying attention to know, this didn't come out of the blue. In 20, this is part of the general plan, which I think is a very expensive process to go through. But the mayor headed the GPAC. |
| 02:30:46.04 | Melissa Blaustein | No, but yeah. |
| 02:31:08.96 | Steven Woodside | And it's actually a policy in the general plan to do this kind of work. So we're telling staff. to do it. We shouldn't. feel like we're getting a side swipe when they actually come back with the work product they're directed to do. In 2017, there was an actual resolution of the city council, I quoted that resolution, it's 5653. It's the complete streets policy, and it requires staff every time there is any repaving to look at the feasibility of narrowing the streets, installing bioswales, thinking about circulation, And so that is the policy. forgot we were on a timer. That is actually the policy. So So we got the work product that policy came from, and now it's our job to decide what to do with it, and we're going to do it here today. |
| 02:31:58.50 | Steven Woodside | follow on um i endorse i loved what adrian britton said about um engaging in forward looking designs inviting designers to identify a city-wide plan Thank you. and conducting outreach. So I think throughout town, we should look at what is possible. I do not think This is something that Director McGowan could have already done. We have been, we have just piled the work on him in the last several years with the ferry landing, with the Tracy way. the downtown redesign with all kinds of, huge projects, repaving Edwards, just the Block 303, We have really, and we hired two additional people to help him because there's just so much work to be done. So I do endorse that as a future effort. We have to prioritize that as something for staff to do. That is not in our priority list for this year to have staff examine the viability of complete streets, bioswales, retention ponds, and other features throughout town, that's something we have to put on our priority list for them to do. Our priority was to repave our streets, and we are moving forward with that. I'm very proud, as you are, to be doing that. I am, you know, we've given direction to hear about Bridgeway. I I'm very concerned, as Jan Johnson mentioned, about the fact that Bridgeway is our major route out of town. So I don't I want to include emergency preparedness as a as an aspect of considering the viability of narrowing the lanes on Bridgeway. I agree that pavers are not suitable for a commercial application. I agree. Do not use El-Pertal as an experiment for cool paving. And um, Those are my preliminary comments. So I'll yield to Councilmember Hoffman. So yeah, so we, |
| 02:34:10.03 | Jill Hoffman | kind of went around the road on this. On July 1st, there was a motion on the consent calendar. There was a report and a request from our public works to approve. |
| 02:34:22.97 | Steven Woodside | I'm not sure. |
| 02:34:23.04 | Jill Hoffman | I think that's a good question. |
| 02:34:23.71 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 02:34:23.90 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:34:23.97 | Steven Woodside | Yeah. |
| 02:34:24.03 | Jill Hoffman | APPROVED THE ARC |
| 02:34:24.96 | Steven Woodside | THE FAMILY IS GOING TO BE |
| 02:34:25.03 | Jill Hoffman | to |
| 02:34:25.98 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 02:34:26.45 | Jill Hoffman | build. |
| 02:34:26.87 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 02:34:27.21 | Jill Hoffman | Our roads. |
| 02:34:27.83 | Steven Woodside | you |
| 02:34:27.95 | Jill Hoffman | our road rehabilitation plan. All of these streets were on it. and it was pulled off by Councilmember Sobieski. And it came back as this completely new plan. as a different type of plan on our City Council agenda on the 15th. And the reason why people were rightfully upset was that this new plan included road diets, specifically called out for Easterby, Locust, Litho, Turney, Pine, and Spring. And this new concept specifically talked about narrowing these streets. It specifically talked about removing parking. It specifically talked about different types of concepts on the sides of these streets. So it's not that people reacted unnecessarily |
| 02:35:16.97 | Steven Woodside | this was what was spelled out in the staff report. So to call people... yet unreasonable for |
| 02:35:25.04 | Jill Hoffman | being upset about what was happening in front of their homes, I don't know why there would be finger-wagging about that, because that is what was in the staff reports. The cool roadway systems was also in the staff reports. No outreach was made to the public. This was a completely different plan that was completely different than what was in a staff report two weeks prior. So one street was completely taken off Easterby Street that hadn't been repaid in 65 years. There were lawsuits from Easterby Street from the poor pavement of Easterby Street. One lawsuit was from an elderly lady that was just trying to cross the street and fell down in the last 10 years, 15 years. and sue the city. The other lawsuit was from As one of our speakers said was from a fire man who got out of a fire truck that was parked on Easterby Street and stepped in a pothole. and hurt his knee. Yes, people were upset. And we hadn't even seen a concept for the bioswells or the new catchment system until Friday, this past Friday. And it wasn't a plan. It wasn't a well-thought engineered plan. It was just some drawings on a map. There's a fire hydrant at that location. It's a very, very |
| 02:36:46.97 | Steven Woodside | ALL THE OTHER THINGS ARE |
| 02:36:47.03 | Jill Hoffman | It's an awkward uphill |
| 02:36:47.98 | Steven Woodside | . |
| 02:36:48.03 | Jill Hoffman | three-way. |
| 02:36:48.97 | Steven Woodside | to get to the next day. |
| 02:36:49.02 | Jill Hoffman | Bye. Yeah. |
| 02:36:49.97 | Steven Woodside | THE END OF |
| 02:36:50.04 | Jill Hoffman | intersection that is very congested. So there's a fire hydrant that fire trucks have to access. There's an entrance into 7-Eleven, and then there's another red zone. The fire trucks park there. Had anybody reached out to 7-Eleven and asked about that, which nobody did, they would have been told that if anybody. And I'll continue when I get to speak again. |
| 02:37:13.70 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 02:37:13.71 | Steven Woodside | Great. Who would like to go next, Vice Mayor or Council Member Blaustein? Go ahead, Vice Mayor. |
| 02:37:20.72 | John Flavin | Can you hear me? |
| 02:37:21.95 | Steven Woodside | Yes. |
| 02:37:22.50 | John Flavin | Thank you. Okay, thank you. Just very briefly, since I wasn't on the council in November, but I did pay attention, I have seen this consistently as an effort to repave the streets. And I've also seen. Historically, and member Sobieski reminded us that we do have a policy to consider alternatives as we go forward. And I'm all in favor of considering them, but I have not seen at this point. What I've seen is the recommendation that we go forward on the paving. |
| 02:37:55.43 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:37:58.90 | John Flavin | So I'm fully in support of that. And I just want to caution everyone that to me, one of the biggest issues always will be public safety. In any effort to redesign a street, restripe it, reconfigure it. I think that has to be a number one factor. And I'm very reluctant to, um, Encourage that a notion that we should be designing them from the dais and I don't think I'm hearing from any council member that that's what we want to do, but there may be an expectation from the public. that we should be doing that. and we really shouldn't. We should listen to the experts, people who really understand safety and traffic safety and rely on those kind of recommendations as we go forward. So I'm looking forward to seeing those in the future. But for now, I'm very happy to vote for the motion. Thank you. |
| 02:38:54.42 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 02:38:55.81 | Jill Hoffman | Great. Thank you. I'm really thrilled that we in our budget set aside a essentially unprecedented amount of funding specifically for infrastructure, because, as Councilmember Sobieski pointed out. What we heard consistently is we need to fix our roads. |
| 02:39:12.60 | Joan Cox | Yeah. |
| 02:39:12.82 | Jill Hoffman | I agree there's certainly much work to be done, especially with regards to repaving our roads, and I just wanted to. acknowledge that I really appreciate all of the feedback that we received from all of the residents from each of these streets, whether it was Easterby or coma or locust be it in favor of or against the plan. uh i think that it's really exciting that we have such a collaborative and engaged community who want to weigh in to that end though i do want to just make clear that at no point were we planning to not pave any of these roads we are always going to prioritize as we said in the budget and as we said in november and december repaving these streets and the conversations around complete streets are about forward thinking looking looking ahead how do we |
| 02:39:57.03 | Joan Cox | start to take steps to |
| 02:39:58.97 | Jill Hoffman | more prepared for the impacts of climate change? How do we make our roads safer? How do we think about things like the fact that maybe in five to ten years, No one will be driving their own cars and they'll be driving |
| 02:40:10.02 | Joan Cox | and bikes on the road. So we wouldn't be responsible policymakers if we weren't considering every potential path while agreeing to move forward and pave the streets. So I'm thrilled that the roads are getting repaved, that the work is starting. And I hope that all of you show up as we're talking about what the streets can look like |
| 02:40:27.98 | Jill Hoffman | look like collaboratively going forward too. So I noticed in public comment, good, we're paving our roads. Great for you, go ahead down the road. And I hope that you all still show up for the down the road conversations when we think about what's appropriate and what it looks like and as we get expert opinions and know that we will be paving the roads and trying to also forge a path that puts us in the best possible position for disaster preparedness, for climate resilience. |
| 02:40:52.09 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 02:40:52.21 | Jill Hoffman | you |
| 02:40:52.28 | Joan Cox | for improved roads and for safety overall. So I'm really excited to support the motion and I also look forward to hearing more from staff as we continue to vision for the better of the future of our community consistent with our general plan and our complete streets policy. |
| 02:41:08.98 | Steven Woodside | Councilmember Sobieski. |
| 02:41:10.77 | Bob Freeman | Yeah, well... |
| 02:41:11.65 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. since He, this is his second, and then it's your second, and then my second. Okay, sorry. Okay. Yeah, just for the record, the item on July the 1st was not pulled off consent by me. So I think you may have remember that misremember that the staff pulled it off on their own. I sent actually a letter to staff that day said I'm concerned that not hearing this item Tuesday could delay much needed street repair. So I'm so I'm not asking for it to be removed from the agenda. I think it is critically important to get some of these road project bids solicitation solicit solicitations out and move forward and hope and expect we will hear the item. but I would have removed it from consent because there was no plans attached as attachment number one and Jill and my other colleagues, we, we all settled this in November. I mean, at that meeting, I'll quote you at that meeting at two hours and 58 minutes and 20 seconds. He said, most of our efforts, and this is about the pavement project, should be focused through climate resilience. This is a policy shift and a policy lens we should set as a policy change tonight. We said that in November. to look at these things through a climate resiliency lens. friend janelle kelman running for lieutenant governor sat here and at 229 53 seconds uh said roads are in not in great shape and we need some improvements for sure but we also need some better criteria on how we weigh those options and i think it has to expand from the current criteria of engineering and include risk management and climate solutions direction to staff is to prioritize green infrastructure in our planning and priorities and to explore vancouver-like rain management water systems If we keep looking at things as traffic problems, we will only find traffic solutions. We need things different and better. That's what Janelle said from this chair. It's a very nice chair. We have many priorities to balance and nuance is often lost in turning up the volume to 10 and creating this sort of zero sum game with scorekeeping and it shuts down conversation. Because of the Brown Act, we can't talk offline. There's not some back room where we go with beers and hash it all out. I don't get to talk to Jill or Joan or Melissa about these subjects. And you're often hearing about it for the first time when it's agendized, because we're talking about it for the first time. So this is how we all learn about it together. And so, you know, again, I'd be really interested in talking to Ms. Rogers about why she doesn't want, because she's an environmentalist, I'm sorry I'm picking on you, but it's like you're an environmentalist and you still wouldn't want one bioswale by the red curb. I'd like to understand why, but that's how we do it here. I think it doesn't serve any of us to turn the volume up to 10. I think these things get on the agenda, and the staff writes the staff report, and we pull it apart here, up here, and we get to the conclusions we get. And this is a good conclusion. We're repaving the streets, and we're giving direction to staff to implement our longstanding policy since 2017 to look at environmental solutions that a future hopefully Lieutenant Governor Kelman and all of us unanimously voted on and that 2017 resolution by Mary with me that was also unanimous. So I went next, and then you. So I do endorse fully examining those issues. The issue that we had with this particular... staff report and agenda item is the manner in which this the undertaking of this work was communicated. So in the staff report it was presented as a fait accompli rather than here's an education about things that you could consider about the network of streets throughout town. As we embark on this paving project, I'd like you to also think about meeting our general plan goal and our complete streets policy to consider and also consider what the sustainability Commission has recommended because I didn't know they had recommended anything until I heard it tonight. So all I'm suggesting is that We get the paving going, but we also establish a priority and say, listen, now that we're embarking on this great infrastructure project, let's also, as Adrian said, figure out how we can make the project even better by examining other things that we can accomplish, perhaps at the same time, Perhaps as an add-on, But the manner in which we communicate, when I first ran for office in 2010, I ran on transparency. And it was residents first, and we need to be transparent about the work that we do. It's really important that when we're considering installing bioswales and traffic calming measures and narrowing streets and putting in bike lanes, that we communicate that to our residents so they can come back and say, hey, Coloma Street, there's already, as wise as it is, there's already not enough room. So, and people like Lorette, we have such an incredibly intelligent and well-informed community, we need to take advantage of them. So all I'm suggesting is that our process be tweaked just a little bit so that we carry out what we said we wanted to do in November of 2024 but we also... think bigger picture and I think you were largely responsible council member for having staff look at this through a complete streets lens and look at this through a sustainability lens. Just the manner that we communicate with the community, we just want to avoid panic and we want their feedback. So that's, that's, that's my perspective. Council Member Hoffman, thank you so much. So let me address the question. |
| 02:46:48.04 | Jill Hoffman | policy shift issues. |
| 02:46:48.97 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 02:46:49.03 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:46:49.13 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 02:46:49.27 | Jill Hoffman | I have no doubt that I said that. |
| 02:46:53.98 | Steven Woodside | One of the issues, I think, that when I did say that, I was reporting from the Cal Cities Conference in a report that At that time in October of 2024, |
| 02:47:02.45 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:47:02.84 | Steven Woodside | Most of the time. |
| 02:47:03.04 | Jill Hoffman | of the federal grants that were coming down were in the, were for climate change. And so, yes, of course, we need to look at climate change and infrastructure. That landscape has changed dramatically between then and now. And so, of course, we want to look at these things and sustainability as an ongoing policy issue, of course. But, At that point, I think if I went back and looked at my statements, I would say we would need to do a policy shift because that's where all the money is raining down from the federal government at this point. that landscape has changed dramatically since then. So just to explain the context, I would not call what has happened in the last week collaborative. I would say that people have been outraged by seeing that their road was removed and that there was a plan to narrow their roads and they were mobilized and they had to act. And I would not like to see that happen again. |
| 02:47:45.90 | Unknown | I'm not sure. |
| 02:48:04.04 | Jill Hoffman | And so if we go around and the next time this comes back, I would hope that before something comes back, and we'll talk about this in direction to council, or direction, but, Before anything comes back to council, I would want it seen run through the filter of input from our public safety officers and honest input from our public safety officers. And meaning that I want honest input from our police department on the safety impacts from narrowing any lanes or widening lanes, whatever their honest impact of any action that we would take from |
| 02:48:41.98 | Steven Woodside | IN THE CITY. |
| 02:48:42.03 | Jill Hoffman | increased traffic |
| 02:48:42.97 | Steven Woodside | THANK YOU. |
| 02:48:43.02 | Jill Hoffman | safety and honest impact from our Southern Marin Fire Department. of removing lanes or increasing lanes. I will tell you that what I was going to say about the rest of that intersection by 7-Eleven is that you have huge semi-trucks that have to deliver groceries that are there almost every morning. They need that wide turn radius. |
| 02:49:06.97 | Steven Woodside | TODAY. |
| 02:49:07.04 | Jill Hoffman | when they come out. |
| 02:49:07.96 | Steven Woodside | of 7-Eleven and I talked with our public works director about that today. |
| 02:49:13.03 | Jill Hoffman | and he's offered to do a ride-along with some of the semi-trucks i don't know if our public of our 7-eleven owner is as willing to set that up but they need that wide turnaround they take a left hand turn there and then they use the two lanes on bridgeway to turn out so um you know the some of the public comment that we've received to remove lanes on Bridgeway as part of this staff report because some of the comments in the staff report were to remove lanes on Bridgeway and insertion of bike lanes. That was actually in the staff report. So anyway, if we come back, when we bring this back, I would expect the safety reports to be in there as well. I'm excited that we're going to approve |
| 02:49:55.97 | Steven Woodside | Councilmember. Thank you. Thanks. |
| 02:49:57.51 | Jill Hoffman | Sorry. |
| 02:49:57.97 | Diana Dempsey | Thank you. |
| 02:49:58.03 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:49:58.12 | Diana Dempsey | Thanks. |
| 02:50:00.31 | Steven Woodside | No worries. Anyone else? Okay, I'm going to call the question. I would like to add to my motion that we not do the cool ceiling on El Portal. I don't know yet whether I see Ali shaking his head yes. I think that's already been removed, but I want to do add that. as an aspect of the motion. And so with that, I'll call the question. City Clerk. Oh, will you second my amended motion, Council Member? Yes. Okay. City Clerk. |
| 02:50:27.09 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 02:50:27.12 | Alice Merrill | Yeah. |
| 02:50:27.17 | Melissa Blaustein | Yes. |
| 02:50:30.89 | John Flavin | Councilmember Blossy. |
| 02:50:31.68 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. |
| 02:50:31.70 | John Flavin | Thank you. |
| 02:50:31.92 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 02:50:32.03 | John Flavin | Thank you. |
| 02:50:32.05 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 02:50:32.07 | John Flavin | Thank you. |
| 02:50:32.90 | Walfred Solorzano | Councilmember Hoffman? Yes. Councilmember Sobieski? Yes. Vice Mayor Woodside? |
| 02:50:38.19 | John Flavin | Yes. |
| 02:50:38.63 | Walfred Solorzano | and Mayor Cox. |
| 02:50:39.95 | John Flavin | Thank you. |
| 02:50:40.15 | Steven Woodside | Yes, that motion carries 5-0. Congratulations, everybody. Thank you so much. Thank you so much to the public for all of your feedback. All right, let's take five minutes. and I don't see the vice mayor. |
| 02:50:57.20 | John Wales | We're back. |
| 02:51:00.28 | Steven Woodside | Okay. All right. There he is. All right. We're going to resume. I'm going to seek another amendment to our agenda. So I'm going to ask that we hear... three G now and then we'll move on to 5B. So originally we were going to hear 3G at the end of the night, but if we don't pass it tonight, there will be bad consequences. So I'm going to move it to now at staff's request. Anybody object? |
| 02:51:22.51 | Unknown | Is |
| 02:51:30.31 | Steven Woodside | Seeing none. Is Brandon in the room? Isn't he... |
| 02:51:35.03 | Jill Hoffman | you |
| 02:51:35.05 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 02:51:35.89 | Jill Hoffman | Art assistant. He just walked out. Assistant City Manager Phipps. |
| 02:51:47.62 | Faye Rudio | Thank you. |
| 02:51:47.64 | Steven Woodside | I've got him running here. |
| 02:51:49.68 | Melissa Blaustein | Someone's running here who looks like Brandon. |
| 02:51:51.13 | Steven Woodside | Like Brandon. That's Director McGowan. |
| 02:51:52.83 | Melissa Blaustein | Oh. |
| 02:52:07.24 | Steven Woodside | Is he here? |
| 02:52:10.84 | Melissa Blaustein | Oh, here he comes. |
| 02:52:14.65 | Melissa Blaustein | you |
| 02:52:21.13 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 02:52:21.15 | Steven Woodside | Hello, Assistant City Manager Phipps. Sorry you didn't get the memo, but staff asked that I move this up to now. |
| 02:52:28.59 | Sophia Collier | Well, pleased to be informed that we're hearing the item now and very happy to be here. |
| 02:52:33.32 | Steven Woodside | Okay, so I'm going to start off by, this was pulled by Council Member Hoffman. Can you state why it was pulled? And then if we need a staff report, we can hear it. |
| 02:52:40.77 | Jill Hoffman | Sure. |
| 02:52:41.53 | Steven Woodside | Sure. Yeah. I've discussed this with Director Phipps. I had a couple of questions. |
| 02:52:46.93 | Jill Hoffman | Sorry, I had a couple of questions about the current funding that was left over from last year. I had a couple of questions about the level of participation with the property owners. And then I had a couple of suggestions for how to move forward. And so I don't know if you want to give the full staff report there. |
| 02:53:04.97 | Steven Woodside | I don't know if anybody else is interested in that, or if that's necessary. I'm happy to give the- I can phrase my question in such a way that you wouldn't have to do that. It's up to you. Yeah. |
| 02:53:09.51 | Sophia Collier | I'm happy to give the... I'm happy to give a very brief summary. This evening, what's before council is kind of the endorsement and approval of the PBIDs work plan and budget. And this is a required step that business improvement districts must take on an annual basis. This is also something that's called out and echoed in the disbursement agreement by and between City of Sausalito and the DSBIDA, the Downtown Sausalito Business Improvement District Association, which I believe is going under the DBA of Downtown Sausalito Association, or something to that effect. |
| 02:53:16.33 | Steven Woodside | I know. |
| 02:53:52.33 | Sophia Collier | within the work plan and budget that you've been provided as an attachment, it kind of goes through a summary of, okay, where did we start and where are we now? Some of the items that have been highlighted are the priority setting actions that the board has taken in the past. It tells you how the board has voted on what is seen as priorities in the city. You'll also see a summary list of some of the actions that have been taken and that we'd like to celebrate as a group here so that you folks know some of the good work that the PBID has been engaged in. And of course, as is required, some summary of how the budget has been constructed and approved by the board members. And of course, all of this is hearkening back to the document that council approved that underpins this district, the management district plan, and the engineers report. And I'll leave it at that. |
| 02:54:53.24 | Steven Woodside | Great. Are there any questions of staff? Council Member Hoffman? Sure. So the first year that we operated, that was last year, correct? |
| 02:55:02.25 | Sophia Collier | Actually incorrect. The Pbid was formed on January 1, 2025. |
| 02:55:04.04 | Steven Woodside | I'm so excited. |
| 02:55:07.66 | Steven Woodside | Okay, so we're still in the first year? Is that how you would characterize it then? |
| 02:55:10.93 | Sophia Collier | Depending on how you calculate year, we would be in the first calendar year and we just transitioned fiscal years. |
| 02:55:16.50 | Steven Woodside | Keep you up. |
| 02:55:18.50 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, gotcha. Okay. So in the first year, how much money was raised? I mean, the budget was how much? |
| 02:55:27.40 | Sophia Collier | in the first year, This year, the budget is $235,526. |
| 02:55:34.94 | Jill Hoffman | And that was 120,000 from the city and |
| 02:55:39.83 | Sophia Collier | Approximately $117,763 from the city, and same from private property owners. |
| 02:55:46.28 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:55:46.32 | Steven Woodside | Well, okay, but how much was collected from the private property owners? It wasn't 117. It was 80% of that. |
| 02:55:53.40 | Sophia Collier | Yeah, very fair point, and appreciate you bringing that up. The city has engaged in year one assessment collections on behalf of the county of Marin, and what we have arrived at is a collection of the vast majority of assessments, I'd say, but there are still a few assessments that have not yet been received to the tune of approximately $26,000. That number has come down of course Marginally as we receive assessment payments and I believe the exact number of folks properties Who have not yet paid our tenth? |
| 02:56:31.35 | Steven Woodside | So 10, 10 property owners and approximately 20% of the property owner APPORTIONMENT. |
| 02:56:39.30 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 02:56:39.71 | Sophia Collier | Yes, I'd agree with that. |
| 02:56:39.94 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:56:40.01 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:56:40.03 | Jill Hoffman | So, |
| 02:56:40.08 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:56:40.11 | Jill Hoffman | I agree with you. |
| 02:56:40.75 | Unknown | you |
| 02:56:40.77 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:56:40.97 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 02:56:41.50 | Jill Hoffman | And currently in their... leftover, I guess you could say from the last fiscal year is $178,500. |
| 02:56:56.62 | Sophia Collier | So let's just go back to the report so I don't misstate any numbers. And I will just state also for the record that the executive president of the PBIT is here, and she may be better suited than I to discuss some of these items. So Cass Green, hey, good to see you. As far as the revenues that have been collected, 195,000. |
| 02:57:22.69 | Annie Porter | Okay. |
| 02:57:23.87 | Sophia Collier | And as far as the expenditures that the bid has engaged in since its formation on January 1 of this year, $16,754. That leaves us with a net of approximately $178,000, which we have identified some budgetary items and kind of pinned these funds on for future actions. |
| 02:57:44.03 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. |
| 02:57:44.41 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 02:57:44.49 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Um, So, okay, so maybe I misunderstood, but I thought we, I'm not trying to trip anybody up. I'm just trying to get at, there was money left in the budget, and I thought it was about $178,000 going forward. Okay. |
| 02:57:57.92 | Sophia Collier | That is correct. |
| 02:57:58.61 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, and for the property owners, the approximately 20% of the property owners that haven't paid There was a plan to hire a third partner |
| 02:58:08.98 | Steven Woodside | collection agency to proceed to collect from those property owners, correct? |
| 02:58:17.47 | Sophia Collier | Correct. And I'll just state that staff has taken that upon themselves as well. We understand that as a city collecting assessments, folks may not be so familiar with that kind of collection system, considering people are used to receiving an annual property tax bill. So I can appreciate that this is a process that goes above and beyond what may be typical for private property owners, and we want to make sure we're being transparent with those owners within the district. So to that effect, we've recently sent out a courtesy notice reminding folks of their responsibilities and their unpaid assessments and kindly request that they pay them promptly. Our consultant that we are ideating a contract with, we haven't yet committed to that contract. This is something that is typical for cities. They hire some assistance to assist with the defining of assessments on an annual basis to the county and assist in tracking those assessments over time. If a structure has improved square footage added to it and it's in the bid area, the entire formula of assessments within the bid changes. And it's our job to make sure we're tracking those. So that's one of the other elements that this ideating contract, we have not yet committed to it, may contain. |
| 02:59:35.04 | Jill Hoffman | And so at some point, we had talked about this, and I had talked about this with the city manager. We were hiring somebody else to do that, but now you're telling me that the staff is doing that? Our city staff is doing that? |
| 02:59:51.05 | Sophia Collier | City staff have been assisting with the administration of the district since its inception. |
| 02:59:57.72 | Unknown | you |
| 02:59:58.60 | Sophia Collier | And part of the actions that we've taken to assist the district include collecting year one assessments on behalf of the county of Marin. |
| 03:00:08.03 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, and originally when this was presented to us as a city council, it was presented as if the county was going to collect this money, but now, |
| 03:00:15.20 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 03:00:15.52 | Jill Hoffman | you Thank you. |
| 03:00:15.98 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 03:00:16.15 | Jill Hoffman | That hasn't happened. |
| 03:00:16.97 | Steven Woodside | this first year. |
| 03:00:17.65 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 03:00:19.30 | Sophia Collier | You know, I'm not, I don't recall exactly how this item was presented over the times, multiple times that we've heard it, but I can say that this has been a consistent narrative for some time. |
| 03:00:33.76 | Unknown | you |
| 03:00:33.78 | Faye Rudio | Thank you. |
| 03:00:33.80 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:00:35.30 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. That's all my questions. Oh, go ahead. Sure. Hi, Director Phibbs, and hi, Cass. I appreciate that you're here. I serve on the PVED. |
| 03:00:45.04 | Joan Cox | although the last few meetings have conflicted, unfortunately, with my work schedule. um, wanted to ask a couple of questions specifically about the timing and the approval of the budget. So when was the first official meeting of the PBID? as a group. |
| 03:00:59.13 | Sophia Collier | I'd have to look that up online. |
| 03:01:00.82 | Joan Cox | But it was mid-January 20, after January 2025. |
| 03:01:05.51 | Sophia Collier | Wreck. |
| 03:01:06.25 | Joan Cox | And the fiscal year ended June 30th. |
| 03:01:09.88 | Sophia Collier | This most recent fiscal year, yes. |
| 03:01:11.97 | Joan Cox | And in advance of that, it was the first preliminary meetings of the PBID to discuss how they would want to. expend their funds essentially. |
| 03:01:20.64 | Sophia Collier | Absolutely. So, so thank you for bringing that up. And I'm happy to speak to that a little bit more if you'd like me to expand. It is more common that the formation of a bid aligns with fiscal year, such that the formation of the bid can also align itself more perfectly, I'd say, or optimally with the receipt of property taxes. So that's neither here nor there. You know, this bid formed on January 1, 2025. We were excited to form it. Thank you. One of the items that that kind of counts though, is you need to have revenue in order to spend it. And it took a little bit of time for the bid to receive their first year of assessments. With that said, the bid has taken what I would call a significant amount of actions to just get the ball rolling, right? To form the district, to establish the board. They've held seven board meetings since the formation, so I would say that's fairly significant as well. We have bylaws. There's necessary paperwork we need to file with the state of the IRS. There's a strategic process, as council knows, that needs to be done at a public meeting. There's a strategic process around identifying what actions we'd like to take. We've issued... a strategic process, as council knows, that needs to be done at a public meeting. There's a strategic process around identifying what actions we'd like to take. We've issued an RFP and hired a consultant to assist with the administration of the district. And of course, certain more physical and visual items that you folks may have reviewed or observed in the city, such as hanging flower baskets, cafe tables and chairs as temporary furniture and installation of lighting on Tracy Way. And those are the first three low-hanging fruit actions that the bid has taken. There is a list in the report provided that kind of highlights some of the others that we intend to take. |
| 03:03:08.19 | Joan Cox | So, so far we have those amazing tables downtown, the hanging baskets, like that's great. I just want to understand, uh, for people who might be asking Councilmember Hoffman brought up, you know there's funds that are unspent when given this the structure and timing and the expectation for receiving revenue again, when is the next. distribution of funds. and such that that might explain why there is essentially a carryover. |
| 03:03:32.94 | Sophia Collier | Well, for those of you who own property, you may be able to answer this question yourselves. But what I can say is the deadline for the city to submit to those assessment values to the county so that they can prepare their property tax bills is the end of July. So I'm happy that we're hearing this item this evening. And we will be, you know, totally in accordance with at least our obligations as related to making sure the county is informed. As related to property tax payments, I think that you received them in a number of installments. I don't recall the exact dates. Is it something like December and March? November and March. Yeah. |
| 03:04:13.56 | Joan Cox | So you won't be receiving funds again until at least November or March? March. Okay. Okay. Okay, so that explains the timing and the, okay, great. I just wanted to clarify that for folks who were interested. Thank you for the questions. |
| 03:04:25.25 | CG Ware | Thank you. |
| 03:04:25.29 | Melissa Blaustein | the question. |
| 03:04:26.08 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 03:04:27.82 | Melissa Blaustein | Any other questions? All right, I'm gonna open it up to public comment. Any speaker cards? |
| 03:04:32.56 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 03:04:33.79 | Walfred Solorzano | See you then. |
| 03:04:35.90 | Steven Woodside | Okay, I'm gonna, and no one online? |
| 03:04:38.50 | Walfred Solorzano | No, no, no. |
| 03:04:38.98 | Susan Samuels | I'm sorry. |
| 03:04:39.25 | Steven Woodside | I'm going to close public comment. Who would like to make a motion? some comments first before you go. Oh yeah, I'm gonna get a motion and then we'll have comments. I'll make a motion to adopt the resolution, which is attachment three, approving the downtown Sausalito Business Approvement District Association budget for fiscal year 2025-26. |
| 03:04:59.26 | Melissa Blaustein | Second. All right. |
| 03:05:00.96 | Steven Woodside | Any discussion? Yes. And a possible amendment to, a friendly amendment, perhaps, to the motion. |
| 03:05:09.75 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 03:05:10.51 | Steven Woodside | you |
| 03:05:10.53 | Jill Hoffman | I am concerned. Well, I'm not concerned, actually. I think I would like to move toward more independence of the business improvement district from the staff and more independence from further financial support from the city. So if the business improvement district is having trouble with collections or assessments from the property owners that are supposed to support the business improvement district then that, I believe that expense should be borne by |
| 03:05:42.97 | Steven Woodside | borne by the Business Improvement District, not the city. I think that, based on my conversations with director, well, it's not director anymore, it's Assistant City Manager Phipps, |
| 03:05:56.03 | Jill Hoffman | I think he's spending a substantial amount of time in his role as the secretary of the – is it – secretary, is that your role with the Business Improvement District? I think it's time that he start transitioning away from that and city staff start transitioning away from that role with the business improvement district and that the policy be, that the business improvement district be more independent and that we policy be that the business improvement district be more independent, and that we have a city representative, but not somebody that sits on the board. And that. maybe the direction be that next year the city look at our matching funds would occur |
| 03:06:45.98 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 03:06:46.11 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 03:06:47.56 | Steven Woodside | upon at this point when we get the annual report. Because tonight what we're doing is we're |
| 03:06:53.03 | Jill Hoffman | another annual payment to the business improvement district of a 20... |
| 03:06:58.97 | Steven Woodside | $120,000 and I think the policy should be that we provide our payment are matching payment when the business improvement district property owners are also 100% matching. |
| 03:07:16.03 | Jill Hoffman | that the property owners are only at 80% and that they have to go and have to actually hire an outside person to collect is problematic because the representations were made to us was that the property owners were supportive and that it was a wonderful thing and |
| 03:07:34.96 | Steven Woodside | that they were voluntarily taxing themselves. And the fact that somebody is going to have to hire a third-party collector indicates that that's not true. And so I'm happy to know that they have $178,000 to move forward, but I'm concerned that the property owners are not 100% supportive. So that would be my friendly amendment. I... |
| 03:07:58.08 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 03:07:58.17 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 03:07:58.45 | Jill Hoffman | I don't know if it will be accepted, but my friendly memo would be that, If we approve it this year that next year, the policy is that the city Wait. I'm doing a friendly amendment. oh, my comments are done, and now I'd like to offer a friendly amendment to the motion. |
| 03:08:13.71 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. My friendly amendment is that going forward that the city |
| 03:08:21.15 | Jill Hoffman | that the city fund the business improvement district once it's shown that the property owners are 100% also participating. |
| 03:08:31.43 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 03:08:31.76 | Jill Hoffman | and |
| 03:08:31.97 | Steven Woodside | and that any collection efforts are funded by the bed. |
| 03:08:37.57 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:08:37.59 | Steven Woodside | Is that covered by the agenda item? |
| 03:08:37.77 | Unknown | Do you accept the amendment? |
| 03:08:43.70 | Sergio Rudin | No, it is not. And the action that is actually before the council night is to approve the annual report of the association. This action is under the PBID law of 1994, and the approval of the APORA is necessary in order to levy the assessments for the next fiscal year. Now, The assessments should have been collected last year by the county tax assessor. There was some concern by the county tax collector about the validity of the resolution forming the PIVOT district and the discrepancy between the tax year and the year formation, which resulted in The tax collector saying we have concerns about us collecting the assessments, but the city certainly is entitled to collect them. Um, because really the tax collector at the county works as an agent of the city. with regards to this district. Um, The council's approval of this report would authorize the levy of the assessments for the next fiscal year, which we understand the tax collector would collect on the regular tax roll. Um, so That should avoid this issue being a repeat Certainly, I'm going to engage in some further discussions with county council and the tax collector about their position on this because I do think that the tax collector can collect these assessments. Um, So we should engage in that effort. further. with regards to the prior year assessments. Um, So the action before the council this evening is just approving the report, which does authorize the levy of assessments for the next fiscal year. Whether or not the council wants to direct the city not pay its assessments, which... would be assessed against the city property would be a separate agenda item. right? |
| 03:10:40.30 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:10:41.23 | Steven Woodside | Okay, so there's a motion pending. Any further discussion? I endorse the city attorney's recommendation, and I hope the assistant city manager is listening and will carry this out, that before we hire an independent third party to collect the 20% that we haven't yet collected from business owners, that we revisit with the city attorney the possibility of having the county on behalf of the city, as an agent of the city, assess those amounts on the upcoming tax rolls. Right. Um, Thank you. |
| 03:11:19.87 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 03:11:20.35 | Steven Woodside | City Attorney, is there anything that would prevent the business improvement district from paying for the third party, a third party collector? |
| 03:11:28.19 | Sergio Rudin | I would have to look back at the management, uh, the district management plan and the resolution of formation, because typically the authorized uses would... be limited to those purposes which the council authorized the formation of the district and the the contents of the management district plan that being said i do recall there was a line item for administrative expenses, and this certainly would count as an administrative expense, in my opinion. |
| 03:11:58.42 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. And next year, if we wanted to have the option to delay or not go forward with the assessment, that's the way we would have to notice that in the agenda and the staff report. We would have to either do either or. |
| 03:12:15.11 | Sergio Rudin | Yes, there is a public hearing process for disestablishment of the district, which is would probably be the appropriate course of action if the City Council chose not to levy assessments or authorize the levy of assessments. |
| 03:12:28.39 | Alice Merrill | Okay. |
| 03:12:28.66 | Sergio Rudin | Thank you. |
| 03:12:28.71 | Alice Merrill | Thank you. |
| 03:12:28.86 | Faye Rudio | All right. |
| 03:12:29.16 | Alice Merrill | Thank you. |
| 03:12:29.21 | Faye Rudio | Thank you. All right, I'm going to call the question. |
| 03:12:32.10 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 03:12:32.44 | Faye Rudio | city |
| 03:12:32.98 | Melissa Blaustein | clerk. |
| 03:12:33.23 | Faye Rudio | Thank you. |
| 03:12:33.79 | Walfred Solorzano | Councilmember Blossene. |
| 03:12:35.03 | Melissa Blaustein | Yes. |
| 03:12:35.84 | Walfred Solorzano | I also remember Hoffman. |
| 03:12:37.21 | Melissa Blaustein | No. |
| 03:12:38.21 | Walfred Solorzano | Councilmember Sobieski. |
| 03:12:40.17 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:12:40.18 | John Flavin | Yes. |
| 03:12:41.08 | Walfred Solorzano | Vice Mayor, what's up? |
| 03:12:42.43 | John Flavin | Yes. |
| 03:12:42.97 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:12:42.98 | John Flavin | you |
| 03:12:43.05 | Unknown | you Thank you. |
| 03:12:43.62 | John Flavin | And Mary Cawthorn. |
| 03:12:44.13 | Unknown | Thanks. |
| 03:12:44.35 | Melissa Blaustein | Yes, that motion carries. |
| 03:12:45.97 | Steven Woodside | one. |
| 03:12:46.51 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 03:12:47.27 | Steven Woodside | All right, we're now going to move on to item 5B, Give direction to staff regarding proposed implementation of AB 413 daylighting at roadway crossing with marked and unmarked crosswalks excluding Bridgeway and Caledonia pending further review. and review staff's recommendation on implementing the no parking areas. I will welcome back |
| 03:13:04.58 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 03:13:10.90 | Steven Woodside | Kevin McGowan, our Public Works Director. Good evening again, Mayor, City Council. Thank you for your time this evening. I only have a few slides on this, and it is an interesting issue by itself. Next slide, please. So on October 10, 2023, the California State Assembly passed Bill number 413, which was signed into law. This law amends the vehicle code and prohibits vehicle parking within 20 feet of a marked or unmarked crosswalk. Next slide. Thank you. The city's traffic consultant parametrics prepared a technical memorandum, which includes, which is included in your, your agenda item packet as attachment one, the technical memorandum provides detailed locations where parking should be removed based on the assembly bill or the law itself. Next slide. Staff prepared a basically a Google map type of approach to look at the entire city. And on this slide, it's not terribly clear, unfortunately. But looking at the entire city, we do have approximately 57 parking spaces that are impacted throughout the city itself. And that's next to marked and unmarked crosswalks. Next slide, please. So the city did initiate, our maintenance staff did start taking a look at some of these and marked 13 spaces, generally in the north part of Sausalito. And, you know, while staff is ready to proceed with the majority of these, no parking, marking the curbs as no parking, there are some key areas that we definitely need to study. And that's on Caledonia. The impact on Caledonia is pretty substantial. And so what we'd recommend to council is that we would like to move forward with basically every other area in town with the exception of Caledonia and Bridgeway and perform some additional studies on that area. So that we can exhaust all of our alternatives by looking at them. So next slide, please. As I mentioned, the report that you have as an attachment identifies 57 spaces that should be removed under the proposed assembly bill. Next slide. And the study also took a look at unmarked crosswalks. So we do have some intersections where we don't have an actual crosswalk, but we do have sidewalk that progresses from one street to the next. So those include 22 spaces throughout the city as well. Next slide. And again, as I mentioned just previously, staff does recommend proceeding with doing the work on most areas in the city with the exception of Caledonia and Bridgeway. And that would include us notifying adjacent neighbors prior to actually marking it in red paint. And then moving forward in August to go ahead and mark those. In addition, we would move forward with our traffic engineer to look at caledonia and bridgeway to see if we've exhausted all the possible alternatives for those streets in order to incorporate and not remove as much parking as possible as as the bill says we should and this could include returning to council with some ideas on Caledonia, such as changing it to a one way. I know we've looked at this before in the past. Also looking at possible parking implications on that specific street. So that concludes my my presentation at this point on this item. Thank you. We have some questions. In reviewing the parametrics technical memorandum, it says that parametrics was engaged to examine every intersection within the city of Sausalito with and without a marked crosswalk and to determine the locations and number of intersections where prohibiting parking on the approach side of the intersection is required under state law. There's no mention in here of examining possible traffic calming measures as a means to avoid losing as many parking spots. Did you engage parametrics to assist in that effort? Not specifically, and I think what you're referencing is taking a look at the law itself. It says that we could put in bike parking and other alternatives such as delivery drop-off. No, we didn't specifically do that, but we will when we take a look at Caledonia. At our last meeting, I gave some suggestions for traffic calming measures and asked the staff examine those as a part of this project. And in speaking with parametrics over, because I meet with them on other matters, they do have some suggestions that I did not mention regarding possible traffic calming measures. I think that was direction that we gave when this was last before us. And I think that's a really important task because parking, as you heard, in the Marin Magazine. there's this perception that there's inadequate parking throughout Sausalito. that undertaking Some of the measures I mentioned were reducing speed limits, reducing the speed limit on Caledonia from 20 to 15. Parametrics tells me that would be a traffic calming measure using flashing crosswalks. The flashing crosswalk that we have right now in front of Dunphy Park is amazing. People line up, people cross en masse, people see it from two blocks away. And so those are some of the ideas I mentioned as means to utilize an exemption. And one of the public comments we got to your staff report did talk about the use of traffic calming measures, as outlined in the statute, as a means to avoid having to lose so many parking spots. So is that something you can undertake, not just on Bridgeway in Caledonia, but can you ask parametrics before you go wholesale and remove 67, 66 spots throughout town? Is that something you can engage with parametrics on? I'd be happy to do that. I have reached out to them on the person who prepared the report, but I'll reach out to David Parisi as well. |
| 03:19:38.75 | Melissa Blaustein | Okay. Thank you. |
| 03:19:39.14 | Sergio Rudin | I would like to point out one issue is There is nothing in the statute that allows the city... specifically just because it has adopted or is considering traffic calming measures to avoid or allow parking in these areas where Parking is prohibited under vehicle code. 225-00 and There is a provision that says that the city can establish a different site distance and it has to do so by ordinance. as long as it includes a finding that a different distance is justified by established traffic safety standards, and then you have to mark it using paint or a sign. So... I think the issue raised by the mayor regarding traffic calming measures is that if you undertake those measures, they may result in a condition that is sufficient to justify a different distance from traffic. in that particular location, but the city would still have to take action by ordinance as well. |
| 03:20:44.87 | Steven Woodside | Totally. Agree. We did have this discussion and I read out the provision in the statute that I'm referring to at our last city council meeting. And so. I'm just curious as to why we haven't made any effort to figure out what some of those measures could be and what ordinances we could adopt in order to preserve some of our precious parking throughout town. But I don't have it in front of me right now, but I did read out the very specific provision in AB 14 that allows us to make certain findings or take certain actions, as you said, reduce the to increase the line of sight, thereby reducing the need for eliminating parking. All right, those were my questions. Council member Sobieski. Director McGowan, I have a question. Thank you. We heard earlier many members of the public when we were talking about bioswales and whatnot near them said, hey, I would love to have some input into this. especially on Caledonia where you're identifying it's a big impact, something like 25% of the lost parking spaces under this implementation of this law might be on Caledonia. Is there a mechanism whereby you can bring in residents and business owners that live and work on Caledonia Street at the front end of the process with a sort of whiteboard brainstorming slash education session where they can feel like they've had input into the thought process that leads to certain ideas? We are your staff. If that's what you direct us to do, we can. At this point, I think the item I'm bringing before you was simply AB 413. This is what the code says. And like the mayor had mentioned, we have a little more homework to do on taking into account some other things. |
| 03:22:30.05 | Unknown | Thank you. I'm sorry. |
| 03:22:45.22 | Steven Woodside | Okay, so if that's what we'd like you to do, you would ask a... to give you that explicit direction here. Sure. Okay. Thank you, sir. |
| 03:22:55.92 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:22:56.03 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. All right, seeing none, I'm going to open it up to public comment. I have one speaker card, David Parrish. I don't see him, who is not here. Okay, yeah. Anyone online, city clerk? |
| 03:23:14.18 | Walfred Solorzano | Yes, we'll start with Vicki Nichols. |
| 03:23:17.33 | Steven Woodside | Welcome, Vicki. Hi, thank you, Mayor Cox and council members. Um, I just, as you know, recently moved off of Caledonia Street after over about 42 years. years. um, And I appreciate... all the interest in increasing our businesses down there. This was a resident serving business that we know has evolved. Um, to more service kind of orientation. We used to have more. We had cleaners. stationery store, et cetera, et cetera, that's no longer a current use. But it just seems to me that the residents have not been considered here. I'd like a survey, I don't think anybody on the council and I don't mean this as a derogatory, I don't think you realize how many residences are on that Caledonia Street from Pine down to Napa. There are no places to park for a lot of these residences that are older. You've increased the parking now till nine o'clock. So if you have a C sticker and no other place to park, you can't get down there any longer because you can have residential. or you can have business people, et cetera, down there. I would really like to engage with your parking commissioner Also, And these meetings that have been supposedly with the residents have been lip service for years. They're in the middle of the day. They're not well announced. And what we always hear first is businesses and very rarely the residents. I am no longer there. and in a different area of town, but I'm certainly gonna advocate for this You also need a place for these trucks to do deliveries. You've mucked up the bottom. |
| 03:25:10.97 | Steven Woodside | Did we lose you, Vicki? I got cut off. but I just would like to add quickly that you've mucked up the delivery system with the parklets down at the other end of the street The one-way street with that is like a nightmare. And Mr. Parisi with all due respect, |
| 03:25:28.01 | Sergio Rudin | Sorry, it hurt that one. |
| 03:25:28.97 | John Wales | Thank you. |
| 03:25:29.11 | Sergio Rudin | Thank you. |
| 03:25:29.63 | Steven Woodside | So city clerk, she was cut off. |
| 03:25:32.52 | Walfred Solorzano | We'll end it in a couple seconds. |
| 03:25:33.93 | John Wales | Do you want me to put her back on? |
| 03:25:38.07 | Steven Woodside | I don't know how long she was cut off, but I don't like cutting people off who were cut off before. Okay. |
| 03:25:43.25 | Walfred Solorzano | I'm trying to be fair. you |
| 03:25:45.53 | Steven Woodside | Okay, who's next? |
| 03:25:47.59 | Walfred Solorzano | But Bet MacDougall. |
| 03:25:52.78 | Steven Woodside | Good evening and thank you. So I would just like to hearken a couple of items. First of all, if I think I understood |
| 03:26:00.14 | Babette McDougall | Mr. Sobieski was headed when he's |
| 03:26:02.98 | Steven Woodside | could we take a closer look? I know my neighborhood. |
| 03:26:07.36 | Babette McDougall | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 03:26:07.85 | Steven Woodside | We'll be right back. |
| 03:26:08.04 | Babette McDougall | where Litho and Girard become a pedestrian footpath. And just within this range of the sidewalk thing, there's a storm drain, there's an ADA, |
| 03:26:19.97 | Steven Woodside | curb There's all manner of stuff. And then there are residents who are determined to pack the place with their vehicles. So frankly, neighborhood by neighborhood, there will be some exceptions. So, and I don't know how to resolve those exceptions, but I'm all for the good ideas. The other thing with regard to Caledonia, |
| 03:26:42.02 | Alice Merrill | really good example in general of why the distance is being sought in the first place I'm a good example that now that I can move around town again. Thank you. |
| 03:26:54.06 | Steven Woodside | You know, I mostly look down instead of up, so every chance I have a chance to look up, It's a really good thing. So having vision around me when I look up matters. So when you're hemmed in and boxed in by the many trucks that do have a need to deliver their goods or else there is no commerce on our streets. I think we just need to look at this big picture carefully. And I'm all for the results that we end up with. I do see that we have some unique events that we need to address. Thank you so much for the time. |
| 03:27:30.03 | Walfred Solorzano | next. Next speaker is Peter Van Meter. |
| 03:27:39.49 | Walfred Solorzano | Can you hear me? Thank you so glad that you have excluded the knee jerk reaction of removing these spaces on Caledonia and Bridgeway. The law as you, Madam Mayor have cited allows a lot of flexibility, in my opinion. And I would just simply add that your direction to staff should really be in the context of working to Thank you. Take the most liberal interpretation of the law as you possibly can to minimize the amount of parking spaces that would be lost on Caledonia Street. That street struggles right now as a retail district. Every parking space matters. And if you lose, even one makes a difference. And so we want to comply with the law. |
| 03:28:24.96 | Dan Chagru | as much as we must, but not as much as we think we could to the maximum degree, in my opinion. There's a subtle balance here. |
| 03:28:34.97 | Walfred Solorzano | So it requires direction to staff to say, Let's see what we can do in compliance. to preserve as much parking as possible. Thank you. Next speaker is Lauren and Lil Willow. |
| 03:28:55.12 | Lauren Little Willow | Hello. My name is Lauren Little Willow and I have lived on Caledonia Street for over 60 years. So I've seen all of the challenges that come with parking on Caledonia Street. One of my main concerns is... The apartment building that I live at and manage is right in the middle of, uh, Caledonia street, literally right in the middle, right next to driver's market. When people can't find parking on Caledonia Street, oftentimes they park in our driveway or in our parking spaces. And a lot of people feel that it's perfectly fine to do that, not understanding that they're inconveniencing us to get in and out of our parking space as we need to get to work, or we're coming home with groceries, or we have handicapped people, or we have families. So, taking away the parking spaces would actually... create more of an issue for the residents that live on Caledonia Street And it's really not a fair thing to do. As I agree with Vicki, I don't think you honestly know how many residents actually live on Caledonia Street. And we utilize all the parking spaces around. Not everybody has a car, but a lot of people are couples and they have two cars. So we have a parking space for one, but not for the other. So the parking permits that allow us to park in the sea permitted parking spaces areas really are a valuable asset to being able to rent apartments to people without parking. People will not want to live in our neighborhood. Thank you so much. |
| 03:30:36.88 | Walfred Solorzano | Next speaker is Pat. |
| 03:30:41.09 | Lauren Little Willow | didn't say thank you to me. Do you speak? |
| 03:30:48.89 | Babette McDougall | Hi. for hearing me. I'm a little bit befuddled not long ago during this hearing Thank you. |
| 03:30:56.74 | Alice Merrill | Thank you. |
| 03:30:56.75 | Babette McDougall | we saw a somewhat |
| 03:30:58.17 | Alice Merrill | Thank you. |
| 03:30:58.20 | Babette McDougall | Thank you. |
| 03:30:58.51 | Alice Merrill | Thank you. |
| 03:30:58.56 | Babette McDougall | Spurs. |
| 03:30:58.96 | Alice Merrill | Yeah. |
| 03:30:59.03 | Babette McDougall | . |
| 03:30:59.98 | Alice Merrill | on the show. |
| 03:31:00.03 | Susan Samuels | bridgeway from the dais. which I found not pleasing. Now, in search of public input. There's a suggestion that we hold. you know, some sort of sense. |
| 03:31:13.04 | Alice Merrill | or or town needing or whatever to |
| 03:31:17.58 | Babette McDougall | Thank you. |
| 03:31:17.65 | Alice Merrill | discuss the |
| 03:31:18.98 | Babette McDougall | alternatives on the various streets of town. It seems to me that these are legal issues that I would hope our staff and our attorney could scope out and come up with a list of alternatives that would be acceptable. |
| 03:31:37.03 | Alice Merrill | Regardless, |
| 03:31:38.23 | Babette McDougall | of |
| 03:31:38.91 | Alice Merrill | you |
| 03:31:39.33 | Babette McDougall | None of us want to lose any parking, but that's going to happen to some degree. and to have town halls where people vent without knowledge is not constructive for you |
| 03:31:52.96 | Alice Merrill | or for us. So I'm hoping you can direct staff and council to come up with a menu of alternatives for streets such as Caledonia that might be |
| 03:32:06.38 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. |
| 03:32:06.58 | Alice Merrill | Uh, |
| 03:32:07.04 | Sandra Bushmaker | appropriate to minimize the loss of parking. |
| 03:32:12.03 | Lily Deschampis | before we have town halls and various confrontations. Thank you. |
| 03:32:20.99 | Walfred Solorzano | And final speaker is Karen Culligan. |
| 03:32:27.32 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:32:27.34 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. |
| 03:32:27.35 | Steven Woodside | Hi there. Yeah, the previous speaker's comment about spending too much time dwelling on venting without knowledge. Wow, that one hit me really hard |
| 03:32:36.03 | Ben Canberra | because I'm feeling that tonight on many of these topics. AB 413 is a law that was paved in blood. Like these, this exists for safety and to hear us trying to get around safety improvements to protect parking. It hurts. You know, no one likes to lose parking. |
| 03:32:56.03 | Chris Zapata | I've lived on Caledonia. If I've had to look for parking when I lived there, it's a hell of a easier than in most neighborhoods of the city. And this law exists for a specific reason. Several months ago, the council and mayor in particular directed staff |
| 03:33:11.97 | Steven Woodside | to look at this and look at ways to get around it. The staff report didn't recommend doing that. I think it's pretty clear to continue down this road, I think it's creating a pretty negative fact |
| 03:33:21.03 | Chris Zapata | and then we're going to have a |
| 03:33:21.98 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 03:33:22.00 | Chris Zapata | from not just a safety perspective, but from a risk management and liability perspective of us trying to get around this when there is There isn't a safety reason to do so, as the law stipulates. So there's a lot of cool stuff we could do on Caledonia. We could make the whole thing one way. We could tie it in with a roundabout. |
| 03:33:41.98 | Steven Woodside | concept, we could add diagonal parking. Those are longer term, right? Like it's gonna cost some bucks. We gotta study it right now. We need to implement AB 413. |
| 03:33:50.03 | Chris Zapata | We need better sight lines so people like Babette, when they're walking, are safer so that when, if I'm riding my bike or I'm driving, I don't feel the danger that I feel today, even as a driver. I hate the sight lines on Caledonia and the fact that it's two-way stops. And so if that other person doesn't realize that I'm not stopping and they do, it's a really dangerous configuration. So this would be an improvement. I'd love to see it happen. Thank you. |
| 03:34:19.17 | Walfred Solorzano | No further public speakers. |
| 03:34:20.64 | Steven Woodside | All right, I will close public comment and bring it up here. for discussion i i'm going to lead off i'm going to read a paragraph from our staff Report, dated January 7, 2025. It says, The second implementation phase will be to review traffic safety data and traffic safety standards to determine if the city can establish if a different distance is justified by traffic safety standards. Staff will work with the city's on-call traffic engineering firm to identify other improvements, such as lighted crosswalks or other traffic calming measures that may justify a decrease in this prescribed distance stated in AB 413. So as much as I respect the last speaker, contrary to what he said, it's not that staff is recommending not doing this, it's that staff has not yet undertaken this second implementation phase enunciated in the staff report that was supposed to happen prior to the third implementation phase, which is undertaking the striping, and other changes required to implement AB 413. and then just to respond to the city attorney, The language I'm referring to in the statute is California Vehicle Code, Section 22500, N as in Nancy. One. B. B, which says, notwithstanding subparagraph A, a local authority may establish a different distance if both of the following requirements are met. I. A local authority establishes the different stance by ordinance that includes a finding that the different stance is justified by established traffic safety standards and. Two, a local authority has marked the different distance at the intersection using paint or a sign. So I am simply asking that before we deprive our residents and our businesses of precious parking spots, that we undertake phase two that was outlined in the January 5th January 7, 2025. Staff report. to review traffic safety data and traffic safety standards to determine if the city can establish a different distance by using lighted crosswalks, reducing the speed limit, or other traffic calming measures. So I thank the Public Works Director for the commitment to reach out to parametrics, to brainstorm with them about what measures would be appropriate and where the last thing I want to do is endanger pedestrians or bicyclists. But I have to say, if we reduce the speed limit on First of all, many bicyclists, and the last speaker knows that I don't include him in this mix, many bicyclists are the ones who don't abide by our speed limits. Coming down Alexander Avenue, passing me. in the opposite lane. when I'm in a huge van, So that's one challenge. But if we reduce And I'll wait till the next time to talk. Who else would like to speak? you I guess I'll chime in. I'm still reeling from... my friend Pat's comment, I'm throwing my hands up in the air because we're trying to be collaborative and get ideas from people that know the places they live well. And here's what would happen, I'm speaking to my friend Pat. It's that staff does its work, it comes to city council as a staff report, let's say, and it proposes something. Let's say, hey, |
| 03:37:58.31 | Bob Freeman | Thank you. |
| 03:37:58.49 | Dan Chagru | Thank you. |
| 03:37:58.51 | Bob Freeman | Thank you. |
| 03:38:08.36 | Steven Woodside | We can implement this law if we do and actually increase the amount of parking, but we have to make Caledonia one way and have diagonal streets. Well, that won't be viewed as a. good faith effort to save parking and improve safety. It'll be another wild scheme by a rogue city council. And so the hope is that people that care, people like Vicki Nichols, people like Alice Merrill, the owners of the driver's market, the businesses on that street, might actually be engaged in the whiteboarding process like a community so they see the trade-offs themselves and can help. inform the process. I offer that to my colleagues for their consideration. I won't push it. If it doesn't have any merit, then let's not do it. Let's have staff do all their work and just, you know, I'll refer back to this when we eventually have that meeting and people are shocked at the proposals that are made, the radical newfangled ideas. instead of getting on the ground floor. I think Kieran Culgan's points are well taken. I agree with you, Madam Mayor, the bicycle bad behavior is common and it provokes in people that, suffer like you and I and many others, a sort of anti-bike response. But, you know, the consequences for a bicyclist often are different when they hit a car and it's bad for pedestrians, whether it's a car or a bike, you can be killed by a bike and they're killed in San Francisco all the time. The whole idea of opening up those corners is so you have better sight lines. It's improved safety. It's why the law exists. We're supposedly this creative community. I think we can be creative, but... There are trade-offs. This notion, I'll just go back to it. It's a radical notion to have one-way traffic on Caledonia. You could actually increase the amount of parking while opening up the sight lines on the corridors. But now that I've articulated that, I guarantee you someone's going to say another crazy wild brain idea instead of a contribution to thinking and collaboration on the subject. Kevin Mohr, You know kicking the can down the road and putting on staff and then come back and get waylaid doesn't feel like we're going to entirely take ownership over solving it as a community so i'm sort of looking to everybody. Kevin Mohr, You know what do you do we have the state law just like the state housing mandates. And we got to be adults about figuring out a solution that works for the various trade-offs that we have to make as adults. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Hoffman. Well, I don't think in |
| 03:40:42.03 | Jill Hoffman | context that was the point that |
| 03:40:44.78 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 03:40:44.83 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 03:40:45.57 | Steven Woodside | that the caller was making. I think the point that the caller was making is that as a starting point, of course, you always start as the bedrock of your conversation here at the city council is what's the law? |
| 03:41:00.03 | Jill Hoffman | that's the point that our mayor is making, is what's the law and what's our parameters inside the law. And I think she's found a perhaps a legal avenue where we can get some more parking, which we know from everybody who usually comes before the council or, well, most people. |
| 03:41:17.97 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 03:41:18.02 | Jill Hoffman | before the council. Thank you. |
| 03:41:19.24 | Steven Woodside | that we still are |
| 03:41:21.55 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 03:41:22.17 | Steven Woodside | the society that relies on cars and even Mr. Culligan, who called in, admits that he drives a car occasionally. |
| 03:41:31.29 | Jill Hoffman | you |
| 03:41:31.30 | Steven Woodside | And so. |
| 03:41:32.22 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 03:41:32.23 | Steven Woodside | We have many seniors. |
| 03:41:33.02 | Jill Hoffman | some people in this town. |
| 03:41:33.97 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 03:41:34.04 | Jill Hoffman | rely on cars to navigate down from their homes on the hills or homes throughout town or people who have small kids who have to have cars who need to navigate through our town and park at our stores to buy groceries or park at our restaurants or park downtown to go to Jazz by the Bay and unload their cars with their picnic wares. Not every jazz, but certainly some jazz. So I think that was the point. |
| 03:42:02.39 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 03:42:02.47 | Jill Hoffman | Um, |
| 03:42:02.98 | Steven Woodside | And I think that's the mayor's point, and I support that. I think we need to understand and know what are our parameters within law so that we can make a good legal decision, and then we can move on from there within those guidelines. So I would support that approach. |
| 03:42:16.92 | Jill Hoffman | That's a member. |
| 03:42:19.82 | Joan Cox | Yeah, I mean, I have to say the reality of walking the streets in Sausalito, riding your bike in Sausalito, sometimes it can be somewhat frightening, especially in places where we don't have crosswalks. But more particularly in areas where we're trying to do a better job of daylighting those crosswalks to make it safer for pedestrians. I think we've had a lot of opportunities to take steps forward to be a more bike-friendly, pedestrian-friendly city. Maybe we haven't necessarily taken that opportunity, so I'm disappointed to see that we are leaning again towards potentially not immediately moving forward with the state law, but I appreciate that we have somewhat of a compromise to you know, enact AB 1434. I would like to see us, I really appreciate Council Member Sobieski's suggestion of having a collaborative community working group that would talk about the best use of this road and then bring everybody to the table. So I would support the mayor's recommendation, but ask that we also put together a working group to discuss that and see what the best approach is. Because I think what we're hearing again and again is that people think that that this is happening without significant community input and obviously we as locals all enjoy Caledonia Street we all. |
| 03:43:06.29 | Unknown | I'm sorry. Thank you. |
| 03:43:40.18 | Joan Cox | use Bridgeway and there's a lot at stake in these discussions and I don't want to leave anything on the table but I also want us to be much more thoughtful about the future of transportation instead of just making our decisions based on what's immediately happening we have to do that and this is a both and situation so I would support the mayor's suggestion within addendum that we do have some sort of working group of folks who live or work on those streets to engage with what the future of them look like |
| 03:44:11.18 | Steven Woodside | Vice Mayor Woodside, any comment? |
| 03:44:13.19 | John Flavin | at just briefly, to me, the issue tonight is that we're going to go forward with a straight implementation of the line of sight as prescribed in the state law. except on the streets where More effort is needed to see what alternatives there are that provide perhaps greater safety without reducing parking, etc. All the conflicting issues. I think the suggestion that the staff try to work closely with those close to the close to the ground and with a lot of possible ideas that we haven't yet thought of that could result in greater safety. So I think the approach is not designed to avoid complying with the state law. Indeed, it's to comply with with the state law to achieve greater safety. endorsing the recommendation of the staff to proceed in this manner. And I like the suggestion that to the extent possible, engaging the community in a thoughtful discussion of those particularly affected directly could lead to something we haven't yet thought of. I'm ready to move forward. |
| 03:45:23.49 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I'm just going to finish my comments. I was just going to say on Caledonia Street. If we reduce the speed limit for 20 to 15, we are going to increase safety. If we use, you know, the Sausalito Village used to put flags in buckets on either side of the crosswalk across Caledonia to drivers so that people crossing the street could wave the flag and say, hey, I'm crossing the street, don't run me over. unfortunately, that didn't last because the flags kept getting stolen. So they couldn't And so seeing a, I would love to see a flashing crosswalk at that corner so that people who frequently park down the street and cross the street to visit drivers. can do so safely with flashing crosswalks. So I am certainly not, advocating that we reduce safety In fact, just the opposite. Um, the promise in the staff report was to do the research to figure out where we can increase the safety standards so as not to have to lose so much parking. And so... I'm pleased that the Public Works Director has agreed to undertake that effort. I also do want to commend him because I received a mailer. So phase one was communication, and I did receive a mailer announcing that certain sight lines would be increased and certain parking spots would be lost. Um, But I do endorse the council member's recommendation that we engage the community. So perhaps reaching out to a couple of community members. But I don't want to further delay this since it was supposed to go into effect in January. I'm I think I'm looking at the public works director, the the direct the the recommended motion is to give direction so I'm not going to make a motion. We have collectively given direction. Are you clear on the direction. |
| 03:47:36.53 | Steven Woodside | It would be great just to reiterate it. I am clear, and I usually have to review the tapes of this, but if you want to reiterate it, that would be great. |
| 03:47:47.35 | Lauren Little Willow | Thank you. |
| 03:47:47.40 | Steven Woodside | Okay. |
| 03:47:50.96 | Steven Woodside | So my direction was to carry out Phase 2 written in the January 7, 2025 staff report, which is to – review traffic safety data and traffic safety standards to determine if the city can establish if a different distance is justified by traffic safety standards, work with the city's on-call traffic engineering firm to identify other improvements, such as lighted crosswalks or other traffic calming measures that may justify a decrease in this prescribed distance stated in AB 413. The direction would be if you identify such measures to bring them back to us for approval, accompanied by an ordinance adopting them, since under the statute we have to adopt an ordinance, the safety standards have to exist. within an ordinance. in order for us to make the findings. that the staff report be accompanied by the findings that by decreasing the speed limit, installing lighted crosswalks, installing pedestrian walkways and whatever else our traffic engineer may recommend that we believe that we don't need to have Um, a red zone that's 15 feet long, maybe it's 10 feet long. putting bicycle racks in the red zone is another way to maximize use of the red zone without losing capacity. and then the recommendation of Councilmember Sobieski was to include a business or two or a resident or two, such as Vicki Nichols or Alice Merrill or Driver's Market, in the exploration, the brainstorming about how to make Caledonia safer, such that we don't have to lose so many precious parking spots along Caledonia. And then the same would be true of Bridgeway. |
| 03:49:54.40 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 03:49:55.99 | Steven Woodside | Did I miss anything, anyone? |
| 03:49:57.98 | Melissa Blaustein | Okay. |
| 03:49:58.33 | Steven Woodside | Is that clear? All right. I got the thumbs up. Okay. Okay, I've been asked for another five-minute break. So we're going to take a five-minute break, and then we'll proceed to our last business conversation. |
| 03:50:15.19 | Steven Woodside | Business item of the evening, business item 5C, authorize. Sorry. Uh, Actually, item 5A, provide direction to staff on acceptance of proposal from design consultant for parking lot one reconstruction project and for the trifecta. Is the public works director around? where Matt. It's very possible. |
| 03:50:43.44 | Chris Zapata | No, he's here, Mayor, and he's going to introduce Sarah to provide the presentation. Let me call him. |
| 03:50:48.50 | Faye Rudio | All right. |
| 03:51:05.00 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 03:51:05.02 | Steven Woodside | Well, he's calling the department head. I should have waited to see if he was in the audience before I resumed. That's my fault. |
| 03:51:15.72 | Tully Friedman | We're ready for you. |
| 03:51:23.99 | Steven Woodside | Okay, we are ready for item 5A, provide direction to staff on acceptance of proposal from design consultant for parking lot one reconstruction project and for the trifecta I will invite Kevin McGowan our public works director. Thank you. And I want to thank Sarah. of course, our project manager, who will be making the presentation on this item. Thank you. |
| 03:51:49.20 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you, Kevin. Good evening. Madam Mayor, council members, city manager, colleagues and members of the public. |
| 03:51:56.88 | Steven Woodside | members of the public. |
| 03:51:59.12 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 03:51:59.14 | Steven Woodside | Um, |
| 03:51:59.56 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 03:51:59.86 | Steven Woodside | And thank you for the opportunity of the presentation tonight. The Parking Lot 1 project that was originally a resurfacing and reconstruction effort has the potential to do so much more. In addition to the much needed repair of the potholes, it can address multiple other issues. It can transform the space into a forward thinking environment. It can implement climate smart solutions. And it can also add to the welcoming spirit of public spaces in the heart of downtown. Next slide, please. As you know, improvements to the parking lot are much needed. Parking lot one is visibly deteriorated There are damaged pavements. exposed tree roots and outdated infrastructure that makes it potentially unsafe, unappealing and inefficient. In addition, the site is positioned adjacent to the bay, which is making it significantly more vulnerable to sea level rise and flooding. Next, please. Although lot one sits directly adjacent to the newly resurfaced Ferry landside area, its improvements was excluded from the recently completed project based on the council approved bid strategy and how the alternates were structured by the FDA funding. However, that decision did not and does not eliminate the very real and ongoing need for the parking lot to address its deteriorating conditions. Next slide, please. As part of the Ferry Landside project, the city added 47 spaces at the Yacht Harbor, relocated bike parking, and added 280A spaces. Next slide, please. |
| 03:53:45.64 | Steven Woodside | It is visible that there is a stark contrast between the newly resurfaced sidewalk and the deteriorating adjustment parking lot. Next, please. The design approach we are discussing this evening to get direction on is whether to proceed with an expanded scope for the development of a conceptual plan that can transform the fatigued parking lot into a leading edge sustainable by design asset. Next, please. |
| 03:54:16.55 | Steven Woodside | This spring, we issued the request for proposals. Staff included a modified scope in the RFP incorporating tasks to address sea level rise, sustainability, and urban heat island effect, and the creation of high quality public spaces to serve the community. With the Ferry Landside project now complete, Consultants responded with proposals to develop conceptual plans that go beyond simple resurfacing of the parking lot. Next, please. The idea of including additional elements in the design of our downtown areas can represent a paradigm shift in how these areas should be developed, utilized, and maintained. There is a potential for this area to be studied, which includes evolving the space to incorporate other elements Developing conceptual designs can identify these elements as well as not losing sight of the importance of park. Ordinance 1128 and other factors identified by the community. The development of this study is more costly and staff request Council's direction on whether to proceed with the analysis. Next slide please. Aligning community expectations with global trends, such as using sustainable surfaces, solar canopies, EV readiness, and stormwater smart materials, to name a few, is what is covered in the conceptual plan development. In the 21st century, parking lots can be climate assets and not liabilities. Next slide, please. If the Council so chooses, staff can aim for a design with lots of flexibility and versatility in the proposal, such as safer circulation, heat mitigation, and resilience against flooding and sea level. All rise. While at the same time, we can be investigating options that do not impact parking or impact Ordinance 1128. Next slide, please. Asphalt has been a remarkable material. In fact, an ancient discovery that has become essential to modern infrastructure and construction. However, In parking lots, It traps heat, worsens urban temperatures, and contributes to unsustainable land use. It also cracks and it needs continuous repair. There is an opportunity to analyze these types of issues and create an example of for the other parking lots in the city. However, there is additional costs associated with the development and possibly the implementation of these measures. Next slide, please. We would be asking the selected consultant to present at least three design alternatives in a matrix-like situation. For example, one option could be a minimal change option from what we have, more like the current layout but with asphalt resurfacing or maybe not considering concrete instead. tree management, whether to remove or replace, and or with flexibility in other areas. Another alternative might integrate improved wayfinding, which is much needed, high quality public spaces, and added green infrastructure with cool surface materials. We are keeping the exploration open, which adds complexity and obviously costs. We also request that the consultant would explore and bring to our attention any other criteria that can improve the central area of Sausalito. Next slide, please. In April, we issued the RFP and in May, we received three proposals. Staff is asking the council tonight if we should proceed with negotiating a professional services contract with the most responsive and responsible consultant to address a larger scope than simply resurfacing the parking lot back into what it is. Next slide, please. The original budget for this project was estimated to be about 1.3 million. Proposals for a full conceptual approach, including the full re-envisioning of the lot, is in the 300,000 range. City Council Chambers- The city can move forward with the conceptual design, however, additional funding may be needed at the later stage in the construction phase to address the difference in cost next slide please. The council has several alternatives to choose from, which are noted in the staff report, since this is a focal point for the community and is essentially the heart of downtown, Staff recommend proceeding with an expanded scope to address multiple issues in the area, even if ultimately the design that is selected is a simple resurfacing of the lot so we can explore. The development of the conceptual alternatives will come at a higher cost, obviously, However, this may be the right time to address these issues and make improvements to downtown. Staff recommend moving forward with the modified scope. Next slide, please. |
| 03:59:17.05 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thank you so much. And Kevin and I are available to answer any questions you may have. |
| 03:59:23.80 | Steven Woodside | Can you go back to the slide before the schedule slide? So it's like the fifth slide in maybe? |
| 03:59:33.09 | Melissa Blaustein | the one before that. |
| 03:59:34.80 | Steven Woodside | Okay, so this looks to me like I don't see where the asphalt or the concrete or anything is in this picture. So is this lot one? Yes, it is. Go back one slide. |
| 03:59:49.02 | Diana Dempsey | This is lot one and the green shows opportunity for resurfacing. It does not show green as greenery. It is just this. |
| 03:59:58.44 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:59:58.51 | Diana Dempsey | the balance. |
| 03:59:58.96 | Jill Hoffman | It's the boundary. |
| 04:00:02.32 | Steven Woodside | You had me worried. |
| 04:00:03.67 | Jill Hoffman | No, it's the boundary. It is... |
| 04:00:06.40 | Steven Woodside | It's the boundary of what the topic of the consultant's work is. |
| 04:00:07.01 | Jill Hoffman | of what this is. |
| 04:00:08.53 | Diana Dempsey | Bye. Thank you. |
| 04:00:14.07 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. May we know the names of the three consultants who proposed? Sure. We do have CSW, ST2, and we do have SWA and Watery Design 3. And which one was confined to resurfacing? The third one, which we design. Not necessarily, but it has a limited scope. It is not exploratory. Thank you. |
| 04:00:41.60 | Melissa Blaustein | Okay. |
| 04:00:41.79 | Steven Woodside | Bye. Thank you. Other questions? Seeing none, I'm going to open it up. Oh, go ahead. Questions? Yes. |
| 04:00:51.76 | Jill Hoffman | you Why was, why was Wattree only the limited scope? Did they not understand or know? |
| 04:00:59.66 | Steven Woodside | I think they didn't understand the full RFP, and they submitted something a little bit more standard for a parking lot design, which is what they're used to. So their bid came in a lot different, and that's just my opinion that they didn't really understand that we're looking more of a – the RFP was more of a bigger picture looking at a higher level. |
| 04:01:22.58 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. Um, and, uh, With regard to some of the things that we were in the presentation, One of the things that we talked about earlier today, and actually we talked about earlier this evening, was about the heat index issue and heat island. Um, and, uh, And. We agreed at our meeting that we don't have any information that Sausalu is a heat island or that there's any information that parking lot one has any heat effect or anything. |
| 04:01:59.58 | Jed Dempsey | Thank you. |
| 04:02:00.38 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 04:02:00.40 | Jed Dempsey | increased heat island index |
| 04:02:02.67 | Jill Hoffman | Yes and no. Alfred, could you open, there is a JPEG in the file called Heat Island, something with heat. |
| 04:02:02.71 | Steven Woodside | Yeah. |
| 04:02:02.79 | Jed Dempsey | No. |
| 04:02:10.00 | Diana Dempsey | Thank you. |
| 04:02:13.07 | Jill Hoffman | It should be a mod. |
| 04:02:14.49 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 04:02:14.54 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 04:02:15.23 | Steven Woodside | Yes and no, because there are a multitude of maps that are representing the map that you shared. was a lot more zoomed out, so it is quite difficult to pinpoint exactly where downtown Sausalito is with regards to that. That was the... |
| 04:02:31.02 | Jill Hoffman | the EPA map. I got my hands on another map from Land Trust, which if that opens, we can see |
| 04:02:39.97 | Steven Woodside | You can see that downtown Sausalito is not too benign with regards to the heat, and it is in fact |
| 04:02:46.97 | Jill Hoffman | It is not in the deep red, but it is not perfectly white. Thank you. |
| 04:02:52.98 | Steven Woodside | So... |
| 04:02:53.03 | Jill Hoffman | So. |
| 04:02:53.32 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 04:02:54.02 | Jill Hoffman | The light pink there is on the lowest end. Urban heat island severity, right? |
| 04:03:03.47 | Melissa Blaustein | if you don't have a |
| 04:03:03.96 | Steven Woodside | speak into the mic we can't hear you so yeah okay so i'm looking at correct it's a light pink |
| 04:03:05.04 | Jill Hoffman | Sorry. So yeah, okay. It's a, yeah, it's an extra, I'm looking at it. It looks like it's the lightest pink on the, It is the lightest and the next one above that is And that's the parking lot. It's more nebulous. It's not one or the other. It depends. It kind of leaves in and out. |
| 04:03:20.32 | Steven Woodside | that was. |
| 04:03:25.14 | Jill Hoffman | OK. Thank you. So it's either the lightest, it might be the next lightest. It could be. Okay. seriously are you are you seriously recommending that based on lightest or the next lightest pink that that might be a decision point no |
| 04:03:42.76 | Unknown | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 04:03:42.94 | Steven Woodside | Bye. |
| 04:03:43.60 | Jill Hoffman | No, not at all. I just pinpointed the discrepancies between different maps when it comes to heat island effect. Okay, so I don't think that anybody would say that the parking lot one's a heat island. Okay. That's my point. Thank you. Okay, and Kevin, we also talked about sea level rise with regard, it was part of the presentation, but we would agree that there are other areas in Sausalito that are more prone or susceptible to sea level rise. |
| 04:04:14.01 | Steven Woodside | Yes, that's correct. Even though there is a FEMA map in this area that shows some of the area closer to Gabrielson might be impacted, but at that point in time, other roads in the city will be impacted ahead of this. |
| 04:04:28.39 | Jill Hoffman | And we just finished a BCDC permit. I guess we approved it, right? |
| 04:04:33.97 | Steven Woodside | permit for our new ferry landing and it's about the same level as this parking lot? Okay, and no issue with sea level rise on that permit? Yeah, remember theirs is a float, though, so they get to go up and down. Well, they have a pier. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, OK. |
| 04:04:50.26 | Jill Hoffman | Oops, sorry. |
| 04:04:56.03 | Jill Hoffman | Sorry, hold on a second. |
| 04:05:00.33 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 04:05:05.41 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. |
| 04:05:05.97 | Steven Woodside | That's it. Thank you. Any other questions? All right. Seeing none, I'm going to move on to public comment. First card, Adrienne Brinton. |
| 04:05:17.68 | Steven Woodside | you Welcome back, Adrian. |
| 04:05:22.15 | Bob Freeman | Thank you. Thank you again for taking my comment. So I think, you know, when we think about lot one and do we want to look at a design that's more comprehensive, you know, it's really about insurance and avoiding costly mistakes. I think Council Member Hoffman's comments about Heat Island and is it appropriate or not are very good. It costs more money. That's something that we need to look at and understand. end and that's something that we need to do through a process like a design where we take different ideas into account and actually examine them. You know, this needs to last for 40 years. So, and actually, if you look at the pavement now, probably is longer than 40 years. So while we may be in that second or third shade of pink today, 40 years from now, that may not be the case. 40 years from now, that may not be the case. We see level rise either. You know, are we going to fix those things? I don't know, but to, to go in and just kind of not really think about it and just say, Hey, it's fine. Let's just stamp it out the way it is. I don't think that's a good use of our money. So putting the extra money in now so that we can make sure we don't make those costly mistakes, I think is very important. The resiliency as well. One thing that I didn't see noted in the staff report, I think a lot of resiliency projects still have some grant funding available. I think that's something we should look at. If we can take our base design and we can add resiliency features that improve the parking lot and we can get grant money for that, that could be a win-win where we actually don't end up spending a lot more and we get a much better result i also want to mention the impact of businesses especially with the ferry land the ferry waterside project coming that's going to be a huge disruption in parking lot one this is also going to be huge disruption in parking lot one and i would urge everyone to think about those two things and how we minimize the impact to businesses while all this construction work gets done. It's a challenging year this year. You know, it's never going to get easier, but it's definitely something I think that we need to take into account. Thank you. |
| 04:07:21.02 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. Gail Schell, then Joel Carr. |
| 04:07:24.41 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. All right, Joel Carr and then Mark Palmer. |
| 04:07:35.33 | Chris Zapata | Thank you, mayor and city council. I've none of the negative people who want to speak against this seem to be here still, but I prepared all of the reasons why we should think about this in a positive way. But the, the, the issue in my mind is that the projects like this that result in a raft of positive changes that improve visual appeal, sustainable conditions, and not resulting in loss of parking spaces should be be considered as part of a bigger improvement to that whole area. We just went through years and years of approval process to get the Ferry Landside project done. Now everybody thinks it's fabulous. The parking lot is a mess. It really needs to be basically restarted, as Adrian said, uh, Adrian said for another 40 years. So, um, the, uh, the fact is that approvals processes in this city take many years, Dunphy park, perfect example took forever and now it's absolutely popular and everybody loves it. So, um, I would like to see this move ahead. I know it's going to be a long haul, but it would be nice to see it happen. Thanks. |
| 04:08:59.55 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Mark Palmer, then Laurie Vio. Oops, sorry about that. |
| 04:09:06.56 | Bob Freeman | Good evening again, City Council. I want to make a point of order and just make it clear that if I'm speaking on behalf of the Sustainability Commission, of which I am the chair, I'll be sure to let you know. Otherwise, my comments are my own. |
| 04:09:22.18 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. Thank you. During my, the Sausalito Sustainability Commission meets quarterly. We met in June and we, our next meeting, |
| 04:09:33.03 | Bob Freeman | meeting is in September, it's impossible for us to chime in on every issue that comes before or a city council. So my comments again are my own. During my 55 years in the construction industry, as an engineer, a contractor, and a green building specialist, I've seen been involved in hundreds, literally hundreds of construction projects. I've seen many times over the projects with the that utilize an integrated approach have the best outcomes for people, the planet, and the pocketbook. When we treat a project as a unified system, we often solve multiple problems at once. more efficiently, more cost effectively, and with lasting impact. I strongly support the staff recommendation This is more than a paving job. It's an opportunity to rehabilitate this site as a resilient multifunctional public space that responds to climate challenges and supports long-term infrastructure planning. Given its location on the waterfront and its vulnerability to sea level rise, investing in sustainable design now will save future costs. and disruption. Green infrastructure elements such as permeable surfaces, native landscaping, and integrated stormwater management can reduce flooding, improve water quality, and enhance the visitor experience. This is beyond just parking. Let's view this space as part of our civic and ecological infrastructure. welcoming, adaptable, and climate ready. I urge you to accept the recommended vision for a more beautiful, resilient, and sustainable Sassolito. |
| 04:11:08.73 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. |
| 04:11:09.25 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Mark, would you mind sharing that with the city clerk? That was really well said, and I saw you were reading from something. Do you mind if we attach that as public comment? Thank you so much. And thank you for your efforts to be here. All right, Laurie Viall and then Morgan Pearce. |
| 04:11:28.95 | Susan Samuels | Hi, I speak to you as somebody who uses this parking lot quite a bit. I take the ferry three days a week, and I'm also a member of the Yacht Club. I oppose efforts to spend an additional $300,000-plus to reimagine parking lot one. The budget was already approved for repaving, and this adds additional unnecessary costs and additional potential delays, as well as potentially removing spaces as this gets reimagined. The parking spaces are crucial for the commuters who take the ferry. They are also heavily used by people who go to the yacht club who are encouraged to pay to use the parking lot if we live here in the city so that our members that live in San Francisco can park in the limited spaces within the yacht club, which only have 23 spaces. It's also one of the biggest revenue generators for the city, so why mess with that? by potentially removing spaces or delaying revenue, uh, for this, uh, profitable, profitable, um, parking lot that already has budget approved, uh, to improve it. So that's all of my comments. Thank you. |
| 04:12:49.31 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Morgan Pierce and then Nick Roby. |
| 04:12:57.47 | Bob Freeman | Good evening once more. Madam Mayor, Vice Mayor Woodside, members of council, city staff, and my fellow South Slaytons, Morgan Pierce, and I am the president |
| 04:13:06.03 | Chris Zapata | It's also beautiful. I'm speaking to you this evening in support of the consideration of designers to re-envision |
| 04:13:11.02 | Bob Freeman | to parking lot one. This public space serves as a front door to our unique community and offers an ideal and highly visible opportunity to exert our city's visionary leadership in promoting civic investment in smarter, safer, and more sustainable infrastructure improvements. There's a both and solution for this site that improves circulation, preserves parking, |
| 04:13:31.34 | Bob Freeman | improves pollinator habitat, and enhances pedestrian safety. |
| 04:13:35.04 | Sophia Collier | all while offering a new design that will promote more welcoming and memorable experiences for residents and visitors alike. This small patch of land has the potential to be |
| 04:13:42.97 | Bob Freeman | of the most amazing |
| 04:13:43.83 | Sophia Collier | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 04:13:44.07 | Bob Freeman | and engaging in public places in our city in Marin County. in California and in the world. We would request that direction from the city manager to the design consultant include an option that preserves the existing trees for consideration. We recommend that the city council and our community imagine what could be for this important place and proceed with authorizing the city manager to execute the consultant agreement. Thank you. |
| 04:14:07.44 | Faye Rudio | Do you guys mind if I ask him a question? |
| 04:14:10.61 | Steven Woodside | Morgan, you said, you know, preserve the existing trees. Are you aware that the trees are what are creating the root balls that are destroying the trees? Yes. |
| 04:14:20.40 | Bob Freeman | Yes, yes. And we were having some talks earlier about, are there other innovative paving solutions that can... |
| 04:14:26.03 | Chris Zapata | float |
| 04:14:26.96 | Bob Freeman | Thank you. |
| 04:14:26.98 | Chris Zapata | essentially above |
| 04:14:28.26 | Bob Freeman | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 04:14:28.67 | Chris Zapata | existing root systems. |
| 04:14:29.90 | Bob Freeman | Thank you. |
| 04:14:29.92 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. |
| 04:14:30.62 | Bob Freeman | Thank you. |
| 04:14:30.64 | Chris Zapata | We hadn't considered that before. |
| 04:14:31.97 | Bob Freeman | I'm sorry. |
| 04:14:32.97 | Chris Zapata | Yeah. |
| 04:14:32.99 | Steven Woodside | Yeah, so you're saying somehow we would mitigate the root balls that are right now |
| 04:14:33.44 | Bob Freeman | SO, I THINK THAT'S A |
| 04:14:38.49 | Bob Freeman | Right. |
| 04:14:40.36 | Steven Woodside | I don't know the answer to that, but I would rely on us asking the experts if there were a mechanism by which we could do that. |
| 04:14:41.69 | Melissa Blaustein | No. |
| 04:14:46.11 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 04:14:46.18 | Sophia Collier | Thank you. |
| 04:14:46.28 | Melissa Blaustein | Got it. |
| 04:14:46.59 | Sophia Collier | Thank you. |
| 04:14:47.47 | Melissa Blaustein | Okay. |
| 04:14:47.77 | Steven Woodside | Gotcha. Thank you. All right, Nick Roby, Grover Deer. and then Charles Melton. I don't see Nick... Okay. |
| 04:14:58.42 | Melissa Blaustein | Yeah. |
| 04:14:58.64 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 04:15:07.07 | John Wales | as I call it. |
| 04:15:07.88 | Melissa Blaustein | Yes. |
| 04:15:08.31 | Bob Freeman | Thank you. |
| 04:15:08.32 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 04:15:10.18 | Bob Freeman | Madam Mayor, Councilman, thank you for going through this, what I call, exhaustive measure on something that I see as very simple. Understood it to be an approved budget, approved scope of work that could proceed based upon that. As a resident and owning my home on number 4 Santa Rosa Avenue for $31, |
| 04:15:33.97 | Steven Woodside | years, I've probably used the parking lot, least of anyone in this room, because I walk. I have 818 steps down to the street from my house. My point is... |
| 04:15:45.02 | Bob Freeman | I'd like to see reimagining. I'd like to do whatever we can, but I'd also like to stay within a budget that was approved and a scope that was approved and pursue |
| 04:15:58.96 | Steven Woodside | proceed with work that we know must be done. We don't want to lose parking spaces. We don't want to spend extra money for other things because as a fellow of the American Institute of Architects and an architect emeritus and someone that's done this for 40 years, reimagining is wonderful and we could keep reimagining, but let's just get the parking lot paid. |
| 04:16:22.03 | Bob Freeman | for the budget we agreed to and the scope we agreed on at this point. Thank you. |
| 04:16:29.74 | Faye Rudio | My last speaker card is Charles Melton. Oh, I have one more after this. Welcome, Charles. |
| 04:16:39.95 | Steven Woodside | Thank you, Mayor and City Council members. Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments tonight on parking lot one. I am in support of the forward thinking and reimagining of the parking lot. I am also a ferry commuter. Like many of us who take the ferry, we park in parking lot three using the $6 a day parking card and then walk through parking lot one. Most recently, I tripped on the root balls there in the parking lot, which becomes a safety hazard. So I'm very much in support of reimagining the parking lot and removing the safety hazards that currently exist in the parking lot which becomes a safety hazard. So I'm very much in support of reimagining the parking lot and removing the safety hazards that currently exist in the parking lot here today. Also, if we simply get back to the basics just by repaving and restriping the parking lot as it currently is, then we'll just have spent city revenues just to put lipstick on a pig. It does not solve the real issues of this parking lot. Through this RFP process, we have a key opportunity. to reimagine and forward think what this parking lot could be. First, at the foremost, we hear a lot about the economic conditions of the city. We saw an email go out from a city councilor talk about how this parking lot is critical for city revenues. Can we actually increase revenues coming from this parking lot through parking revenues? Can we increase the number of parking spaces in this parking lot through reimagining it? How can we do this process if we simply nip it in the bud right now and just simply restripe and repave it in its current conditions and current configuration? We can't achieve that. additionally Can we again maximize economic output through increasing number of parking spaces or reconfiguring the parking lots? Um, Again, addressing the trees and the tree roots in the lot. And also, can we address the environmental impacts of this parking lot? We might disagree exactly what those environmental impacts are and respect the differing and appreciate the candid conversations. But if we don't first talk about that, we won't get there. In policymaking, there are several critical steps that need to take place in order to make effective policy. And one of those key critical steps is to consider the alternatives. That's what this RFP process is today and what I'm encouraging the city council to do. Do not put lipstick on a pig. Consider the alternatives before you say no. Thank you, Charles. Sharna Brockett. |
| 04:18:48.31 | Joan Cox | Good evening, Council Members. I'm basically agreeing with a lot of what's already been said here. But, yeah, I think this is just a once in a generation opportunity. |
| 04:18:48.34 | Lily Deschampis | Welcome. |
| 04:18:57.79 | Joan Cox | to do this right. And I think this is in the heart of our downtown. It's really become a jewel with the SCA, you know, on one side that now the Tracy Promenade and the rest of the Ferry Plaza that's so beautiful. So let's really spend the money and do it right. This is where we welcome many visitors and our residents. And it's worth doing it right. And, you know, I just want to emphasize, let's just be careful not to be, you know, I think a lot of people say, let's just repave it as is. But I do think that's penny wise, pound foolish. I think that, you know, that we have technology, we know a lot more about the environment, we know a lot about infrastructure now than we did today, in the past when it was first paved, we should use that knowledge and do better, especially in the most important part of our downtown. So please move forward and approve the forward climate resilient RFP. Thank you. |
| 04:19:52.80 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. City Clerk. |
| 04:19:57.39 | Walfred Solorzano | Vicky Nichols. |
| 04:19:59.72 | Steven Woodside | Welcome back, Vicki. Hi, good evening, counsel. Who wouldn't love this plan? This is a beautiful plan. I think that having Sarah on board in public works has been like a wonderful addition. She has helped. She took me through a guided tour of the Dumpy Park renovation. She's knowledgeable, she's innovative, we're lucky. I was happy to hear her introduce this plan tonight, but I'd like to be a little more probably pragmatic This process has been going on for years. We took years to spend the money. that was the grant, thank goodness the grant. British district was generous and let us keep extending But I think this is somewhat of a creep. Many of the people that flooded the council meeting that night to get this approved. when it was very clear that some of the designers said there would be overruns or they had different things to add later, have now come back and asked for this. I'm not against this, but I'd like to be factual. |
| 04:21:05.55 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. |
| 04:21:05.57 | Steven Woodside | that this traditionally in any other project would be considered an overrun. So I'd like you to consider that when you're doing it. I'm actually fine with you even improving it. But we need to figure out if you're going to approve this, where does it come from somewhere else? I leave it up to you, but I think we need to be honest about what we're doing tonight. We're approving something that is above and beyond what was approved. It's a wonderful plan. but we need to be clear about what we're doing. Thank you. |
| 04:21:35.37 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. City Clerk. |
| 04:21:36.55 | Walfred Solorzano | Next speaker is Babette McDougall. |
| 04:21:39.87 | Steven Woodside | Welcome back, Bebitt. Thank you. |
| 04:21:43.10 | Alice Merrill | Thank you, Madam Mayor. Well, gosh, first I was going to spin off of Adrian, then I was going to spin off of somebody else, you know, then I was going to. Well, I just think you've heard a lot of really good input here. I keep thinking back to the very beginning. |
| 04:21:57.42 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 04:21:57.79 | Alice Merrill | with the |
| 04:21:57.96 | Steven Woodside | and certain counselors |
| 04:21:59.03 | Alice Merrill | members of Boundary. |
| 04:21:59.97 | Steven Woodside | YOU CAN SEE THEM IN THE |
| 04:22:00.04 | Alice Merrill | who were saying, |
| 04:22:00.70 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 04:22:00.71 | Alice Merrill | Thank you. |
| 04:22:00.95 | Steven Woodside | you |
| 04:22:01.03 | Alice Merrill | wait a minute, what about the parking lot issue here? We're losing spots, you know, like the 1022 and the this and the that. And there was so much argument and arm wrestling back |
| 04:22:13.98 | Steven Woodside | and nobody really wanted to drill down on those details. So now we kind of keep coming back to the here and now. And I would just |
| 04:22:22.03 | Alice Merrill | like to reiterate. |
| 04:22:23.07 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 04:22:23.38 | Alice Merrill | that now that we have a sustainability team I don't think we can do anything near our shoreline that doesn't somehow vet through that sustainability team. It would be suicidal for us to consider anything other. And with that in mind, I do like the idea of being flexible. Like, here's where I really do. agree with what Adrian had to say. We got to get back to the basics, and we have to remember our bottom line. But we also have to be flexible about the future. So whatever that takes, I don't know the answer yet either. But I love the whole sustainability approach I also want to just remember that Remember our roots. There are some bottom line considerations. There is this parking issue. So we do have to address it. Thank you. |
| 04:23:10.25 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 04:23:10.39 | Alice Merrill | Thank you. I'm looking forward to some creative solving here. Thank you. |
| 04:23:14.93 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. |
| 04:23:15.39 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 04:23:17.21 | Walfred Solorzano | Next speaker is Senator Bushmaker. |
| 04:23:21.27 | Sandra Bushmaker | I just have a few quick comments, Nick. Thank you. |
| 04:23:25.06 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 04:23:25.07 | Sandra Bushmaker | Like the... |
| 04:23:25.97 | Steven Woodside | Paving issue. This feels like it has grown into something much bigger than repaving parking lot. |
| 04:23:31.97 | Sandra Bushmaker | one and restriping it. I'm in favor of getting on with the repaving and the restriping. This other work, this re-imagining and this creative work May have a place in our town for that area, but I don't, I think it's going to take time and money to get there. Meanwhile, we have a dangerous parking lot. We've already heard People on both sides of this issue talk about the horrible condition of the parking lot. I do think we need to get that taken care of right away. I am not, saying I'm against the other stuff. But I think our priority is getting that lot serviceable in a way. We've lost 39 parking spaces in that lot with the Ferry Landside improvements. I'm concerned about the loss of revenue. while we reimagine things. So I think that we need to Get our approved project done. And that was to repave and restripe parking lot one. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 04:24:41.40 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 04:24:41.45 | Sandra Bushmaker | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 04:24:41.48 | Steven Woodside | clerk. |
| 04:24:42.55 | Walfred Solorzano | Next speaker is Alice Merrill. |
| 04:24:46.00 | Steven Woodside | Welcome back, Al. |
| 04:24:47.03 | Alice Merrill | Thank you. Hi. I would agree with Vicki and Sandra and the old timers We need the parking lot. We need the parking. I know that there have been envisionings of no parking and just being a pretty park. We need the parking. That's... Number one, and then if you want to make it pretty, make it pretty. I think it's really, it doesn't, I mean, other than it's not safe, I agree, but the trees, they just are pretty trees. And so you don't see the cars so much, unless you're digging in. But I just think that Um, that if you can do things with a new look, fine. This town is a lovely, lovely town. It does not need to be a 21st century different place. It It's just a wonderful place. That's why everybody's here. So I'm a little, I'm always skeptical of people who are saying it could be so much prettier, so much this or that. It's really lovely. And so let's, Let's enjoy that. And then it's, let's keep the parking. Sorry I went on so long. Goodbye. Thank you. City Clerk. |
| 04:26:15.88 | Walfred Solorzano | Next speaker is Peter Van Meter. |
| 04:26:21.84 | Faye Rudio | Welcome back, Peter. |
| 04:26:23.17 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. So pleased you're moving ahead to finish off our major downtown improvement projects. This parking lot will really make it beautiful and that you're considering creative alternatives. And I just need to remind everybody with the Yacht Club supplemental, you actually have more parking than you ever had before. So lots of parking spaces with a realignment of how they're arranged in this lot and redesign is not going to be a factor. And sorry, Morgan, those half-dead trees do have to go regardless of root ball problems. I love the comments that Mark made as well. But creative thinking does cost money. And I think that selecting the best among the two responsive proposals is the right thing to do. And perhaps the staff has an opportunity to actually negotiate that fee a little bit with the selected vendor. It does seem a little bit high to me, but again, professionals know the right answer on that. And perhaps when you get that most creative design opportunity from the best among the proposals that fee could be negotiated a little bit as well. But please do move ahead with the creative alternative planning. It's just essential and can have a best long-term result. The city of Sausalito |
| 04:26:23.19 | Faye Rudio | Thank you. |
| 04:26:23.58 | Unknown | We're so pleased you're moving |
| 04:26:33.18 | Steven Woodside | And. |
| 04:27:39.97 | Bob Freeman | to. |
| 04:27:40.04 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. |
| 04:27:40.24 | Bob Freeman | Thank you. |
| 04:27:42.97 | Faye Rudio | City clerk. |
| 04:27:45.18 | Walfred Solorzano | We have Karen Culligan. |
| 04:27:48.35 | Faye Rudio | Welcome back, Karen. |
| 04:27:50.38 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. |
| 04:27:50.40 | Tully Friedman | Hey, good to be back. I mean, I've been to the Mission District. I bought my daughter. |
| 04:27:53.65 | Steven Woodside | I'm back home now, all along the course of this meeting. Uh, Mark Palmer said it great. I don't need to repeat it because he said it way better than I did about the merits of this project. It's very hard for me to get excited about paving the parking lot. But there are safety issues needs to be done. And this idea of tacking on visioning to understand what it could be, you know, are there phases around it? When we go pour asphalt, is it with a idea in mind in terms of where this place is headed? Because there are ways to make it better. You know, I don't believe that we're just trying to encase this place |
| 04:28:31.03 | Unknown | It's falling apart in many respects. Lot one is one of them. Let's figure out ways to do it better. I mean, I love what the fairyland side looks like. I'd love to have something to do with that. |
| 04:28:39.98 | John Wales | that compliments it. So I'd love to see this move forward. And then Fred Martin. |
| 04:28:48.26 | Steven Woodside | Welcome, Fred. |
| 04:28:54.88 | Steven Woodside | I'm good. Oh, I apologize. |
| 04:28:57.04 | George von Mest | I lowered my hand after Peter made some great comments that I think are worth considering. |
| 04:29:03.03 | Walfred Solorzano | I seem to hear many people talking about how nice it would be to implement alternatives for the parking lot, but then they just want to move forward and pave it. I don't think you can do both. I think the overwhelming majority of comments seem to applaud the potential of looking at alternatives to make the parking lot better. Just going by now and repaving it and restriping it and then looking down the road how to make it better is just wasting money. So I would reiterate Peter's comments, and I think those are all great considerations for the council, and thank you again for your time. |
| 04:29:38.43 | George von Mest | Thank you. |
| 04:29:40.39 | Steven Woodside | City Clerk. |
| 04:29:41.57 | Walfred Solorzano | for their public speakers. Thank you. |
| 04:29:42.92 | Steven Woodside | I'm going to close public comment. I actually have a couple more questions for Director McGowan. So we heard about three things, more than three, but three that I notated particularly. In Sarah's presentation, it made reference to $1 million construction. Back in 20... 2016, when we got the $2.5 million in grant funding, my dear departed friend Bill Werner did a cost estimate for repaving and re-striping Lot 1, and it came up to nearly $2.5 million. And so my question to you is, is it your Cost estimate today that the cost of repaving of carrying out the construction. is $1 million. That's kind of a trick question I used basically for the CIP, the latest amount that we have for asphalt based off of its area. Maybe your acquaintance or friend took into more, took in more items that I had originally anticipated. So I tend to want to err on something more conservative. And I would suggest that maybe my number is a little bit low. Okay. Um, We heard about a timeline. When we heard the presentation from the Golden Gate Bridge District the other night, I asked, will your equipment damage our newly paved parking lot? And he somewhat cavalierly responded, well, if it does, we'll replace it. And so what is the timing? What is, if we go out today and suppose we hire a consultant who brings us back the concept plans that you're seeking. What is your timeline for when construction would actually commence and how does that dovetail with the Golden Gate Bridge District timeline for their heavy equipment carrying 40 truckloads of materials. So that question has a lot of layers. So let's try the first layer first. Sarah, can you comment on the the concept design and how much time that needs? Thank you. |
| 04:32:16.42 | CG Ware | Yeah. |
| 04:32:17.24 | Jill Hoffman | Obviously, approximately it can take. between six months to one year to develop three alternatives. It will take time and it has to be vetted by you. So we have to bring it back to the council and have discussions. I think that's the value of discussing that. |
| 04:32:36.97 | Steven Woodside | THE FAMILY IS |
| 04:32:37.04 | Jill Hoffman | say, |
| 04:32:37.68 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 04:32:37.69 | Jill Hoffman | Um, |
| 04:32:37.96 | Steven Woodside | six. |
| 04:32:38.39 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 04:32:38.45 | Steven Woodside | to 12 months. |
| 04:32:40.48 | Jill Hoffman | minimum. |
| 04:32:40.85 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. And then what's your construction? Well, it obviously depends. But if we were just resurfacing, I'm not suggesting that's my vote, but if we were just resurfacing and repainting, |
| 04:32:51.83 | Kay Mitzel | Mm-hmm. |
| 04:32:52.58 | Steven Woodside | What's your construction timeline? Obviously, we are constrained. in the period of the during the time of year that we can do that based on surrounding businesses I mean, if we can go by ferry land side, I think it's probably more extensive for the ferry, but I would say, |
| 04:33:09.22 | Jill Hoffman | Kevin, do you have a better number for his choice? |
| 04:33:11.87 | Sandra Bushmaker | in there. |
| 04:33:12.88 | Steven Woodside | So if we simply go back out to an RFP to have it redesigned, we're probably looking at two to three months for a simple redesign. You've got a month after that for at least bidding, and they could be ready to start in the late fall. I would not suggest that because you're facing rain. I would say next April is more a probable time to get going on that. And the construction would have to be staged in such a fashion so that it would not significantly close the lot. You'd have to swap sides and do all sorts of other stuff. So you're looking at April, May at the earliest. Let's get real. Let's say July next year. And then when is the, remind me when Golden Gate Bridge District is going to complete their reconstruction? They have a year and a half. So if we complete our resurfacing of the parking lot, they will still be constructing their work. they will still be at it. Now, how do we address, this is the next layer, how do we address the ferry district when they're bringing in concrete loads? So we can address that in several different ways simply by putting and spreading out the load with a concrete plate on the ground itself. I can work with the district if we want to move in that direction so we avoid that particular issue. So there are ways, and I would have to have more detail from the district, but Now that we know if we're going to move in that direction, we would want to address it in a certain way. So is it your recommendation as you stand here tonight that we proceed and redo our parking lot before Golden Gate Bridge District completes its construction on the waterside improvements. If we move forward with what we're recommending this evening at looking at a more intense look at this area, I would suspect that we would want to coordinate with the district and say, all right, when do you need to get this concrete in here such that you would impact this parking lot? Try to deal with that before we actually pave so that we can work with the district and say, okay, as of, I'm just making it up, as of next year in, where are we, August, let's pretend we're going to pave, try to get all their work done that could impact the parking lot. before we actually pay. We would try to coordinate with them. Okay. Those were my questions. So I'm ready now. There's no motion. Once again, this is to provide. direction and the direction they are seeking is do we recommend proceeding with the uh, a consultant that can find its proposal to the reconstruction of lot one, or do we ask staff to negotiate the best price with the consultant who can provide three alternatives to, um, um, create a more comprehensive design. I want to say, even if we pay this... So, first of all, someone said we're going to pay an additional $300. We're not going to pay an additional $300. We're going to pay an additional... one. 150 or 200 What's the difference between the lowest price to just design the reconstruction and the highest price to undertake the three concepts? So let's back up a sec. Okay. What we're requesting at this point is to develop a conceptual plan. Right. Because they're just concepts. I understand. So even after that, in order to develop the full plan, we'll have to get another designer or the same designer to put together a bid spec. So there will be more cost on type of that. So we're paying $300 just to get concept designs? Yes. That's really expensive. It is. That's why we're bringing it up. |
| 04:37:03.00 | Melissa Blaustein | Yes. |
| 04:37:08.50 | Unknown | That's why we're bringing it up. Thank you. |
| 04:37:10.63 | Steven Woodside | Yeah, that is outrageously expensive for concept. That's 30%. I mean, we should have at least DDs for concept. I mean, $300,000. That's why we needed your input. So thank you so much. Well, no, thank you for clarifying that this is not the final designs. This is not even three fully baked designs. This is three concepts. |
| 04:37:29.62 | Melissa Blaustein | Yeah. on the show. |
| 04:37:36.96 | Steven Woodside | My first recommendation is to have staff push back on the pricing. That is outrageous. Typically, you know, design should not be more than between 5% and 10% of construction. And so if construction is truly a million or say you're wrong, it's 1.5 or even two, then we should not be spending anything more than $200,000 at the out. side for complete designs, not concept designs. So that is just way outrageous. Yes, I understand. And that's one reason we brought it to you. Another thing that we included is wayfinding. So, If we take a look at resurfacing the entire lot, we didn't include wayfinding in that original scope, but it is included here. So something to consider. So what is the delta in price between simply designing the reconstruction and the lowest price to do the three concepts? THE END OF |
| 04:38:39.85 | Diana Dempsey | 200 |
| 04:38:40.13 | Steven Woodside | on. So we're essentially between 100 and 300. Okay. So I think. Boy, I was really persuaded by Adrian and by um, Roger, but I am really |
| 04:38:58.16 | Alice Merrill | I |
| 04:38:59.05 | Steven Woodside | First of all, if we get three concepts, I don't know if we can afford any of them other than repaving. But I really wanted to see what the three concepts might be and to explore sustainability and sea level rise. But to spend $300,000 just for concepts, not even for fully baked designs, I feel like... and this is so jaded of me, but I feel like the, consultants who know us best are taking advantage of their knowledge and knowing that we're going to want to go with their expertise to... create the best possible project. And I really... resent being put over a barrel in that way. So those are my initial thoughts. I'm going to see why that would be your initial thought, Mayor. I mean, I don't know the this SWA, of course, I know because they did the ferry thing, but this other firm that was better, what are they called? |
| 04:39:51.53 | Bob Freeman | Thank you. |
| 04:39:51.57 | Unknown | I'm not sure. |
| 04:39:59.45 | Steven Woodside | CSW Stugustro out of Nevada. Have they independently, have they done work with us before? Yes. Yeah, so they've independently bid out this response to this RFP, which... |
| 04:40:04.61 | George von Mest | Thank you. |
| 04:40:09.00 | Steven Woodside | I guess, you know, was put together by staff that has everything in the kitchen sink. So it really is a question of If I have a, if I'm a. municipality that has a legal issue I can either do it on the cheap with I, estate planner or I can hire you. If I'm in jail and I need to get out, going to hire the best litigator down there at the other end of the dais here, because, and she's not going to be cheap. So you kind of get what you pay for in design. Yeah, I'm sure you're not cheap, Jill. It's like, so it's... you get what you pay for. I mean, you want to hire the right, use the right tool for the job. And in this case, Sarah laid out an ambitious once-in-a-generation opportunity to get the best guidance, the best expertise before we invest millions of dollars. In literally concrete and pavement or some other material. So To your point, Bill Werner had a different estimate for what the place would cost. Director McGowan does his best job with the estimating tools he has, but part of the idea is that this whole approach could actually save money in the long run in a couple ways. One is the estimates could be a lot more precise for implementing of these design choices. The cycle cost of the entire maintenance and installation could be much cheaper. The ability to apply for grants because that would help guide what the design features are could enable the defraying of a substantial amount of the construction cost or all of it. So this really is a question of, of, of Good government and good process. It's exactly what we were talking about earlier around trying to solve our other problems. Here we are in the dais trying to get ideas on holding yellow flags or having blinking lights and these are good ideas here from the dais but none of us are the kinds of experts who could really be like a good doctor treating a condition or a good lawyer trying to make the strongest case providing expertise not just to you and me but to the community about vision it's Thank you. It's a dollar wise, not penny foolish. Understood. I'm worried that whatever the three concepts are, are going to be expensive to implement. So city manager, I'm going to put you on the spot. You can put a price tag on. You can put a seal. Like, only show us concepts that cost. |
| 04:42:30.36 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 04:42:30.38 | John Flavin | you on the spot. Yeah. |
| 04:42:32.98 | Unknown | Those concepts that cost. |
| 04:42:35.66 | Steven Woodside | some amount of money, right? I'm going to ask a question and then I'll hear from the vice mayor. So what's the most that we, because we've just committed 16 million to infrastructure. So what's the most that we can do |
| 04:42:36.33 | Chris Zapata | Okay. |
| 04:42:36.62 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 04:42:36.64 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. |
| 04:42:49.21 | Steven Woodside | cobbled together to spend on the construction aspect of the ferry landing project, assuming that we commence construction sometime next year. |
| 04:42:57.95 | Chris Zapata | So let me walk through the budget that you just got, Mayor. So the parking fund, which could fund this project, has at the end of the year in 23, 24, it had $2,057,000 in it. We estimate that at the end of this year, when we get our audit done, It'll have $2.39 million in it. $2,393,000. And even with the fund transfers, we estimate that at the end of the budget year that we'll get into, or we are currently |
| 04:43:30.98 | Bob Freeman | Thank you. |
| 04:43:31.03 | Chris Zapata | starting. |
| 04:43:31.97 | Bob Freeman | Thank you. |
| 04:43:32.04 | Chris Zapata | there'll be $2,594,056 in that fund. That's your cash position that we're estimating. So that's one fund. The other fund that could potentially play into this is obviously the Title-Ins Fund. And so the Title-Ins Fund, and I'm just going off the top of my head, the revenue from that is about $750,000 a year. and expenses to it are about 400,000 years. So it's netting $300,000 a year. And I can get the fund balance or the cash on hand for you on that one. One of the other considerations are what about the other parking lots? So when you look at the Veritas study, and you look at the amount of |
| 04:44:15.97 | Bob Freeman | the parking lots is $2.8 million. |
| 04:44:18.44 | Faye Rudio | 2.2. |
| 04:44:19.12 | Bob Freeman | Eight. |
| 04:44:19.59 | Chris Zapata | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 04:44:20.05 | Bob Freeman | So theoretically, you will have |
| 04:44:23.03 | Chris Zapata | that in full next year. So it's more a question of appetite as opposed to financial constraints. |
| 04:44:32.92 | Steven Woodside | Well, next year we'll have 2,594,000. That's short of the 2.8 we need for the other three parking lots. |
| 04:44:41.23 | Sophia Collier | Mayor, let me just point. We wouldn't do all other parking lots at once. |
| 04:44:45.24 | Jerry Spolter | I understand. |
| 04:44:45.60 | Steven Woodside | Yeah. |
| 04:44:45.72 | Jerry Spolter | Thank you. |
| 04:44:45.85 | Sophia Collier | We will be right back. |
| 04:44:46.04 | Jerry Spolter | and we would have time to capture revenue in out years, which we didn't add to that two point, |
| 04:44:52.03 | Chris Zapata | and grow it. It's been growing 400,000 a year for the last couple of years. So, you know, so again, I repeat what I said. It's not really a financial question. It's more of an appetite question in terms of what you want to see done. |
| 04:45:08.36 | Steven Woodside | Okay, the vice mayor had his hand up and then I'll go to council member Hoffman. |
| 04:45:12.34 | John Flavin | Thank you. I shared the concerns that this is costly, but I think it's imperative that we have a quality, intelligent design. before we move forward. I think simply putting asphalt on a problem won't solve the problem. The roots will still grow if we don't really redesign in a more intelligent way that takes into account the factors that have been discussed this evening. So I think that's in my mind, that's the heart of the question tonight. Are we going to go forward with intelligent planning and design. We don't have an approved scope right now. The simple idea that it might cost a million dollars simply to put more asphalt on, I don't know what the answer is here, and I think we need expertise. What I'm anxious to avoid is a repeat of, the several month, um, really difficult process dealing with the Ferryland side project. where there seemed to be there were moving targets and moving concerns from the time the council in February of 24 approved a project It kept there were issues that were outstanding and that's why I think spending the money up front to get a quality design is is the heart of the question before us tonight and I think we should move forward with it. I do share concerns. It seems expensive. I don't I don't know what to say about that other than to try our best to try to get the cost down, but. |
| 04:46:42.27 | Unknown | I don't know. |
| 04:46:47.79 | John Flavin | We do need an intelligent design in order to move forward. |
| 04:46:55.30 | Steven Woodside | Councilmember Huffman. So, um, Yes, we have... |
| 04:46:59.97 | Jill Hoffman | We have some money in our parking fund, but remember we also have We have expenses for parking lots. So we have money generated by our parking lots that we also transfer to balance our budget. And we also have deferred maintenance on our parking lots, not just to redo what we're talking about right now, which is construction of our parking lot one, but also. maintenance on parking lots two, three, four and five parking lot five we talked about tonight that we're trying to repave at the end of locusts so that we can actually start generating revenue off of that parking lot which we are not generating revenue at this time and so everybody wants you know we're all aligned that we need to resurface or redo parking lot one and so i think we want to move forward on that i'm also shocked and alarmed that we're talking about $300,000 just for designs. I completely agree with... move forward on that, I'm also shocked and alarmed that we're talking about $300,000 just for designs. I completely agree with our mayor that it seems that somebody's trying to take advantage of us at $300,000 for some design concepts right off the top. you know i i can see from the slides some things that i don't think need to be in the design concept one is a solar canopy integration i don't think anybody in this room thinks that that's a good idea for parking lot one so that was my idea i would say |
| 04:48:23.98 | Steven Woodside | Sorry. Pardon me, but I mean, do we really want a solar canopy integration in parking lot one? And you're talking about like the roof over the parking lot? No, I'm talking about individual over parking stalls. I've done it for many municipalities. |
| 04:48:32.21 | Jill Hoffman | No, I'm talking about individual. |
| 04:48:36.99 | Jill Hoffman | And I've seen those, and I think they're in a high school that's awesome, but not in parking lot ones. So we can talk about that. |
| 04:48:43.97 | Steven Woodside | that perhaps in our discussion. |
| 04:48:48.02 | Jill Hoffman | You know, obviously, |
| 04:48:48.97 | Steven Woodside | THE END OF |
| 04:48:49.04 | Jill Hoffman | I |
| 04:48:49.96 | Steven Woodside | I'm not sure. |
| 04:48:50.03 | Jill Hoffman | we're all agreed that no more reduction in parking parking numbers or parking stalls and so that I'm glad that we're all aligned on that I'm you know neutral on alternatives to asphalt I think there's no evidence at all that there's any heat index issues with parking on one or actually in all of Sausalito so I wouldn't want to have any consultant money wasted on you know heat index or any issues with regarding that um unless anybody can give me any evidence that there's any issues with heat index um issues with sausalito today it was 60 degrees with a heat um index of 58 so and it's july 22nd so sea level rise mitigation we've looked at that a lot in Sausalito. We just looked at that with the Bridgeway bike lanes. It didn't look like it was going to be any significant issue for Bridgeway facing the city, which is, I think, more at risk than parking lot one. As we just discussed, the ferry company doesn't seem to think that there's an issue there, and I don't think there's an issue with parking lot one. I wouldn't want to waste any money unless there's evidence of a significant issue, but I don't think that there is. So I think we might be able to get the numbers down. Absolutely. If we're thinking about going down this road, I think we just need to tell the consultant, give us your bids at a hundred thousand i mean i think that's your uh we don't need the cadillac if we're going to look at different alternatives i think we need to look at that interestingly if you go back and look at the business improvement district um wayfinding is in their remit and so a council member um blousey i look forward to your report on that. The wayfinding is in there. It's in their package to... respond to that. So I wouldn't think that wayfinding would be that we would need to do that. Um, There was another issue in here that's also, you know, event planning or events and things like that. Farmers market, those kinds of event issues is also in the business improvement district remit. So those fall in that bucket. The city's already paying for that through the business improvement district. those things would shift over, I would think. So that would come off whatever bid that we would put out. So I would perhaps approach it that way, and with the direction of those things, no loss of parking spaces, and I would remove those issues from the RFP if we decide to go that way and just |
| 04:51:28.57 | Steven Woodside | you |
| 04:51:28.91 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 04:51:28.98 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 04:51:29.03 | Jill Hoffman | issue the RFP. |
| 04:51:29.97 | Steven Woodside | Yeah. |
| 04:51:30.02 | Jill Hoffman | way. |
| 04:51:30.38 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 04:51:30.60 | Jill Hoffman | Uh, |
| 04:51:30.97 | Steven Woodside | Bye. |
| 04:51:31.04 | Jill Hoffman | by the way. |
| 04:51:31.51 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 04:51:31.68 | Jill Hoffman | I did have a follow-up question for Kevin. I believe we did the bioswell that we authorized that's already in the parking lot was a robust and oversized biosephal |
| 04:51:40.97 | Steven Woodside | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 04:51:41.03 | Jill Hoffman | well for the purpose |
| 04:51:41.97 | Steven Woodside | of of the running. |
| 04:51:44.03 | Jill Hoffman | off from the parking lot, even though it's oversized for the side of the parking lot. Isn't that right? |
| 04:51:48.05 | Steven Woodside | Well, I know there's a bioswale. I'm not too sure if it's oversized or not. I can check. |
| 04:51:51.62 | Jill Hoffman | I think it is, and we did it purposefully for sustainability reasons. So I wouldn't think that we would need to go too much further into that issue. So, I mean, if you would look into that, that would be great. Thank you. |
| 04:52:05.26 | Faye Rudio | All right, Councilmember Blaustein. |
| 04:52:07.18 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 04:52:07.20 | Joan Cox | Thank you. I appreciate it. I definitely hear the concerns around cost, as is an important conversation that we have with any critical policy decision we're making or allocation of budget, and I |
| 04:52:22.98 | Jill Hoffman | I WOULDN'T BE OPPOSED. |
| 04:52:24.02 | Joan Cox | to pushing back |
| 04:52:24.97 | Jill Hoffman | you |
| 04:52:25.04 | Joan Cox | the cost. |
| 04:52:25.96 | Jill Hoffman | WHAT IS THE FAMILY? |
| 04:52:26.03 | Joan Cox | but I would absolutely |
| 04:52:26.98 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah. |
| 04:52:27.03 | Joan Cox | opposed to is pushing back on important parts of the scope of the proposal such that it would be just repaving the lot. What I keep thinking about over and over again is if we do this again, imagine if when we did the RFP or whatever to repave the lot the last time, and I don't know what year that was. It's obviously based on where it's been quite some time, but if we had been thoughtful about creating an environment for resilience, perhaps we would have picked different trees, or we would have been more aware of the outcome of the roots of the trees and the establishment of the lot. and created a longer term lasting solution. And that is just one example. That is practical application for why creating elements of design in this proposal is so critical, but beyond practical application, and our important emphasis on climate resilience in a lens of climate and thinking about sea level rise, we are really seeing amazing improvements in our downtown. And I appreciate that the Business Improvement District will be putting on events in our downtown, which is great. And we'll have wayfinding and plants and planters up and there's a great seating area. And as we think about the approach to our downtown and a collaborative effort to make it a space that residents want to go to, I've seen more and more residents that ever before actually walking to downtown enjoying the downtown enjoying the plaza And this is our opportunity to continue to be a part of that, to make a plan that is forward thinking, and to embrace design. So while I wouldn't be opposed to some sort of pushback to just say like, hey, we want to work with you, but this is outside of our budget. I mean, I'm open to that kind of conversation, but I'm not open to removing the ideas of important design components in our piece. So whatever, I mean, I would welcome your suggestions on that because we don't want to get the short end of the stick here if that's what it seems like is happening. But if this is the market cost for this type of design, then I think it's an investment that's worthwhile. |
| 04:54:22.96 | Steven Woodside | Yeah, from where I guess I agree with that. I mean, it would be, in the staff report, the language that they use, mayor is authorized staff to negotiate and return to council for approval to authorize a city manager to seek a professional services agreement. with the recommended consultant for the expanded scope. So like my colleague, I wouldn't change the scope at all. I would authorize staff to negotiate. And I think if I'm sensing there's some desire to push back on costs, so I think if we offer $250K, then there would be a chance that we meet them. So I propose that as the motion that I would make. And let them let them respond. I'm going to respond because I don't see any other hands raised. I would... endorse pushing back on cost. I would endorse Councilmember Hoffman's approach of also seeing what possible components within the proposal we can dial back. I don't think we're going to, in the near future, put a farmer's market downtown. We have a farmer's market at Dunphy Park. or if we do it's Tracy Way not lot one and that's really for the PBID to give recommendations about so um, And the solar panels, you know, that was a canopies. That was my, you know, oh, that would be a great idea, but that's not something that's necessary to the functionality or the future flexibility of lot one. So I would focus on features that are sustainable, sustainable. and see if there's a way to take a haircut on some of those procedures. More importantly, I would like to know, I would like to negotiate a 30%, but then, and also not to exceed for CDs. So we know that it's going to be 30. We know that schematic drawings, concept drawings at 30% are going to be 200, 250, whatever. But I would like to also negotiate now what turning those into full construction drawings would be, have a not to exceed amount. for the full construction drawings. I don't want to have you come back to us with designs that we love, And then here it's another million dollars to turn those into construction drawings. Well, we're going to have to authorize any contracts still. This isn't the deciding meeting. I just want them to propose and not to exceed. I was responding to your comment with that, that you're giving them direction. |
| 04:56:53.57 | Unknown | Thank you. to accept. Okay. |
| 04:56:59.95 | Steven Woodside | on how to negotiate. And there's going to be something that comes back to us that we have to act on. |
| 04:57:04.82 | Diana Dempsey | Right. |
| 04:57:05.14 | Steven Woodside | Right. So I guess what I'm saying is that sounds like great direction. |
| 04:57:08.40 | Diana Dempsey | Thank you. |
| 04:57:09.01 | Steven Woodside | Add that to that. I would nudge back on reducing the scope because things like, for instance, I agree with you, Tracy way is the natural place to do a farmer's market, but the stage of farmer's market on Tracy way, There has to be a vehicle that parks in the parking lot and communication from that vehicle to the stall that services them. That's a design element that matters. And this is exactly what designers do. It's sort of like if I'm practicing law, I can fake it to lay people and you would see where I don't know what I'm talking about. And I think, designers in the room there at home watching on TV are like, like, though they don't get the key element of the, of what we do for a living. Absolutely. So I would say we should authorize the staff recommendation. And obviously we, um, there's allergy about the price. And so we want the price to come down. Uh, and you want to add some of these issues about getting, um, visibility into what their 30 or 50% drawing costs would be. |
| 04:57:52.43 | John Flavin | Thank you. |
| 04:57:52.44 | Walfred Solorzano | Absolutely. |
| 04:57:53.10 | John Flavin | Thank you. |
| 04:58:13.10 | Steven Woodside | And then I didn't quite finish my comment. I'd also like to share with them, I'd like us to identify and share with them a not-to-exceed cost for the overall project, for the construction. Yeah, so that we share, listen, we're not prepared to spend more than $2 million on this or $2.5 million, or that they have to provide us with a phased approach. What number do you suggest? That's a great idea. |
| 04:58:35.90 | Alice Merrill | Number. |
| 04:58:37.84 | Steven Woodside | Yeah. |
| 04:58:38.12 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 04:58:38.45 | Steven Woodside | What's the not to exceed price? Thank you. I don't think. We go from the scope of what to propose. |
| 04:58:41.28 | Alice Merrill | Thank you. |
| 04:58:41.42 | Annie Porter | Thank you. |
| 04:58:41.72 | Alice Merrill | Thank you. |
| 04:58:41.92 | Annie Porter | Thank you. |
| 04:58:41.97 | Unknown | of the |
| 04:58:43.32 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. I don't know. We're ready to give a total number. So it would be a not to exceed, and they could use a phased approach, right? So... you know, do this in this year, do this in that year, something that could have add-ons or whatever. So I'm just asking for them to use their brain because we don't know. I'm asking them to use their brain to tell us. I think that's right. That's exactly what you want. It gives them some design goals to work towards. Yes, design goals to work towards. And I always include in my |
| 04:59:06.80 | Unknown | Yeah. Yeah. |
| 04:59:14.09 | Steven Woodside | architectural contracts that if they design it to a price and it comes in over that price, they have to redesign it for free. There you go. So that's a provision I always include in my architectural contracts. So those are the types of safeguards that I would be seeking, particularly if we're going to pay the premium price for concept drawings of what's been proposed. Thank you. um, So I don't think we're aligned totally on scope, but there could be a menu of options, I suppose, Kevin, and you could come back to us with, you know, if you want this, like if it's going to cost $50,000 to design the ability to have a farmer's market, I would say no thank you. If, you know. |
| 04:59:36.51 | Unknown | I'm sorry. |
| 04:59:56.61 | Steven Woodside | Yeah. I don't think that's the way designers work. I mean, I think we're now in the weeds of the design business and we maybe could get Morgan up here to talk about it. But I think your notion is on the right track, which is supply. the design goal of this project shouldn't cost more than, and I was asked you to pick a number, two and a half million dollars. uh, would be the ceiling and of course less the better. |
| 05:00:17.94 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 05:00:19.58 | Steven Woodside | But let the designer have freedom of action to choose what the trade-offs are. Because it's not like farmers market 50k. |
| 05:00:23.68 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 05:00:26.40 | Steven Woodside | this is what this design concept is and this is what the other alternative is and this has these virtues And and problems. And this has these other virtues and problems. Yeah. All right. The vice mayor has his hand raised. |
| 05:00:40.08 | John Flavin | I really appreciate the last comments and the safeguards that you're posing, Mayor, and the input from... Member Sobieski about let's let the designers uh, come up with their best ideas. We have one of them in particular is one of the leading designers in the world working right here in Sausalito. And they have a great sense of place making and they know about things that are going on around the world that may or may not have application here, but let's let them look at our site and apply their expertise and see what they come up with. I think that will give us a lot to work with. as we go forward and hopefully within a reasonable price. |
| 05:01:25.90 | Steven Woodside | Yeah. I agree. There's one more. component. There is one proposer that has not always enjoyed a totally cordial relationship with our Public Works Department, and it would be important for me that our contract if that were the proposal that was selected, included some requirement of decorum or whatever because you |
| 05:01:49.84 | Melissa Blaustein | Yeah. |
| 05:01:50.18 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Okay, so I'm seeing a thumbs up on that. So that's a concern to me. It's a brilliant designer, but the relationship has been challenging from time to time. Thank you. Yes. As we heard from a totally unrelated incident at today's planning desk by a member of the public, the quorum should be a requirement of all our contracts. I really want to make sure we're protecting our staff. And so, to be clear, the process, we've given direction. Yes, we're giving direction. And so the process is going to be, Kevin now has his direction, public works. |
| 05:02:03.34 | Unknown | and her. Yeah. Yeah. |
| 05:02:10.77 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 05:02:22.02 | Jill Hoffman | Now, how's their directions? |
| 05:02:23.19 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. you |
| 05:02:23.54 | Jill Hoffman | And then, uh, |
| 05:02:24.42 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 05:02:24.88 | Jill Hoffman | you're going to issue an RFP based on the direction, |
| 05:02:28.40 | Steven Woodside | No, he has proposals. He's going to negotiate them. |
| 05:02:28.42 | Jill Hoffman | I DON'T KNOW. They go. Oh, gotcha. Okay. |
| 05:02:31.76 | Steven Woodside | And come back to us with a proposed contract to approve. Of those three RFPs? The three proposals. Yeah. |
| 05:02:38.32 | Faye Rudio | Thank you. |
| 05:02:38.34 | Jill Hoffman | with. |
| 05:02:42.74 | Steven Woodside | Well, it's going to be one of the two because the third candidate is the low. Yeah, it can't be the low one because we're asking for the menu of options. So it's going to be one of the other things. |
| 05:02:46.71 | Sonia Hansen | Thank you. |
| 05:02:46.73 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 05:02:46.88 | Sonia Hansen | It can't be the lowest. because we're asking for the menu of options. So it's going to be one of the other. Thank you. |
| 05:02:52.47 | Steven Woodside | And you can use the leverage of there being two different proposals to negotiate price and this menu of options concept that we're seeking. Okay, I see a thumbs up. All right. Is that added? You have the direction you need? Okay, I see a thumbs up. Thank you again to our really learned residents and commission members who came and volunteered their thoughts on this challenging process. It's really important to our downtown, so it's important that we get it right. I'm going to put a $2.5 million because that's what Bill Werner estimated construction cost in 2016. If we do it for that, that would be... So that's the one addition, $2.5 million total cost, yeah, yeah. |
| 05:02:52.50 | Sonia Hansen | Yeah. |
| 05:03:29.74 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 05:03:29.88 | Dan Chagru | That's the one. |
| 05:03:33.15 | Steven Woodside | Okay. All right. Thank you very much. And thank you, Director McGowan. You made it through. That's our limit. But to be clear, we're not authorizing that. We're not authorizing that. That's what they're designing, too, as a top limit. You made it through all three. Thank you so much. |
| 05:03:49.65 | Sophia Collier | Okay. |
| 05:03:51.73 | Steven Woodside | Okay, I'm going to take 60 seconds and we're going to turn to the city manager report. |
| 05:04:01.85 | Chris Zapata | One item I want to inform the council and the public about, Sausalito has done fantastic work on its waterfront in terms of working with the 87 boats that were once there. Now you're down to two. In 2019, I believe, you created the Safe Harbor Program, which is a model. The county was a partner in that program. The Ritter House was a partner in that program. And so what we're looking to do is partner again with the county at the request of Mayor Cox and requested of the county to be partners in that effort this year. So the police department developed the $30,000 budget. You know, the county fund $10,000 of it I think that's good news that's two people left on the water from 87 and you know the bay ecologically better for it and the way that the city has gone about it compassionately is I believe believe, a real model. And it's with great gratitude that we thank Supervisor Mullen Peters and County Manager Derek Johnson for continuing the partnership. Thank you. |
| 05:05:16.58 | Steven Woodside | Thank you, City Manager. Okay, next is city attorney information for council. |
| 05:05:23.46 | Sergio Rudin | I'll be brief. As the council is likely aware, the governor's trailer bills, AB 130 and SB 131, had some pretty significant modifications to Both CEQA, as well as various housing laws, our firm has put out a legal alert for all of the clients. We're also working on preparing some detailed guidance for the community development department. And of course, we'll be sharing that with the city council as well. |
| 05:05:50.11 | Steven Woodside | Thank you very much. Council member committee reports. |
| 05:06:02.33 | Faye Rudio | I'm drawing a blank. |
| 05:06:03.31 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. I know I've been going to a lot of meetings, but. Okay, appointments, I have none. Future agenda items. So the vice mayor and I have made a commitment to go through the future agenda items and populate our calendars for September, October, November, and December with what we think we can include from the future agenda items and we will share that information with the Council. |
| 05:06:31.84 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 05:06:31.86 | Jill Hoffman | Yes. I looked at the future list. I didn't see forensic audit on there. I think Mr. Flavin said he had over 100 signatures on there. on their petition for a forensic audit. I think that's significant. I think we should seriously consider that as a future agenda item if that's necessary. |
| 05:06:53.96 | Steven Woodside | Or we could just. it. So I think we're working on a report that we will bring back to the council so that the council can make a decision about whether or not to undertake a forensic audit. Do you have an idea when that might come? Nope, we're working on it though. Okay, thank you. Thank you. It'll come during my reading. Thank you. You want to call it that term, I think, is the appropriate word, but up to you, Your Highness. |
| 05:07:18.97 | Susan Samuels | You're welcome. |
| 05:07:20.03 | George von Mest | Thank you. |
| 05:07:25.69 | Steven Woodside | The truth is we are all on the same level. I have only one vote, so much as I might wish otherwise. |
| 05:07:32.19 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 05:07:33.08 | Steven Woodside | All right. Thank you for the Disaster Preparedness Committee minutes. Who is the chair that was appointed to the? Is it Bonnie? Was it Bonnie McGregor? Bonnie McGregor's the chair. No, she's not the chair. No, no, no. |
| 05:07:42.88 | Alice Merrill | Amen. |
| 05:07:42.97 | Jill Hoffman | Greg. |
| 05:07:43.21 | Alice Merrill | No, she's not the chair. |
| 05:07:44.17 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 05:07:45.38 | Steven Woodside | No, Eric Little is the chair. He's a new member. No, Bonnie's the secretary. So the supervisor's office was asking, there's going to be a September emergency preparedness month put forward by the county. |
| 05:07:47.07 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 05:07:47.10 | Lily Deschampis | I'm not sure. |
| 05:07:47.34 | Jill Hoffman | or. |
| 05:07:47.51 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 05:07:59.88 | Steven Woodside | And so we have a meeting in August. So if you want to share that information. And we should invite Yif and Nareen to that meeting. Thank you. She's coordinating. And she wanted to be able to coordinate with Eric Little. All right, other reports of significance. I'll take public comment on items 6A to 6C and 6E to 6G. |
| 05:08:21.60 | John Wales | We have Senator Bushmaker. |
| 05:08:25.61 | Steven Woodside | I'm still here. Yeah. |
| 05:08:28.03 | Sandra Bushmaker | I have a quick question. |
| 05:08:29.53 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 05:08:29.93 | Sandra Bushmaker | I... wanted to ask this several meetings ago, but unfortunately we missed public comment. What is the source of the $5 million that we paid off our sewer bonds? Where did that money come from, the $5 million? That's my question. |
| 05:08:48.43 | Chris Zapata | Mayor Cox, Councilmembers, I can provide that information under city manager's report at the next meeting. |
| 05:08:55.26 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 05:08:55.28 | Lily Deschampis | Thank you. |
| 05:08:55.72 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Any other public comment? No further public comment. All right. We will adjourn at 1029 p.m. Thank you, everybody. Great work tonight. |
| 05:09:00.39 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 05:09:00.41 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
George von Mest — Neutral: Thanked the council, urged support for downtown economic spark and Wells Fargo building reuse, and called for creative solutions to state mandates while maintaining Sausalito's character. ▶ 📄
Sandra Bushmaker — Against: Expressed concern about protecting Sausalito's beautiful historic district, equating it to a unique place like Tinsley Island. ▶ 📄
Kay Mitzel — Against: Echoed opposition to the 'monster building' on Bridgeway and encouraged the council to do everything possible to not allow it. ▶ 📄
John Wales — In Favor: Supported a proposal for a forensic audit of the city's budget, noting the approved budget lacked comparisons to audited and projected results. ▶ 📄
Tully Friedman — Against: Enthusiastically endorsed neighbors' concerns about the historic district and opposed any development impairing it. ▶ 📄
Faye Rudio — Against: Urged the council to follow the planning commission's denial of the 605 Bridgeway project, stating it would ruin the city. ▶ 📄
Robert Machulat — Against: Criticized state housing mandates as ill-advised and broad-brush, urging the council to manage the problem in a way that saves the town's unique character. ▶ 📄
Lori Wright — Against: Urged rejection of the developer appeal for 605 Bridgeway, stating the project does not comply with Sausalito zoning and laws. ▶ 📄
Annie Porter — Against: Adamantly opposed the 605 Bridgeway proposal as totally out of sync with its surroundings and out of character, urging rejection of the appeal. ▶ 📄
Diana Dempsey — Against: Urged rejection of the appeal, warning that appeasement will make things tougher later, and encouraged the council to stand firm with the majority of residents. ▶ 📄
Susan Samuels — Against: Vehemently opposed 605 Bridgeway in the historic district and hoped current and future councils would reject similar destructive developments. ▶ 📄
CG Ware — Against: Opposed the project, urged support for staff, and suggested linking with the Lieutenant Governor to find remedies for historic districts under state law. ▶ 📄
Sophia Collier — Against: Thanked council and staff, opposed the 605 Bridgeway project, noted a petition with over 2000 signatures, and urged the council to fight to protect the historic district and town's economic engine. ▶ 📄
Jan Johnson — Against: Asked to deny the appeal, praised staff's 18-page denial letter, stated the project would destroy the historic district, and urged the council to fight with resident support. ▶ 📄
John Flavin — In Favor: Advised about an online petition for a forensic audit, encouraged a citizen committee for transparency in selecting the forensic firm to restore trust in city finances. ▶ 📄
Sonia Hansen — In Favor: Supported a forensic audit due to financial concerns, criticized chamber conditions, and requested using larger venues for full chambers. ▶ 📄
Alice Merrill — In Favor: Supported a fully transparent forensic audit and opposed the 605 Bridgeway project, also noting the historic significance of the nearby Tiffany house. ▶ 📄
Bob Freeman — Against: Concurred with protecting historic preservation, warned it would be lost forever, and highlighted the strain on downtown parking during construction of the 605 Bridgeway project. ▶ 📄
Sandra Bushmaker (Online) — In Favor: Raised an issue about the July 15th agenda being purged of staff reports, calling for a complete public record, and supported a forensic audit for financial transparency. ▶ 📄
Babette McDougall (Online) — Neutral: Appealed for the community to come together amid deep concerns and distrust, emphasizing the need for daylighting on issues like SB 79 and preserving Sausalito's character. ▶ 📄
Judy W. (Online) — Against: Urged protection of the historic district and rejection of the developer appeal for 605 Bridgeway, supporting staff and planning commission findings. ▶ 📄
Dan Chagru (Online) — Against: Encouraged the council to protect the historic district and reject the developer's appeal for 605 Bridgeway, standing with staff, planning commission, and nearly 2400 citizens. ▶ 📄
Maral Boyadijan (Online) — Against: Hoped the council would reject the appeal and maintain the historic district as requested by residents. ▶ 📄
Bonnie McGregor (Online) — Against: Urged rejection of the appeal, stating the project does not comply with zoning/laws, and criticized the developer's disdain for Sausalito and the project's impact on property values. ▶ 📄
Jerry Spolter (Online) — Against: Expressed happiness with the council representing residents' values to keep Sausalito charming, and urged denial of the 'despicable' 605 Bridgeway project. ▶ 📄
Evan Jane Criss (Online) — Against: Urged shelving the 605 Bridgeway project for good as it would destroy the historic district and set a bad precedent. Also supported a forensic audit for transparency and emphasized maintenance priorities. ▶ 📄
Lily Deschampis (Online) — Against: Questioned the fairness of allowing a non-compliant building when other multifamily homeowners comply with zoning, and what precedent it would set. ▶ 📄
Joan Saxton (Online) — Against: As a 43-year resident, added her voice to the chorus pleading for rejection of the developer's appeal for the 605 Bridgeway project. ▶ 📄
Ellie Gibbs — Against: Spoke about the importance of preserving Sausalito's charm for tourists and future generations, contrasting it with the proposed 'monster' building. ▶ 📄
Ben Canberra — Against: Supported rejection of the 605 Bridgeway development but primarily expressed concern about pedestrian and cyclist safety on the Alexander Avenue corridor, urging the council to advocate for a physically separated walkway. ▶ 📄
Joris Van Menz (Online) — In Favor: Agreed with traffic safety concerns but expressed support for building additional housing in Sausalito, noting the need for more residents and that the 605 Bridgeway project, while not perfect, is a proposal for more housing. ▶ 📄