| Time | Speaker | Text |
|---|---|---|
| 00:00:00.03 | Joan Cox | three PM and ask the city clerk to take role. |
| 00:00:03.56 | Walfred Solorzano | Councilmember Blaustein. |
| 00:00:04.76 | Joan Cox | here. |
| 00:00:05.87 | Walfred Solorzano | I also remember Hoffman. |
| 00:00:07.15 | Joan Cox | Here. |
| 00:00:08.82 | Walfred Solorzano | Councilmember Sobieski. Vice Mayor Woodside. Here. And Mayor Cox. |
| 00:00:13.82 | Joan Cox | Here. We will be adjourning to closed session to discuss items C1 and C2. Item C1 is public employment, public employee employment title city manager. C2 is conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation, one case, and I know one council member will be recusing himself from item C2. |
| 00:00:36.90 | Ian Sobieski | I'm recusing myself from my MC2, as I have for many other times. This matter has come up because of its proximity to my house. |
| 00:00:43.08 | Joan Cox | Thank you. Is there any public comment, city clerk? |
| 00:00:45.32 | Walfred Solorzano | Yes, there is. There's nobody in the house, but we do have somebody on Zoom. Babette McDougall. |
| 00:00:54.00 | Babette McDougall | Thank you and good afternoon to you all. I would just like to say that as we head toward the end of the calendar year, that we consider seriously, if you would please, Madam Mayor. making a report to the constituents and the people of Sausalito about just what's been going on in closed session this year and why it matters going forward. I'm especially interested, although I don't see it on today's agenda, in the disposition of the Spencer Firehouse. So with that in mind, I yield back the time and again, wish you all the best. See you later for the full meeting. please consider a full report. or the year in review, call it. Thank you. |
| 00:01:33.89 | Joan Cox | Thank you, Ms. McDougall. If you look at consent calendar item 3F, you will see at that item approval of the 300 Spencer Fire Station lease agreement with Southern Marin Fire District. And if you look at item... 5D, you'll see a presentation to the outgoing mayor that will include an overview of what the city council accomplished this year. Any further public comment? |
| 00:02:01.55 | Walfred Solorzano | See none. |
| 00:02:02.44 | Joan Cox | Great. Then we will adjourn to closed session. We will see you back here at 5 p.m. Thank you. |
| 00:56:19.77 | Unknown | with it. |
| 00:57:07.87 | Joan Cox | Welcome back, everyone, and welcome to the regular meeting for the City of Sausalito City Council for Tuesday, December 16 2025 at 5pm. First order of business is the Pledge of Allegiance. |
| 00:57:26.63 | Steven Woodside | I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America I did the group of people who were with the students. One of the things that happened were not |
| 00:57:31.90 | Unknown | you |
| 00:57:31.95 | Hannah Borten | Thank you. |
| 00:57:32.03 | Unknown | I don't know. |
| 00:57:32.37 | Hannah Borten | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:57:34.66 | Unknown | you |
| 00:57:34.68 | Samantha Schubert | One minute. |
| 00:57:37.06 | Steven Woodside | Depends on both. They've been at best. |
| 00:57:37.13 | Samantha Schubert | Thank you. live. Thank you. |
| 00:57:41.87 | Joan Cox | for the moon. |
| 00:57:43.09 | Steven Woodside | I'm not sure. |
| 00:57:45.89 | Joan Cox | City Clerk, will you call roll please? |
| 00:57:48.53 | Walfred Solorzano | Can someone have a blast in? Councilmember Hoffman. |
| 00:57:54.37 | Joan Cox | Here. |
| 00:57:55.13 | Walfred Solorzano | Councilmember Sobieski. Here. Vice Mayor Woodside. Here. And Mayor Cox. |
| 00:57:59.79 | Joan Cox | Here, there are no closed session announcements. |
| 00:58:03.59 | Ian Sobieski | Just as a reminder, I recused myself from the matter because of item C2 because of the proximity to my house. |
| 00:58:10.15 | Joan Cox | Thank you and then Councilmember Sobieski did you have a motion regarding our agenda? |
| 00:58:14.12 | Ian Sobieski | approval of the agenda is there so i can move to approve the agenda but i'm the one that took Two items off of consent last meeting, item 5A and item 5B. I've in that time been able to speak to Katie Tho Garcia about 5B, and so I'm fine with that and going back on to consent if there's no objection and just having 5A be in my business. |
| 00:58:37.05 | Joan Cox | Okay, so I will seek a motion approving the agenda with the amendment that item 5B is moved to consent item 3H. |
| 00:58:48.51 | Steven Woodside | So moved. Second. |
| 00:58:50.47 | Joan Cox | All in favor? Aye. |
| 00:58:51.56 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Bye. |
| 00:58:55.19 | Joan Cox | That motion carries. Did I hear an aye from Councilman? Okay, that motion carries 5-0. Okay, we will move on to. Special presentations and mayor's announcements, there are none. We'll move on to communications. This is the time for the city council to hear from citizens regarding matters within the jurisdiction of the city council that are not on the agenda. Except in very limited situations, state law precludes the council from taking action on or engaging in discussions concerning items that are not on the agenda. I do not have any speaker cards for this item. City Clerk, are there any people online? Yes. |
| 00:59:30.05 | Walfred Solorzano | Yes, we do have some. Oh, let's see, we're getting a card from Babette McDougall. |
| 00:59:35.56 | Joan Cox | All right, I'll recognize Babette McDougall. Then we'll turn to online. Ms. McDougal, you're up. |
| 00:59:45.70 | Babette McDougall | test. Thank you. Thank you for acknowledging, Madam Mayor. Sorry to arrive a couple of minutes late, but thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak. Whoops. So here's what I need to say to you. I need to remind us all that we are a community of people. That means we're a village, we're a town. If we don't work together... Then how are we going to get along? Because we have so much bigger fish to fry. as we know. Thank you. Thankfully, globally, we have a problem on our hands. We are headed into a global already. We're in a global recession. We already have European nations lining up a bit. like up against the United States, and there's more. We could go on for the next hour of everything that's going wrong in the world right now. That's why it's more important than ever that the people of Sausalito find a way to speak to one another and get along. And I'm sorry I'm boring you, Madam Mayor, but I just hope you're listening because I know you usually are. The point is this. We have got to get along. And the final thing that you need to think about is? You have someone among you that is by far since they've been counting votes in Sausalito, the highest vote giver ever. And then it was consistently. |
| 01:00:56.24 | Joan Cox | It was. Bye. |
| 01:00:57.89 | Babette McDougall | it. |
| 01:00:57.97 | Joan Cox | That is- |
| 01:00:58.04 | Babette McDougall | That is. Thank you. |
| 01:00:58.70 | Joan Cox | on our agenda later this evening. That is consistently a disregarded fact. That is not an item that is not on the agenda tonight. So aren't I allowed to speak on items not on the agenda? Only during this time are you allowed to speak about things not on the agenda. Correct. |
| 01:01:00.15 | Babette McDougall | That is true. |
| 01:01:15.17 | Joan Cox | the item you're now speaking about is on the agenda. |
| 01:01:17.53 | Babette McDougall | Okay, well, if you get my point, then I guess the point is made. I'll yield back my time. My best wishes for a happy holiday to each and all. I think that's a good thing. |
| 01:01:26.97 | Joan Cox | have no other speaker cards city clerk anyone online |
| 01:01:29.60 | Walfred Solorzano | Jack Burroughs. |
| 01:01:31.42 | Joan Cox | Welcome, Mr. |
| 01:01:31.98 | Melissa Blaustein | in the borough. |
| 01:01:32.25 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 01:01:32.28 | Melissa Blaustein | Bye. |
| 01:01:32.32 | Joan Cox | to get the news. |
| 01:01:32.52 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 01:01:40.03 | Walfred Solorzano | If you can unmute yourself. |
| 01:01:47.54 | Walfred Solorzano | All right. Just hit the mute button. Good night. Um, We'll go back to that. No, I'm here. I'm sorry. |
| 01:01:55.87 | Jack Burroughs | No, I'm here. I'm sorry. Apologize for that. Technology is not my strong suit, obviously. Good evening, City Council, and happy holidays to everyone. I appreciate, you know, this last of the year chance to speak here. And I second what Babette was just talking about and working together as a community. I am a neighbor to the MLK site who uses the park regularly for exercise to walk my dog and to play pickleball and tennis. This is a formal request to take up for consideration the environmental impact that construction at the zoning overlay site approved by Measure K will cause. Since no draft of the RFP has been provided to date, it is impossible for the members of this community to know if a mitigation monitoring and reporting program as required by state law is included in the draft language. I formally request at this point that the city release the draft RFP to the public for review prior to issuing it to any developer. In the hopes of finally establishing transparency by our local government, this request, I hope, is received with intent to action. Furthermore, I formally request that all public land considered in that housing element, Corporation Yard et al, have RFPs sent simultaneously to all developers in consideration. From a macroeconomic scale, this makes more sense than to show deference to developing a site first that has divided our city, has numerous design restrictions placed on it in order to pass, and that it has a potential to be economically catastrophic for our city. Thank you all for your time. and wishing everyone happy holidays and a very profitable, prosperous 2026. |
| 01:03:47.52 | Joan Cox | Thank you, Mr. Burroughs. City Clerk. |
| 01:03:49.58 | Walfred Solorzano | We have Lorna Nealon. |
| 01:03:59.11 | Melissa Blaustein | Welcome Lorna. |
| 01:04:00.48 | Lorna Newland | Thank you. Hello, I'm a 32 year resident across from the MLK Park, 20 year tenant in the MLK Park bus barn. And I would just wanted to speak about, I know you're ratifying the election tonight, but I wanted to speak about The misleading information that came from the city, one was basically a flyer threatening major. um, penalties, if we don't comply with the housing development. And so everybody doesn't want that, So they wanted to vote for certain things, but also in one of the flyers, I don't know who they are, but the flyer from sensible housing Sausalito called the bus barn a dilapidated building. In the actual measure, it said a commercial building. It never said anything about what that commercial housed. And there are 13 tenants in there, all artisans or mostly artisans and maritime workers, the same kind of people who, Nobody wants to displace any that in the in the Marin shed and that's not going to happen, but there's plenty of land there and I know the city owns this land. There's also city land that's owned that wasn't on there where the former Police. Uh, trailers were before the it was built the new the new police fire stations but i've been there 20 years other people have been there over 30 years and it actually represents with family businesses and with employees or other workers there 30 livelihoods that are now being displaced so i just that uh I just wanted that out for public comment and to say that I was very disappointed in the lack of transparency of exactly what it meant. And a lot of people I've talked to were incredibly confused by it. Thank you. |
| 01:06:02.47 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 01:06:03.34 | Lorna Newland | City clerk. |
| 01:06:04.44 | Walfred Solorzano | We have Jack Carlson. |
| 01:06:07.60 | Lorna Newland | Thank you. |
| 01:06:07.61 | Melissa Blaustein | Welcome, Mr. Carlson. |
| 01:06:10.08 | Jack Carlson | Thank you so much. On the agenda at the November 18th City Council meeting, there was to be a discussion of the ongoing issue, which has been going on for years and years now. of 27 Central Avenue and the illegal construction, which has a major view impact. That item was continued to date on certain at the November 18th city council meeting. And I wanted to ask when that will be continued I'm, a little confused as to why it was even back on the city council agenda. Once again, The owner at 27 Central is and has been for a long time, I would say, employing tactics to just stall and delay from having to do anything. has ignored multiple city council and planning commission orders. And I would like to just encourage the city council to bring this matter to a resolution as swiftly as possible. I very much sympathize with the situation of the city council and, I'm kind of in the same boat myself, but years and years are going by and Nothing is being done about this as far as the owner of that property is concerned. I'm not sure when this matter will be continued to, but I hope it will be as soon as possible. And I hope the city will do everything in its power. to bring this matter finally after years and years. to a satisfactory resolution and to Um, to bring, this that property owner into compliance with the many, many orders to the council and the planning commission and not to allow it to keep going back to city council again and again. Thank you. |
| 01:08:06.36 | Joan Cox | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 01:08:07.56 | Melissa Blaustein | City Clerk. |
| 01:08:09.03 | Walfred Solorzano | We have Charles Melton. |
| 01:08:11.73 | Melissa Blaustein | Welcome, Mr. Melton. |
| 01:08:15.32 | Charles Melton | Good evening City Council. Thank you for the opportunity to provide public comments tonight. While every judge in being there in person unfortunately I'm under the weather. Perhaps it's a little too much holiday joy recently But I just really want to take a moment to recognize how wonderful the winter season has been here in Sausalito. |
| 01:08:24.28 | Unknown | Right. |
| 01:08:28.76 | Charles Melton | events like the Winter Market SCA and on Tracy Way, the Christmas tree lighting, the menorah lighting, and Lighted Book Create have brought warmth, joy, and a strong sense of community during a time that can otherwise feel really, really cold. These gatherings really don't happen by accident They are the result of incredible work by local organizations, volunteers, artists, small businesses and community groups who give their time and energy to create these spaces where both residents and visitors can come together. And as a community member, I'm deeply grateful for their commitment and their generosity. I'd also like to encourage the city council to continue to support events like these, especially during the off season. Winter programming strengthens our local economy, supports arts and culture, and helps keep Sausalito vibrant year-round. These events are not just celebrations. They are investments in community connection and civic pride. To my fellow residents, for these types of events, please keep showing up. These events matter because people attend them, participate in them, and make them part of our shared traditions. Our presence is really what brings these celebrations to life. So thank you to everyone who made this winter season so special, and I hope we continue to build on this momentum in years ahead. Happy holidays. |
| 01:09:35.72 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. No further public comment. |
| 01:09:38.13 | Joan Cox | All right. We will close. communications and move on to our consent calendar, which is now comprised of items 3A through 3H. 3A, adopt the draft meeting minutes of December 2, 2025. 3B, adopt a resolution certifying the results of the special municipal election held on November 4, 2025, declaring the result in such other matters as provided by law. 3C, cancel the regular meetings of August 4 and 18, 2026, and call for a special meeting on January 31st. Thank you. 2026 at 9 a.m. 3D adopted resolution. Approving the request for fee reimbursement by Galilee Harbor for reimbursement of the 2025 Maritime Day event in the amount of $2,287 for a minor use permit and $154 for a banner encroachment permit. 3E, adopt a resolution approving a job description for interim professional temporary staff. 3F approval of 300 Spencer fire station lease agreement with Southern Rind fire district. I do want to acknowledge their presence here this evening. Thank you so much for being here. 3. G. Approved the letter to Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Association of Bay Area Governments providing feedback to Plan Bay Area 2050 Environmental Impact Report. 3. H. Authorized the city manager to execute a professional services agreement in the amount of $274,252 with Anchor QEA Consulting for the Turney Street Dock Improvement Project. with $170,000 from state grant funds and $104,252 from the Tidelands Fund for expanded scope. |
| 01:11:10.60 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. Madam Mayor. |
| 01:11:11.95 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 01:11:11.97 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 01:11:12.26 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 01:11:12.31 | Melissa Blaustein | Due to the proximity of my address, I have to recuse from item 3F. So when we do vote, if we could take a motion on all of the other items. Thank you. |
| 01:11:20.88 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 01:11:20.91 | Melissa Blaustein | . |
| 01:11:21.10 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 01:11:21.20 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 01:11:21.27 | Joan Cox | Thank you. Yes, Councilmember. |
| 01:11:23.80 | Ian Sobieski | All right. |
| 01:11:23.85 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 01:11:24.59 | Ian Sobieski | I have some substantive talk about the calendar for the next year, which is IM3C. So I think we have to pull that off. So, |
| 01:11:32.93 | Joan Cox | Okay. Item 3C will become the new item 5C. And Madam Mayor, I'd like to pull item 3G. |
| 01:11:42.06 | Jill Hoffman | Item 3. |
| 01:11:42.50 | Joan Cox | Item 3G will become new item 5G. deep. Okay, with that, I'll open it up to public comment on our consent calendar, and I will Call first Peter Van Meter. |
| 01:12:04.16 | Peter Van Meter | See you. |
| 01:12:09.48 | Peter Van Meter | Good evening. I'm here to speak on item 3F, the lease with the fire district. as a member of the past member of city council and a past director of the fire district. I could really be discussing the terms of this lease from either side of the issue. But I'd like to address the work the tenant improvement work that is items Paragraph 717. In particular, I'm taking your attention to item 17.3. The first part of this area takes care of tenant improvements in the building that comes from your Veritas report to get that building into occupiable conditions. There was also some item in 17.4 to do future work relative to that report. But what I'm concerned about is 17.3, which is optional work to be done by the city with substantial expenditures that are strictly desires by the fire department. In other words, they asked for replacing the wood stating material, the shingles. I understand that there's optics here because they're trying to eliminate wood wood shingles around the county. But this is not, in my opinion, something the city should be paying toward that $700,000 expenditure for this optional work. Also, the remodeling of the kitchen with cabinets and appliances. Again, that's something for the benefit of the tenant. That is optional. And in my opinion, the city should not be paying for that. So what I'm concerned about is your item 17.3, substantial expenditure of city funds that are strictly optional requests of the fire department. And I think that you should pull this item off of your consent calendar and discuss the removal of those provisions. Thank you. |
| 01:13:51.83 | Joan Cox | Thank you. next Babette McDougall |
| 01:14:07.77 | Babette McDougall | Thank you, Madam Mayor. I too would like to address the issue of the Spencer firehouse. I'm really glad to see that we're going to bring that back online. I know that we have issues in that particular neighborhood of trying to get there quickly and safely in the event of an emergency. So I would hate to see this structure become more for show and less for actual work. just saying from a personal point of view. And so with that in mind, let me say, as a former telecommunications commissioner for the city of Sausalito, I'm aware of how these telecom carriers work. I also know the value of those antenna, and they are so undervalued, I'm embarrassed by the city, that we're not charging a fraction of their value. So I say let's put those telecom carriers to work for all the external repairs and upgrades necessary to Spencer. It'll be their monitor. for staying current. with what's needed in today's world. So that's one item. And then the other item that I want to call your attention to, please, has to do with certifying this vote. I never saw anything like it. A city undertaking an information campaign, whether the data is true or false, or it's like chewing them. Let's just stretch it a little. Come on. This is not how the city conducts an election, and I'm embarrassed by it. So I urge you to think carefully within your own conscience. If you think this is a certifiable election, I say think again. Thank you. Adrienne Brinton. |
| 01:15:49.24 | Joan Cox | All right. |
| 01:15:49.28 | Adrian Brinton | My comment was on item 3G. |
| 01:15:49.55 | Joan Cox | Amen. |
| 01:15:51.61 | Adrian Brinton | Which got pulled. So I'll come back at that time. |
| 01:15:53.61 | Joan Cox | Okay, thank you. Thank you. |
| 01:15:55.94 | Walfred Solorzano | City Clerk. We have Sandra Bushmaker. |
| 01:15:58.96 | Joan Cox | If it's on 3G, that item was pulled. If it's on something else, welcome, Ms. Bushmaker. |
| 01:16:06.64 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. I saw that it was pulled. Thank you. |
| 01:16:10.84 | Walfred Solorzano | Okay. Thank you. No further public comment. |
| 01:16:14.08 | Joan Cox | All right, then I will entertain a motion approving consent items 3A through, well, first of all, does anyone want to discuss the Spencer Fire Station lease in light of the comments by Mr. Van Meter? |
| 01:16:34.96 | Steven Woodside | Not so much to discuss, but I know this was a matter of negotiation led by our city manager. I'm just wondering if the city manager had anything to add at this point. |
| 01:16:43.85 | Joan Cox | Yeah, I appreciate that. |
| 01:16:45.61 | Chris Zapata | Thank you for that question and appreciate the comments from the floor. We have been in negotiations regarding the cell tower leases to be a little more aggressive in our asks. So I think we're in line with that. We may not get to what the resident wants, but we are working in that vein. The other thing is, is that place was fallow for how many years? You tell me. |
| 01:17:06.40 | Mark Palmer | on. |
| 01:17:06.60 | Chris Zapata | 10, 11, nine years? It's an absolute mess. And as a landlord, there has been analysis done of that work to... bring it up to snuff so that it could be used. And that was done by Bureau Veritas, and we're doing additional work. And so, again, respectfully disagree with the residents' position that we should not do these things. We negotiated this in what I call comprehensive and fair manner so that the city would receive the rents that we believe are appropriate for that facility and that the community benefit of services as a start would begin. We worked long and hard with the fire district to make this happen in a way that the council could see it. And so the agreement itself is, you know, in my mind, fairly standard, was developed in consultation with our real estate consultant and our city attorney and the things that we're obligating the city to are fair. So I would recommend that you approve it tonight. |
| 01:18:09.20 | Joan Cox | Thank you. Then I will entertain a motion approving items 3A, 3B, 3D, three E And 3E. And three, H. |
| 01:18:25.57 | Steven Woodside | some of. |
| 01:18:26.45 | Jill Hoffman | Madam Mayor, not 3F, the approving? No, I have to recuse for that. So I'm doing a separate vote. |
| 01:18:28.48 | Joan Cox | No. |
| 01:18:28.83 | Sonia Hansen | I have a great day. |
| 01:18:29.99 | Melissa Blaustein | Exactly. |
| 01:18:30.79 | Joan Cox | Oh, wow. |
| 01:18:30.97 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 01:18:33.83 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:18:33.84 | Joan Cox | I'll do that in a moment. Okay, sorry. |
| 01:18:34.65 | Jill Hoffman | Okay, sorry for that. |
| 01:18:35.85 | Joan Cox | Thank you. Nope. Is there a second? Second. All in favor? Aye. That motion carries five zero. Now entertain a motion approving item three F. |
| 01:18:51.11 | Steven Woodside | Second. |
| 01:18:52.25 | Joan Cox | Will you call role city clerk? |
| 01:18:55.44 | Walfred Solorzano | Chancellor Member Blaustein. |
| 01:18:56.66 | Joan Cox | recuse. |
| 01:18:57.91 | Walfred Solorzano | Councilmember Hoffman. |
| 01:18:59.46 | Joan Cox | Yes. |
| 01:19:00.32 | Walfred Solorzano | Councilmember Sobieski. |
| 01:19:01.45 | Joan Cox | Yes. |
| 01:19:01.67 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. Vice Mayor Woodside? Yes, Mayor Cox. |
| 01:19:04.86 | Joan Cox | Yes, that motion carries unanimously. Well, carries for one with Blaustein recusing. OK, I'll now move on to public hearing items. There are none. I'll move on to business items. The first is 5A, authorize the city manager to execute Amendment 2 to the professional services agreement with BKF engineers for the Coloma Street Safe Pathways to School project in an amount of $49,866 for a total contract amount not to exceed $200,292. I will welcome Kevin McGowan, our Public Works Director. |
| 01:19:38.44 | Kevin McGowan | Good evening, Mayor and members of City Council. This evening, I'm here to talk to you about the Coloma Street sidewalk project, which is 5A on your agenda. We do have a presentation if our clerk can bring that up. |
| 01:19:56.94 | Kevin McGowan | Great, we can move on to slide two. Next slide. There we go. Okay, the original project includes the installation of a sidewalk on the north side of Coloma Street. Currently, there are no sidewalks on this area of the road from the MLK campus entrance towards Bridgeway. The project has changed over time in that the sidewalk was extended, or at least the design aspects were extended, up to Olima Street on the north side of the roadway. And that is to accommodate requests from the community to have more accessibility to Olima Street. Um, Staff have worked hard to address the concerns of the community, as well as Sausalito Beautiful and other constituents. The item this evening, which is a contract amendment with the designer, will allow the consultant to finalize the design With a bid alternative, which includes bioretention, a bioretention area, While the original plan includes tree wells. In addition, the plan includes a mid-block crossing, right at Tomales pathway, which students regularly use. On December 6, staff brought this item to council for approval as a consent item. and council voiced a concern related to parking on the street. Based on this, based on these concerns, staff examine the present plan. to see if there is a potential for including more parking on Coloma Street. This little slide, which is kind of hard to see, but there Here is one little area or an area that goes from where the New mid block crossing is towards Bridgeway where we have a width that can be used for about 49 feet. So we examine that specific area to see if we can get more parking in there. The other area, doesn't have enough width at 40 feet to accommodate different types of parking other than parallel parking. Next slide, please. All right. The proposed design includes a 10 and a half includes two 10 and a half foot lanes with eight foot parallel parking spaces on the roadway, as well as a 12 foot walking path, which includes tree wells, and it could include a buyer retention, depending upon what the council prefers to do when we bid the project or award the project. Next slide. If we take out the sidewalk specifically and use the current condition with straight in head parking for a vehicle, which is 19 by, excuse me, nine by 19, We generally reduce the lane widths, not the lane widths. The problem is the backup space. There isn't enough backup space for a car to back out correctly. And so you would have we would have to look at angled parking. Next slide. Staff took a look at angled parking in the widest area. which decreases the lane widths to eight foot lanes, two eight foot lanes with a 45 degree angle. Next slide. So that's not acceptable at 45 degrees because that's not enough lane width. We took a look at a 30 degree angle parking. And with this particular configuration, we reduced the living widths to 10 feet, which is a little tight for this area of town, especially if you're gonna have a school in this area with drop off areas and other things. But it can work. So next slide, please. And taking a look at the 30 degree angled parking compared to the parallel parking, we found that with the parallel parking, we have 23 parking spaces along the roadway. and utilizing a 30 degree angled parking, we have the same number. So, however, With the angled parking, we don't have a wide sidewalk and we don't have the potential of having trees. And we don't have the potential of having a bioretention area also. So we don't recommend moving forward with angled parking in this area. Next slide. So as I mentioned before, this project includes a mid-block crossing with rectangular flashing beacons. A member of the public has voiced an opinion that the flashing beacons would be disruptive to residents who live along this section of the roadway. Staff can include a bid alternative, which would be in pavement lighting. And you may have seen this in other places around San Francisco or other places. This type of lighting tends to be rather expensive and very hard to maintain, but we can include a bid alternative for that so we can get a price and we can decide at the time of award of whether we want to pursue that. At this point, we recommend the city manager. We recommend authorizing the city manager to execute the contract amendment with BKF engineers. To finalize the plan for this project, and staff will return to council When the plan is completed, in order to seek approval to bid it, to go out to bid. In addition, Mr. Andy Davidson is here this evening, our senior engineer, and he's our main project person for this project. |
| 01:25:11.38 | Ian Sobieski | Eric, could I... Ask a question. |
| 01:25:14.03 | Joan Cox | ask and then you can. Yeah, I'm going to start. Okay. Um, Another comment that was made when this last came before us was the gelati equipment that is routinely parked along Coloma. Are you able, I know you were going to do some research into that. Have you been able to research what the story is with that? |
| 01:25:33.81 | Kevin McGowan | Well, if it's Gelati Brothers or Majoran Gelati, we are utilizing those two contractors for different work here in town. One is right out in front on Bridgeway and doing work there. If there are issues specifically with equipment parking there, at least over the holiday season, we can ask them to move it. And the other one is the paving equipment that's being utilized for resurfacing on other roads throughout the city, such as Easterby, which was recently finished. And we can also address that too. The last I took a look at this area, I didn't see that there was a real conflict, but maybe I missed a circumstance where it was completely filled up. |
| 01:26:09.82 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 01:26:09.84 | Joan Cox | Well, as someone who lives there on Olima Street, I see huge yellow trucks parked all weekend, which takes which usurps parking spaces for the recreational uses of the park for, you know, soccer games and everything else. What about using lot five, for example? and I think that's a great question. We can do that. Yeah. And then we got emails, I can't find it. |
| 01:26:38.98 | Ian Sobieski | Go ahead. Sorry, I have emails, but that's fine. |
| 01:26:41.43 | Joan Cox | Oh, about the stop sign? Okay, I'm going to defer to Council Member Sobieski regarding the stop sign. |
| 01:26:47.50 | Ian Sobieski | I pulled the item in part four. |
| 01:26:48.20 | Joan Cox | Did you see my notes stopping? |
| 01:26:49.46 | Ian Sobieski | I didn't. I just heard you say it. I could tell you, I mean, we've been working together for a long. |
| 01:26:49.83 | Joan Cox | I just heard that. |
| 01:26:53.60 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 01:26:53.63 | Unknown | I |
| 01:26:53.97 | Ian Sobieski | I did, of course, pull this item and because it so happened to intersect with concerns of residents in that area in no small part because of the impact that the potential development MLK might have. So I met with them in the intervening time. around this parking issue. And thank you very much for looking into it factually. And I think that answers the question about the parking. I should say, As preface to my question that all the residents there are super thrilled that this is happening. So thank you very much to DPW. Many have waited a long time for improvement. So everyone is thrilled that things are happening there and excited to move things forward and not wanting to slow things down. But we've received several, there were many comments when I met with residents and others that were documented in emails that we've received around several improvements that are judged by neighbors who live there and with experience of traffic patterns to be critical. The three that seemed the most critical, and there are six in total, but I wanted to ask about each of them and find out whether you agree they could be implemented, and if so, how. The first is the four-way stop at Aleema Street and Coloma Street. uh, can that be included as part of this contract, a four-way stop sign. |
| 01:28:08.77 | Joan Cox | And I'll just say right now, it's only a stop at Coloma. turning left or right, but not. Lima. |
| 01:28:16.18 | Kevin McGowan | Yeah, we would need to have our traffic engineer take a look at it to see if it meets the warrants. And maybe Andy. |
| 01:28:21.92 | Ian Sobieski | Can you explain what that means, sir? I don't know what that means. Meets the warrants. |
| 01:28:24.86 | Kevin McGowan | In order to put in a stop sign or to have traffic changes, we have to have, according to the vehicle code, it has to meet certain warrants. And so we'd want to double check to make sure that this intersection would meet that. Andy, do you want to add anything? Mm-hmm. |
| 01:28:38.29 | Andy Davidson | Thank you. |
| 01:28:38.59 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. |
| 01:28:41.41 | Andy Davidson | Not per se, it's been a comment over the years. And I cannot tell you why it has not progressed other than it probably did not meet the standards set by the state of California and the warrants that Kevin just mentioned. I believe there are other. Not to push that we could do it, but there are intersections that the council said put stop signs at that did not meet the warrant as well. |
| 01:29:03.84 | Ian Sobieski | So from us, if we simply gave you direction to do stop signs, is that something you can do? in that same vein. |
| 01:29:12.36 | Andy Davidson | I think you could give us direction, but we would still need to investigate it. I don't think we would just blindly do it. |
| 01:29:18.03 | Ian Sobieski | illegal and Presumably there'd be some way to, well, in any way, we could direct it and you could come back. Thank you. |
| 01:29:23.72 | Joan Cox | Can I have one follow on to that? |
| 01:29:23.75 | Ian Sobieski | Can I have questions? |
| 01:29:25.67 | Joan Cox | Are you aware that people coming up to Coloma, actually coming to Olima from Coloma, actually have to pull out into the intersection? of Olima in order to see both ways because of all the shrubbery along Olima. And so that is a safety concern that would be ameliorated by having that stop sign there. But are you aware of that condition You literally cannot see if traffic is coming down Olima without pulling partway into the intersection. |
| 01:29:54.36 | Andy Davidson | The shrubbery or the whatever they are against the tennis court fences. Yes, it's substantial. |
| 01:29:58.60 | Joan Cox | Yeah. Yeah. So I just want to ask, is the city aware of that safety challenge at that intersection? |
| 01:30:08.44 | Ian Sobieski | Yes. Thanks. Okay. Thank you. uh, The second question was the raised a raised table top crosswalk at Tom, a Pamela Pius. Can that be included in this project? |
| 01:30:24.60 | Kevin McGowan | So we haven't had a raised tabletop crosswalk here in town. And yes, anything is possible. We can include that. We can ask our designer to put in a bid alternative. But I would request that we have our traffic engineer also weigh in and make a recommendation of whether it's appropriate at this location, because we have to double check with police and fire. make sure that their response times are not slowed down by this type of. Yeah. raise platform as well. but we can include it. |
| 01:30:56.06 | Ian Sobieski | Okay. And related to that, can we add a stop sign at that location, at that crosswalk? |
| 01:31:00.44 | Kevin McGowan | Mid block. No. |
| 01:31:01.46 | Ian Sobieski | We'll see you next time. |
| 01:31:01.51 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 01:31:01.54 | Ian Sobieski | Yes. |
| 01:31:03.14 | Kevin McGowan | Again, we would want to study it first. |
| 01:31:06.10 | Ian Sobieski | Well... So could we give would that be a tight investigation? So if we gave direction today, would we be able to get an answer by our meeting in January? |
| 01:31:16.56 | Kevin McGowan | I don't know. We're in the holiday season. I will reach out to our traffic engineer. Andy, what do you think? |
| 01:31:25.70 | Andy Davidson | I concur with Kevin. I don't have an alternative. |
| 01:31:28.10 | Joan Cox | May I suggest we just include it in the bid documents? We can bid on this, and we can be on a parallel path researching whether we can actually install the stop sign and the tabletop. |
| 01:31:40.13 | Ian Sobieski | That sounds great. Yeah, I was just asking questions, but that's for sure what we could propose. Just I'm going through the list of the comments from the residents. There's three more. One is, uh, improving the, uh, I'm sorry, I need my glasses. Beautify the fence at the MLK to align, There's an old fence there. Can that be included in this project? |
| 01:32:02.04 | Kevin McGowan | You can include anything you would like. at this point in time. |
| 01:32:07.27 | Ian Sobieski | I know just asking it wouldn't it would come out from a separate budget allocation or would it be the same budget allocation. Is it part of the project? |
| 01:32:13.95 | Kevin McGowan | Is it part of the project? certain amount of money from different sources to address the sidewalk and safe pathways to school. I would suspect that improving the fence would not be part of that funding source. |
| 01:32:27.81 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. |
| 01:32:28.04 | Kevin McGowan | But there are other funding sources that apply to this project, Measure L, and there may be some others which I don't necessarily have right in front of me, but I think it's on the staff report. Okay. Thank you very much. That's all the questions. |
| 01:32:39.84 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. |
| 01:32:40.49 | Lucinda Eubanks | Thank you. |
| 01:32:40.51 | Melissa Blaustein | I had a couple of follow-ups. at. I know, of course, the basis of this project is safe paths to schools. What if what conversation have we had so far with the school in terms of their needs being met with regards to what's planned in this project and whether or not they think it is sufficient safety wise? |
| 01:32:56.85 | Kevin McGowan | So I haven't attended every single Safe Pathways meeting. but there is a representative who I believe interacts with most of the school as well. Andy, you want to pick that one up? |
| 01:33:08.10 | Andy Davidson | So this has been an important... uh improvement that the safe routes to school folks have been asking for for a number of years as have some residents here um I have recently had interaction with Ebtide, the school up at Ebtide, the new village school, and we are As the staff report indicates, we're planning on including those revisions to the design, presuming that the money is passed this evening. |
| 01:33:35.37 | Melissa Blaustein | Great. I would just ask that we continue to stay in touch with the schools and make sure that their needs are being met as we move forward with that. And then we also received some correspondence from neighbors about a concern and you touched on this a little bit, director McGowan, but with regards to the direction of the lights and how they might impact. folks' homes, especially if they have small children. So could you just speak to that and how we might mitigate those concerns. |
| 01:34:01.48 | Kevin McGowan | I believe we're putting in a, well, the plan says that we're putting in Rectangular rapid flashing beacon, the same that you see out on the corner here of Napa and Bridgeway. I don't think I've seen any mitigation installed for those in the past. That's why we're recommending, if so, you want to have some different type of light system. We're looking at in-pavement lights. But putting some type of shield on those signs may not be appropriate. We haven't studied that yet. Thank you. |
| 01:34:37.59 | Joan Cox | Okay. Oh, yes. Councilmember Hoffman. |
| 01:34:40.24 | Jill Hoffman | No, thank you. Thank you for that. And, and my questions are just sort of follow-ups. They are follow-ups to some of the questions that the other council members have asked. So I know that other neighborhoods have been concerned about, um, stop signs at different awkward intersections that we've had in town, specifically some of the streets have gone up, um, on Johnson and, um, San Carlos, those weird five stop, you know, and this seems to be one of those, um, at Olima and, um, That T, the one that we were just talking about. Now I can't remember what it is. The Lehman Cain. |
| 01:35:10.78 | Kevin McGowan | Lima and Coloma. |
| 01:35:11.98 | Jill Hoffman | Alima and Coloma. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Alima and Coloma. So I totally understand the warrants and the in the requirements for the state of California. Is there a way that the neighborhood can assist you guys in determining what the requirements are for that? And it is a, it's a three way, right? It's not a four way stop sign. It's a three way stop, or is it a four way with that weird, awkward. I don't know. Or is it a four way with a weird awkward |
| 01:35:40.03 | Andy Davidson | It depends what the driveway is considered. There's a driveway up into the residence there. |
| 01:35:42.95 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah. |
| 01:35:44.72 | Andy Davidson | It's a one-way driveway, but there is a driveway just off to the side. And I don't know how that private driveway is used. But it's generally a one directional driveway that dumps out onto I think it's a theory. |
| 01:35:58.42 | Joan Cox | The driveway is the rotary housing driveway. |
| 01:36:00.60 | Andy Davidson | Right, it goes out behind the building. I think it goes on to Butte. |
| 01:36:03.27 | Jill Hoffman | There's a stop sign somewhere on that three way, right? On one of those streets, there's, there is a stop sign. It's just that there's not a stop sign on the other access points. |
| 01:36:12.28 | Andy Davidson | And the Alima leg is a through. |
| 01:36:14.35 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah. So what they're, so the, what the neighborhood is asking is that there's a stop sign on all those access points so that there's no, there seems to be a confusion. when there's cars at that stop sign. I think that's the concern of the neighborhood, if I could present that. |
| 01:36:30.82 | Andy Davidson | I understand what you're saying, yes. |
| 01:36:31.75 | Jill Hoffman | Yes. So. I think what the neighborhood would appreciate is maybe a meeting and a collaboration with them moving forward of, whatever the requirements are from the state on installing additional stop signs there and the challenges with private, you know, some sort of private driveway where that is. But in bringing those together with regard to, um, bringing all of the traffic to a stop, I think before it enters the roadway, given the school access right there and all of the park, all of the park access, I think. And it gets very busy and very congested at that one stop sign. So is that possible that that might be part of the. moving forward. |
| 01:37:15.68 | Kevin McGowan | Yeah, we can set up a meeting with residents And centered around that area. |
| 01:37:19.84 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:37:20.00 | Kevin McGowan | But we will definitely include our traffic engineer to weigh in first to see if it's possible. |
| 01:37:20.01 | Jill Hoffman | But, |
| 01:37:24.74 | Jill Hoffman | Thanks very much. I think that'd be helpful. And with regard to the mid-block, crosswalk. I think that's super going to be super helpful, especially with all of the all of the use that that part gets And people You know, it could be because it's such a long block. Um, and completely understand what the raise the ask with the raised, um, crosswalk and that might also be a traffic calming. You know? intentionally or unintentionally might be a traffic calming But, I'm wondering also with regard to the traffic engineer and the request for a stop sign at that point, the fact that it's a crosswalk is in and of itself a traffic stopping method, right, for the people that are crossing. So with a concern about stopping traffic, I think that might be That might be enough. That might be enough to stop the traffic by law. They have to stop when people are going to be crossing. And, and is that that's the location where we're thinking about having the signal or is that up at the stop sign? |
| 01:38:25.56 | Kevin McGowan | No, that's the location for the rapid flashing. |
| 01:38:27.60 | Jill Hoffman | Oh, perfect. Yeah. Okay. Okay. And so the different methods of whatever the light is, whether it's a raised light with you know, shielded or in pavement. Um, that'll be also working with the neighbors on that. And that might be. a staged approach. And maybe let's try this, see if it works. If it doesn't work, then we go to the second party. |
| 01:38:45.94 | Kevin McGowan | I like that. That's great. |
| 01:38:47.07 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah. Okay. All right, thanks Kevin. Appreciate it. |
| 01:38:49.48 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 01:38:49.50 | Joan Cox | I'm going to go to the next one. |
| 01:38:49.79 | Kevin McGowan | Yeah. |
| 01:38:49.92 | Steven Woodside | Yeah, just quickly, and it may be that warrants are understood by some people, but I'd like you to explain if you could, are these state requirements? Are they state guidelines? And what role does our traffic expert engineer take? play in our determination of what the alternatives should be. |
| 01:39:12.47 | Kevin McGowan | Okay, so I'm not a traffic engineer. And my preference is on this specific question that we pull in a traffic engineer and ask what the five warrants are. and specifically ask him, How do we meet these warrants and how do we not? So at this point in time, I can't necessarily answer your questions on the Pacifics. But it's my understanding that putting in a Full-way stop is not as difficult as warrants for, let's say, a stop light in more busy areas, more traffic. So I will double check with our traffic engineer and try to get back to you on that. |
| 01:39:50.32 | Joan Cox | But essentially, a traffic warrant is a technical guideline in traffic engineering that determines if a traffic light is justified at an intersection based on volume of traffic, number of crashes you use. use, etc. Right. |
| 01:40:08.04 | Steven Woodside | And that's something that a traffic engineer would basically analyze. You would consider it and come back to us with alternatives. Yes. Okay, thank you. |
| 01:40:19.93 | Joan Cox | Okay, no further council questions. I'm going to open it up to public comment. I have some speaker cards. The first is Mark Palmer, followed by Carolyn Revelle. |
| 01:40:34.95 | Melissa Blaustein | Welcome Mr. Palmer. |
| 01:40:41.57 | Mark Palmer | Good evening, Mayor Cox and Councilmembers. Mark Palmer, Sustainability Commission. I strongly support the Columbus Street Safe Pathways to School project, especially the inclusion of the bioretention areas along the sidewalk. This is exactly the kind of integrated design approach that council has asked for in the past Projects that don't just solve one problem, but deliver multiple benefits at once. Improving pedestrian and bicycle safety for students and seniors, Managing stormwater before it reaches the bay, adding trees, landscaping, and visual interest, while calming traffic on this well-used street. These elements truly embody the complete streets approach This is a good example of policy direction turning into on the ground results. Thank you for supporting this important project. |
| 01:41:32.51 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 01:41:32.95 | Mark Palmer | Thank you. |
| 01:41:32.97 | Joan Cox | Thank you. Carolyn Revell, and then Meg Fawcett. Welcome, Carolyn. |
| 01:41:37.04 | Carolyn Revell | Thank you. |
| 01:41:37.93 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 01:41:37.95 | Carolyn Revell | Good afternoon. Thank you. |
| 01:41:38.77 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 01:41:38.81 | Carolyn Revell | I'm Carolyn Revelle with Sausalito Beautiful. I'm delighted to see this project go forward for the safety of the children. It's been a long time. I urge you to include in the project a bioretention area that includes trees. It wasn't quite clear from the staff report whether it was an either or, but as you know, there's a very successful bioretention area created as part of the Ferry Landing Project, which has both the bioretention function and trees. And as we all know, industries will provide shade for the children going to school. residents and older citizens going to rotary housing. So I urge you to include the bioretention area in this very timely project. Thank you. |
| 01:42:19.10 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 01:42:19.21 | Carolyn Revell | Thank you. |
| 01:42:19.97 | Joan Cox | Thank you. Meg Fawcett. And then Christopher Benjamin. |
| 01:42:27.07 | Melissa Blaustein | Welcome. |
| 01:42:27.10 | Meg Fawcett | Well-thumbed. Thank you. Good evening, Council members. I just want to speak to the fact that you're finally getting this project that Andy Davidson and others have been working on for easily five years and I've been following carefully. through Sausalito Beautiful, and also just because I live across the street from it in Whiskey Springs. And I urge you to include planting of trees, which themselves will function, I believe, as a way of filtering rainwater. But if that is insufficient, having the bioretention areas in addition to trees would be good. The trees will soften the park greatly, and hide the fence if it's not replaced for a while. and I urge you to pass those two things within the project. Thank you. |
| 01:43:20.85 | Joan Cox | Thank you. Christopher Benjamin and then Karen Culligan. |
| 01:43:28.33 | Christopher Benjamin | Hello. Thank you for hearing us and thank you for heading up this project. It's been long overdue. I am somebody that walks, uh, my daughter to school on Coloma street every day. And, uh, just this past week I was speaking to neighbors and three different people were, uh, buzzed by a car traveling at high rate of speed on Columbus street, um, probably a hundred miles per hour. Uh, this, this section of Columbus street is a thousand feet long and modern vehicles can get, really fast in that stretch. I'd like to also say that Olima Street is also about 1,000 feet long, and anywhere you have a line of sight, very far like that. uh, Human nature tends to, especially when you're trying to avoid gridlock traffic on Bridgeway Street, you kind of just want to bridge that gap as quickly as possible. And something I want to submit to you all is how about a passive... feature like a speed table or a speed bump. I don't like the idea of a flashing sign since my daughter has a room and I have a living room and a kitchen all looking directly at the area the sign would be. I live on a two-story house that has been there since 1900, roughly six feet from the property line on Coloma Street. And, uh, I think flashing lights at night would be kind of disturbing. And we're all about our views in the Sasslito And it's not necessarily a a Bay view or a city view, but, um, it's the view I have and, and flashing orange lights would be terrible. Um, Ebb tide, same thing. People buzzing up and down, trying to get around. speed tables. Think about it. Thank you. |
| 01:45:31.45 | Joan Cox | Thank you so much. Kieran Culligan. Welcome. Hi there. And then Babak McDougal. |
| 01:45:37.22 | Kieran Culligan | Hi. Kieran Culligan, it's also your resident. Apologies for the less than professional attire, but I was on the way home and the timing was right. I just want to express some appreciation and excitement for this project. It's been a long time coming. I was just looking up and seeing how far back I could see mentions of this, and I have at least back to 2016, largely by Aaron Roller, just being a dog with a bone, recognizing that there was a gap here and that it really should change. So a huge appreciation to city staff for continuing to keep an eye on this over time, for Aaron Roller, other people who have been involved, and Safe Routes to School in particular. They've been a huge champion behind the scenes to help line up TAM funding that has really been able to cover this in a very meaningful way. So love to see it come together. That speed table crosswalk in particular, I want to champion. To Councilmember Hoffman's point, that is a proven traffic calming measure. It's got a whole bunch of benefits of making the pedestrians more visible, slowing down traffic, et cetera. So, um, per mayor Cox's suggestion of putting some of these ideas, even. traffic calming measure. It's got a whole bunch of benefits of making the pedestrians more visible, slowing down traffic, et cetera. So, per Mayor Cox's suggestion of putting some of these ideas, even just call them ideas now into the RFP. You can discard them later if you wish. |
| 01:46:12.89 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:46:39.76 | Kieran Culligan | I think that would allow the process to continue in a timely manner and not slow things down, recognizing that we all want to see this happen, but we also want it to be great. So just want to, again, put out that appreciation and look forward to using that crosswalk. Thank you. |
| 01:46:53.04 | Joan Cox | Thank you. Bebe McDougall. |
| 01:47:01.86 | Babette McDougall | Yes, ma'am. Thank you. First of all, I want to say anytime Kieran Culligan shows up in person for a council meeting, it puts a smile on my face. Because every time I think of Kieran, sorry, Culligan, I always have the vision of him on a very capable bicycle with his son. And then the kid's bike is strapped on in the back, too. All very well done. And he's always waving as he rides along. You can't help but call out, hey, Kieran. So, you know, he is our future. So we have to listen carefully. The daylight law is something we're supposed to be implementing. Remember 25 feet? That would help a lot. I used to live in that neighborhood, so I happen to know it. My neighbors thought I was a traitor because I spoke in favor of Rotary housing. It was a Garden of Eden at that place. It's the last of probably once was a lot of Sausalito. And so that's why what's left of the authentic land is so important to us now. So, yes, maybe we have to just be smart. So flashing lights, maybe they're time activated or motion activated. I mean, I know we can work it out. And when it gets down to these things about the warrants, it's true, which one of you brought that up. I thank you for that because it's true, especially when they're handed down from the state of California, it's a rule. So we need to pay attention. What's going on with our residential quality of life and ordinances that guard that. We've got all these oversized trucks parked in everybody's neighborhood. They especially love to block the emergency pathways. Or the storm drains, whatever they can get to first. I mean, some people just delight in either being clueless or being just deliberately, you know, unneighborly. So we have to think about the quality of residential life here. I'm kind of surprised we don't have any active ordinances, and I'd love to hear more about that in the future, perhaps. But it applies now. Thank you. |
| 01:49:03.41 | Melissa Blaustein | City Clerk, anyone online? |
| 01:49:06.28 | Walfred Solorzano | We have Jack Burrows. |
| 01:49:07.23 | Jack Burroughs | Thank you. |
| 01:49:08.05 | Melissa Blaustein | Welcome back, Mr. Burroughs. |
| 01:49:12.48 | Jack Burroughs | Thank you again, everyone. As one of the neighbors that was almost run down by a car speeding down Coloma last week, I hope that the engineer that's brought in to analyze the warrants Can future project what the crush of housing that's going in up here will cause to the traffic patterns here along Coloma Street. It has become a very popular thoroughfare on Monday through Friday nights between 4 and 6 p.m. of people trying to avoid the 20-minute wait to get onto 101 North as they approach Nevada Street. They pull up Nevada Street, they go, down to Males and then circle around on Lima. And by the time they get there, they're like, wow, you know, maybe I lost my position in line. And they speed up to whatever speed they think they need to get onto the freeway in time to get home for their all-important dinner at home. So I hope they take that into consideration. And I very much look forward to the in-person meeting with the traffic department about this very important measure, and I do appreciate kind of the uh, willingness of everyone on the city council to push this agenda. And here are our concerns. So I thank everyone and have a wonderful night. Thank you. |
| 01:50:43.21 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 01:50:45.61 | Walfred Solorzano | We have Aaron. |
| 01:50:50.92 | Aaron Nathan | Hi there. You guys can hear me? |
| 01:50:53.22 | Joan Cox | Yes, we hear you. Welcome. |
| 01:50:54.74 | Aaron Nathan | Excellent. Well, thank you. And I did want to also just say thank you to everyone that made this possible, both the original plans, I know the folks at Sausalito, beautiful, we're a big part of this. And I think it's a great example of us working together to, really improve this part of town and I think that the comments that were brought by city council and by the neighbors, we're also very appreciative of hearing those details and the willingness to explore some of those options. I think we started with what was already a really good plan. And now these final considerations can really bring it to something that we'll be proud of as a neighborhood. I will say in particular, the speed calming measures are the most critical here. And in terms of the crosswalk and it being a device that can also double as a traffic calming measure, I think is a really, really great idea. I do also ride a bike to school with my son every day. Thank you. That street, I think, has unfortunately a lot of danger And traffic calming is really the right solution. very appreciative of everyone here for exploring that. And I do hope that we can bring that all the way to fruition. Thank you. |
| 01:52:16.94 | Joan Cox | Thank you. City Clerk. |
| 01:52:18.37 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 01:52:20.56 | Walfred Solorzano | We have Cyril Boutguier. |
| 01:52:23.08 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 01:52:23.11 | Sybil Boutillier | Welcome, Sybil. Thank you, Mayor Cox and City Councilmember. I'm so excited that this is finally Going to be in production and going out to the final bid. I really want to thank Mr. McGowan, Director McGowan, for all his work. I've worked with in the past on this issue for the last few years. And I'm so excited to see all the things that we've been talking about and other neighbors have been talking about included in this bid process. I want to second or fourth or whatever, the all the people in favor of having a raised table sidewalk, sidewalk crossing walk. And I really would favor the embedded lights over the rays flashing lights at that particular location because of the people whose homes face right on that area. Exactly right there. The three-way stop signs are urgently important. People race down Butte and Lincoln Street Often not. Not bothering to stop at the stop signs. tear around the blind corner going north on Olima onto Coloma, and they are not able to see if anybody is crossing that street. or walking what is now an area with no sidewalks. And it's been, a very risky proposition to be out on that street when a car comes carrying around there, which they do at high speed in both directions. So stop signs. at the northward direction on Olima at the corner of Coloma and also one on Coloma facing Olima would be tremendously helpful. Thank you. |
| 01:54:30.65 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 01:54:31.68 | Sybil Boutillier | City Clerk. |
| 01:54:33.08 | Walfred Solorzano | We have Justine. |
| 01:54:36.68 | Justine | Welcome, Justine. Thank you so much, City Council. I just want to say thank you so much for taking up this very important issue. I want to second what our neighbors are talking about with the three-way stop on Coloma and Olima and just say how important that is to our neighborhood. As somebody who has a house right there on the corner, I see near misses all the time. So I just want to reiterate that point again. Um, Another thing I just want to say is that calming traffic on Columbus Street is also something that we care so much about on the street because we do see cars going so fast. And I think, you know, just having a simple sidewalk and traffic. crossing is not enough to get people to realize that there are children and elderly people, especially if there's going to be more senior housing in the area with people moving slower across sidewalks and crosswalks. It's going to be really important that we take seriously what this crossing is like. And I think a speed bump or some sort of raised crosswalk would be really beneficial. The last thing I'll say is about Ebb Tide. I would love to see the people who are planning all of the pedestrian sidewalks connect more deeply with both New Village School and also anybody who is at the French School as well. They know so much about the way that traffic moves and just to be really connected. And I really appreciate what Council Member Blaustein was saying about connecting with the schools. It's such a ecosystem. And I just want to make sure that everybody is really being heard who knows what they're talking about. So anyways, thank you so much, counsel. And that's it. |
| 01:56:30.70 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 01:56:31.16 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. |
| 01:56:31.55 | Melissa Blaustein | City Clerk. |
| 01:56:33.76 | Walfred Solorzano | We have Lerner Newland. |
| 01:56:35.95 | Melissa Blaustein | Welcome back, Lorna. |
| 01:56:39.90 | Lorna Newland | Thank you, City Council. |
| 01:56:45.50 | Joan Cox | Lorna, you cut out. |
| 01:56:47.93 | Lorna Newland | Nope. |
| 01:56:49.05 | Joan Cox | Okay, can you start again? |
| 01:56:52.18 | Lorna Newland | Will you start the time again? I lost... Hello. Thank you. |
| 01:56:55.29 | Joan Cox | Thank you. Please go ahead. |
| 01:56:56.99 | Lorna Newland | Thank you. Regarding safe pathways, I am fully for this. Crosswalk, yes. I've been waiting 32 years as a homeowner in Whiskey Springs right across from the MLK Park. And for the last 20 years as a tenant in my, several time a day walking commute to my studio at building seven. The rapid flash beacons, I have said before, I object to that. It was in a staff report that the council heard from a resident who lives adjacent to Coloma Street. Yes, I do, but my opinion can happen to be that I'm a tenant at Building 7, and while working, I can view cars turning onto Coloma Street from Bridgeway, and I can predict who of those cars are going to be speeding through Bridgeway. Coloma and the new crosswalk with flashing lights is a direct line of exactly where I work. I do a few meetings ago when this was on the consent and then brought and then moved. So public comment was at the end. Mayor Cox did ask Director McGowan to contact me regarding my concern, but he never did. Although I do appreciate that in pavement lights are going to be researched. Um, Years ago, this was brought up by the Bike and Pedestrian Commission. And how many years ago was that, that we have been waiting for this for a long time? It's not just for school children. It's for residents, dog walkers, and seniors. And I'm in the last three categories. FYI, I volunteer as a the Sausalito beautiful adoptive park co-leader of MLK Park. Um, uh, people have brought up about sidewalks on the northern side, but this is parallel to the existing pathway. Measure F in 2018 passed with future MLK tenants rents, uh, for improving the parks and that the dilapidated, uh, Fence and backstep should have been addressed then. Unfortunately, all the plum trees were removed during the park renovation and then what a waste for that. |
| 01:58:56.65 | Joan Cox | Thank you. City Clerk. |
| 01:58:59.54 | Walfred Solorzano | No further public comment. |
| 01:59:01.06 | Joan Cox | All right, I'm going to close public comment and bring it up here for comment. I do, again, as a resident of that neighborhood. Just want to speak briefly about a rollover accident that happened just a few weeks ago at the intersection of Coloma and Bridgeway. An 80-something-year-old woman was speeding down Coloma Street, didn't see a car in the right-hand lane with their, paused in the right-hand lane with their flashers going, literally, and was not wearing a seatbelt and literally flipped her car. Fortunately she survived and the, uh, gentleman in the car that was, had paused was not injured, but it really is an invitation for, um, speeding. And so I fully endorse the traffic calming measures. I'm going to go ahead and make a motion and then leave it and then open it up for discussion. I move that we authorize the city manager to execute amendment two to the professional services agreement with BKF engineers for the Coloma Street Safe Pathways to School project in an amount of $49,866 for a total contract amount not to exceed. $200,292 with the additional direction that we include as bid alternates, a four-way stop sign at Coloma. Uh, well, we research on a parallel path, whether warrants will permit that, um, a speed bump slash table as an alternative to the flashing light currently proposed. And that's my beginning motion. |
| 02:00:43.98 | Ian Sobieski | Can I help clarify that? Yes, absolutely. You added the two things which are on my... |
| 02:00:44.86 | Joan Cox | Yes, absolutely. |
| 02:00:48.48 | Ian Sobieski | Motion just, I think what you're adding is a four-way stop sign at a Lima and Coloma. Correct. And the second is a tabletop crosswalk and mid-block stop sign. |
| 02:00:49.07 | Joan Cox | Yeah. |
| 02:00:49.41 | Mary Goff | Thank you. |
| 02:00:58.05 | Ian Sobieski | at Tamalpais in Aleema. |
| 02:00:59.89 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:00:59.93 | Ian Sobieski | and report back. |
| 02:00:59.94 | Joan Cox | Yes. |
| 02:01:01.49 | Ian Sobieski | if there are any legal or other barriers to doing so. |
| 02:01:04.43 | Joan Cox | Sure. Well, I'm asking that those be included as alternate, and that way we'll have pricing. And then I also want to include as a bid alternate the fencing. the repair of the fencing. |
| 02:01:16.02 | Melissa Blaustein | Go ahead. Could we include something with regards to in pavement lights and research for in pavement lights, given the feedback we received about the beacons? |
| 02:01:23.03 | Joan Cox | So again, another alternate is in pavement lights as a separate alternative to the flashing lights. Okay, so that's my emotions. Second it. Great. And now I'll open it up for discussion. |
| 02:01:36.98 | Steven Woodside | I'm in favor of the motion. I'll be happy to vote for it. I just wanted to note in the staff report in response to comment made earlier about additional trees, it says, quote, on page six, excuse me, page three, staff has been working with Saucy the Beautiful to identify an area to install additional trees and vegetation on the north side of California. of Colombo Street adjacent MLK Park. So I just see that in the staff report and assume that that's part of what is intended going forward, that we don't have to add an additional motion to make sure that happens. Agreed. |
| 02:02:15.20 | Melissa Blaustein | just I'm I'm definitely very supportive of the motion and I really want to thank everyone who has been involved with and working on this initiative for uh the better half of a decade at this point we're coming up on almost 10 years of improving and making our streets more safe for our kids and also for our seniors dog walkers I just wanted to add one thing and I don't know that it requires an amendment in the motion, but just thinking about with what we can do to further improve sustainability, I'd love to make sure that the sustainability commission is somehow in the loop on whatever we implement with regards to bioswales and that Sausalito Beautiful is also included in the conversations around how we might implement the trees and bioswales. And I just want to reiterate how important I think it is that we continue a strong line of communication with our schools as we start to move forward with the construction of this program. |
| 02:03:04.33 | Joan Cox | Yeah, I am going to reiterate the previous direction to staff that they engage with the neighbors in this project. Please do include Lorna Newlin and the schools and Director McGowan and Mr. Davidson. You've heard others mentioned tonight with whom I know you're familiar with. Okay. I'm going to call the question all in favor. Aye. Aye. That motion carries 5-0. Thank you, everyone, for coming out to speak on this very important safety project. All right, with that, we're gonna move on to item 5B. The new item 5B, receive and file update on implementation of landslide task force recommendations, including status report on development of geologic hazard monitoring plan. I'm going to welcome back Kevin McGowan, Public Works director. And I'm just going to start off by saying I thoroughly enjoyed the thoroughness and really the great historical perspective of your staff report. |
| 02:04:05.30 | Kevin McGowan | So thank you very much for that. Thank you. You're very kind, Mayor. I appreciate that. Again, Kevin McGowan, Public Works. And we do have a presentation for you this evening. Mike Jewett from Miller Pacific is here to give that presentation. But I know we have a lot of other items on your schedule tonight. So I want to bring Mike up and kind of walk through his presentation a few slides first. And if you need to shorten it down or tell us to speed it up, please feel free. to do so. |
| 02:04:35.25 | Joan Cox | Well, let me defer to Councilmember Hoffman. She pulled this item. So I think that she pulled it because she wanted to be sure that our community is familiar. I think you both did, yeah. |
| 02:04:49.19 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah. |
| 02:04:49.36 | Joan Cox | I think we'd like to see. |
| 02:04:51.01 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:04:51.03 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 02:04:51.05 | Jill Hoffman | the presentation. Thank you. |
| 02:04:52.60 | Joan Cox | I don't, |
| 02:04:53.04 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:04:53.07 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 02:04:53.15 | Jill Hoffman | is how long? Thank you. |
| 02:04:55.42 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 02:04:55.43 | Kevin McGowan | long time. |
| 02:04:55.81 | Joan Cox | Yep. |
| 02:04:56.43 | Kevin McGowan | presentation peak. You know what? I'll let Mike come on up and he'll, he'll. Give us a little idea of how long the presentation is. |
| 02:05:02.02 | Jill Hoffman | as presentations. |
| 02:05:03.03 | Joan Cox | I've been waiting like 10 years to see. Yeah. Maybe not 10 years. Not 10, 2019. The landslide task force was 2019. All right. Six. |
| 02:05:11.58 | Mike Jewett | Thank you, Kevin. Thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Councilmembers for having me here. |
| 02:05:15.58 | Joan Cox | Sure. And how long do you think your presentation is? |
| 02:05:17.81 | Mike Jewett | I will keep this very brief. I will try and keep this to less than 10 minutes. |
| 02:05:21.07 | Joan Cox | That's great. Thank you so much. |
| 02:05:21.96 | Mike Jewett | Thank you so much. I apologize in advance. There is a fair amount to cover. It's been about one year since I spoke with you about the geologic hazards study, and so this has grown out of that. I'll start with the purpose of this, which I think everybody kind of understands, but in plain terms... Really what we're getting at here is avoiding emergencies, trying to protect life safety and reduce the likelihood that emergency situations require financial resources, other resources, unexpectedly that impacts the town's planning impacts the public safety. Um, The scope of our study right now is fourfold. There are four individual tasks. First task is to identify and map city owned assets in high hazard areas. Second task is to identify and map other known instabilities, i.e. landslides. Third task is to develop a geologic hazard monitoring plan. And the fourth task is to assist with developing a hillside ordinance. Next slide. So first task is identify and map city-owned assets in high hazard areas. A simpler way of saying this might be that we are busy cataloging city-owned assets and infrastructure within those high susceptibility landslide zones. The image on the top is our map from that last round of study that identified those areas that were databasing this infrastructure. We are using the same GIS software that we used last time around. So this is something that can be integrated with other city studies, other relevant data. We are inspecting several types of assets. This includes retaining walls, fill slopes and cut slopes, seawalls and bulkheads, and city-owned buildings. And then lastly, these inspections are all being conducted from and within the right of way. The focus here is city owned facilities. And so that lower image shows the public parcel maps that we're using to highlight the right of way and focus our efforts. |
| 02:07:23.27 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:07:32.35 | Mike Jewett | Next slide. |
| 02:07:37.05 | Mike Jewett | All right. So our database here, again, this is a screenshot of the GIS software, an example of what the completed work will look like. So if the city chooses to have DPW or others interact with this, this is the user interface. It includes measurements, photos, lots of other physical characteristics. So it helps us separate different types of walls, different configurations, and that will help us zero in on priorities. Each type of asset has its own different inspection criteria. So in other words, things like wall materials, that's something we don't need to talk about roadway fill slopes. So there's a little bit of custom setup for each of these Um, The idea here is again to build a complete picture of what the city is responsible for. And by doing so, then we can assess relative priorities based on the results of these inspections. As of right now, we are more or less done with the bulk of the field inspection. We just have the Wolfbrack Ridge area to cover and then a couple other little fill-in spots. I expect we'll do one final round of reconnaissance once we've had a chance to meet with planning and have some more discussions with DPW to make sure that we're complete. Next slide. Task number two, identify and map other known instabilities. So far, we haven't come across anything new that we didn't see last time, which is good news. We will again canvas the areas within the right of way to make sure we're not missing anything, but that will come up shortly. The third task here is the monitoring plan. which is going to be reliant on completing tasks one and two. So the next steps toward our monitoring plan development will include meeting with the city, to talk about the criteria with which we're going to develop these priorities. What means more than something else? We need to coordinate access to the city buildings to inspect those. So to work with the fire stations, the police department, the old city hall, things like that. We just need to arrange a convenient time to get in there when we're not disrupting city business. We do need to complete just an updated landslide inspection. We didn't come across anything new, but now that we've had another year of rain, we're going to make one more pass just to make sure there's nothing that we need to know about. And then with that information, we'll begin working on a monitoring plan. I anticipate there will be lots of questions in that regard, but to keep my presentation short, I'll skip that for now and let people approach with questions if they like. Right. next slide all right which brings us to task four this is another pretty thick topic that has to do with developing a hillside ordinance um in our capacity both as a consultant for the city and on behalf of of private applicants we have lots of experience with varying ordinances and all kinds of jurisdictions um This was a recommendation from the previous hazard study that it would be helpful on the books to have a means by which the city can enforce equitable and reasonable engineering investigation for projects on hillsides. Again, this is all being done with the purpose and intent of reducing landslide risks, maintaining public safety. To date, items performed under this subtask have included reviewing the current general plan and existing policy. There is some language in there. It's in places somewhat nebulous. We've reviewed a number of other existing ordinances within Marin County, within Sonoma County, some statewide, Santa Barbara, LA, San Diego. And we've developed some recommendations. The memo that we provided at DPW included lots of discussion regarding... you know, how to A develop the specific requirements and be how to communicate this to city staff and to applicants and so in that regard there are recommendations in there for the purpose and intent and what kind of you know what. what is the intent and purpose of this ordinance? Applicability. Who does this affect and where does it apply? And that's something that I think will require a little further discussion with the Planning Commission and most likely with you council members. Um... We've provided some options for that so far. And And, you know, what are the specific engineering provisions? Can we make this |
| 02:12:09.22 | Joan Cox | Can we make the presentation a little bigger? |
| 02:12:09.74 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 02:12:11.42 | Mike Jewett | Excuse me. |
| 02:12:12.75 | Joan Cox | Sorry to interrupt you. |
| 02:12:13.73 | Melissa Blaustein | Text is just a little hard. I have it in front of me, but I know all the residents don't. It might be hard to see on the screen. And for me, it's a little difficult to read some of it. |
| 02:12:21.05 | Walfred Solorzano | You guys want us to zoom in onto the map or zoom in onto, because that's as big as we can make it. |
| 02:12:21.59 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 02:12:26.40 | Melissa Blaustein | The text is just a little hard. Okay. |
| 02:12:26.45 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 02:12:29.20 | Melissa Blaustein | Thanks. |
| 02:12:30.03 | Joan Cox | you |
| 02:12:30.05 | Melissa Blaustein | you |
| 02:12:30.10 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 02:12:30.20 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 02:12:30.23 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 02:12:30.53 | Walfred Solorzano | . |
| 02:12:30.57 | Joan Cox | Thank you. Just note for the future to maybe split text up amongst the slides. you |
| 02:12:35.83 | Mike Jewett | THEIR OWN. |
| 02:12:36.22 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 02:12:37.45 | Mike Jewett | I'll do my best to pair 80 pages of. Yeah. of report in 10 minutes. |
| 02:12:44.76 | Joan Cox | Thank you. And sorry for the interruption. |
| 02:12:46.40 | Mike Jewett | No, no, that's a okay. I appreciate it. So anyway, we've provided a tech memo that addresses all of those items. But of course, this is, you know, assistance with crafting policy, which is something that we can't do ourselves. So we'll be looking forward to having some meetings with DPW and again, with the planning commission and city council regarding some of these questions. By way of demonstration up there, That map shows all of the parcels in town that include some area of high landslide susceptibility. That's a lot of the town. And for that reason, there will be some iterating, I think, on... |
| 02:13:25.18 | Unknown | you |
| 02:13:25.23 | Mike Jewett | on where this will apply. Next slide. I'm going to whip through these last couple of slides because I know. I'm running out of my 10 minutes here. This table you're looking at is a summary of comparable existing ordinances. And the real purpose of this table is to explain there are two ways other cities apply this. It has to do typically either with the slope or with the hazard zone mapping. In many cases, they use a combination. In other words, if the slope is steeper than X and it's in a hazard zone. It is. is most likely that a combination is going to make the most sense for for Sausalito. And I can explain why in more detail as we as we move along. |
| 02:14:14.98 | Brandon Phipps | Next slide. |
| 02:14:18.79 | Mike Jewett | All right, so to follow what I just said, what we found after going through several map iterations, different types of slopes, different hazard levels, et cetera, et cetera, they're both a little bit limited. And at the end of the day, they both either under or over represent the areas that are really susceptible that we're trying to get at here. Um, What we will likely recommend is that we stick with the hazard-based mapping, but want to make sure that the language A is reflective of the real intent and that B, there's some discussion about exceptions. I think one of the big things that will be on people's brains is, well, how does this impact me? how much more stringent are these requirements and does this apply to every single project? And the answer is no, it doesn't need to. So I think that will be, need to be part of the discussion also. |
| 02:15:09.08 | Mike Jewett | Next slide. All right. Um, This slide is an example of a matrix that We will suggest the city consider developing as a means to communicate the specific requirements, both to city reviewing staff and to applicants. The idea here is that an applicant will want to know, okay, does this apply to me? And it will depend not only on the site location in the hazard zone, but it may depend on the type of project. It may depend on the occupancy type or, or, you know, level of critical facility that they're proposing. Um, And depending on the answers to those questions, a certain type or number of engineering reports and study may be required. And so in order to assist applicants in working through what those are, and in order to allow staff to communicate that clearly, a simple matrix or flowchart is probably the way to go. |
| 02:16:12.17 | Mike Jewett | Last slide so next steps with this one again is to review the draft language I think both with DPW and likely the planning Commission to discuss what we have there now. Make sure that we are aligned on what's there allow us to make some edits and revisions based on feedback. We're gonna wanna talk about the applicability thresholds in that matrix. We're gonna wanna talk about defining the project types and land use categories and refine the recommended engineering ordinance content. So, With that, I anticipate meeting with the landslide task force and the planning commission to work on refining those. And once those are done, we'll look forward to bringing that back to the council. the best. |
| 02:16:58.24 | Joan Cox | Great, thank you. I know that. Council Member Blaustein has some questions for you. |
| 02:17:03.15 | Melissa Blaustein | Yeah. First of all, thank you so much. And thank you again to all of the members of the landslide task force, because all of their recommendations are. really brought to life through these 10 slides and I appreciate you taking the time. And that's why we pulled the item because it's such a critical topic. I think I wouldn't be remiss to say what all of us on the dais would like to see us take all of these actions. So I'd like to understand from you. What next steps would be in order to continue to do this work with Miller Pacific? Are we at a point at the end of our contract? Are we at, so we still have. continued bandwidth to keep going and make sure we enact all of these next steps as outlined here. |
| 02:17:43.57 | Mike Jewett | Oh, yes, that's correct. I would say the scope of our project here is in reality, probably 65% complete. The real legwork is in a lot of the field inspection and documenting all of the hundreds and hundreds of retaining walls and slopes and all of that. But remember the deliverables here are twofold, well, threefold really. One is that GIS catalog database that includes a map and all the information about all those assets that the city would like to track and hopefully maintain before there's an issue. The second deliverable is a monitoring plan based on those specific assets, based on the priorities and what needs to be monitored. And then the third deliverable is this draft hillside ordinance. So we anticipated a few extra meetings as part of that hillside ordinance crafting, which is still on the table and intend to see all those through. So we're still on board here for quite some time. |
| 02:18:38.31 | Melissa Blaustein | And you mentioned that you... expect that you'll be meeting with the landslide task force and the planning commission as we move forward on the on the hillside ordinance. Have you already been in touch with members of the task force my understanding was that they had not met for quite some time. |
| 02:18:53.34 | Mike Jewett | Thus far, all my communication has been through Director McGowan, but anticipate that at you know, time convenient to the city and the various players involved, that that would be something on my, my eventual agenda. |
| 02:19:06.51 | Melissa Blaustein | perhaps from the dais we should talk about a reconvening of the task force to engage with Miller Pacific going forward. So, okay, that's great. I'll let others ask questions, but good to know that we still have significant scope. |
| 02:19:17.85 | Joan Cox | Thank you. Anybody else? Councilmember Hoffman. |
| 02:19:23.06 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. yeah i think as a as the mayor no i wasn't the mayor at the time i was but i was the chair of the landslide task force so i think um we should probably have direction maybe from the Council at this point, given your comments that we reconvene at when you think it's appropriate the land site task force and the members that are still in town. There's two on the dais. So it's probably going to be easy to find our phone numbers to reconvene us. But the rest of the people, I think. |
| 02:19:49.12 | Unknown | . |
| 02:19:55.38 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah, Cass Green was one of those, I know. So we know where to reach her. She was probably minimal. So that might be direction tonight. |
| 02:20:04.37 | Joan Cox | Great. All right, if there's no further comment, oh, go ahead. There is questions, and then we're going to hear Thank you. |
| 02:20:10.80 | Steven Woodside | Bye. |
| 02:20:10.82 | Joan Cox | but |
| 02:20:11.05 | Steven Woodside | I'm not sure. |
| 02:20:11.22 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 02:20:11.38 | Steven Woodside | I just want to make sure I'm reading a portion of your report correctly where you say that approximately 80 percent of the parcels in Sausalito are susceptible or highly susceptible of landslide or I knew. |
| 02:20:25.97 | Mike Jewett | I knew this would catch your eye. |
| 02:20:25.99 | Charles Melton | Thank you. |
| 02:20:29.95 | Mike Jewett | The way to read that is that 80% of the parcels in Sausalito contain at least some area, some zone, that falls in that high susceptibility category. Now, recall I said that none of these maps is quite perfect. And what that has to do with is the very high resolution and precision of that GIS software. The two overly precise, overstated parameters are a the topographic map. That beautiful grayscale map that's all satellite sensed is refined down to sub one meter accuracy. So it's much better than than most of what we use. The other issue has to do with the spatial analysis tools within the software package itself. When I tell it to cross-pollinate slope angle with our geotechnical, our soil parameters to develop those susceptibility zones, it makes that calculation on a gridded, a cellular grid. So in other words, picture a series of regular cells that cover the map. And the cell size that it calculates is very, very small is one meter by one meter. So for each one square meter of Sausalito, this program is combining that soil property with the slope and making that calculation, which is why it looks so pixely. Recall when I presented this last time we had a chat about, do we want to smooth these lines? Do we want it to be pixely? What's happening here is that it's picking up low retaining walls. It's picking up roof lines from buildings. It may be picking up trees in other places. It is very precise and detailed, but it is also very difficult to remove all of the error from. And so this is one of the topics of discussion that I think might be paramount to those early conversations, next steps with you and the Planning Commission will be to see how you want to approach this. If you did it on a parcel by parcel basis, for example, an applicant would know just based on their APN what the requirements are for a certain type of project. If you chose not to do it parcel by parcel and simply do it by does your project fall in this red zone, depending on where on your lot it is, well, now the onus is on the applicant to go get a survey and figure out how that matches up with the susceptibility map. So I realized that there's not a perfect answer there. But that's what I wanted to demonstrate with that map is that There are a lot of small zones that are picked up by the analytic method we've chosen here that are frankly skewing that map. We all know that if we're trying to stop landslides, like the flat properties in a marine ship are not the ones we're worried about. And so we could choose to manually remove certain properties to address some of that error. Personally, I feel there may be some benefit to leaving them in. On the one hand, this whole study revolves around landslides and the notion of hills sliding down. On the other hand, in the interest of public safety, things like seawalls falling over or broke heads falling over that also has to do with slope stability and presents sort of a similar hazard and so for now. I've left those properties in there to avoid contaminating the pure data, so to speak. But I think that's a discussion that we should have is how to handle the fact that a very large portion of this city is affected by it and the fact that there are many lots that have really variable conditions from one side to the other. Thank you. THE END OF |
| 02:24:22.31 | Unknown | Mm-hmm. |
| 02:24:23.71 | Joan Cox | Okay, I'm gonna open this up to public comment. I have no speaker cards. City Clerk, is there anyone online? |
| 02:24:29.82 | Walfred Solorzano | Yes, we have Sandra Bushmaker. |
| 02:24:31.86 | Joan Cox | Welcome, Sandra. |
| 02:24:33.65 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. Yes, the members of the task force were Jill Hoffman, myself, Christina Feller, Mike Stewart, who no longer lives in town, and Steve Woodside. So unfortunately, Cass was not part of this. But anyway, I would like to just commend the staff for all the work that you've done. It's been almost seven years since we had our big landslide task force, landslide, landslide. just around the corner from where I live. I was actually awakened by the landside slide itself It just was there was a lot of air compression and noise that particular morning. So I'm really glad to see the mapping, which was our first recommendation. Done. We made 12 recommendations to the city council, and I don't want to see the other 11 get lost. So I would like to keep that refreshed. And once again, thank you very much for all the hard work that has gone into it. Thus far, the mapping is really, really a critical and important element along with the Hillside, Hillside ordinance. Thank you so much. |
| 02:25:51.05 | Walfred Solorzano | No further public comment? |
| 02:25:52.11 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. |
| 02:25:52.13 | Joan Cox | All right, I'll close public comment, bring it back up here for discussion. The action tonight is to receive and file. I would like to recommend that we, perhaps have a suggested path for Director McGowan, which would include reconvening the task force to interact with the staff our consultant, and give feedback to bring this to the Planning Commission at the appropriate time as recommended by the consultant. And then I would like to, you know, we had this as one of the priorities on our strategic plan this year, the advancing of the recommendations of the lands like task force and the geologic hazard Survey. So I would like to revisit this next year through a budgetary lens to see what other recommendations of the Landslide Task Force were able to implement. So that would be my recommended direction. And I invite any other comments. |
| 02:26:54.96 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah, I would support that. And do we want to add this to our, are we calling it? a strategic planning session in January. January 21st, is that when we're doing it? |
| 02:27:05.54 | Joan Cox | I absolutely believe that part of our strategic planning process, which will occur on January 31st, should be a report card on what was in our strategic planning process. |
| 02:27:11.17 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:27:11.19 | Unknown | THE END OF THE END OF THE Thank you. |
| 02:27:16.47 | Joan Cox | you know, for this year, but we will be adopting a six year strategic plan. So certainly I think this should be part of that. |
| 02:27:23.12 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. |
| 02:27:23.34 | Joan Cox | Thank you. Any other comments? All right. Thank you so much. We will move swiftly on to item 5C, which is cancel the regular meetings of August 4 and 18, 2026, and call for a special meeting on January 31st. Councilmember Sobieski. |
| 02:27:43.08 | Ian Sobieski | Yeah, so I just went through the calendar and later in the year, there are actually a fair bit of run ups that I don't know that my colleagues noted, like one of the meetings is on Election Day. there's a meeting on September 1st, which is Labor Day. So I went through and I can actually... uh, share my screen if you want to see the actual challenges. |
| 02:28:03.84 | Joan Cox | He was the city clerk. Did he consider that we would meet on... on Labor Day when putting together our calendar. |
| 02:28:10.61 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. |
| 02:28:10.64 | Walfred Solorzano | Yes. |
| 02:28:11.64 | Joan Cox | So you're planning that we meet on Labor Day? I mean, we work. No, Labor Day is not. |
| 02:28:14.08 | Walfred Solorzano | No. Labor Day is the 6th. September 1 is not Labor Day. It's a Tuesday. |
| 02:28:16.02 | Jill Hoffman | We'll be right back. |
| 02:28:16.09 | Joan Cox | Dipperary is a pundit. |
| 02:28:16.80 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:28:21.34 | Jill Hoffman | It's a Tuesday. |
| 02:28:23.43 | Ian Sobieski | It's not the first Tuesday in September. |
| 02:28:25.41 | Jill Hoffman | No, Labor Day is a Monday. Labor Day is always a Monday. No, I look at that too. Because I remember that. No conflict with September. |
| 02:28:25.42 | Ian Sobieski | No. to get started. |
| 02:28:28.56 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. Thank you. Because... I remember that. And traditionally on election day, we've always had council meetings, so that's why I didn't propose anything. So typically |
| 02:28:40.29 | Melissa Blaustein | So... |
| 02:28:40.85 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. |
| 02:28:41.57 | Melissa Blaustein | Go ahead. So Councilmember Sobieski, so now your objection is is election day? |
| 02:28:48.24 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. I'm highlighting some calendar issues for my colleagues, which is why I pulled it. So I don't necessarily have objections. I just pulling it to discuss because I thought some people might Consider that there are several five-week months and that we have, for instance, July 7th, which is right after the July 4th holiday, which means that our staff would be compelled to try to prepare ahead of the July 4th holiday for July 7th meeting. June happens to have five weeks. So you would have a two week spacing. If you move that meeting, the July 7th meeting to June 30th, uh, you would have the opportunity also to consider moving the July 21st meeting to July 14th to keep the spacing in that way. So that would open the August recess up a little bit. |
| 02:29:35.83 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 02:29:35.91 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:29:36.47 | Joan Cox | The challenge with moving those is we have planning. So, you know, we have city council meetings every other week and then planning commission meetings every other week. So when we mess with our weeks, we mess with staff having to staff two meetings two days in a row. |
| 02:29:51.18 | Ian Sobieski | Right. I was just highlighting these. So I don't know if those are actual conflicts or not. So I don't know the planning commission schedule or whether they might have similar issues with holidays. So if you're telling me that you and the staff have gone through this with a fine tooth comb and it all works well, I'll defer to your experience. That I did not know. So that's the question. That's why I pulled it. And it's all exposure. |
| 02:30:09.90 | Joan Cox | Yeah. No, I actually have no objection to June 30th instead of July 7th. but we do traditionally meet on election day. So that's up to the will of the council, whether they want to try and change that. Yes, Councilmember Hoffman. |
| 02:30:26.52 | Jill Hoffman | I, um, We... Traditionally have not because we used to have a polling place was inside the council chambers that we did this year and I believe we ran very close to Violating the election laws with and talking about election matters within 100 feet of the polling location during open comment matters not on the agenda because we did have somebody that came in and mentioned something that was actually on the ballot within 100 feet of our polling location. So I would recommend that we not have a meeting on November 3rd, which is Tuesday, November 3rd. So I did look at the agenda and that did pop out at me. So thank you for bringing that up. Councilmember Sobieski. So I recommend that we not have a meeting because our polling location is no longer in our chambers. It's downstairs. And I think that creates too much of a of an issue and a conflict, a potential conflict for somebody that might say something in our chambers for matters that might be on a ballot. So I would say it's too close. So I would say, and then we have one meeting in November and that's the 17th. Because otherwise it's too much with Thanksgiving week and then you're off to the races with someone. |
| 02:31:53.04 | Joan Cox | I actually disagree. I mean, this year we needed every single meeting that we had, and we had fewer meetings this year than we did last year and the year before. |
| 02:32:03.36 | Jill Hoffman | but I think our next mayor is going to be very much more focused on a judicious agenda. |
| 02:32:10.89 | Ian Sobieski | I'm. So can I finish my- Yes, go ahead. Because they kind of all work together. |
| 02:32:13.91 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Bye. |
| 02:32:16.46 | Ian Sobieski | I know we can always cancel a meeting, so if the judgment is to leave it and cancel it later, that's fine. I'm just looking at the spacing of the meeting. So you, you, you acknowledge perhaps the value of moving July 7th to June 30th. If we do that, then we only have one meeting in July and then we go on break. It's very easy to add an extra meeting at that time by moving the July 21st meeting to the 14th. Then you can add a July 28th meeting. And now you have two meetings in July, You actually have three meetings in June. That gets the work done before the big August break. and, You have two weeks spacing between the meetings. |
| 02:32:53.79 | Joan Cox | I'm not following what the issue is with July 21st. |
| 02:32:56.03 | Ian Sobieski | I'm just, Only that if you move the July 7th meeting to June 30th, we have one meeting in all of July, and then we go on break in August. So I know when we get to June 30th, and we are, oh my God, there's only one meeting scheduled. We're going to want to wish there was an extra meeting. My proposal was to move July 7th to June 30th Move July 21st to July 14th and add a July 22nd meeting. |
| 02:33:20.08 | Joan Cox | So I would object to moving July 21st to July 14th because of the planning commission meetings on the opposite Wednesdays. |
| 02:33:28.95 | Unknown | There's... |
| 02:33:30.61 | Joan Cox | And I would also defer somewhat to the agenda setting committee, which can manage the schedule. It is on our agenda now, so you know what to do. It is. The main reason for it being on our agenda now is for people to, you know, we had a former council member who had kids and had school holidays. And so the main reason for it being on the agenda. |
| 02:33:35.42 | Ian Sobieski | This is on our agenda now, so you know what to do. |
| 02:33:48.02 | Joan Cox | calendar. is so that council members can check their calendars and raise any issues that they may have with this schedule. |
| 02:33:54.98 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:33:55.45 | Joan Cox | I have. |
| 02:33:55.97 | Melissa Blaustein | I haven't had a chance to check it with all the Jewish holidays, like Passover and Yom Kippur. And so I would suggest that maybe we cancel the August meetings now and revisit the rest of this when we have our priority setting meetings. |
| 02:34:08.81 | Steven Woodside | I'm going to suggest that we revisit all of this in light of the comments that are made, try to sort it out. There may be an opportunity, for example, in conjunction with the Planning Commission to coordinate so that we're not overburdening staff or them and meet both of our needs during that month, that there appears to be a potential conflict. And I think we can work it out over the holidays with help from the staff to make sure that we've got a calendar that we can adopt on the 1st of January that we're going to stick to as much as possible. I will make one other note, and that is budget is a significant time period. constraint and we face the deadline of July 1. So having an extra meeting in June may well be appropriate for that reason. That's my comment. |
| 02:34:56.49 | Jill Hoffman | I was just going to agree on that, June. Yeah. |
| 02:34:58.31 | Joan Cox | Yeah. I'm sorry, the extra meeting is June. I'm going to endorse June 30 instead of July 7 now. Why don't we do that now? Right. Yeah. So we're going to, we're going to, so I will move that we. |
| 02:34:59.45 | Jill Hoffman | Sorry, the extra baby's doing. |
| 02:35:05.75 | Ian Sobieski | Right. Yeah. Exactly. So. |
| 02:35:12.36 | Joan Cox | remove the two, that we agree with staff's recommendation to remove the two meetings in August and that we move the July 7 meeting to June 30th. and that we defer further decision Go ahead, City Clerk. |
| 02:35:27.69 | Walfred Solorzano | What about the special meeting for January 31? |
| 02:35:30.03 | Joan Cox | Oh, and that we endorse the special meeting for January 31. at 9am. That's a motion. Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. That motion carries 5-0. Thank you. Councilmember Sobieski for bringing this up. okay and item 5d up those who voted 6 30 are are not the winners Um... Item 5D is approve the letter to Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Association of Bay Area Governments, providing feedback to Plan Bay Area 2050 Environmental Impact Report. I will note that whatever we decide to do about this letter, we're going to do it this evening so that we can sign it and timely return it because the deadline is, I think, in two days. |
| 02:36:19.22 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you, Mayor, for acknowledging that. And I'm the one that pulled it. I wanted to make sure that everybody saw Sandra Bushmaker's letter and that she recommended that we add certain language that would require MTC to respond to the city and our objection with regard to growth forecasts listed in the DEIR table. And she actually provided us with a draft final paragraph. And so she provided that to us so that we can review it and vote on accepting that and adding that as the final paragraph to the letter. And that's why I pulled the letter so that we can review it and give that direction. |
| 02:36:23.04 | Joan Cox | Yeah. |
| 02:37:05.60 | Joan Cox | Great, okay, any questions from council members? Otherwise I'm gonna open it up to public comment and then we can discuss Ms. Bushbaker's recommendation. All right, no questions from Council. I'm opening this up to public comment. I have no speaker cards on this. City Clerk. |
| 02:37:23.33 | Unknown | them. It's been... |
| 02:37:25.63 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 02:37:25.64 | Walfred Solorzano | I don't have a beer. I came earlier with a consent one, so that's why I was in there. |
| 02:37:31.67 | Adrian Brinton | Submit a new card after consent. |
| 02:37:33.42 | Walfred Solorzano | Okay. |
| 02:37:35.74 | Meg Fawcett | Thank you. |
| 02:37:35.77 | Adrian Brinton | Go ahead. |
| 02:37:36.09 | Meg Fawcett | Thank you. |
| 02:37:36.17 | Adrian Brinton | Thank you and good evening, Mayor and Council. Thanks for engaging so thoughtfully with this plan, Bay Area 2020 or 2050, and I'd like to offer a complimentary perspective. Sausalito has not designated a regional growth area under this plan. The future growth is directed towards larger rail-served communities, and at the same time, the Bay Area as a whole is expected to grow. Uh, transportation is one of the plan's central priorities and Sausalito is already a regional transit connection through our ferry. This gives us a unique opportunity and a responsibility to help better shape transportation outcomes. Locally, housing proposals are often met with strong concerns about traffic and limited transportation options. The concerns are real, but they point to the same solution. Without stronger transit, even modest housing becomes harder to support. That's why I believe that Sausalito should be on the front edge of advocating for transit improvements, especially ferry reliability, regional bus connections, and safe walking and biking access. It's not about encouraging inappropriate growth. It's about improving the quality of life and reducing the traffic pressures and creating the conditions where we can responsibly address our housing needs. Thank you very much. |
| 02:38:46.81 | Joan Cox | Thank you. I have no one else in the audience. |
| 02:38:52.16 | Walfred Solorzano | Pat McDougal just submitted a card. |
| 02:38:54.08 | Joan Cox | This card says 3A and we're on item 5D. |
| 02:38:59.20 | Walfred Solorzano | Mm-hmm. Did you want to speak on this one? |
| 02:39:04.67 | Unknown | with us. |
| 02:39:05.12 | Brandon Phipps | Thank you. |
| 02:39:05.14 | Joan Cox | Okay. Welcome. |
| 02:39:05.19 | Brandon Phipps | Thank you. |
| 02:39:08.21 | Brandon Phipps | you get the wrong one. |
| 02:39:13.34 | Babette McDougall | I swear you think a woman that went to college would not be so dyslexic. Oh, well. Yes, I would like to speak about the MTC issue. I think we have to push back even harder. Thank you for writing this letter. But I say, you know what? Remember how we just got pushed aside with that appeal? Well, don't think it gets any easier, actually. After a while, we're just a little sneeze. It's just such a corrupt organization. Now, I'm sorry to have to say that out loud. They specialize in false data. They specialize in fear and intimidation. Turns out, I don't know, somebody recently daylighted some documents that the real reason why they're treating us the way they are is because it turns out they owe the building trades a lot of money. know, go figure. They are always talking about their rainy day funds. So we have to be very vigilant. We have got to push back. This is like a mafia. I call them the Western White House, frankly. I mean, this is what it's become. This place is not clean. That's our money, our infrastructure tax dollars. That's what they're hoarding. That's what we deserve. We don't have to beg for this. We need to fight strong for our community. And I love the idea of making sure our roads are safe for our people, first and foremost. I'm all in favor of reinventing transportation up and down the 101 corridor or wherever we can, but not through the heart of town. because that's where the people are. Thank you so much. |
| 02:40:52.11 | Babette McDougall | City clerk. |
| 02:40:53.21 | Walfred Solorzano | No, not for the public eye. |
| 02:40:53.27 | Joan Cox | No, no, for the... used |
| 02:40:56.33 | Walfred Solorzano | you |
| 02:40:56.36 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 02:40:56.38 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. No further public comment? |
| 02:40:58.50 | Joan Cox | Okay, I know Sandra Bushmaker wanted to comment on this. |
| 02:41:01.27 | Walfred Solorzano | Just put her hand up. |
| 02:41:02.23 | Joan Cox | Okay. |
| 02:41:05.83 | Sandra Bushmaker | Sorry about that. I somehow put my hand down. Thank you. I appreciate you writing the letter. The deadline once again is the 18th at 5 p.m. I today and late mail I sent you a closing letter that I would like you to amend your letter to include the references that I put in that last paragraph. The way your letter has written without those changes would not require MTC to respond to their your EIR comments, so you have to put the take reference materials, such as the reference to the tables and to the introductory paragraph of the plan itself. So I do believe you've got the closing paragraph. I don't think it'll interfere with what you've already said in your letter, but just simply to add those references so that MTC is triggered in having to respond to your concerns, to our concerns, I should say. Thank you. |
| 02:42:09.60 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. City Clerk. No further public comments. |
| 02:42:12.20 | Joan Cox | All right, I'm gonna close public comment, bring up here for discussion. The reason that, you know, the vice mayor and I collaborated on this letter, and we wrote it based on our knowledge of Sausalito, of the efforts that we've made of trends. I am not personally qualified to comment on the DEIR, on the accuracy of the DEIR framework. figures and other information that is included in the suggested language proffered by Ms. Bushmaker. I very much appreciate it. but I am just not qualified personally to Um, you know, uh, voice, quote unquote, objections to the growth forecasts listed in DEIR table 2-14. I'm not. And I am not comfortable saying that RENA numbers are driven by the Building Industry Settlement Agreement Um, so. But this is a letter on behalf of the council, and so I defer to my fellow council members and invite comments. on the suggested language from ms bushmaker |
| 02:43:24.96 | Jill Hoffman | Is there, let me ask you this. Is there any downside to including that information? Is there anything that impacts our letter or? you know, weakens our position other than they would have to somehow respond to us or provide additional information. They may ask us clarifying a clarifying question at that point, we could... go back to our staff or let me, I'll let you answer that. And then my next question is going to be to our CDD director and ask him if he understands what Ms. Bishmaker's point is. |
| 02:43:55.20 | Joan Cox | Yeah, so I don't have an issue with asking MTC to address our objections to growth forecasts. We did address that in our letter. I object to language saying... We request MTC address our objections to RHNA numbers driven by the Building Industry Settlement Agreement. I am not personally familiar. You know, I know that people assert that that is the case, but I am not willing to sign my name to that type of an inflammatory statement. I do not mind the rest. I do not mind acknowledging that our letter objects to the EIR impacts set forth. on table 3.34. I just have an issue with that one phrase. |
| 02:44:41.37 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah. |
| 02:44:41.46 | Joan Cox | Yeah. |
| 02:44:41.96 | Jill Hoffman | the |
| 02:44:42.03 | Joan Cox | MAKING THEM. |
| 02:44:42.23 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:44:42.25 | Joan Cox | Thank you. But I there. |
| 02:44:44.63 | Steven Woodside | I agree with the mayor and with respect to the heart of the letter that's already drafted that we worked on. Our first objection has to do with the 24% population growth protections that appear to be inconsistent with the projections by the State Department of Finance. That's fundamental. It's clear. |
| 02:45:01.98 | Andy Davidson | Thank you. you That's fine. |
| 02:45:04.31 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 02:45:04.44 | Andy Davidson | I'm sorry. |
| 02:45:04.49 | Steven Woodside | Sure. |
| 02:45:04.63 | Andy Davidson | Thank you. |
| 02:45:04.66 | Steven Woodside | It's plain English. So I think we covered that adequately in a letter. I think maybe the city attorney can help us. What do we need to say to make sure that they are required to adequately respond to our concerns? |
| 02:45:20.69 | Joan Cox | Thank you. Sergio, can you join us? No. |
| 02:45:24.07 | Sergio Rudin | Michael Boucher, Yes. So to the extent that the Council is providing comments under CEQA with regards to the EIR, its impacts, the feasibility of proposed mitigation measures, generally would behoove a public agency to respond to any substantive comments about the adequacy of the EIR or the analysis. So with regards to One, which is the growth forecast, because that underpins, fundamentally underpins the analysis in the EIR. I think including that will require them to respond on the record prior to adoption. With regards to alternatives, again, to the extent Council letter suggests that additional alternatives are feasible. then again, they will need to respond to those issues that are raised. With regards to comment number two, it's unclear that that is actually challenging any of the analysis in the EIR itself. So even if you include that, that may not be something that draws a response. |
| 02:46:22.76 | Jill Hoffman | Let me ask you this with regard to the RHNA numbers as driven by the building industry settlement agreement. CDD director, do you understand that comment and can you enlighten us? |
| 02:46:35.14 | Brandon Phipps | I appreciate the question. I will say I haven't had time to digest and sufficiently review these specific comments in coordination with the content that is subject to those comments. So I'd appreciate the opportunity to do that prior to providing a response. |
| 02:46:43.36 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 02:46:52.19 | Joan Cox | Well, we don't have any time. We have to turn this letter in day after tomorrow. So I would say |
| 02:46:57.98 | Jill Hoffman | perhaps we just remove that the RENA number clause and just include the rest of the proposed language. There's no downside. |
| 02:47:04.79 | Melissa Blaustein | If there's no chance. just, |
| 02:47:06.36 | Jill Hoffman | you |
| 02:47:06.38 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 02:47:06.45 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah. |
| 02:47:06.48 | Melissa Blaustein | Okay. |
| 02:47:06.50 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah. |
| 02:47:06.51 | Melissa Blaustein | Yeah. |
| 02:47:06.58 | Jill Hoffman | Bye. |
| 02:47:06.65 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 02:47:06.72 | Jill Hoffman | Include it. |
| 02:47:06.85 | Joan Cox | I'm not sure. |
| 02:47:07.04 | Melissa Blaustein | I'm fine with that. Council member Blastie. I mean, it's just unusual to have someone else write the language for our letter for us. So I just feel like given that the. |
| 02:47:07.34 | Joan Cox | Bye. |
| 02:47:15.58 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. I'm, I definitely want to leave that part out and I'll support what the consensus of the council is. I know you put a lot of thought into the letter and there's a lot of issues that are raised, but I, I think that there is, while there are certainly problems with plan Bay area, there are also a lot of positives to plan Bay area, and we will have to have a collaborative relationship with MTC and beginning these discussions around plan Bay area from a place of antagonism is not going to help us in our arena allocations moving forward. So that's my biggest concern here. |
| 02:47:43.50 | Joan Cox | I agree, but I do think that the other portions suggest, and I appreciate Ms. Bushmaker's participation in this, and I do believe the other phrases that she is proffering are consistent with the objections that we raised in our letter. And so we're simply ensuring that we get, that a response is included in the. |
| 02:47:56.82 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 02:48:02.93 | Joan Cox | MTC response to the EIR comments. |
| 02:48:06.37 | Jill Hoffman | I have a follow-up too. And I appreciate Councilman Blaustein's comments too, but I think that this is our one moment in time where it's our chance to weigh in before a further step is taken. And so I think we need to... |
| 02:48:07.10 | Joan Cox | Yeah. |
| 02:48:23.04 | Jill Hoffman | this is we need to voice our concerns at this point. This is our moment to do that. And then we follow on. Right. And I know that I know that. Ms. Bushmaker is working with other groups, which is how we knew to even file the letter. So I think she brings some, a different perspective. and a lot of information to us. And I appreciate that. That's why there's no objection and we don't weaken our position in any way. I think we should include it. So thank you. Okay. |
| 02:48:51.86 | Joan Cox | Okay, so I think I am hearing consensus. So city clerk. we received a letter that you were copied on at 2 11 p.m. I'm addressing this to Deirdre and to Walford. So I would like to add a final paragraph to the letter, because you're going to finish this for us this evening so we can sign it, that matches what Ms. Bushmaker sent within quotations with removal of the language stating, RENA numbers as driven by the building industry settlement agreement, Plan Bay Area intro comma section 1.7.1, for and table 1.1 semicolon. That phrase is removed. Everything else is intact and I will absolutely proof it before I sign it. Is that clear? Okay, okay, and so we have consensus on that. |
| 02:49:40.75 | Steven Woodside | Yes, and just a quick comment in light of A comment made by Mr. Brenton and and others concerning the relationship to transit. We were very clear in here that we do not object to transit proximity as a factor, but that we're urging that it be considered in conjunction with the constraints that we face here in Sausalito, such as the steep. and hazardous hillsides that we're all aware of and was the subject of the report we just heard. So we want to be at the table. That's the purpose of this label. |
| 02:50:14.08 | Joan Cox | And we also make the point that we are not a, although we do enjoy a ferry landing and bus transportation, we are not a transit hub. We are not a mass transit center. And so we seek to be treated differently from a San Francisco or an Oakland or a larger transit hub. So... Okay, with that, we will now move on to, Five E. formerly by |
| 02:50:49.23 | Walfred Solorzano | We need to make a motion on that. |
| 02:50:51.59 | Joan Cox | No, we're giving direction. This says, approve the letter. I mean, I'm happy to Okay, I move that we advance the letter to MTC and ABAG in accordance with the comments directed this evening. Seconds. all in the world. |
| 02:51:10.97 | Melissa Blaustein | favor. |
| 02:51:11.57 | Joan Cox | you |
| 02:51:11.73 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 02:51:11.79 | Joan Cox | I have. |
| 02:51:11.98 | Melissa Blaustein | I, that motion carry. No, because I just, well, for the reasons I stated with regards to how we move forward with this, but I appreciate the discussion. |
| 02:51:12.92 | Joan Cox | CARRIE. |
| 02:51:18.75 | Joan Cox | Thank you. Okay, that motion carries for to one with Blaustein dissenting. Okay. City Manager. |
| 02:51:28.36 | Ian Sobieski | Can I ask for a two-minute break? And we're moving on to the presentation. We are. |
| 02:51:32.18 | Joan Cox | We are. We just have a number of people here for it. But yes, absolutely. We'll take five minutes. |
| 02:51:35.91 | Ian Sobieski | Okay. |
| 02:51:37.41 | Joan Cox | Okay, thanks. Yeah, fine, because we never do two. |
| 02:51:39.67 | Michelle McCalla | THE FAMILY IS A |
| 02:51:39.87 | Ian Sobieski | WITH THE FAMILY. |
| 02:51:40.02 | Peter Van Meter | Thank you. |
| 02:51:40.09 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. |
| 02:51:45.02 | Peter Van Meter | Okay. |
| 02:53:29.53 | Unknown | to that |
| 02:53:31.08 | Peter Van Meter | Thank you. Thanks, Lawrence. I was not here last time. because I couldn't bring myself to talk on TV about the murders of my friends, Rob Reiner, and his wife, Michelle, and I couldn't talk about anything else on TV. And so I was, she stepped in and allowed me to turn off the news of the world for a bit. I might have something to say at some point to the wonderful experiences I have. from Michelle's home. which is now a crime scene. But right now, I still don't have the mental or emotional clarity to perform even a single sentence about that. Donald Trump. or is eager to say something. I'd like robbed everyone. Donald Trump put in writing shots, even some Trump supporters. It will be the same. Historians 5. to reach their conclusive on the depths of Donald Trump's depravity, Donald Trump's conversion, |
| 02:54:36.94 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:54:37.50 | Peter Van Meter | from poisonous Hate fuels life. I will not and cannot read Donald Trump's deranged words about Rob, most of you already know what he said. Republican Congressman Don Bacon, had this reaction to what Donald Trump said. about Rob Ryan. I'd expect to hear something like this from a drunk guy at a bar, not the president of the United States. Can the president be presidential? No, he cannot. Donald Trump. has never had a presidential moment and never will. Donald Trump doesn't know what it means to be presidential. And drunk guy at a bar is how Donald Trump's current White House Chief of Staff described him in a series of interviews with Chris Whipple, who literally wrote the book about White House Chiefs of Staff titled The Gatekeepers. the drunk guy at the bar who doesn't drink. Susie Wiles is Donald Trump's fifth White House chief of staff. He went through four of them in his first four years in the White House. Donald Trump's first White House chief of staff lasted six months. Suzy Wilde has outlasted Brian's previous. Donald Trump's first wide upstreet to the south. But that does not make her better. Then, then, of the other Trump White House chiefs of staff, including the one who ended up getting indicted for his work in the White House in Georgia and Arizona. The Vice President of the United States, James David Bass, explained to Christopher why Susie Wiles is the worst White House treatment of staff ever. Well, There is this idea that people have had that I think was very common in the first administration, that their objective was to control the president or influence the president or even manipulate the president because they had to in order to serve the national interest. Susan's has a first day, and that's the opposite viewpoint, which is that she's a facilitate. that the American people have elected Donald Trump, and that her job is to actually facilitate his vision and to make his vision come to life. |
| 02:58:26.75 | Chris Zapata | to be determined. And I wanna just say that the residents of Sausalito tasked the city council with governance. The city council tasked the mayor with leadership. And this year I can say, I'll say it in Spanish, Mayor Cox accepted that con gusto, with gusto. She truly enjoyed being the mayor of the city this past year. And this past year was one of real progress, especially on city council priorities. And we'll go through that. They were laid out this past January. You'll see, you'll hear. When I'm done. and also alignment with the city's 2020-2026 strategic plan. Thank you. I heard the mayor say earlier we're going to take that on. It won't happen that Saturday on the 31st. That's a longer exercise, but the priority-setting session is set for the 31st. And it also was a year of working on basics, infrastructure, finances, and personnel. And I wanna really start with dessert and say thank you to the residents, certainly the residents, which is why we're here, our businesses, our service organizations, our partners that are local and regional, our hardworking city staff, our unflappable city attorney, our city boards and commissioners, and the city council who under the leadership of Mayor Cox and Vice Mayor Woodside, pushed this year to a point where I'm happy to report on all the things that were achieved. We started with many areas to work on and we did. We certainly did. You can see the details that are attached in the city manager report. If you stay till the end of the meeting, I'll go through every single one of them if you want me to, but I don't think you want me to. But it's extensive. You had 30 city council meetings. You considered 314 items. Okay. And if you read through those like we as staff do and the council does, you will see the amount of work that was done. They're on the agendas on the city website. They're a matter of public records. Please feel free to start in January and go through December. And you can see all the things this year that the city council considered for the community and working with city staff. So we started building a budget and a workshop process for our budget in January of last year. The city council came up with some priorities, starting with infrastructure. So let's go through that. Facilities assessment, check. Bureau Veritas, done. Retrofit of older buildings in a sustainable manner. Climate tech agreement, check. Assess our storm drain system. Check. Completed geologic hazard reports. You heard about that tonight. It's in process and you know I want to say it's moving along quite promisingly. I know that the landslide task force met five years ago came up with the recommendations that were 12 and the city staff has been working on this for that time. And I'll get to what we've actually done not what we've studied and prepared in a report. You will see that we don't just plan and report and bring that to you. There's actually some work been done and I'll cover that. improving our pavement management index. This year you added $2 million additional to the typical street improvement program to move in that direction. There's still a long way to go, but it's begun. Sea Level Rise Adaptation, Then process. We hit a little bump in the road last month, but we'll get this back on track and bring this for the council because it's important. Our ADA, American with Disability Act, transition plan, that's in process as well. You can see that throughout the city. You certainly can see it at Main and Second Street. You can see it along Bridgeway. You can see it in city facilities. The flooding that's been a constant problem at Gate 5 Road, our sustainability and resilience manager worked with our former Mayor Blaustein, former Mayor Kelman, and our folks at the Corps of Engineers to make an ask. And that ask was for money for technical study. So $600,000 later, we will do that technical study. And that's a precursor to real money, big money, that can pair with local money to really address that. you know, in terms of emergency preparedness, which was another area of real, real focus. We have improved our risk profile significantly. That was really, really important as we lost our insurance two years ago. So our risk profile is much better. That should result in less than higher expected insurance rates. But believe this, we will get a rate increase simply because that's the nature of the industry at this time. We've worked At the direction of the mayor and council with our regional partners government partners utilities important because SOS little is not alone in the The services that provides the responsibilities it has we have partners all over whether it's the county whether it's the Golden Gate National Park system whether it's PG&E lots of partners so in terms of emergency preparedness, let's talk about one that matters the North Street slope of Stairways, remember that? Seven figures later, $7 million later, that slope is stabilized. The stairs are open. People can feel a lot better about that. That was a problem. Tonight, you heard about the Spencer Fire Station lease. In terms of emergency preparedness, that's a big step. That's a win, win, win, win. It's a win for the community in terms of preparedness. It's a win for the district in terms of, you know, ramping up services that are necessary. And it's a win for the city in terms of we have a tenant and a lease and that fallow property, which was just deteriorating, frankly, just deteriorating The death disaster preparedness committee has been reconstituted. um, There was a stair project at Lincoln, Lincoln Street, Lincoln stair projects, which helps the schools and helps that area of the city evacuate that. We did that in partnership with the HOA in that part of the world. And then some big things. There are two come, but you've done them. You've invested over a million dollars for improving the bridgeway slope. That's happened. You did that last month. You invested and committed over a million dollars for the Marion and Edwards retaining wall. That's coming. Those are real things. They're not studies. There are real projects and they're happening as we speak in terms of safety that people don't think about. You know, you have a three year contract with your police association. They provide. safety daily, emergency preparedness daily, that's important. We've enhanced our cybersecurity protocols We do more testing. We are hopefully less vulnerable, but it's a changing world in that regard. And you've obviously updated your fire codes. One of your other areas of improvement, back to the basics, was your finances. This year was the culmination of, someone said, finally we got that done, or ten years later we got that done. The consolidation and transfer of the sewer connection service to the Saucera Marin City Sanitary Surrey District happened this year. And what does that mean? That means a couple of things. One, our risk profile should go down, and we've promoted this to our PRISM folks, our carriers. But the other thing is the public, by virtue of this transfer, we paid off about $5 million in bonds and loans early. And that payoff results in about $1.9 million in interest savings to Sausalito rate payers. And that is, you know, something that's really important in terms of our finances, that we don't have that on our books anymore. We don't have that as part of our risk profile anymore. And that should bear some fruit down the road. While we were at it, we utilized the same sewer fund to make sure that we took care of Block 303 which was a complicated challenge involving work with our district partners the bear bay commission development conservation committee bcdc and getting that done after all of the threats because the last thing we want is harm to our bay and making sure that we were in alignment with the district was extremely important. We did that. And other things, our finances are impacted by the leases we have in the city. And we have 39 leases that we manage, and now they're managed professionally by Kimber companies, which is really important. Trying to make sure that you know if there is an emergency that's financial you have the wherewithal to handle that This past year you adopted a policy of a 25 percent reserve that reserve is about five point five million dollars When you pair that with the unassigned fund balance of about four million dollars, that's close to ten million dollars so, you know my estimate is you're at 47 percent of the your contingency requirements or your reserve over your reserve requirements, which are 25. And so that's augmented by the $4 million you have in the 115 trust for pensions, the $2 million you have in the OPEB fund account, which is work that started long ago that we're working on at a finance committee level as we speak. I needed that break. One of our key business enterprises and finance is our parking system. You approved almost a half a million dollar parking system improvements so that we get new collection and modernized parking management. That's really important. We updated your user fees this year. And finally, you did something that I thought was really, really meaningful. You took a look at your finances and your Measure L fund, and you said, we're going to invest in the largest infrastructure program in the city's recent history. And you did that to the tune of about $17 million. And, you know, that to me is how you see the things happening in this community happen. The policy direction, the resources, the staff to do it, and you get it done. Quality of life, you know, I want to say first start with the water. We have a settlement agreement with BCDC right now. The police department, our sustainability people, our consultants, our council person led by Mayor Cox worked on what we call something that was happening in slow motion, but finally occurred. And that was to take 93 boats off the water in Sausalito. There are now zero boats on the water in Sausalito. And that was done in a compassionate way. It was started many years before this year, but we're at the point where it now becomes obvious that we are compliant with that settlement agreement, but we did it in a way that is really meaningful and important. The Ferry Plaza project, how long did that take? That $2.4 million grant from the feds and from the Golden Gate Bridge District was completed this year. And, you know, a lot of the concerns about how it was going to impact the community, I think, have been mostly managed. I think that if you look at it now and you see the bioswale there and you see the Tracy Way area, you see how we've managed the bike parking and you see the improvements there. It really is starting to come together in a way that is helpful to our community. The P-Bid formation that you approved? I'm going to keep going. You guys don't get tired. The PBID formation, the Marinship Park completion. How long was that fallow as we worked through the homeless encampment that was there? The Dorothy Gibson House. What a partnership. The state, Senator McGuire, the county, Stephanie Moulton-Peters, Homeward Bound, our subcommittee, the neighbors, our staff, working with the patience of folks to finally, we'll open that this coming month. We'll be done with it this coming month, and I really appreciate the estate and the neighbors for their patience and us working through that. You can see the earth moving at Dunphy Park, phase two. That was a seven-figure commitment as well. That is important to the community. In terms of customer service, which is a big thing and always an important area for the city, our C-Click Fix app that got implemented has provided us with real metrics on what the community has seen in our community. So they help us. They're not complaining. They're part of the fixing process. And when they send something in, our response times have been good. We're able to analyze what the issues are. And as expected, it's potholes. |
| 03:11:28.40 | Unknown | Thank you. But if you're not going to be a |
| 03:11:39.20 | Chris Zapata | So we know that our records, the city clerk will tell you our records have been in disarray for years at the fire station in the study that we call the Pagliaro study. But we're on the way to digitizing city records, which bear benefits for many, many years to be able to find what you need rather than trying to sort through paper. EV charging station. If you drive an electric vehicle, come to City Hall, go to Dunphy Park, go to Lot 2 next to the Center for the Arts. And you can do that now. Where we once were a desert with very few, now we are... more of them. That's important. We have paid attention to our senior residents on a lot of levels. One of them is the CARS program. We continue to be partners with CARS on providing services to our elderly. We have worked on what I call our housing and building code wait times, the efforts of Assistant Manager Phipps and his team, along with director McGowan. We had a backlog, and we still have a backlog, but it's not the backlog that it was three years ago. It's significantly lower. then all this happens with people. And I say this in our community, You have a public service mentality among your staff here that public service is not a job, it's a privilege. And so when we come to work, it's a privilege to serve the residents of Sausalito, the business owners in Sausalito, the visitors in Sausalito. And the people that do that work have been augmented with your support and your leadership in major ways. This year we hired 37 people. The wall that you see outside is no vacancies in terms of executive leadership. We've hired what I call quality people that are talented people that you want to retain here. We changed the Parks, Recreation, and Library function to create a community services department. That's important. We have a library director. We tried to hire a risk manager. We weren't able to do that. So we've hired a good contract risk manager, which is extremely important. You augmented the two project managers for the capital improvement program that you approved last year with two more this year. So we have four people working on capital improvement programs so that we can actually get work done on that $17 million program that you authorized. We now have an assistant city manager to help provide support to the council and to the city manager's office, which is great. And after three tries, we have a... building official. I believe that. It took us over a year to do that, so that building official is now on board. We're happy to do that. So all of the consultants that we were hearing complaints about that were in The economic development and community development department and planning department some of them are necessary But I understood and we understand that a lot of times you want Personnel that's yours that can build institutional knowledge and is actually responsible and you know to the community to the council to the city staff We have a great I'm so proud of our HR manager, Kathy Nikitas, for creating this internship program. It's been great. Entry-level jobs, pipeline to city jobs. It's additive, supportive, and so we're really, really happy about that. Um, I can tell you that as you look at the work that's been done at the direction of the city council for this community, this has been a phenomenal year. And it takes leadership to do that. And, you know, we've had good leadership here. And I know that a lot of folks don't understand the city council's time and effort they put into these meetings, and they don't understand the compensation that they don't get for these meetings. And, you know, I take my hat off to them. But the one that typically works the hardest in a calendar year at the city council level is the mayor. It was true under Jill Hoffman. It was true under Janelle Kelman. It was true under Melissa Blousey. It was true under Ian Sobieski. And it's certainly been true under Joan Cox. As I said, she has taken to this job, this task, this privilege, this responsibility. with gusto. And so it gives me great pleasure to thank her on behalf of the organization and to present this ceremonial plaque tours. |
| 03:16:53.00 | Chris Zapata | So now, Mayor, I'll allow you to say a few words if you'd like. |
| 03:17:08.29 | Joan Cox | I don't know how much I can really say after that. I do want, you know, I will say it takes a village. We got a tremendous amount done this year, but we got it done. because we have an amazing, residents who generously volunteer their time to help us advance important projects and to provide important feedback on the paths that we are taking. We have a phenomenal staff who really consider it a privilege to work here. And I have to say, you know, I'll use the police chief as an example. We met every other week all year. The city manager met me every Monday morning at 8 a.m. for two hours every week. Then he met me every Monday morning at 8 a.m. for two hours every week. Then he met me again Thursday mornings at 9 a.m. for two hours every week. to manage how we advance the work of the city. We received a lot of correspondence this week about collaboration, the collaboration of the council. We could not have accomplished everything that we got done in our 30 meetings without the collaborative spirit and the willingness to really work together and to navigate issues on which we disagreed to a reasonable solution. So I'm very thankful for the council and the spirit of collaboration that we demonstrated all year. We are not here for the money. We are here because we love Sausalito. And that's especially true for me. If I could retire as my vice mayor has and only work for the city of Sausalito, I would do that because it's truly my passion project. And it has been a true honor and privilege to serve this year. This is the best city manager. You know, I represent cities and counties and special districts and school districts throughout California in my day job. This is the best city manager I have ever had the privilege to work with. |
| 03:19:15.07 | Joan Cox | In a meeting, he called me determined, and I was determined, but he kept pace with me all year long, and I'm so very grateful that he brought to, for his 30 years of experience, matching my 30 years of experience, to really do great work for the city of Sausalito this year. So thank you, city manager, and thank you all. It's been an honor and a privilege. |
| 03:19:33.79 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:19:33.92 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 03:19:34.02 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:19:45.70 | Steven Woodside | Are we allowed to comment? |
| 03:19:47.74 | Joan Cox | Yes, this is actually, we have to take public comment as well. So I think I'm going to open it up for public comment first. If there's any public comment, I have no speaker cards. All right, so I'm going to close. |
| 03:19:51.73 | Steven Woodside | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 03:19:52.01 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 03:19:52.05 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 03:20:00.82 | Joan Cox | I have one for 5E, but this Okay, Carolyn, did you want to speak on this item or the next item? Okay. |
| 03:20:09.31 | Carolyn Revell | Thank you. |
| 03:20:09.55 | Unknown | Great. |
| 03:20:10.04 | Joan Cox | Well, welcome. |
| 03:20:10.80 | Carolyn Revell | Thank you. How could we add to that wonderful list of accomplishments that the city manager made? But really, it's been extraordinary watching you perform as Mayor Joan. And we're lucky that you're bringing your professional experience to our town. Thank you. |
| 03:20:25.88 | Joan Cox | Thank you. OK, I'm going to close. We have Lorna Newland. Okay. |
| 03:20:30.71 | Hannah Borten | Thank you. |
| 03:20:30.79 | Joan Cox | you Thank you. Welcome back, Lorna. |
| 03:20:40.48 | Melissa Blaustein | Lorna, are you there? |
| 03:20:42.01 | Lorna Newland | Yes, sorry. I walked away. And congratulations, Joan. And also... city manager Chris Sabata, uh, You both spoke at the last chamber meeting and said that Joan was stealing thunder. Well, not thunder, but, you know, Joan was going on about what she would say. And what Chris said tonight was exemplary and... I think most of us knew what all you what you do and what city council does, but It was even... more moving to hear even more accomplishments that were done. And the fact that you do all respect the feedback from residents and from business owners and everything because we all do love Sausalito. So I want to thank you, Joan. And also all of city council and all of city staff for the hard work that you all do. And happy holidays. |
| 03:21:44.55 | Joan Cox | Thank you. And I have, that's on 6H. Okay, so that's it on this item. |
| 03:21:50.97 | Melissa Blaustein | close it like to say some nice things about you too if we can |
| 03:21:55.39 | Samantha Schubert | Thank you. |
| 03:21:55.42 | Melissa Blaustein | I'll start. |
| 03:21:55.49 | Samantha Schubert | I'll |
| 03:21:57.60 | Melissa Blaustein | before you, and it will be brief because it's late, but I just want to say I have had Oh, go ahead. |
| 03:22:03.33 | Babette McDougall | Oh, you forgot me. |
| 03:22:05.07 | Joan Cox | No, you wrote 6H, which is the sitting |
| 03:22:07.42 | Babette McDougall | Isn't that the one for this? No. We're at five. I'm never going to get it right today. |
| 03:22:07.79 | Melissa Blaustein | And then, you know, the |
| 03:22:09.85 | Joan Cox | We're at... Thank you. |
| 03:22:13.98 | Babette McDougall | Shoot. Well, I saw the city manager thing. Oh, bear with me. I'm here. Go ahead. Go ahead. All right. Thank you. Okay. So I just want us to sort of do a little roundup here because this is a good time to do this sort of thing. And there'll be a hopefully another moment to do a roundup. But I want to make sure that we're clear I love the idea of having interns come into City Hall. This is the way we learn. I think it's really important, and I believe our HR person is up to it. We need to create a body of ethics and protocols, how people are expected to behave, how to dress, how to comport. I think socialization skills start right here. It's like a family. So we have to work on that together. Daylighting, whatever happened to the daylight law? It's over a year now in existence. And I want to know, we have so many children in this community and more coming all the time, which is good news. So that means we really need to have safe neighborhoods and safe streets. Like, for example, residential ordinances. I don't really... Understand what's going on with residential ordinances. Are they in force or are they not? Do we have a height on the size of a vehicle that may park on any residential street? For these long periods of time that obscures people's safety and vision, the side mirrors, people get whacked with the side mirrors all the time. Is that a good idea? It used to be part of residential zone requirements would not allow those trucks to park on residential streets. So we have to think about this. This is a safety issue. And the more we want to try to put kids on bikes so that this can feel like a real community, the more we have to be mindful of these safety issues. So I'd like to just bring that, since it was raised earlier, I'd like to bring it back. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 03:24:18.23 | Joan Cox | All right. Thank you. I'm going to close public comment, bring you back up here. |
| 03:24:21.74 | Melissa Blaustein | Great. So now I can say the nice things about you. I've had the opportunity to work with you, Mayor Cox, since I was appointed to your working group on housing when you were mayor the last time. And we worked together on things that now we've seen come to fruition in your role as mayor, including a really impressive and innovative approach to the odds, which I believe started at our housing working group almost eight years ago and i just have to say in addition to you getting so many important items done this year whether it was revising our housing element or working on making sure we had a balanced budget or showing up at every single meeting you are always so collaborative and so willing to work with and speak to any of us even when you disagree with us and you remain open and that has allowed us to have 30 long and impressive meetings with a lot of accomplishments that you should be really proud of. So it's been a real pleasure to be able to work with you as mayor. And I appreciate that we'll be able to continue to work together from the dais. |
| 03:25:29.06 | Ian Sobieski | I'll go next, Mayor. I first saw you on TV in 2016, I think, the meetings I would watch. So it's been a funny journey to end up serving with you on this council. We had a really... What's so delightful, I'm going to pick up something Alyssa just shared is even when we... disagree. It's never disagreeable. And even though we don't vote the same way, it always feels like somehow we're making progress. And in particular, the thing I notice is that there is, of course, a very understandable human sentiment from people that when things don't go their way, it feels like they're not Sometimes they say they're not being heard. You hear that refrain sometimes from members of the community that are like, Listen to me, vote yes. not counting for the fact that there are other people who are saying, listen to me, but no, and that you can only go one way or the other, not both. Uh, and what really strikes me about, uh, you as a person is that, uh, you really seem to genuinely listen to everyone. even the folks that have harangued you and and made life difficult for a long period of time, I noticed that you do not shut down. You actually listen to them. And that's a remarkable trait. It's a beautiful trait and a leader. And I think it underscores your willingness to hear us out as well on here and try to work collaboratively. I know these five-o votes are really important to you. They don't always end up that way, but I know they are important to you and your willingness to try to find a way to move us all forward together is an important theme. So the litany of things from our outstanding city manager and the outstanding staff that he leads is truly making progress here in Sausalito. As some have said, it's a good time to take stock. And the Sausalito Renaissance is unfolding one chapter at a time from the quality of our roads to the quality of our community events, to the quality of our finances, to the underpinning of our infrastructure. And you have really led mightily in that progress. So as you hand over the gavel to the new leadership, I know you'll continue to lead as you have really led mightily in that progress. So as you hand over the gavel to the new leadership, I know you'll continue to lead as you have from the dais in so many ways. And the whole town is really lucky to have you as a volunteer serving. |
| 03:27:34.88 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:27:53.32 | Jill Hoffman | So I'll just echo all the other comments. But I want to say that, you know, nobody, I'm sure this is obvious, but nobody has the capacity to work harder than Joan. And nobody has the capacity to... review documents or find, find, uh, edit documents in greater capacity or with greater tenacity than Joan Cox. And if you have to have, um, a document reviewed or edited, uh, this is the person that you want to go to. Um, and nobody, uh, loves, I think, I think maybe Herb Weiner is second only to Joan Cox and her love for Sausalito. So thank you for bringing that passion to both your work ethic and document review and love for Sausalito. Thank you. |
| 03:28:43.75 | Steven Woodside | I've had a privilege year, largely because working closely with you. We've known each other for some time. We both share a passion for municipal law and for public service. And those were keys, I think, to the sort of baseline of our relationship. But over the years, I've admired your tenacity, your willingness to go the extra mile, and then some. I think, I don't know how many hundreds of times I said to you, Joan, I don't know how you do it. She would tell me about the four commission meetings that she had to attend on the same day that we're in one of those two hour meetings at eight o'clock or nine o'clock in the morning, which happened on a regular basis. And I have no. regrets about any of those meetings. The time was well spent and focused. And I just so appreciate your leadership. personally was affected by it and the whole community has truly benefited from your leadership this year. I just want to quote from one leadership guru who I think describes Joan when he says, a leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way. And you've shown all of us. Thank you. |
| 03:30:03.85 | Joan Cox | Thank you. That is so nice. Thank you so much. Thank you. |
| 03:30:08.61 | Steven Woodside | something that You may not like, but I do know that on Sunday she loves to go for a walk. She often wears a hat. And lately she might. This is kind of an inappropriate hat, but you might enjoy at least reading it. |
| 03:30:19.92 | Melissa Blaustein | Yeah. All right, I have to pull it out after that. |
| 03:30:25.32 | Justine | Bye. |
| 03:30:28.22 | Melissa Blaustein | It is not a true hat. It says not bossy. Just aggressively helpful. |
| 03:30:43.71 | Melissa Blaustein | Yeah. |
| 03:30:45.90 | Unknown | You're... |
| 03:30:47.00 | Melissa Blaustein | All right. I agree. Thank you. |
| 03:30:54.04 | Joan Cox | This is just emblematic of really what a privilege it has been to serve. And so with that, I will happily move on to our next item, which is the city council selection of the mayor. And I guess I have to take public comment on this. Yeah. City. Attorney. Do we nominate and then take public comment or we take public comment and then nominate? |
| 03:31:27.06 | Sergio Rudin | I would recommend you take public comment and then nominate. |
| 03:31:29.47 | Joan Cox | All right. I will open this up for public comment. Any public comment on item 5? The new 5F, City Council selection of mayor. |
| 03:31:36.71 | Walfred Solorzano | See you then. |
| 03:31:38.08 | Joan Cox | All right. I'm going to close public comment. I'm going to nominate Vice Mayor Stephen Woodside as our next mayor of Sausalito. |
| 03:31:46.65 | Melissa Blaustein | second? Do we need a second? We don't need a second. We just, yeah. |
| 03:31:49.28 | Joan Cox | Are there any other nominations? Seeing none, all in favor? Aye. That motion carries five zero. Congratulations. |
| 03:32:01.54 | Steven Woodside | Hey. |
| 03:32:07.12 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Thank you. Ooh. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. |
| 03:32:15.44 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 03:32:17.23 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 03:32:17.25 | Joan Cox | I'm going to do that. Do I have? And I'm going to. What? |
| 03:32:21.08 | Melissa Blaustein | Hand you the ceremonial gavel. |
| 03:32:21.09 | Joan Cox | to hand you |
| 03:32:25.65 | Melissa Blaustein | Congratulations. |
| 03:32:25.82 | Steven Woodside | Okay. |
| 03:32:26.27 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:32:26.29 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Well, thank you very much. And I just hope I can live up to the expectations and the expertise in our community. It's very helpful that we have so many people involved in our government. And I look forward to working closely with everyone in town and, of course, everyone on the dais. Looking forward to it and very humbled by this. And thank you. Thank you all. Okay, now I'm getting direction from Joan on what's next on the agenda. |
| 03:33:00.02 | Steven Woodside | So we do have a selection of vice mayor. And before we have any nominations, there apparently are some public comments. |
| 03:33:14.32 | Steven Woodside | I'm just going to take them in the order in which they've been handed to me. First, Mark Palmer, who will be followed by Sonia Hansen. So if you can be at the ready, we'll be pretty efficient. Mark, thank you. |
| 03:33:28.86 | Mark Palmer | greeting again. I'm here to speak in support of Councilmember Blaustein as vice mayor. I first met Melissa over six years ago. WHEN SHE WAS A SUSTAINABILITY COMMISSIONER, running for City Council She knocked on my door, and I never had another politician, knock on my door before. So it was a great way to meet her in person and find out more about what she was interested in and She was very interested in what I was interested in as well. I think she's served on city council with intelligence and dignity. And during that time, she was also the liaison to our sustainability commission. And I'd have to call her or own homegrown climate champion. We're very happy to have her as our liaison for the last six years. And in the words of our former mayor, Susan Cleveland Knowles, I think that she has served with collegiality Collaboration. And respect. Thank you very much. |
| 03:34:38.15 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Sonia Hanson, followed by Courtney Goff. Hi, Sonia. If you can hand that to the clerk. |
| 03:34:43.67 | Mark Palmer | Thank you. |
| 03:34:44.38 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:34:44.65 | Mark Palmer | Thank you. |
| 03:34:44.89 | Mark Palmer | me. |
| 03:34:44.97 | Unknown | AND I THINK IT'S A |
| 03:34:48.13 | Steven Woodside | No, I don't. |
| 03:35:02.94 | Sonia Hansen | My name is Sonya Hansen. I'm a Sausalito resident and have been for 50 plus years. And we do have a tradition in this town. We do not, as residents, elect our mayor or vice mayor. We elect our five city council members. And once a year, those five city council members elect the vice mayor and the mayor. and it has been done over time in a, shall we call it a fair play manner. It's a rotation. where everyone goes through the rotation in the same order. Last year, unfortunately, Jill Hoffman Should have been Elected. Vice mayor, she was not. And now there is certainly a suggestion that she will not be elected vice mayor this year. That's not how we roll in this town. We now have only one council member who lives in the north end of town. And that is Jill Hoffman. The north end of town is getting whacked in many ways by, let's say, Lots of housing. One of our parks has been I think certainly on the north end, we would say damaged. Um, It is important, I feel, that the five of you follow the rules that have been in order in this town for decades. There has been, unfortunately, one other time that I know of where this has not happened. I would like to see it corrected this time. Jill Hoffman should be the next vice mayor. Thank you very much. |
| 03:36:42.94 | Steven Woodside | Courtney Goff followed by I'm not sure. |
| 03:36:46.03 | Courtney Goff | Kay Mitzel. |
| 03:36:48.58 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 03:36:48.60 | Courtney Goff | Mayor Woodside and council members, I'm here in support of Jill Hoffman to be the next vice mayor. She loves Sausalito. She works hard. She will be a great vice mayor. Please follow the traditions of the prior speaker and give Jill her opportunity. Thank you, Courtney. |
| 03:37:12.97 | Steven Woodside | Mary Goff, excuse me, K. Mitzel followed by Mary Goff. |
| 03:37:19.97 | Kay Mitchell | Thanks, Mayor Woodside. I'm Kay Mitchell, long-time resident. I'm here also to echo just what Sonia said. She said it better than I can ever say it. I'm here to support Jill Hoffman as vice mayor. I believe she should have been mayor last year, and I'm sorry to see the city council take a position where they're not following tradition. So you have a chance tonight to change that and nominate or appoint Jill as vice mayor. Thank you. |
| 03:37:30.89 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 03:37:50.51 | Steven Woodside | Mary Goff followed by Hannah Borten. |
| 03:37:53.87 | Mary Goff | Mayor Woodside. Council members. First of all, I want to thank you for your service. It really has been an incredible year. And as a resident attending these meetings It's quite an experience. I really encourage everybody. to come and Experience this. I would really like Jill Huffman. to be in your corner. because she will Fight for us. and she will get the job done. And I just. ask that you follow that tradition. She deserves it. Thank you. |
| 03:38:42.44 | Steven Woodside | Anna Borton followed by Carolyn Lavelle. |
| 03:38:45.29 | Hannah Borten | Hello, thank you so much. It's an honor to be here. I've only been in Sausalito for one year, but we've been very active. with a yard club. My husband has been Commodore there and racing. 11 years ago, I met Jill going to Qashqai. And I believe it in that time, we have become friends. I think she has so much integrity. And I mean, you are all just so incredible and what you have done. And I think I know. that Jill is going to be a fabulous job as a vice mayor. So please support her and Thank you so much. All right. |
| 03:39:30.09 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Carolyn DeValle, followed by Babbeck. McDougal. |
| 03:39:34.73 | Carolyn Revell | Sorry to be up here so often. With all due respect to my dear friend, Sonia Hansen, I would like to support Melissa Blaustein. I've observed her on the Sustainability Commission various times. I've been to those meetings and also the Business Improvement District meetings. And when she served earlier as mayor, I was terribly impressed with the efficiency with which she, ran the meetings and the ability to listen to all the different points of view and come up with a proposed motion, which is a skill. And I'd love to see her have the opportunity to be the vice mayor and move on from that position. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 03:40:13.06 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 03:40:13.07 | Carolyn Revell | Thank you, Caroline. |
| 03:40:14.41 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 03:40:14.42 | Carolyn Revell | that |
| 03:40:14.81 | Steven Woodside | followed by Adrian Britton. |
| 03:40:23.80 | Babette McDougall | Thank you, Mr. Mayor-elect, and thank you, fellow council members. So as I started to say under my public comment, there is, in fact, a tradition. It has now been well established here this evening. And when we look upon the bigger picture, which we're talking about a tradition, yes, but what about the person since they even started counting votes? Turns out nobody's ever gotten as many votes or more than sheep. That's a big deal. That actually carries a lot of weight in a town like this, although you wouldn't know it considering some of you spent like six, seven figures just to hold on to those voluntary chairs. So I'm saying there is one person that stands head and shoulders still, the most respected political official in our town's history. And she happens to be sitting on the dais now. And as has been pointed out, it's not usually the tradition of the residents to have to choose this on your behalf. However... This gang of four thing has gone far enough. And it's time to show that if you're really with this town, Then let's see how you walk that talk, because traditions do matter. And I believe Ms. Hoffman would be a fantastic asset to the leadership, especially right now. for people who actually know what they're doing and they've got the real grit to prove it. Thank you. |
| 03:41:48.65 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Adrienne Britton, followed by Jillian Curran. |
| 03:41:53.61 | Adrian Brinton | Good evening, Councillor Mayor. Thank you for taking my comment. I'd like to express my support for Councilmember Boston for Vice Mayor. The city council has five members and council members are elected to four year terms. The mayor and the vice mayor are chosen by the council. This idea of this tradition that it's just a straight rotation of members, I think, is not super accurate. They're not chosen in turn. They're not chosen whether they agree or disagree on issues. There are five members, and each member serves a four-year term. Unfortunately, every year, every... term, someone will miss out. So the council's got to pick the next vice mayor, and the decision rests with you. You must elect who you can think can best bring you and your colleagues together, who can build consensus across all the different views, And you can foster the collaboration that's needed to solve our city's challenges. It's not an issue. For litigation, it's about teamwork and it's about team leadership. I think this council has done an amazing job coming together over the last two years. We heard all the amazing things that got done in the last two years. Let's keep that going. Super excited for that. Thank you very much. |
| 03:43:09.94 | Steven Woodside | Okay. Jillian, followed by Lucinda Eubanks. |
| 03:43:15.12 | Lucinda Eubanks | Thank you. I feel like I'm going to be a little redundant after what I just heard. Many wonderful things I would like to say on behalf of Councilmember Blasdine. I think her very thoughtful and collaborative approach has been clear in so many ways in her time on Council. I would like to say that I think we have an incredible Council as a whole. I think we have elected five people who know what they're doing and are able to accomplish the things that our Town needs. I think that tradition aside, The rule is that the city council decides who the mayor and vice mayor are not the townspeople and I think If there is a reason that a tradition of rotating was broken, I trust that the city council members had good reason for that. being mayor is a different skill set than being a council member and I think everyone here is. wonderful at being council members and the council itself knows best who has the skill set to be a strong mayor. and vice mayor. |
| 03:44:17.30 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Lucinda Eubanks, followed by Shannon Stone. |
| 03:44:34.33 | Shannon Stone | Thank you, Mayor Woodside. Well, I wasn't prepared to speak, but I feel compelled to. I've known Melissa since she started her campaign in 2017, I believe it was. And I was just so taken by how dedicated you were to public service and how knowledgeable you were and, um, Now that I see how much work goes into the mayor and vice mayor and how much time that you all will be spending together. And also thinking about passing on the knowledge. Stephen, you have so much knowledge. I'm really excited that you can pass this on to the next generation. Every day I meet new, young people coming into our city, new families, and they all have... different ideas. They're coming from different backgrounds and perspectives. And I think Melissa can, be an asset to know where they're coming from. So that's why I would like to suggest that you nominate Melissa Blaustein, thank you. And Joan, you are wonderful. My God, the work you put into this place. I've seen it from behind the scenes. Thank you. |
| 03:46:03.65 | Steven Woodside | Shannon followed by Peter Van Meter. |
| 03:46:09.84 | Peter Van Meter | Thank you, Mayor Woodside and council members. Thanks for letting me speak. I just wanted to express my strong support for council member Blaustein, for the vice mayor of Sausalito. I am a several year resident now who recently purchased property and want to be here for a really long time. And I believe that, um, Councilmember Blaustein has been consistently collaborative leader here on city council. She works well with all of her fellow council members and has regularly voted to move forward solutions and projects to benefit our town. She's supported important infrastructure investments. She's played a key role in hiring our city manager and renewing his contract, and we all heard how everyone loves him today. And even though that vote wasn't unanimous, his success is validating her judgment. renewing his contract and we all heard how everyone loves him today and even though that vote wasn't unanimous you know his success is validating her judgment and you know finally I was really inspired by last night her leading the creation of the Hanukkah community menorah lighting an incredible joy-filled event here in Sausalito that look forward to many more years to come so yeah for these reasons I believe councilmember Rothstein is what's also needs and it's vice mayor thank you |
| 03:47:21.68 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Peter Van Meter followed by Andy Greer. |
| 03:47:26.03 | Peter Van Meter | Yes, Mr. Mayor, what a pleasure. Thank you. I'm speaking as 50 year resident emeritus I've watched a lot of city council meetings over those years. And of course, being a participant myself, And I think that the spirit of collaboration that we've seen in the last year has been very essential in that as Vice Mayor Blaustein will be a terrific benefit to having that collaboration continue. And I think that's extremely important. So please have. to be your vice mayor. Thank you. |
| 03:48:05.37 | Steven Woodside | Andy Greer followed by Sharna Brockett. That's the last card I have. There's someone else. |
| 03:48:11.70 | Sharna Brockett | Thank you for letting me come up and speak. I think you all have done a great job. I think Melissa would do a great job as far as being a VP, but I'm in favor of Jill Hoffman being VP. I like what you've done. I've gone to several city council meetings, and I've heard you speak, and I like your opposition, too, as far as further development within the marineship. I think it is a... Decent part of Sausalito and I think it's an important part of Sausalito and I think that there's an there has been an infatuation with with further development within certain parcels now that it's been rezoned and a portion of the Marin ship has been Delegated and opened up for more housing. I think that you've been in favor of cutting it. from there. So I think you'll do a great job. So thank you. |
| 03:49:19.13 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Sharna Brockett. And we do have one more card from Gail Schell. |
| 03:49:24.14 | Gail Schell | Great, thank you so much for all of your leadership. I just wanna call out to the whole city council, you're just amazing volunteers and this whole town is built on volunteers and you're at the top. And just wanted to personally thank you. I know it's a thankless job most of the time. And a big thank you to Mayor Cox, you run a really good meeting. It's been so fun to watch you keep things moving and encouraging respectful dialogue and getting things done, so thank you. . So I just want to say that I've been attending city councils a lot for the last year and a half. Before that, I didn't pay attention, I'll be honest. But what I've observed in this last year and a half is that when discussions are grounded in respect, good faith, and genuine effort to find common ground, even when there's disagreement, that the council is able to move the city forward in a way that truly benefits Sausalito. But I've also seen when those values are lacking. And when we see that, you can see that progress slows. And that's just a really huge drain on our town's resources and time and money. So that's why I am asking you to vote yes for Stephen, which you did, yay, and to vote yes for Melissa Blaustina's vice mayor. What's really important is they work well together. And for me, what's really important is they are respectful. They're respectful for our city manager, our city staff, to one another up there on the dais and to the public. They take the responsibility of public service seriously and consistently focus on collaboration, problem solving and results. And not only do they advance a positive, not only do you advance a positive forward-looking agenda for Sausalito, you do it in a way that strengthens relationships both inside and outside Sausalito. And so really, to put it simply, you are the best to help the council and Sausalito function and do its very best. So thank you for that. I believe that you two are the leadership Sosceleta needs. Thank you. |
| 03:51:25.14 | Steven Woodside | Lastly, Gail. No more speaker cards. |
| 03:51:28.78 | Unknown | Hi, Council. I've, like Sharna, only got involved probably in the last year and a half. And I've really enjoyed coming to meetings and watching you find solutions and have a lot of respect for you because I know that you haven't always agreed and you have found a way forward. And I really, really appreciate that. Um, In spite of tradition, I do think it's up to you to decide who's mayor and vice mayor. You are the ones who are working together so closely. So I think that decision does need to stay in your hands. Um, for my vote. I, like Sharna, have really appreciated of the collaboration. um, respect and grace, um, My vote would go to Melissa. I've seen her display that in such... such magnitude i really really appreciate her approach and i think if if melissa is the council's choice for vice mayor i'm happy to go with that Thank you. |
| 03:52:22.43 | Steven Woodside | Thank you very much. Mr. Clerk, anyone online? you |
| 03:52:25.90 | Walfred Solorzano | Yes, we have several people. We have Sybil Boutillier. |
| 03:52:34.75 | Walfred Solorzano | And She disappeared. |
| 03:52:37.39 | Sybil Boutillier | Okay, no, I'm here. Thank you. Can you hear me? |
| 03:52:38.41 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. |
| 03:52:41.56 | Walfred Solorzano | Yes. |
| 03:52:42.42 | Sybil Boutillier | Okay, so I think that Melissa Blasen would be the most wonderful person to have as the vice mayor. She has a collaborative and intellectual integrity and open-minded attitude that is so important, and it would be such a great support for Mayor Woodside. She's a very deep researcher so that she takes the time to understand the issues and she has a really good grasp of complex Um, concepts which allows her to with the quick study that she is to always have informed comments and positions to contribute on every subject so she's always also she's always willing to meet with members of the community to listen to their concerns and is there in the deep respect and affection and trust of the community and so i hope that you will choose her to work with you and the council be a co-leader to the council this year. Thank you. |
| 03:53:58.26 | Unknown | you. |
| 03:54:02.53 | Walfred Solorzano | Next we have Beth Swerke. |
| 03:54:11.17 | Beth Swerke | Hello, sorry about that. I'm Beth Swerke. I'm a resident of 10 years. Congratulations, Mayor Woodside, and thanks to all five of you for your service. It is noted. It is appreciated. We know how much you put into the city, so thank you all. I'm here tonight to speak in strong support of Councilmember Blaustein as your Vice Mayor. as our vice mayor. Together, this would be the kind of thoughtful, effective partnership our town needs to continue the important work already underway. Councilmember Blaustein has consistently demonstrated collaborative and respectful leadership on this council. She works constructively with every single one of the council members and has repeatedly voted to advance very practical solutions and projects that has moved Sausalito forward. So many of those have been noted already in public comments, so I won't do the list that you all know and that we're all very proud of. But Most importantly, she's championed a positive agenda for all of Sausalito, not just one side of town. She leads with respect for the city staff, for the colleagues, for us, for the public, honoring the responsibility of the office of our town. And we're very grateful for that. As vice mayor, she would be that steady leader who can help continue the progress this council has already achieved that we heard so much of earlier tonight. And I respectfully ask that you vote in support of her. A big thanks again to all of you for your service to our city. Thank you to Joan and Steve for your leadership this past year. Our town is better because of each of you, and we're just all very grateful to that. Thank you. |
| 03:55:46.21 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. Next speaker is Sandra Bushmaker. |
| 03:55:52.60 | Sandra Bushmaker | I support Jill Hoffman for vice mayor. She brings experience, critical thinking, And she does her homework. This is something that the council really really needs to have this critical thinking and asking the hard questions and asking for answers. I think that Jill is finishing her last or third term and she's in her last year of her third term. I think that we need the leadership and experience. And once again, The critical thinking is so important. And she does her homework. Please vote for Jill Hoffman. |
| 03:56:37.88 | Walfred Solorzano | Okay, next speaker is Lauret Rogers. |
| 03:56:47.99 | Lauret Rogers | Hello? My husband, Mike, and I strongly support the nomination of Jill Hoffman for vice mayor. |
| 03:56:49.37 | Unknown | Bye. |
| 03:56:49.57 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:56:49.67 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:56:57.08 | Lauret Rogers | We echo the comments of Sonya Hansen that it was Jill's turn to be vice mayor last year, and we hope that you, in your fairness, make sure that she gets the turn this time. Jill does a tremendous job representing all of our city But she has a special point of view for those of us in the north, and we really appreciate that. We so appreciate her intelligence, her expertise, her insightfulness and dedication. We in Spring Valley need that representation, and it was Jill's turn last time. And please make this right this time. We strongly urge you to nominate. Jill Hoffman and vote for her. We need her. And I just want to say you're all tremendous leaders and I appreciate your service and you're working together and recognize you all bring different gifts and points of view. We need Jill's point of view and her gifts as vice mayor. Thank you. |
| 03:57:55.22 | Walfred Solorzano | All right, next speaker is Julia Harbaugh. |
| 03:57:59.40 | Unknown | Okay, thank you. Hopefully I can be heard. I'm here tonight to speak clearly in support of the Council's decision to select the mayor and vice mayor through its established voting process. And in its selection of Melissa Blaustein for vice mayor, In true Sausalito fashion, I first met Melissa while swimming in our beloved waterfront, and I've had the pleasure of witnessing and being inspired by her strong commitment to her civic... duties here in Sausalito, and I respect that all Sausalitos value tradition. I do too. We elect this council not to operate on an automatic rotation, but to use judgment, discretion, and deliberation, especially if leadership matters. There may have been this unspoken habit of rotation, but that is not government's. And as town people, we must continue that tradition in trusting our council members to select both the mayor and vice mayor. The council's expertise extends far beyond our awareness as townspeople. The council followed a lawful transparent process. A vote was taken. That vote deserves respect. Even from those that would have chosen differently, challenging a decision because it was made thoughtfully rather than automatically or with a rotation weakens our system and does not strengthen it. Disagreement is part of civic life, but repeatedly trying to overturn a valid decision sets a troubling precedence, one where the outcomes are accepted only when they align with expectations. Sausalito is a small town with big values, and one of those values must be the trust in the process and the people that we elect to serve. And I urge us to move forward, respect the council's decision and refocus our energy on the work that truly matters for this community. Thank you. |
| 03:59:45.65 | Walfred Solorzano | next speaker is Lorna Newland. |
| 03:59:54.12 | Walfred Solorzano | or not. |
| 03:59:55.35 | Lorna Newland | Yes. Good evening. Um, I'm one of those who have now every time I attend a full council meeting, I know I do speak a few times because there's so many wonderful things on the agenda and wonderful things to talk about with people and. I'm a 32 resident. But 23 years ago, I opened a small business. For the first nine years, I knew nobody in Sausalito. I was invited to join the Sausalito Women's Club. I joined the chamber and then since then, For over 20 years, I have spoken at city council. I was a regular attendee at the OMIT meetings, which have been disbanded as a tenant for 20 years of the city. So I do understand tradition. And... There are traditions that happen in city council and all that, but I also know that city council does listen to voices. and has for the many years I have been here, I'm not a newbie in speaking here. But I would like to recommend Joe Hoffman as vice mayor, I think she is an astounding council member. I think she brings so much to the table as a past JAG lawyer and servicing our country and the Navy. But more than that, she seems to be a voice of reason. And she keeps talking about things that are important to many of us, especially those of us in the North End. And her voice isn't always heard. And I would really appreciate her as vice mayor. I echo what Sonia said, what Lorette said, what so many people, and I was so impressed when she was representing Sister Cities and on a Zoom from Japan with Mount Fuji behind her. for a city council meeting. And it was incredibly impactful to me and I wholeheartedly recommend to her. And I thank all of city council for all your service. Thank you. |
| 04:02:03.21 | Walfred Solorzano | All right, next speaker is JB. |
| 04:02:08.24 | Samantha Schubert | Hi, I just wanted to reflect again what Sandra Bushmaker had said. This is Jill's last year, and I think that it would be really special if she was vice mayor. Also, I'm Samantha Schubert, and I am a South Sudo resident. Thank you so much. |
| 04:02:33.44 | Walfred Solorzano | Okay, next speaker is Aaron Nathan. |
| 04:02:41.35 | Aaron Nathan | Hi there. I'll keep this brief and I think the public's comment on who is the next vice mayor is ultimately a decision for council to make. The only thing I would ask is that in regardless of who is selected, that the council really does reflect the opinions of all the members of the council in its decision making. I think that it's important that some of us, you know, do represent geographic areas from time to time, and some of us represent certain, you know, thoughts around housing and other sensitive issues. And so I do hope that in 2026, we have a collaborative posture and an area where all five council members who are elected by the public are really brought into a lot of the decisions that affect us all. So thank you all again for your service. And I hope that 2026 will be another fantastic year here in Sausalito. Thanks. |
| 04:03:39.50 | Walfred Solorzano | Okay, we have Charles Mountain. |
| 04:03:45.16 | Charles Melton | A good evening city council. Thank you again for the opportunity to speak tonight. I will personally want to thank you all for your leadership behind the dais and for our city. I'd like to start by reframing the conversation a little bit. This vote isn't about order or precedent. It's about who can lead effectively in the next year or two ahead. Every council member was elected by the people of Sausalito. Every council member earned their seat there. But from my understanding, there's no legal requirement, no ordinance, no tradition carved in stone, kept in the city's chamber that dictates the order in which the vice mayor and mayor roles must be filled. and it's my understanding that at the december 13 2022 council meeting council member hoffman broke from such tradition that dictates the order in which the vice mayor and mayor roles must be filled. And it's my understanding that at the December 13, 2022 council meeting, Councilmember Hoffman broke from such tradition, mentioned so many times tonight, by re-nominating Councilmember Kelman to serve as mayor again. To directly quote from the city's minutes on item 7G, quote, a friendly amendment was provided by Councilmember Hoffman, who moved that the current leadership remain in office, period. Motion died for lack of a second, end quote tonight is not about turns it's about trust it's not about rotation it's about results tonight's decision about who is best positioned to help lead the council right now and right now oscarstito doesn't need more division it needs steady leadership we need a vice mayor who brings people together and helps the council work productively and who keeps the focus on moving our city forward. We need leadership with a bias towards solutions, not unnecessary friction or distraction. And to be clear, For any individual not being selected as mayor or vice mayor, it doesn't diminish anyone's role. Every council member retains the same vote, retains the same voice, and has the same responsibility to represent our entire city. This selection is about choosing leadership that fosters trust, sets a constructive tone, and helps move Sausalito forward. In that spirit, I believe Council Member Velashtine has consistently demonstrated thoughtful, community-focused leadership, and I recommend that she be selected as vice mayor. Thank you. |
| 04:05:35.67 | Walfred Solorzano | No further public speakers? |
| 04:05:37.71 | Steven Woodside | Any further speakers in the chambers? No? Okay, so I think it's up to us to consider and make nominations and cast a vote. So I would like to nominate Melissa Blaustein to be vice mayor. |
| 04:05:57.15 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 04:05:58.15 | Steven Woodside | Are there any other nominations? |
| 04:06:00.12 | Jill Hoffman | Yes, for the residents who voted for me, have written to support me, and for the, I think, over 150 residents who prepared and signed the petition that Sonia Hansen just delivered to the council with the comments, I unfortunately, well, not unfortunately, but unfortunately, I'm going to nominate myself. No sitting council member has had the support of the electorate, as I have enjoyed during my three uninterrupted terms on the council. I've always finished first in every election. My first election in 2014 when I took on two incumbents, I finished first with a 38% vote share over the incumbents. The next incumbent that I beat had a 32% vote share. In the most recent reelection in 2020, I garnered a 42% share of the vote with a total 60% lead over the second place candidate that was Mayor Cox or Joan Cox. No other race has been this decisive in its finish. In the 2024 city council race, Councilmember Sobieski garnered only 24% of the total vote share. with a 1% advantage over Councilmember Woodside, who finished with a 23% vote share. with a 1% advantage over the third place venture count Councillor Member Blaustein. So it is no wonder that voters and residents who are feeling disenfranchised who were felt compelled to sign the petition and why Why is there a top vote-ginner who is actually carrying out the promises made during my campaign. not receiving the respect from the council and being elevated to a leadership position in an orderly fashion. I maybe I think that we might want to discuss this issue at our, at our retreat or our conference that we're having in January about whether or not we do want to discuss a policy on how we have an orderly rotation. I think failure to do that subjects the council to claims of secret deals amongst the council members, and further political maneuvering contrary to what we stood for during our elections. I would suggest that we add this to our conference in January, our retreat on the 31st. |
| 04:08:23.27 | Steven Woodside | any more nominations. So I think the protocol is for the clerk to call the roll unless there's any discussion. |
| 04:08:33.78 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. Well, yeah, I guess I do want to say something. Just to correct the record, in 2024, there were 4,866 votes cast. And I received 2,527. So that's 52% of the people who voted, voted for me. I was very happy for that. Thank you very much. This math error is, you know, whether it's our finances or something else, it's important to get the numbers straight. So, I'm, concerned about the campaign because it leaves the people who came out to support my friend and colleague, Jill Hoffman, who got me involved in this whole thing, feeling like they've not been heard. I've definitely heard you, and I know that you're sincere. And I think part of the reason he came out is that Jill's policies align with yours, and you want an advocate on city council, and I assure you, you do. When I endorsed her to run for re-election, I said Jill was a fierce advocate for Sausalito, and I mean it. I hope I'm not offending any of my colleagues if I say that Of all the people on here, on the dais, I would most... prefer to have a beer with Jill. I would, she's funny, she's smart, she's personable, and she cares about Sausalito. If I was ever convicted or charged with a crime, I would want Jill to defend me because she's tenacious. And she will, uh, focus on the way to win. I respect those traits. I admire them. I think they, in the right context, serve Sausalito exceptionally well. At the same time, My friend and colleague, Melissa Blaustein, I have witnessed Be brave. in the face of bullying. be clear in where she wants to go. be mindful of other people's feelings, be supportive and fundamentally to compromise. I believe that if many of the people who signed this petition knew the Melissa that I know, they would be less assured about who they think would be the best vice mayor. The virtue that I have in this position is I actually see the day-to-day workings of the bureaucracy and the traits that are make you most successful in trying to move things forward are traits that I see in Melissa. The reality of the matter is that we're elected to four-year terms. And if you just do the math, It is impossible for all five of us to within our elected term, serve as mayor and vice mayor. It can't be done. So if someone has to be left out, Who is that good person gonna be? It has to be somebody and that's a choice we have to make. And I'm sure it's disappointing to that person and to, those that wish for a different result. But I believe that, as many of the commenters said, Melissa and Stephen will work well together, and they will help Sausalito succeed and move forward. And I admire and respect not only your service on this council for many years, Jill, but also your service to the country and the United States Navy. And I'm confident that you'll continue to contribute in many ways. But I do believe that Melissa will help us move forward well. And those are the comments that I wanted to make respectfully to everyone who showed up and who cares. |
| 04:11:47.38 | Jill Hoffman | So let me just respond to that because the The information that I I talked about with regard to your votes was taken off the Marine County Election Board and it was 24% of the vote total vote with 2527 votes and that was and. Council Member Woodside got 23% of the vote with 24,000, sorry, 2,418 votes, and Council Member Blaustein had 22% of the vote. with 2000. 362 boats that's on the Marine County. So it was a very tight vote spread and a very tight vote. |
| 04:12:22.25 | Ian Sobieski | So respectfully, Jill, that's an easy mistake to make because people can vote for more than one person. So the total number of votes depends. Yes. There were 4,866 human beings who cast the vote. I agree. And of those 4,866 human beings that cast the vote, 2,418 voted for Stephen Woodside, which is just north of 50% of the actual human beings pulled the lever for our new mayor. That's right. So the percentages you're talking about are the total number of votes cast, which is just different than the total number of humans. |
| 04:12:51.08 | Jill Hoffman | But when you look at the- |
| 04:12:51.09 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. That's the distinction. |
| 04:12:52.61 | Jill Hoffman | But the distinction is the vote spread as |
| 04:12:52.97 | Ian Sobieski | I'm just thinking. |
| 04:12:56.68 | Steven Woodside | If I may briefly interrupt and say that I don't know that the results from more than a year ago are relevant in directly relevant to what we're deciding tonight. |
| 04:12:57.07 | Jill Hoffman | If I may. That was, |
| 04:13:07.77 | Jill Hoffman | They're relevant. No, but they're relevant to, the relevance is the relevance is The fact that I'm the highest person, the person I've gotten the highest vote share of anybody on the council. |
| 04:13:19.23 | Steven Woodside | In a five-person race? I just raise the question because the math is the math. It's unassailable. In certain elections, there may be only two candidates running for one position. When Melissa first ran, she finished second to Susan Cleveland Knoll. |
| 04:13:34.75 | Unknown | Yeah. |
| 04:13:35.00 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 04:13:35.10 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 04:13:35.56 | Steven Woodside | And I just want to add, that's when I first met Melissa. Are you guys headed out? |
| 04:13:40.62 | Melissa Blaustein | Oh, is that your family? My family. |
| 04:13:42.80 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 04:13:42.83 | Melissa Blaustein | Bye. |
| 04:13:42.85 | Joan Cox | THE END OF |
| 04:13:42.99 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 04:13:43.00 | Joan Cox | Yeah. |
| 04:13:43.41 | Steven Woodside | family. |
| 04:13:43.96 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 04:13:43.98 | Melissa Blaustein | family |
| 04:13:44.98 | Steven Woodside | Okay, come on back. I'm going to personal privilege. Allie, Allie. |
| 04:13:48.23 | Melissa Blaustein | . |
| 04:13:50.58 | Steven Woodside | Come on, I'm back in. Quick. This is my middle child, and it's the only time I think I've ever been able to introduce her before anyone else in the family. |
| 04:14:03.45 | Jill Hoffman | I haven't sworn in yet. |
| 04:14:04.47 | Steven Woodside | Oh, that's true. Are you going to stick around? |
| 04:14:07.18 | Lorna Newland | Sorry. We need to feed some children, but we'll... |
| 04:14:11.22 | Steven Woodside | You'll come back? Yeah. Okay. |
| 04:14:12.53 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Okay, here's my point. My point is that, okay, you got my point. Okay, I've gotten more votes, right, than anybody on the council, and yet I just can't get elevated. I've served as mayor twice, right? I've solved some huge problems. So the fact that someone saying that I am not a leader is... ridiculous. |
| 04:14:31.08 | Unknown | I get it. |
| 04:14:31.35 | Jill Hoffman | I get it. You guys don't want me to be mayor. That's fine. I gotcha. You know what? Have your vote. Have a great holiday. I bid you all good night. I'm going to go have dinner with my husband who is attending one of the few council meetings he's ever attended in person. Have a great holiday. |
| 04:14:51.67 | Steven Woodside | Okay. Mr. Clerk, would you like to call the roll on the nominations? |
| 04:14:58.85 | Walfred Solorzano | On the first or the second nomination? |
| 04:15:01.42 | Steven Woodside | Let's call it on the first. It appears that it's just a second. |
| 04:15:03.24 | Walfred Solorzano | it. So this nomination is for Councilmember Blaustein? Correct. So we'll start with Councilmember Blaustein? you |
| 04:15:10.35 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 04:15:10.40 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. |
| 04:15:10.42 | Melissa Blaustein | as a |
| 04:15:10.57 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. Council Member Cox. Yes. Council member Hoffman absent. Council member Sobieski. |
| 04:15:21.55 | Steven Woodside | And Mayor Woodside? Yes. So I think it makes any other roll call moot. And congratulations, Melissa. And |
| 04:15:32.54 | Sybil Boutillier | Thank you. |
| 04:15:32.56 | Unknown | So, |
| 04:15:32.79 | Sybil Boutillier | Thank you. |
| 04:15:36.62 | Steven Woodside | And and I would have used this moment for the personal privilege, but my daughter, Allie, has left. However, my wife, Lucinda, who's who you've heard earlier, is in the back. Lucinda, thank you for coming down tonight. |
| 04:15:52.55 | Steven Woodside | And I think, has my son left? He did. So... |
| 04:15:57.36 | Ian Sobieski | Welcome to being mayor. |
| 04:15:58.88 | Steven Woodside | Yes, welcome to |
| 04:16:02.07 | Melissa Blaustein | In Sausalito. |
| 04:16:03.03 | Joan Cox | In Sausalito, yeah. |
| 04:16:04.52 | Steven Woodside | All right. |
| 04:16:04.84 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 04:16:04.95 | Steven Woodside | But that's... |
| 04:16:04.99 | Joan Cox | I have more agenda go through. |
| 04:16:05.85 | Steven Woodside | I do, I have more to go. And we will go. I count on Joan to sit by my side, whether it's on the left or the right, so that we can stay on track. Thank you very much. And thanks to all of you for coming tonight. These are decisions that sometimes don't disappoint. Sometimes they do disappoint. But more importantly, we move on. And we try to move on together. And I appreciate the tone and the tenor of the remarks tonight. I thought they were civil and very, very respectful. So thank you very much for that. So we have next we have some city manager reports. Have you exhausted your report earlier? Do you have more? |
| 04:16:44.54 | Chris Zapata | I have not, Mayor. I'm just warming up. Ciao. I think. I gave you an abbreviated list. I'm about to give you the real list, which is not five pages, but 15 pages. |
| 04:16:57.45 | Unknown | It's a class. |
| 04:16:57.92 | Chris Zapata | And it's full of creeping excellence. But I'm being facetious. I wanted to... not miss one thing that was really important that I think exemplifies what is happening in this community. And that's the people's civic stage. And that's this room. If you look at the room and you remember what it was three months ago, four months ago, it was not where you want to welcome the public into your decision-making process. And now you have beautiful carpet, beautiful lights, beautiful, what I call, um, a mural, but it's not really a mural. All of that is to be respectful of the people come to their meeting place, the people that work and the people that govern. And that exemplifies what's happening in South Sudan right now. Things are getting better. And that's what I wanted to just close with. And that concludes my report. |
| 04:17:52.09 | Steven Woodside | Thank you very much. City Attorney, do you have any information tonight that you need to share? |
| 04:17:57.71 | Sergio Rudin | No. |
| 04:18:00.13 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And any committee reports tonight? |
| 04:18:06.71 | Melissa Blaustein | I don't think so. |
| 04:18:08.99 | Steven Woodside | I think we have none, thank you. Peter, are you about to leave? Thanks for coming down. appointments. Now, I would like to do a couple things right out of the box. One is that in the past, recent past, both the vice mayor and the former mayor, Jonah Melissa, have been designated to work on the housing issues related to the city owned sites. So in our housing element, there are two city owned sites. the MLK site. and the corporation yard site. And I would like to designate or appoint them to continue in that manner, especially in the near term, because we do need to move forward as we promised the state we would do in our housing element. So with that, the two are appointed. I don't know what we should entitle you. Housing development on city-owned sites. |
| 04:19:03.59 | Melissa Blaustein | Okay. |
| 04:19:03.80 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. You're good with that? Yep. Okay. Um, Pardon me. Yes. So we had a nice development that is coming to a near conclusion, and that is the reactivation of the Spencer Fire Station, which is going to be important to not only our citizens, but also passers-by and residents of Marin City and such. And it would be really nice to have a liaison to the fire district for that purpose. And Mayor Cox, are you willing to do that? |
| 04:19:42.20 | Joan Cox | Former Mayor Cox, happy to serve in that role. |
| 04:19:43.60 | Steven Woodside | Excuse me. Thank you. As I said earlier, she will correct me from time to time. Thank you for doing that. It's a very important relationship that we've had for many years. It's going to be significantly enhanced, I think, by the reactivation of that fire station, as many, many citizens have advocated. I'm trying to think if I need to do anything tonight. Um, |
| 04:20:15.82 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. I do want to move forward quickly in the new year on several things, and I think these are no surprise to members of the public who've been watching a little late. In particular, we do have underway an effort to lay out basically a roadmap for planning with an emphasis on the marineship. So that needs to come back early in the year to get it moving, if not sooner. In the meantime, I know that former Mayor Sobieski has been heavily involved in that, as has former mayor, now Vice Mayor, Melissa Blaustein. You were the first two to suggest that we undertake a plan, a revisit to the plan for the marinship. So I don't know that I need to make that appointment tonight, but I'm happy to. And if you're willing to serve in that capacity. Absolutely. Very good. And we do have underway solicitation, I think, for consultants to help us develop the roadmap. And we've been advised by the city attorney that as long as any of those consultants are not involved in the crafting of an RFP, they are permitted to participate at this point and would not be precluded from participating later on. So with that, I'm hopeful that the staff can come back soon in the first quarter for sure of the new year with that roadmap, and we can move forward on that issue. There are many, many, many other things that I know people are concerned about, We'd like to take up early in the year. One of the things we want to do in January at our planning session is look at this year, particularly the first half of the year, when we have a pretty good idea of things that are pending that need to be completed, when we have a budget, When we have a search for the new city manager, these are very significant decisions we will be making early in the new year. And to the city manager, just thank you not only for your report tonight, for all you've done for Sausalito and We regret that you're leaving, and you might be leaving before the end of this fiscal year, and we have to plan accordingly, but thank you. future agenda items. |
| 04:22:40.20 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. and Mayor. I have one actually thinks I highlighted that I would show this. This is a staff report from a, No, that's not it. Let's see if we can share this. He's done that. |
| 04:22:54.43 | Steven Woodside | So before you call that up, we do have attached a rather lengthy list of items that have been pending as future agenda items. And one of the things we want to do is to make sure the public looks at those and that we make decisions before the end of January on which we actually think we can move forward and should move forward. But you have something else to offer. |
| 04:23:17.02 | Ian Sobieski | I would like to ask the agenda setting committee to agendize this subject for the first meeting in January. This table has been provided by staff as program eight in our housing element. And it involves, as you see, the draft RFP, which is already completed, but not released for the MLK site. Thank you. And it identifies a deadline for the draft RFP for the corporation yard not being released until 2027. I would suggest that we should look at this schedule and try to compress it, considering the possibility of releasing both drafts at the same time in draft form immediately or as soon as possible and getting public input in the details to take advantage of the public expertise and concern on these issues. So the narrow agenda item I'm proposing is to look at this graph, this table right here of scheduled dates and have that be agendized to discuss changing. Thank you. |
| 04:24:10.94 | Steven Woodside | OK, and I think at least one public speaker tonight and others perhaps in writing have suggested a real strong interest. |
| 04:24:10.95 | Ian Sobieski | Okay. |
| 04:24:19.34 | Steven Woodside | And looking at any RFP that's created, and we have a strong interest in seeing it and making sure the public's had a chance to review it carefully before we move forward with any specific proposal. So I think that's a great suggestion. Thank you. |
| 04:24:30.60 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 04:24:34.97 | Steven Woodside | Anything else from council members as to future agenda? |
| 04:24:43.32 | Steven Woodside | Former Mayor Cox. |
| 04:24:44.62 | Joan Cox | Yes, 27 Central. So we that was continued to a date uncertain. I just want to make sure that that stays on our agenda and we stay abreast of what's going on with that. And I had written down RFP MLK developers, so and Corporation Yard developers. So that was on my future agenda items listed. |
| 04:25:05.23 | Steven Woodside | Great minds think alike. Thank you. On 27 Central, my understanding that what, even though it's been before the Planning Commission twice over the course of many years and before this council and prior councils, again, twice, the issue that remains is apparently the possibility of some sort of hearing with respect to the amount of the fines that were incurred. It's not the substantive issue, as far as I know. But still, we need to move through that process so that we can bring that problem to a conclusion as quickly as possible, I assume. OK, that's great. Any other future agenda items? Are there any public comments with respect to future agenda items? |
| 04:25:53.50 | Steven Woodside | Seeing none at this time. I don't think we have before us any minutes from boards, commissions, or committees. Any reports of significance? Seeing none. Okay, do we do public comment now on all of these items? |
| 04:26:13.82 | Meg Fawcett | 16. Thanks. |
| 04:26:18.88 | Steven Woodside | except 60. So any public comment on the items 6A, |
| 04:26:23.95 | Walfred Solorzano | Yeah, we do have some people online. |
| 04:26:24.17 | Steven Woodside | WE WERE TALKING ABOUT THE |
| 04:26:27.54 | Steven Woodside | except |
| 04:26:27.96 | Walfred Solorzano | We'll start with Lorna Newland. |
| 04:26:35.66 | Lorna Newland | Yes, thank you. My hand was raised when he said there was no hand raised. My hand was raised immediately after you set those agenda items. And you were talking about the RFP. And would somebody please tell me what NOA means in respect to this for March 27th at MLK? Please stop the clock while they're telling me because this isn't fair. |
| 04:26:59.13 | Steven Woodside | Wait, wait. |
| 04:26:59.32 | Lorna Newland | Wait, wait. NOA means? |
| 04:27:02.74 | Steven Woodside | Okay, you're speaking to the proposed additional agenda item that Mr. Sobieski presented just now? |
| 04:27:10.40 | Lorna Newland | Yeah. Yes. |
| 04:27:12.19 | Steven Woodside | Okay. |
| 04:27:13.04 | Lorna Newland | My hand has been raised since that happened. And my clock is ticking. It's not fair. |
| 04:27:20.24 | Steven Woodside | Okay, we're not able to, we want to hear from your comments. Absolutely. And now is the time to comment on that item because it was raised as part of item six. |
| 04:27:33.77 | Lorna Newland | They're gonna restart my clock. I asked a question, please advise what NOA means. and restart my clock. |
| 04:27:45.81 | Lorna Newland | just wait if Walford's not going to do that. This is not fair. My hand was raised. You asked for public comment on future agenda items. And I had my hand raised. |
| 04:27:54.99 | Joan Cox | As a point of order, when we take public comment, we don't engage in a dialogue. We simply hear the comment, and then we can address it if we like or not. But we don't have a dialogue during public comment. |
| 04:28:05.55 | Steven Woodside | Right, that's true, and we do... a plan on addressing this very issue in substance early in January. |
| 04:28:12.28 | Ian Sobieski | Mayor, since I brought the whole matter up, Ms. Newland, if you would like to call me after the meeting, I will explain why I brought this subject up and answer any questions you have. |
| 04:28:23.20 | Lorna Newland | No, that's not my comment. Council Member Sobieski, would you please, since this has all been discussion from the dais, would you please restart my clock? |
| 04:28:34.02 | Steven Woodside | You may continue, you have a little bit of time left. Please make your comment. We are considering that item. |
| 04:28:39.28 | Lorna Newland | Okay, then you have to stop talking. This is unfair. You're talking about a future agenda item that has been on the, this is so unfair. Brandon Phipps had this on the last agenda item that on March 27th, in March 26th, you would be having an RFP and now an NOA for MLK. And I wanted to know what NOA meant, but why don't you have the Corporation Guard at the same time, which is not until 2027? This is unfair. I have a feeling there are things that are being done on MLK prematurely to everything else. And I bet. |
| 04:29:23.02 | Steven Woodside | Sorry, Miss Lund, your time is up. We will be considering this item early in the year. so that we can hear from everyone. It's both properties. Thank you. Any other comments? |
| 04:29:38.67 | Walfred Solorzano | I'm sorry. |
| 04:29:38.74 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 04:29:38.77 | Walfred Solorzano | We have Cindy Rose. |
| 04:29:45.65 | Walfred Solorzano | You can unmute yourself. |
| 04:29:48.69 | Cindy Rose | Oh, hi. Sorry, I got kind of distracted with the last... Um, And I apologize, I haven't, if I'm, speaking at the wrong time about this, but I do think for future agenda items, we need to address parking in the neighborhoods, particularly. I'm on BulkFlee. just above Princess. And There's I think we need to address issues between you know, Um, when building permits or new work should be done on houses, where they haven't addressed the real parking issues and a lack of parking for these multi-unit properties. And, um, And then parking on the street and where that should be or not. And the enforcement of no parking zones, which has not been done until recently, until I I had a good time. I made I started to like, you know, push on it. So I think, and there's other parking that I see where people park and I don't believe that it should be legal parking. I'm not sure if it is that, You know, the roads, people are walking their dogs and, um, And I see more strollers now. So, you know, I think we really have to be careful about you know, the cars and the people on the roads. |
| 04:31:14.77 | Steven Woodside | We may be asking our police department to come forward with a report on parking. And perhaps if you can, I see the chief in the back, connect with Ms. Rose. We can have a discussion offline. And if necessary, bring it back to the council. OK, thank you. |
| 04:31:32.76 | Cindy Rose | Okay, thank you. |
| 04:31:33.55 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 04:31:36.24 | Walfred Solorzano | All right, next speaker is Sybil Boutilier. |
| 04:31:43.48 | Sybil Boutillier | Thank you, Mayor Woodside, and congratulations. I wanted to, I also had my hand up with the previous comment and wasn't called upon, but I wanted to add the visitability ordinance for, on the agenda of the future, if it's not already there. I know Mayor Cox had promised to get to the council for discussion before the end of the year, but that hasn't been possible. took, had to be laid aside while the city discussed the odds and the zoning. And even though it had been put in to be reported to the council by December of 24th, It wasn't able to be done until just in the future now. It was decided that we should go to the Planning Council first, which we did last week. on Wednesday. Unfortunately, the full staff report was not presented to them, which I thought was the usual way of conducting studies, study sessions. So there was a lot of confusion and misunderstanding among the planning council about just what a planning commission about just what the visitability ordinance did and how it was different from what the state law already required. And so we will be coming back to them with answers to their questions and hopefully clarifying their concerns and also perhaps giving them a chance to read carefully. this staff report that was not presented to them in the meeting. And then hopefully it'll come to you as soon as possible. so that We could get it in place before RFPs are going out for any senior housing that may be coming down the line if you vote in favor of it. Thank you. |
| 04:33:50.39 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Anyone else? Thank you. |
| 04:33:53.18 | Walfred Solorzano | So. |
| 04:33:53.26 | Steven Woodside | Michelle McCullough. |
| 04:33:53.97 | Walfred Solorzano | right? |
| 04:33:54.19 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 04:34:00.08 | Michelle McCalla | Hello, good evening, this is Michelle McCalla. And I just wanted to make a suggestion moving forward in terms of adding agenda items and keeping the public engaged. I really strongly suggest that we stop using the terminology site 84 and include MLK. So if you're referring to Site 84, Please make sure you add MLK. And same deal with the corporation yard. I feel like that will keep the public engaged and keep everyone you know, up to date with what seems to be moving in lightning speed. So I do look forward to collaborating more with our city council. Especially you, Melissa and Joan. And thank you for your dedication and hard work this year. I do truly appreciate it. And I wish all of you guys a restful holiday. Thank you so much. |
| 04:34:47.23 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. We have Aaron Neathen. |
| 04:34:54.53 | Aaron Nathan | Good evening, City Council. Thank you all for these agenda items, and I do appreciate the addition of Council Member Sobieski. The, I think, ask that we would have there as well is to see if the MLK site needs to go directly from RFP to build and to make sure that that is clearly explained to the public. I think that some of this contracting language is complicated. And also it would be very helpful to include in this the general process of what actually happens with each of these stages. I know that looking at the corporation yard early is very important to a lot of the residents and I think that understanding exactly what that sequencing looks like and explaining that to the public in plain terms will be very helpful. So I'd love to see that as part of this agenda item that's been added and perhaps as a staff reporter, whatever you guys find is appropriate. Thank you. |
| 04:35:58.62 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 04:35:58.93 | Walfred Solorzano | Thank you. No further public speakers. |
| 04:36:02.64 | Steven Woodside | Okay, thank you. This comes to the end of this meeting finally. And we're about to adjourn, but before we do adjourn, I'm going to ask the vice mayor if she would like to make any special comments about our adjournment tonight. |
| 04:36:18.57 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you for asking. Mayor Woodside has a really nice ring to it. I just, in light of some of the more devastating events in the last few days in our global community, I think it's really important to take a minute and adjourn this meeting in honor of the lives that were unjustly lost to gun violence. As someone who worked for Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and also who is a member of the Jewish community, both the events at Brown University and the shooting in Bondi were extremely troubling and I just wanted to share a quote from Ellie Wiesel that seems appropriate for this time as we're all struggling with incidences of hate that seem rather unexplainable. The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. And I feel that all of you who have showed up for the meeting tonight are demonstrating in your own way that you are not indifferent to the events that are happening, not just in our world, but in our local community. So wanted to adjourn the meeting in honor of those lives lost in honor of that. |
| 04:37:24.59 | Steven Woodside | Thank you very much for that. So the meeting is adjourned. |
| 04:37:31.51 | Walfred Solorzano | Alright, so this is the last part that I do. So I save this. I get out of that. I press |
| 04:37:34.66 | Unknown | I feel like I'm going to be |