| Time | Speaker | Text |
|---|---|---|
| 00:20:54.10 | Unknown | . |
| 00:21:39.78 | Unknown | . |
| 01:14:56.39 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:14:58.25 | Sandra Bushmaker | All right. This is how the battles don't make time end. Thank you. |
| 01:15:11.27 | Unknown | Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. of the children Thank you. Thank you. It's not that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. that was going to be very sweet. That helps him. That was why. He's got his hands a little. |
| 01:15:31.54 | Unknown | with Spanish. |
| 01:15:33.01 | Unknown | Well, |
| 01:15:33.52 | Unknown | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 01:16:01.23 | Unknown | Yeah. I can also use advice for it. All right. Bye. Thanks for having me. He's very good. So they want to have him. He's very good. He's very good. They don't move them up to the back. They're going to move them up to the back. And so I'm very grateful that you Thank you. I see. |
| 01:16:23.52 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:16:24.97 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 01:16:25.29 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:16:25.31 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:16:25.31 | Steven Woodside | and running around. |
| 01:16:25.96 | Jill Hoffman | running around. What happened to our family? |
| 01:16:29.37 | Steven Woodside | Almost ready. |
| 01:16:51.95 | Steven Woodside | COMING BACK INTO SESSION AFTER A BREAK BETWEEN THE LAST ITEM 1A, WHICH AS MANY OF YOU KNOW WAS OR IS CONTINUED FOR A HEARING ON OCTOBER 20TH. Having said that, I welcome Mr. Sobieski, who has now joined us for the rest of the meeting. Thank you. And |
| 01:17:12.98 | Ian Sobieski | I just want to emphasize that I'm accused from that matter, and that's why I was not in attendance. Sorry. |
| 01:17:17.13 | Steven Woodside | Yeah, we did recite that a couple of times. |
| 01:17:19.41 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you very much. |
| 01:17:20.03 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Thank you. Okay, so We have a few announcements to make a couple of thank yous several about 80 or so people were on a nice walk, starting at school marker walking as close to the waterfront as we could all the way up to. Gosh, out of the city limits, north of Gate 5 Road. It was well attended. Its purpose was to help educate all of us, really, on various aspects of the marine ship's history and with a focus on some particular sites. And it was well attended, and a shout out to all of those guides who participated, worked hard to make sure they had, I'll put it this way, even tempered and neutral presentations, a lot of great history. And thanks to Brian and all the members of the Parks and Rec Commission who organized that hike. So again, thank you there. I'm gonna ask the city manager for you to make a brief report, please. |
| 01:17:51.55 | Carolyn Revell | Fantastic. |
| 01:18:28.97 | Elaine Forbes | Thank you very much, Mayor Woodside, Vice Mayor and Council, members of the public and staff. I have a few brief updates this evening. First, I'll start with the new city website. I am happy to report Tuesday, September 29th, the city launched its new website. First and foremost, the address has not changed, www.sausalito.gov, and the library's new site remains www.sausalito.org. The new site meets new ADA requirements for local government websites and offers a more accessible user-friendly experience. We are continuing to refine it and to confirm that relevant content from the previous site has been migrated and is working as it should. And if you have any trouble, we'd really, well, first and foremost, try clearing your browser cookies first. And if you still have issues after that or have comments, please email us because we'd like to hear from you. Currents at Sausalito.gov. So then we can make sure that all of those things are addressed promptly. Regarding some previous events, on September 17th, we celebrated the opening of Dunphy Park's Phase 2 improvements. With this phase complete, the park that our community envisioned more than two decades ago is now a reality. So thank you to our Public Works team, Director Kevin McGowan, |
| 01:19:52.95 | Elaine Forbes | project manager Sarah and supervisor Oscar Lucario. And an additional big thanks to the 94 Sausalito beautiful volunteers who planted more than 900 native plants and to architects Jacques Ullman and Paul Leffingwell, whose vision helped to shape that park. Thank you very much. Regarding recent community events, it has been a vibrant few weeks. The mayor did speak to the shoreline walk, which was much appreciated. And on September 19th, the 47th annual Chili Cook-Off drew a large crowd to Dunphy Park, Congratulations to Chili Wonka and the Bean Factory. you This... This year's judges choice winner ended the Sausalito Cruising Club's unsinkable chili, which took both the people's choice and the best booth. We do have past events. We also have upcoming events. Our biggest event of the season is a toast to Sausalito on Saturday, October 17th from one to 5 p.m., and that's gonna be on Caledonia Street. Presented by our Parks and Recreation Department and the Caledonia Merchants Association. It features beer, wine, the spirits festival, with 40 beverage vendors, live music, artist competitions, family-friendly activities, as well as local merchants. Admission is free, but a tasting wristband costs $45. And we look forward to celebrating that together. So these events do take real effort. And I'd like to thank our Parks and Recreation staff as well to echo the Mayor, Carly Bartlett, Candice Panisi, Cindy Jane Amaral, and of course, Community Services Director, Brian Vitale, for keeping our community events calendar lively and bringing some vibrancy to our streets with Halloween Sausalito still to come. Regarding Program 8 implementation, I want to end with an update on our housing element, Program 8, affordable housing on the MLK Park property as well as on the corporation yard. The first public forum featuring the Rickman Group, Tableau Development, and Pacific Housing was held on September 22nd, and the recording is currently on the city's new website. The second forum featuring Christian church homes and collective operations will be next Tuesday, October 13th at 5 30 p.m. at the Sausalito Center for the Arts. That's 750 Bridgeway. We welcome all members of the community to attend. If you are unable to attend, the city will hold an online Zoom meeting after both forums to summarize what was discussed. And we'll also be posting the forum recordings and responses to questions on the city's website to ensure access and transparency. That concludes my report this evening. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you very much. |
| 01:22:32.49 | Steven Woodside | Um, Let's move on from these announcements. And I might just note that we do have a couple of items on consent where maybe we'll have a comment or two regarding those from either the city manager or staff regarding the status. in terms of an update. So let's move on to general communications. This is a time on our agenda when we will hear from members who wish to speak to us on matters that are not on the agenda. And because they're not on the agenda, we are not at liberty to engage in any significant discussion about the matters, ask a lot of questions or anything like that. We're not able to make decisions tonight. We can, however, perhaps refer things that you bring up to us. to the appropriate staff for further inquiry. So having said that, I do have a few speaker cards. And I'm just going to |
| 01:23:27.55 | Unknown | you |
| 01:23:28.65 | Steven Woodside | start right now to ask greg taylor to come forward do you have a comment and to be followed by Rob McCullough. Mr. Taylor. |
| 01:23:37.86 | Gregory Taylor | Thank you, Mayor Woodside. Gregory Taylor here. Tonight, I don't need two minutes. to send my message. I'm going to briefly suggest Something to you that could help cure all your money problems. You know, I've been coming to these meetings for 40 years and always it's just the same story just beating that same old drum were broke. We're a million. We need two million. We're broke. Are we going to be doing this? five, 10 years from now. I hope not. I have about No, I won't tell you how many, but I have several good ideas that could help. And I'm going to. briefly tell you this one. What would be so wrong with turning Sausalito into a deep water port. Now, you might think a deep water pork needs to be 90 or more feet, but looking on my phone, I found out that harbors in New York City and far away as Hamburg, Germany, or only 50 feet. I know we got some good grant writers. You guys know how to raise money. What would be so wrong with getting funding to Dig out all that toxic mud. get some out. deep water in there, then maybe you could have some cruise ships back up to Sausalito or put in an offshore drilling rig, like where I'm from in the great country of Louisiana. So. I don't want to take up any more of your valuable $600 an hour time. So, And I'll be back next time with some more tips. resonate on that. I'll be looking for some results. Not a whole lot happens in this town without me knowing about it. Thank you. |
| 01:25:11.18 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 01:25:14.76 | Steven Woodside | Rob McCullough followed by Lauren Dorema. |
| 01:25:20.51 | Rob McCullough | Good evening, Mayor and members of the council. Measure X raises a fundamental question. Before Sausalito changes the way major land use decisions are made, Can the city demonstrate that it can effectively enforce the authority it already has? Telekin Harbor provides a recent and troubling case study. The Council unanimously rejected the proposed lease transaction. The transaction was subsequently restructured and proceeded anyway, And since then, residents have raised additional concerns about compliance with city permits, regulations, parking, short-term emergency, sanitation and safety and on and on. I'm not asking the council to accept any one of these allegations as an accepted fact. I'm asking a much simpler question. What has the city done about them? Okay? Which complaints have been investigated? Which permit conditions has the city determined are applicable? Have violations been found? What enforcement actions have been taken? And if no action has been taken, why not? The larger issue is response time. A sophisticated property owner and developer can restructure a transaction, retain attorneys, and change conditions on the ground very quickly. Governments move through staff reports, legal reviews, closed sessions, public meetings, assistant administrative precision, By the time the city decides what to do, circumstances may have changed substantially. And the consequences are no longer theoretical. More than a third of Pelican Harbor's long-time residents, including me, have left. While those who remain describe an atmosphere of uncertainty, pressure and intimidation as they await a city's response. That matters directly to the questions raised by measure X. Measure X would change important elements of Sausalito's land work framework and the allocation of decision-making authority. Before Sausalito makes such a change, The public deserves a straightforward answer. If the city has difficulty enforcing its existing authority promptly and effectively at one waterfront property, What institutional safeguards, enforcement resources and legal response mechanisms are in place when a similar dispositions in view of and involve much larger developments. Pelican Harbor gives us a real-world opportunity to answer that question, not hypothetically, but from the city's actual records. I believe the council owes the public that answer. Thank you. |
| 01:27:34.97 | Steven Woodside | Thank you, Mr. McCullough. Lauren DeRiemer, and I don't have another card before me. |
| 01:27:44.22 | Steven Woodside | Bye, Lauren. |
| 01:27:48.76 | Lauren DeRiemer | . Thank you, counsel. I want to know, and I believe a lot of residents and voters that I've talked to want to know, I want to know a full, comprehensive list. of everyone who helped draft the AIM initiative before and after it was a measure. I also want to know, Who has financially contributed to it, including advertising, including logo creation? before and after it was a measure. And I want to remind voters that when a measure before it is a measure, It is not, we do not know who worked on a project, who worked on an initiative like AIM. They do not have to disclose it until it becomes a measure. Secondly, a lot of you know how I feel about this initiative, and I am as somebody who grew up here very much against it, I have a lot of concerns. I THINK I'M GOING TO BE I don't feel that The two authors, Adrienne Brinton or Aaron Nathan who have said publicly that they worked on this. can lead a working waterfront any more than I can lead a tech company, to be quite frank. Um, And any proposals that we see from here on out for the waterfront must first and foremost prioritize building infrastructure for maritime before anything else, no matter what happens. That is incredibly important. We saw the mistakes that happened in Alameda. I think I also want to know what you are doing to prevent the demise of Pelican Harbor. I have submitted a lot of my concerns. I have talked about them. openly with the supposed new owner of the Marina, um, And I think that I'm obviously running out of time. I'm not sure. Yeah, I'm really concerned that this property is a great example of what could happen under Measure X because pretty soon we will have just lost that property for two to three times what it's worth unnecessarily. And I'm worried that the next conversation is going to be we have to develop it to pay for it. Thank you. |
| 01:29:55.00 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Seeing no other speaker cards, anyone wishing to comment online? |
| 01:30:01.55 | Deirdre Coyne | We have Virginia Irwin. |
| 01:30:04.50 | Steven Woodside | Missouri. |
| 01:30:07.27 | Virginia Irwin | Okay, am I unmuted? |
| 01:30:09.97 | Steven Woodside | Yes, you are. |
| 01:30:11.49 | Virginia Irwin | All right, and I can't see the timer, so I'm just going to speak as much as I can. |
| 01:30:15.81 | Steven Woodside | I'll give you a 15 second warning. How's that? |
| 01:30:18.19 | Virginia Irwin | Okay, thank you. Good evening, everyone. I'm sorry I couldn't be there in person today, but I did work late, so I just jumped on my computer I just want to say that I did Enjoy. meeting everybody for our historical walk. on. Sunday, it was wonderful to talk to everybody. I don't care if you were a yes or no person. I do have a comment about the way this measure has been handled Um, I think it's been brought forward in a very complete system failure. and pitting people against each other And even meeting people for the first time there, the harbor master, He said to me, oh, I've heard of you. And, you know, it's like, hey, you know, I'm Ginny and, you know, I want to hear what you do. I just felt a level of tension and unease And it's really sad that our community has been placed in these conditions. The only person that I've heard so far is Joan Cox. pointing out that She has a no end. Or a yes and. And there is a better way that we can come together as a community. and stop being so mean and nasty. to each other. I think we should hold public workshops. I wish we would have more conversations. And I know the election is this week. People are going to get their ballots and I just feel like we can make thoughtful improvements with each other and not treat each other so poorly. And I think there is a better way. And I'm just going to say it. Measure X is not the way. Thank you. |
| 01:32:02.32 | Steven Woodside | Thank you, you finished 15 seconds early, thank you. Anyone else online? |
| 01:32:07.98 | Deirdre Coyne | Next, we have Babette McDougall. |
| 01:32:10.80 | Steven Woodside | This is Nick Google. |
| 01:32:16.21 | Babette McDougall | There we go, the unmute button. I, too, am not able to once again see the timer, even though I am on a platform that had previously allowed for it for the record. So you might want to give me 15 seconds, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Thank you for that. And thank you for acknowledging me. So there's a couple of things. I see a lot of people have Pelican on their minds. |
| 01:32:30.61 | Unknown | Sure. |
| 01:32:38.59 | Babette McDougall | And I did write a letter that will hopefully appear on the record. I want to say that when I looked at it, once it was submitted, it looks like it dropped some formatting. That's me trying to transition one device to the next, so I apologize if some of it got dropped. I mean it in the most respectful way possible because I too cite Pelican as a litmus test for what we're going through right now and whether or not our council diocese truly aligned with their constituents, because it does appear that we are not, which speaks to the question of the First Amendment within the body of the People's Hall, otherwise known as City Council Chambers. And respectfully, Mr. Mayor, both you and Ms. Cox, because she's really the one that initiated what she did really, Ms. Blavstein did with the one-minute thing. I'd like you to cite your source on your right to abridge other people's First Amendment speech during public comment, if you don't mind. I don't think it's okay to just shout and talk over somebody because you don't like what they're saying, which you have done certainly to me. And I'll just speak to that. So with the balance of that, I just want to encourage all of us to look toward the center of this universe, which is our town of Sausalito. I just made a list today of our imminent threats that are upon us right now. not just because of Measure X, not just because of the housing element. What about everything that the MTC is now officially throwing at us like the transit-oriented community? that they want to build to support the Tier 4 hub that they're going to |
| 01:34:09.26 | Steven Woodside | 15 seconds, Ms. McGugan. |
| 01:34:10.91 | Babette McDougall | Thank you, sir. So you see, we have a lot to work on together as a community, and I think we need to come together for these big picture problems. Thank you, sir. |
| 01:34:20.90 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Anyone else online? |
| 01:34:23.87 | Deirdre Coyne | Next we have Samsung. |
| 01:34:27.57 | Steven Woodside | We have, I don't think it's Sam, I think it's a Samsung phones. |
| 01:34:31.95 | Peter Romanowski | Yeah. speaking. Can you hear me? |
| 01:34:36.01 | Steven Woodside | If you could identify yourself, that would be nice, please. |
| 01:34:38.52 | Peter Romanowski | Oh, sorry. Oh, yes. Well, my name is... Peter Romanowski, R-O-M-A-N-O-W-S-K-Y. I hold the record for anchoring out on Richardson Bay. And even though I'm in an apartment now, and thankfully I'm in an apartment, and I appreciate the apartment that was given to me, But we still want our Anchorage back for future generations. And I tried to get a copy of the Eildrash report, which I think is phony. And I can't get a copy of it. I've tried to call Merkle and Associates. They passed the buck. to coastal policy solutions. I contacted them, no contact back. contact the Audubon Society, no contact back. And I would like to have a copy of the Eelgrass Report put in the Sal Saludel Library for everybody to see. and how much money it cost to make this report And the fact that the person that made the report, Rebecca Schwartz, lesbian, I mean lesbian, sorry, she's married, and got a job. working for RBRA, a little conflict of interest there, And then, that Coastal Policy Solutions got $3 million. to replant eelgrass, which is growing out of control on that bay. You can't get a motorboat through that eelgrass. There's so much of it out there. And thank God the anchor outs helped keep it. keep it down a bit. You know what I mean? Keep it. down And to Use $3 million to replant eelgrass is absurdly infallible saying It's all about money. |
| 01:36:26.89 | Steven Woodside | 15 seconds, please. |
| 01:36:28.34 | Peter Romanowski | It's all. I think there should be a grand jury investigation of this and RBRA, which has no authority. Who in the world gave RBRA authority to even exist? It certainly wasn't legislation. |
| 01:36:42.75 | Steven Woodside | Thank you very much, sir. I believe... both the city and the RBI R-A- and BCDC have eelgrass reports, and you're certainly free to make a Public Records Act request to any and all of them for copies of the report. Anyone else online? |
| 01:37:07.34 | Deirdre Coyne | Next we have Arthur Bruce. |
| 01:37:10.97 | Steven Woodside | Arthur Bruce. |
| 01:37:14.11 | Arthur Bruce | America. Thank you. I just wanted to say that I appreciate you guys for the modifications to the – lease agreement with the SEBC out. I think that's really awesome. with everything that's going on. Just one nice thing happening is something to look forward to. Appreciate y'all. |
| 01:37:37.51 | Steven Woodside | Thank you, and that's actually a consent item that we'll get to in just a moment. Anyone else online? |
| 01:37:45.22 | Deirdre Coyne | Next, we have Sandra Bushmaker. |
| 01:37:46.78 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. |
| 01:37:47.05 | Steven Woodside | Ms. Bushmaker. |
| 01:37:49.66 | Sandra Bushmaker | Good evening, council. I was down working on my boat today. And I was shocked to see the vacancies at Pelican Harbor. And. What I fear is that These vacancies are going to create in the developer's mind. A need for bigger, better, more lucrative, activities down at Pelican. Instead of the harbor that we've all grown to love. And I really hope, and I brought this up before, I really hope the city is taking some aggressive steps on this. And so far, I haven't heard anything since this guy took over, AND maneuvered the water leases in his favor. So I hope that the city is going to take action and let us know what it is. Thank you. |
| 01:38:42.92 | Steven Woodside | Any other comments online? |
| 01:38:44.39 | Sandra Bushmaker | you |
| 01:38:44.40 | Deirdre Coyne | Seeing none online. |
| 01:38:45.52 | Steven Woodside | Okay, and seeing none in the chambers, we'll move on. Thank you all for your... Public comments. We'll move on to the consent calendar. We have items 4A, through 4E. I'll just quickly read the titles. We're the draft minutes of September 15th. An appropriation of additional funding in the amount of $160,000 and a few extra dollars to implement the construction of Caledonia Street re-striping. |
| 01:39:20.52 | Steven Woodside | The services agreement to continue development of streetscape beautification design development from the general fund reserve. |
| 01:39:27.89 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:39:29.55 | Steven Woodside | um foresee adopt a resolution accepting and the surrendered and abandoned Vessel Exchange Grant Agreement. 4D receive and file update regarding the project status at one in three Harbor Drive and application of sequa. And item 4E, authorize the city manager to exercise a letter agreement with the Sausalito Community Voting Center, SCBC, modifying the holdover lease to authorize The caretaker live aboard. at Cascadley Marina. And I think one of the speakers online mentioned that issue. |
| 01:40:11.45 | Kevin McGowan | Good evening, Mayor. Kevin McGowan, Public Works. Item 4B this evening, your staff report, at least the one that was published, is an older version of the staff report. We have since opened bids for that specific project, and the amount requested is not $160,000. It is $176,156.09. So that's item 4B. |
| 01:40:35.68 | Steven Woodside | So you're suggesting we make that adjustment to the consent calendar? |
| 01:40:38.94 | Kevin McGowan | Yes, please, sir. |
| 01:40:46.92 | Steven Woodside | Okay, we will take that up as part of one motion to approve all of the items, but before we do so, we'll ask for public comment on consent items. . |
| 01:41:00.64 | Jill Hoffman | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 01:41:00.65 | Steven Woodside | Collier. |
| 01:41:01.67 | Jill Hoffman | Mayor, I had a follow-up question on this item that I discussed with Mr. McGowan beforehand. And so I don't know if you want me to ask it now or if I just want me to remove it from the consent calendar. |
| 01:41:13.66 | Steven Woodside | I have no problem with you asking it now. It is a question though, right? Yeah. Okay, sure. |
| 01:41:17.61 | Jill Hoffman | . Mr. McGowan, I had discussed this with you. I had noticed that in the... Staff report, the estimate from SWA had doubled from 30,000 to about 60,000. and you were going to look into that. And you had mentioned to me that you were going to provide comments to the council with regard to what you had just shared with the council and that you were going to also provide follow-up on this issue. and then Do you have some further insight for us on that issue? |
| 01:41:46.11 | Kevin McGowan | I do. I'm so sorry. I forgot about that. So my apologies. So SWA has submitted a proposal in order to work with the city on the next phases of that specific project. More specifically, there's a pilot program which will reduce the widths of the traveled lanes on one street that adjoins one of the side streets going up the hill. Part of their scope is to look at that and to improve on streetscapes, as well as to look at long-term visioning for that specific roadway. Hopefully that addresses your immediate concern. |
| 01:42:24.74 | Jill Hoffman | So, okay, no, that's great. So that does provide clarity. So I don't believe... So let me just, then I would like to pull this off because it We did not give direction to reduce the width of a side street off of Caledonia. I'm sorry. That was not part of the direction that we gave. |
| 01:42:39.86 | Steven Woodside | My recollection is we gave direction to undertake the pilot project. Yes. |
| 01:42:45.73 | Jill Hoffman | It was a. |
| 01:42:45.77 | Steven Woodside | is what's been described as I understand Mr. McGowan. |
| 01:42:48.81 | Jill Hoffman | There was... The pilot parking project that we were, that was supposed to actually go out to the neighbors and there were supposed to be neighborhood, neighborhood There was supposed to be neighborhood outreach that didn't happen, and that before it went out to bid. It has gone out to bid without neighborhood outreach. And now you're talking about reducing the width of a street as part of the spoke. scope with SWA. I do not agree that that was part of the scope of what we discussed under any circumstance with Mr. McGowan with, with as part of the scope for SWA. Never did we discuss reducing the width of a scope. |
| 01:43:25.85 | Steven Woodside | Never. any point of a story. Mr. City Manager, do you recall |
| 01:43:31.70 | Elaine Forbes | I believe that we are following council's direction as specified in the staff report. However, if we need to have additional discussion to clarify that, I would first defer to Director McGowan. And if we need to clarify further, we can discuss at a later date or at this meeting. |
| 01:43:49.07 | Kevin McGowan | So it's my understanding after reviewing the minutes of that specific meeting, and I can't remember the date, at this point in time that we were not directed to reach out to the adjacent property owners we are supposed to move forward with re-striping the roadways. and to include a pilot project that would include possibly reducing the widths of the lanes on one of the side streets in order to have perpendicular and parallel parking at the same time. Those two travel lanes would be reduced, such as you may see on some of the upper streets on the hillside. That's what our staff took a look at. |
| 01:44:27.88 | Steven Woodside | And that was the direction, as I recall it. I believe our city managers confirmed that. |
| 01:44:34.76 | Jill Hoffman | reducing the lane is different from reducing the width of the street. |
| 01:44:38.56 | Steven Woodside | Well, when you do a perpendicular parking, you are reducing the traffic lane as a result. |
| 01:44:45.88 | Jill Hoffman | Um. Yeah. |
| 01:44:49.34 | Steven Woodside | So if |
| 01:44:50.22 | Jill Hoffman | That I agree with, but not reducing the width of the street. |
| 01:44:53.61 | Kevin McGowan | My apologies, council members. Maybe I used a wrong term. Sorry about that. |
| 01:44:53.81 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Yeah. Let's worry about it. . That's fine, but it was supposed to also have neighborhood outreach before it went out in a in the configuration went out to BID. And that's what we're doing. |
| 01:45:07.11 | Steven Woodside | We're now... Maybe we should pull this for further discussion, but I hate to keep Mr. McGowan here till the end of the agenda. So at the conclusion of the consent calendar, we will immediately take up this item. How's that? That's fine. Okay. We're taking item for be off for further discussion and any comments on any other items on consent before we take motion this call here. |
| 01:45:41.23 | Sophia Collier | Okay, good evening. I'm Mayor Woodside and Council Members. I'm Sophia Collier from Save Our Sausalito. and I'm here on behalf of nearly 950 25 residents who signed our petition asking for a full environmental review of one harbor drive The proposal started in March. And since then, it has grown to 80 feet tall, and 477,000 square feet. the largest project ever proposed in Sausalito. The height limit there is 35 feet. One of the concerns in reading the staff report, I realized that this is an interim report to the staff from the staff or to advise the council of the status. But one of the concerns that we had was that the key things that we had put in our legal filing in May 19th. were not actually addressed in the staff report. We have put in strong information about why this council does have the authority to go, or this city does have the authority to go. to pursue a sequel analysis. In a moment, Richard Drury will come on for short comments as well, because I just want to underline this very, very strongly, that if indeed you can find in that law be You must find it and see it. And if you could make a decision later, well, we don't want to do it or whatever, that's a different decision. But to just say it is not required or not allowed or we cannot reach it, that is inaccurate, according to my understanding. So he'll be presenting that briefly. And again, we will continue to follow this closely. And I just want to mention SOS model motto. Find problems and fix them before you build. And that's what we want to emphasize here. And please require the full environmental review. Thank you. And listen carefully to attorney Drury. |
| 01:47:28.93 | Steven Woodside | Um, Is he remote? |
| 01:47:34.73 | Deirdre Coyne | Next we have Rick Bury. |
| 01:47:35.36 | Steven Woodside | Great. |
| 01:47:37.98 | Deirdre Coyne | She would be curious. |
| 01:47:40.39 | Richard Drury | This is Richard Drury on behalf of Save Our Sausalito. Thank you, Mayor Woodside and members of the City Council. I'm here to support uh sophia collier and the 900 petitioners for a CEQA review for the OneHarvard Drive project The project is not ministerial and therefore it is discretionary and not exempt from CEQA under Government Code 65583.2. In particular, the project requests discretionary permits to remove 12 protected trees. It requires waivers to build to 80 feet tall, which is more than twice the allowable 35 foot height limit. It seeks waivers from the five foot side setback and 15 foot rear setback. It also seeks a waiver to allow to exceed the 50% maximum lot area coverage and to go to 74% of lot area. Now this involves a potential conflict between CEQA, the California Environmental Quality Act, which requires environmental review for discretionary projects, and the housing element law, which states that cities cannot require discretionary view for designated sites. When a potential conflict exists, the constitutional law is clear that the agency must try to harmonize the statutes, and that is possible here. In particular, they can be harmonized by Allowing projects that comply with zoning and general plan to proceed ministerially, And otherwise, if there are exceedances as here of zoning and general plan, discretionary decisions are required and therefore sequel reviews is required. Here, the project, the tree removal permits are clearly discretionary. They require the city to make discretionary findings on public safety, The density bonus waivers are also discretionary because the city has- |
| 01:49:37.87 | Steven Woodside | I've given you a 15 second warning. |
| 01:49:40.67 | Richard Drury | Okay. The city has to decide whether those waivers would impact public health and safety, and here they would, because this project's in a mapped flood zone, and allowing the increase in lot coverage would exacerbate the flood zone risks and therefore pose a... |
| 01:49:56.57 | Steven Woodside | Gary. |
| 01:49:58.07 | Joan Cox | Mayor, may I simply ask Mr. Drury to forward the comments? Sure. I was obliged. |
| 01:50:03.17 | Steven Woodside | Bye. |
| 01:50:03.23 | Joan Cox | to the |
| 01:50:03.27 | Steven Woodside | Yeah. |
| 01:50:03.30 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 01:50:03.35 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 01:50:03.49 | Joan Cox | disabled. |
| 01:50:03.89 | Steven Woodside | Thank you so much. Yeah, we don't want to cut it short completely, but please submit your comments. And I'll ask the city attorney a question that he doesn't have to answer now, but may be a way, given that the risk involved in us trying to harmonize on our own means that whoever is on the other side of how we harmonize it is likely to sue. to the city attorney, I just ask that you take a look at the possibility of us instituting a declaratory relief action, naming all the respective parties so we can get a court to tell us what power we do or do not have under these frankly conflicting laws. |
| 01:50:45.85 | Joan Cox | accompanied by a stay so that we have a decision before we proceed. |
| 01:50:49.27 | Steven Woodside | We... Yeah, I'm just asking it up front so the public hears that we're in a pickle. And if we do it on our own, we're damned if we do and damned if we don't. Mr. City Attorney, do you want to comment? |
| 01:50:58.30 | Joan Cox | and if we're not going to be |
| 01:51:05.28 | Sergio Rudin | Um, Well, I'm not going to comment on open session right now as to what I think of those issues, but I'll certainly look into those and I will advise the council appropriately. |
| 01:51:15.83 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Any other comments on the consent |
| 01:51:21.84 | Deirdre Coyne | Next we have Babette McDougall. |
| 01:51:23.69 | Steven Woodside | Ms. McDougal? |
| 01:51:26.51 | Babette McDougall | Thank you again, Mr. Mayor. I, too, actually would like a call of attention to item 4D and the general question about CEQA. So, in fact, I do agree with my neighbors. We have been saying all along, regardless of the outcome of this coming election, anything that happens in the Marineship absolutely must have a CEQA study. It has to, by definition. Number one, if we really think the marineship is a great treasure that deserves to be coveted, Well, then why wouldn't we want to make sure that it's always as clean and as strong as it can be over time. Otherwise, why invest the money in the first place? And secondly, It's the people ultimately that have to pay the price one way or the other. So if we don't do it by the book, which is, obviously being quickly thrown out by certain parts of America, but not here. And I really hope that you folks will get lined up with the people's voice because we have to work this out together. Thank you. I yield back my time. |
| 01:52:30.84 | Steven Woodside | Thank you, Ms. McDougall. Anyone else online? |
| 01:52:32.85 | Babette McDougall | you |
| 01:52:32.87 | Deirdre Coyne | No one else online. |
| 01:52:33.78 | Steven Woodside | Anyone else in the chambers? OK. I'm back to the Council for a motion on consent, with the exception of item 4B, which we'll take up immediately after this. |
| 01:52:45.71 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:52:46.20 | Steven Woodside | Okay. Second. Okay. There's been a motion and second. All those in favor of approval say aye. |
| 01:52:51.36 | Unknown | I. |
| 01:52:52.59 | Steven Woodside | Okay. So let's go back now to item 4B, which is a contract to implement various restriping and other projects authorized by the council. And it was a, I guess it's a contract adjustment. Is that correct, Mr. McGowan? Okay. And just to be clear, we did authorize, I believe the city manager and others on the dais believe we authorized a restriping on a pilot basis of one of the side streets. so as to allow for more or create more perpendicular parking and to do that as a pilot program. |
| 01:53:39.67 | Kevin McGowan | Yes, that's correct, on one of the streets. |
| 01:53:41.46 | Steven Woodside | Okay, and which street was it? |
| 01:53:44.23 | Kevin McGowan | You didn't specifically say that we were thinking of Litho Street at this point, because we do have perpendicular parking there now. It seems like a good candidate to try both. |
| 01:53:52.50 | Steven Woodside | So that's the adjacent to the south of the City Hall. |
| 01:53:57.09 | Kevin McGowan | Right on that side of the building. Yep. |
| 01:53:58.74 | Steven Woodside | Okay. |
| 01:54:00.82 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 01:54:00.94 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 01:54:00.97 | Jill Hoffman | So can I follow up from here? Sure. |
| 01:54:03.67 | Steven Woodside | Sure. It's now question time, and we'll hear from the public after questions. |
| 01:54:08.94 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. So the, the pilot for re-striping one for just litho is an additional $30,000? |
| 01:54:17.14 | Kevin McGowan | No, this is for SWA to assist, and I'll kind of take a look at their proposal itself. And I believe they are helping us with the short-term solution at this point, so taking a look at the pilot project but also looking at long-term improvements to Caledonia to improve accessibility, not accessibility, it's a bad term for this, but to entice folks to visit Caledonia compared to other areas. |
| 01:54:49.16 | Jill Hoffman | So let me clearly state my issue or my question was that the staff report, indicated that we had engaged SWA for about a $30,000 contract The staff report indicated that we were increasing the contract we're doubling the contract from 30,000 to about 60,000. And my question was, For what? I couldn't tell from the staff report why we were increasing their, like, you know, what were we doing? And the council hadn't authorized anything, to my knowledge, other than what we had authorized at the meeting. So that's what I'm trying to get at. Like, what exactly do we authorize and what exactly is the scope? |
| 01:55:28.27 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:55:30.20 | Jill Hoffman | of what we're authorizing. Because to my mind, it was a very bare bones sort of contract that we authorized |
| 01:55:30.22 | Kevin McGowan | Yes. |
| 01:55:31.56 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 01:55:31.57 | Kevin McGowan | They're going to... |
| 01:55:37.26 | Kevin McGowan | Yes, so some short-term improvements associated with the pilot project. Yes. |
| 01:55:40.99 | Sophia Collier | Yes. |
| 01:55:41.29 | Kevin McGowan | and some long-term study of how to improve access, not access, but folks entice folks to visit Caledonia more often. |
| 01:55:51.32 | Jill Hoffman | So that- |
| 01:55:52.60 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 01:55:52.63 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah, to my understanding, that's not what we authorized. So where did that come from? And I'm not sure that that's something that was authorized by the government. |
| 01:56:00.66 | Deirdre Coyne | there. |
| 01:56:01.04 | Steven Woodside | There. |
| 01:56:01.63 | Deirdre Coyne | in |
| 01:56:01.96 | Steven Woodside | you |
| 01:56:02.69 | Jill Hoffman | Well, I don't think that's authorized by the council, and that would have to come back to us. |
| 01:56:02.91 | Steven Woodside | . Well, is that a question then? Was it authorized that we also engage in streetscapes? |
| 01:56:06.27 | Jill Hoffman | No, I'm sorry. |
| 01:56:13.35 | Jill Hoffman | Well, it wasn't authorized by the council. This is some sort of additive thing that we haven't authorized, and that would have to come back to us. Let me ask the city. |
| 01:56:20.43 | Steven Woodside | Let me ask the city manager what his understanding Standing as as to whether or not the Council authorized SWA to also look at streetscapes. |
| 01:56:29.35 | Elaine Forbes | you |
| 01:56:29.52 | Steven Woodside | Yep. |
| 01:56:29.91 | Elaine Forbes | Thank you, Mayor, for the opportunity. So on July 21... |
| 01:56:33.18 | Unknown | the |
| 01:56:33.22 | Elaine Forbes | And in connection with SWA's previous contract, right? We've spent a good amount of that. That's it's about $29,000 worth of $30,000 contract that was approved. Now, as a part of the council discussion, there was direction for staff to engage in additional landscape, visual amenities, and streetscape design in order to a more vibrant Caledonia Street in order to bring more residents, community members, businesses to that area. Now, the specific number and the proposal that we've received from SWA is their assessment as to what it's going to cost them to do that work. So as far as an explicit number is concerned, no. This is SWA's estimate at what that work will cost. If that number is too high for counsel, I think it would be excellent direction to receive this evening for us to go back to SWA and to perhaps renegotiate a reduced contract. |
| 01:57:32.38 | Steven Woodside | So if I'm to understand it, yes, we authorize the scope of the work, but we have yet to authorize an amount of an expenditure, and that's why this matters on the agenda tonight. |
| 01:57:43.18 | Elaine Forbes | I don't believe a specific amount was authorized at the July 21 |
| 01:57:48.02 | Steven Woodside | I believe that's what I said. We didn't have authorization for a dollar amount. Correct. We did have authorization for the scope of the work. Correct. |
| 01:57:48.11 | Elaine Forbes | I think. |
| 01:57:56.56 | Steven Woodside | Correct. |
| 01:57:58.98 | Jill Hoffman | Well, then I'd like to understand and know what we're going to authorize and what they're going to actually do. So I think that needs to come back to us. That's my point. |
| 01:58:08.59 | Steven Woodside | Well... Can you repeat what we did? |
| 01:58:10.75 | Jill Hoffman | Can you repeat? Thank you. We authorized, excuse me, what we authorized at that meeting was a Okay. |
| 01:58:16.42 | Ian Sobieski | This is not a question. Can we just get questions and we'll have discussion after? |
| 01:58:19.97 | Steven Woodside | of order well taken. We've had an answer as to what was authorized. If some members of the dice aren't clear about what we authorized at the last meeting, I suggest we rely on the description given to us by the city manager, which I do believe is accurate. and move on. Question for us tonight is are we going to authorize the expenditure? In the past, we've sometimes authorized the work but not the expenditures. And that's gotten us into trouble. when we're audited. So we're trying to make sure we do both things correctly. |
| 01:59:00.53 | Steven Woodside | I think that's the issue before us. So any more questions? If not, let's, it's a, we pulled it off consent. So anyone in the audience wish to speak to this item? |
| 01:59:15.79 | Steven Woodside | Ms. Merrill, that's okay. That's okay. We know who you are, Alice. Alice Merrill, please come forward. |
| 01:59:24.97 | Alice Merrill | So I remember it exactly as Jill says it, that it was going to be a pilot, that it was going to be. explain to the neighbors so that they had a chance to think about it and understand what was the possibilities so they could get on board or not on board. and that it wasn't going to happen until that had happened, until they had been informed and talked about and as I always am asking for Publicity, open. discussion, let the people know. Have you sent a letter to the people on that street? Has each one been informed about this idea and now it's a bigger idea. And then all of a sudden it's almost a done deal and you have You guys... It just is astounding that you can't, Um, You can't just... Look at. Letting the people know. And you have to plow ahead. And I'm just shocked. And I'm really discouraged. And then you guys are shutting down different members who have real concerns, who are actually talking, wanting to talk to the people. and I'm just discouraged you guys are not acting very well. And I'm sure I don't do that either sometimes, but... Please let the neighbors know this is a big deal. And then I'm gonna say one more thing. The turn that should have been a left-hand turn onto Turney from Bridgeway, which to my mind, I know I'm involved, but at driver's market is a very important part of the, commerce. on on Caledonia. And the left turn lane was removed, so you can't turn left anymore off of Bridgeway to go to drivers. You have to remember to do it earlier, or you have to go three blocks down. So I think that that should be fixed. I mentioned it. when it happened. And, um, And I can't imagine why that was a decision that was made. Thank you. |
| 02:01:37.94 | Steven Woodside | Yes, please come forward and state your name for the record. |
| 02:01:43.28 | Carolyn Revell | I'm Carolyn Revell, and I'm not contradicting anything that Alice is saying about notifying the neighbors But I have been attending meetings of the Caledonia merchants. And I know many of them were at the meeting at the council testifying that they hope to that in addition to addressing state mandate that there be no parking within 20 feet of the intersection, which is what's driving this project, as I understand, that the council commission SWA to do a holistic streetscape analysis. So I'm just here to say that that's my memory of your direction that evening, not that there was a cost associated with it. THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 02:02:21.77 | Steven Woodside | Thank you very much. |
| 02:02:21.80 | Deirdre Coyne | Yeah. |
| 02:02:23.19 | Steven Woodside | Any other comments in the room? Anyone online? |
| 02:02:27.64 | Deirdre Coyne | of Sandra Bushmaker. |
| 02:02:28.70 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. |
| 02:02:28.99 | Steven Woodside | Ms. Bushmaker? |
| 02:02:31.56 | Sandra Bushmaker | I recall it as at Councilmember Hoffman just provided. Now we're looking at a project that costs twice as much money and the neighbors haven't been notified. I think. This needs to go back to the drawing board. And I think that to not involve the neighbors when there was a big discussion about involving the neighbors. is requires attention. And this doubling of the cost without proper vetting is irresponsible on my part. So I'm not in favor of proceeding. right at this point i think it needs to come back to the council |
| 02:03:14.15 | Steven Woodside | Any other comments? |
| 02:03:16.93 | Sandra Bushmaker | Thank you. |
| 02:03:16.95 | Deirdre Coyne | Next we have Babette McDougall. |
| 02:03:18.93 | Steven Woodside | is McGoogle. |
| 02:03:21.71 | Deirdre Coyne | Thank you. |
| 02:03:21.73 | Babette McDougall | Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So about this I2, First of all, I would like to say thank you that we have access to such great legal minds. We're lucky because that's one way to keep our six covered. The other way, I wanted to say that the way Ms. Hoffman is characterizing it is actually the correct record. We chose a street. as a model and the protocol needs to be honored because it gets back to lining up with your constituents. They're the people who voted for you. So representative at large government means that you pay attention to every voice and as Matthew Manditz said at these recent public workshops, he says, boy, I tell you what, when it comes to building Sausalito, the people show up. And they do. because you're talking about the very fiber of this town. And if you keep walking over to people like last July, I don't think it was last July. It was the year before that. I remember Joan Cox was mayor. And she was really surprised to see that entire neighborhood show up at a council meeting, the whole neighborhood. So, you know, remember, they show up. And COVID is still killing us one way or the other. We're still battling these things. But we show up because this is our town. So we have to work together. Thank you. |
| 02:04:37.98 | Deirdre Coyne | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:04:39.84 | Steven Woodside | Anyone else? |
| 02:04:41.38 | Deirdre Coyne | Seeing none online. |
| 02:04:43.15 | Steven Woodside | So we'll bring it back here. Let me just. point out a few facts. The request here is from I guess 160 to something like 190. That is 30,000 increase. It's not doubling a contract. Number two, the record is clear. that we authorize the work LOOKING AT Caledonia Street Street Skate. That's what the increase involves. Okay, if people remember it differently, I suggest There's something, they're not remembering it the way the record reflects or the way we actually approved it after a full public discussion. So sorry to express my frustration, but Pattern here of let's remember it differently so we can revisit it forever is what slows this city down. and prevents the neighbors from seeing what might come of a pilot project that makes Caledonia much more attractive for visitors and residents alike. So I'm sorry, but that's the way I see it. you Anyone else? Yes. |
| 02:05:52.27 | Melissa Blaustein | One more question of staff. I'm so sorry I didn't think of this, but I know we had a robust conversation about this. And in fact, in the context of the work with SWA and what we would be authorizing tonight, that includes extensive neighborhood outreach, correct? |
| 02:05:54.07 | Steven Woodside | I'm sure. |
| 02:06:06.41 | Melissa Blaustein | We are absolutely planning to conduct neighborhood outreach on what may or may not go forward based on this approval tonight. |
| 02:06:15.91 | Kevin McGowan | It's my understanding we were to move forward with this project. That's why we did it so quickly, and that's why we were moving forward. I was planning on giving a notification of Yes, this project is moving forward and this is what it's going to look like. |
| 02:06:30.90 | Steven Woodside | Well, when you say this project, aren't there two projects, the side street re-striping. and then the streetscape visioning, if you will, by SWA. |
| 02:06:41.09 | Kevin McGowan | Yes, that's correct. |
| 02:06:42.20 | Steven Woodside | And as to the latter, That's a visioning exercise. There would be plans, presented by them. for the the public and all of us to look at. and have a robust discussion as to whether or not that makes sense. |
| 02:06:55.13 | Kevin McGowan | Yes, it's in their scope to bring it back to Council Thank you. |
| 02:06:57.47 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 02:06:59.03 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 02:06:59.04 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 02:06:59.09 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 02:06:59.90 | Melissa Blaustein | I was just going to say, and I mean, Just this is in the context of moving us forward on the required improvements to Caledonia per AB 413, which we are already more than six months behind on, correct? |
| 02:07:15.12 | Kevin McGowan | This is in in conformance with 8413, yes, but it adds more to it. there's more street parking on the side streets. Council has expanded that. |
| 02:07:26.80 | Melissa Blaustein | Because there was concern about parking generally from the members of the public when we discussed the original implementation of AB 413. |
| 02:07:34.13 | Kevin McGowan | I'm sure that's an interpretation of your counsel. but. We were instructed to improve parking or make more parking on the side streets. |
| 02:07:44.54 | Melissa Blaustein | Right. As we were making the necessary improvements for AB 413. Yes. Okay. I'm sorry, Councilmember Sobi, go ahead. |
| 02:07:52.37 | Steven Woodside | Yes, Mr. Sobieski. |
| 02:07:53.97 | Ian Sobieski | So your stock report, I think, provides the answer that people are mangling a little as best they can. Just a quote from your own staff report. During the July 21st, 2026 meeting, City Council directed staff to implement option two. That's what you're just referring to. You have direction to implement option two. without coming back to the council. Adding curb extensions and optimizing parallel parking on Caledonia Street with perpendicular parking on Quayside streets. Council directed staff to use a painted approach at minimal necessary expense and proceed as expeditiously as possible. That's your direction. Council also directed staff, also, this is something separate, to work with the consultants to develop a one-way street pilot SWA's option three, with parallel parking on one side and perpendicular parking on the other. conduct outreach to affected residents and businesses, hold a community meeting on the proposal and return to city council with pilot design documents for approval prior to implementation. There's no confusion here except in the mangled memories and the way we're expressing it. There are two separate things. One is proceeding right away and the other involves everything that's been commented on here tonight. So I'd like to go ahead and just make a motion so we can move on. It's warm. |
| 02:09:07.14 | Jill Hoffman | Actually, I haven't had a chance to speak. |
| 02:09:08.42 | Ian Sobieski | And my motion is to authorize additional appropriations in the amount- |
| 02:09:11.81 | Steven Woodside | Is there a second? |
| 02:09:12.73 | Ian Sobieski | I have |
| 02:09:13.28 | Steven Woodside | I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I thought I heard it. |
| 02:09:15.65 | Ian Sobieski | authorize additional appropriations in the amount of 176 156.09 to implement the construction of the California Street Restriping Project related to AB 413 and support Amendment 1 of SWA's Professional Services Agreement to continue the development streetscape beautification design development from the General Fund Reserve. |
| 02:09:35.10 | Steven Woodside | Is there a second? |
| 02:09:37.99 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 02:09:38.01 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 02:09:38.02 | Jill Hoffman | second. |
| 02:09:39.09 | Steven Woodside | Is there a discussion? |
| 02:09:41.72 | Jill Hoffman | So I'd like to speak. So... |
| 02:09:42.06 | Unknown | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 02:09:42.31 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 02:09:45.31 | Jill Hoffman | First, let me say that I spoke with... EDAC members, Yoshitome and Alex I'm going to make his last name, but Alex B. Um, in mid-September about various things. And one of the things that came up was the Streetscape project. And we were surprised that the that the bid had already been issued. Because... Our collective memory was that it was going to go out to neighborhood Um, neighborhood, uh, discussion before it was issued. because that was the direction from the council was that before the striping started and before the changes to the streets, the neighbors were going to be talked to about how the changes in their streets and the parking on their streets. was going to be changed because that's quite a big difference when you start talking about angled parking, on streets and side streets in front of people's houses. before that starts. And we felt as a council, especially Councilmember Blaustein and I, that you need to talk to neighbors about what's going to happen in front of their houses. And so I send an email to our city manager BIPs and also to Mr. McGowan asking if that bid had been issued or not without talking to the neighbors. And the answer was, yes, the bid had already gone out. And I was surprised that that had gone out. So, I disagree that the collective direction from the Council. was that we were not going to go out to neighbors and talk to neighbors about what was happening on their streets. BEFORE. the re-striping started. And so, we are in agreement that The one hundred ninety is not a doubling, but certainly 30 to 60,000 with SWA is a difference. AND I THINK IT'S A when we talked about what SWA was going to do, at our meeting in the summer, it was a quite small project with SWA about what was going to happen at the SB 413. Um, crosswalks. |
| 02:11:58.17 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 02:11:59.74 | Jill Hoffman | And it was quite a small project. that time and just to get it done. And now that it's being delayed for this much more revisioning about what's happening throughout Caledonia Street and the side streets. This is a much bigger and different project than what we had envisioned this summer. So I do disagree. that. This was part of the direction that council gave. And if this is turning into something different, I believe it needs to come back to council. And this is the scope creep. that has been happening continuously in the past few years here at Council. and what's happening with our budget. So yes, I agree that we need to talk. I think we need to talk about what exactly is SWA going to do. And more importantly, People need to understand residents need to understand what the restriping is going to be on our streets. the pilot restriping. needs to happen and we need to talk to neighbors about what's going to happen in front of their houses. before it needs to, before it happens. and they need to understand and be notified that this is. that the council is considering doing this on their streets. AND IF YOU WANT TO BE ABLE TO If they're, Accepting of it and they think it's a great idea and they want more parking and they like having angled parking in front of their houses instead of parallel parking, then let's move forward. But. People need to be notified of that. And I strongly believe in that. before we start moving forward. And I believe that was the direction of counsel. Mayor. |
| 02:13:30.31 | Steven Woodside | Um, this is Cox. |
| 02:13:31.94 | Joan Cox | Thank you. I think what Ms. Hoffman, Councilmember Hoffman just said is actually consistent with what Councilmember Sobieski said and read. from the staff report. So this is a two-part project. The first part had to proceed immediately because we are already way behind. in implementing the required AB413 improvements. The second part is exactly what SWA is going to do. It is work with the consultants to develop a one street pilot of SWA's Option 3 configuration with parallel parking on one side, perpendicular parking on the other, conduct outreach to affected residents and businesses Hold a community meeting on the proposal. and return to City Council with pilot design documents for approval prior to implementation. That's exactly what the staff report says we're going to do. That is exactly what the SWA proposal attached to the staff report says we're going to do. Council presentations as required to anticipated preparation of graphics and necessary materials to support the scope above. a design-led Caledonia streetscape with landscape, architect, blah, blah, blah, programming and vision. So It says focus on parking AB 413 compliance near term, then do the design effort to carry out option three, which is to do a pilot project, seek public feedback, bring it back to the council to decide whether to proceed. that, the concern that Councilmember Hoffman has has been addressed. We are doing a pilot project. It just hasn't happened yet. We're being asked tonight to approve the SWA contract to proceed with that pilot project. In the meantime, and I've seen it already. When I have been in the Caledonia Street neighborhood in the meantime, Public Works has already carried out our direction to immediately paint and start to implement the required AB413, um, implementation since we are required by law to do that and we were out of compliance by not having yet having to done that |
| 02:15:46.71 | Steven Woodside | Thank you, Ms. Cox. I'm not going to say anything more. I think the record is clear what we're doing tonight involves heavy duty public access and any suggestion to the contrary that we're not going to do that. is simply wrong. I'm not sure. Shall we have a vote? |
| 02:16:08.48 | Melissa Blaustein | Wait, I didn't say anything. That's okay. I asked a number of questions, so maybe it can be confusing. Yeah, right. |
| 02:16:09.74 | Carolyn Revell | I'm right. |
| 02:16:09.93 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 02:16:10.40 | Unknown | . Thank you. |
| 02:16:13.89 | Steven Woodside | Yeah. |
| 02:16:14.31 | Unknown | THE END OF |
| 02:16:14.40 | Melissa Blaustein | is. |
| 02:16:14.48 | Unknown | to be able to do this. |
| 02:16:14.53 | Melissa Blaustein | I just wanted to stress that public outreach is extremely important, and I think everyone on the dais values it, which is why we separated the implementation of AB 413 into a two-part pilot project where we could, as Councilmember Cox outlined very clearly, get significant public feedback and give input and inform our neighbors. But I think it's also important to be aware of the fact that just because this is going out for bid doesn't mean that we won't have significant continued ongoing public outreach. an ongoing conversation with the neighbors. And I think it's fine to direct staff tonight to send a letter about what is going to happen as was requested and to make sure that everyone is aware of the upcoming program for our visioning for Caledonia Street, that they know about the meetings and that they know about why we're making these changes now. And I can say that in all of my conversations with merchants from Caledonia Street, One of their top priorities and concerns continues to be parking. And the biggest piece of feedback that we received here on the dais with regards to implementation for AB413, was a concern over the loss of parking. So the decision tonight to approve the funding to implement AB 413, as well as start this pilot program, solves for all of those issues. But in no way means we won't continue our public engagement, our public input, in our conversation with our neighbors. So that's why I think after By the way, we have heard this item three times this year. And so I think given that we have heard this item three times this year, I was looking back at correspondence from Karen Colgan, from March of this year. It's high time that we move forward with our dual required legal process of implementing AB413 while thinking about a bigger picture for what's possible in Caledonia. And I think there's quite a lot of incredible things that we can do down there. And some of the folks on EDAC have really exciting ideas. So I appreciate staff's hard work on this and I look forward to seeing what comes next. Can I ask that? |
| 02:18:04.59 | Steven Woodside | Well, we've all had a chance to say something, each one of us. I'd like us to vote and move on. |
| 02:18:10.33 | Jill Hoffman | May I ask a follow-up? Because I think, what councilmember Cox just I just want to confirm with With our public works director. the Because I think it may have gotten jumbled. I'm sorry. |
| 02:18:25.37 | Steven Woodside | What were you asking to confirm, please? What she read? |
| 02:18:25.57 | Jill Hoffman | What were you? No, with our public works director. Are we, we're going forward with the restriping. Is that already that's already going forward? And then we're bifurcating the pilot project and restriping. Is that going to go forward on the side street before we have the public outreach or? When is the public outreach going to happen? because that's my concern. |
| 02:18:51.24 | Kevin McGowan | So the action tonight is to allocate additional funds to this project. the, Bidding has already occurred, and we have a low bidder, and we're ready to go as far as re-striping Caledonia and the side streets, excluding the pilot project. Sorry. you Thank you. The pilot project will be a separate project just as it was read in the staff report. Well, we'll go out with SWA's help and talk to the residents as well. But as far as this project, meaning the immediate striping, it includes Caledonia and the side streets. |
| 02:19:33.68 | Jill Hoffman | And the restriping includes the parking. Thank you. |
| 02:19:36.76 | Kevin McGowan | Yes. |
| 02:19:37.05 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. Okay. And that's going to go forward before the public outreach. |
| 02:19:41.12 | Kevin McGowan | Yes, unless your counsel directs me otherwise to do so. you |
| 02:19:46.28 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. |
| 02:19:46.47 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 02:19:48.51 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you for that clarification. |
| 02:19:48.78 | Steven Woodside | They're very good. There's been a motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. |
| 02:19:53.72 | Jill Hoffman | Aye. |
| 02:19:55.36 | Steven Woodside | Opposed? |
| 02:19:57.18 | Jill Hoffman | because I don't think they're restriping on the parking. |
| 02:19:58.62 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. You've said no. It passes 4-1. Let's move on. |
| 02:20:06.06 | Steven Woodside | So we have some important presentations, and we apologize that you had to listen to all of this. We have a great report from Southern Marin Fire District, and this is item number 5A. Oh, and before we move on, I just want to say a shout out to Richard, the teacher. who is the last anchor out. Richard, would you stand up? You're going to be the caretaker liveaboard at the Community Boating Center. Congratulations, Richard. |
| 02:20:42.14 | Unknown | I'd like to thank the mayor and the city council for this. And I love this city. I've lived here for 15 years now. I've tried to be a good citizen, and I will continue. Thank you very much. |
| 02:20:55.30 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. So Southern Marine Fire, yes, Richard. |
| 02:21:09.68 | Steven Woodside | Welcome. If you could identify yourself for the record and have at it. |
| 02:21:13.73 | Travis Fox | back. Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Travis Fox. I'm a current interim deputy chief for Southern Marine Fire Handling Operations and Training. i wanted to give a quick flyover of the staff report that was created and present or created and added to your packet tonight by by chief welch we're going to look at the winter outlook primary risks some regional coordination and community preparedness as we all know noah has forecasted and is correct on a strengthening el nino INCREASING THE LIKELIHOOD OF A WETTER and more active winter across California. Our greatest concern is during the core winter months, primarily through January into March. And we're looking at heavy rains during those periods. Thank you. primary risks for us in the area. or a combination of hazards. We're not just concerned about the rainfall. but the combination of heavy rain mixed with high tides, saturated soils, wind, flooding, landslides, and power outages. Here in Sausalito, our key concerns are low-lying areas for flooding during the Kingtide events that can correlate with some heavy rains. our drainage systems, hillside runners, and our other low line roadways. We are lucky here in Southern Marin. We have great community partners with the city of Sausalito's DPW, the police department and the rest of city leadership. We've been in constant communication with the other members of our team, as well as the regional approach with the cities of Mill Valley and Tiburon included. We're focusing on early monitoring, pre-staging resources, coordinating road closures, and escalating command and control as conditions dictate. We're also looking towards the community preparedness. Alert Marin will remain our primary tool. for urgent emergency notifications supported by the city. and agency communication channels, including both of our social media platforms. Residents should be prepared for possible flooding power outages road closures and limited access during during our major storms and some of these high title events. And one of the things to add a little bit of humor, but not, we want to remind the residents that we can fill sandbags and we should be filling sandbags when it's sunny outside and not only when it's raining. So we can get out ahead of the storms and the tides and prepare our homes and businesses ahead of time. That's all I have. I know you have a complete report where we can field any questions if you need. And then I have another announcement following if you don't. |
| 02:23:55.85 | Steven Woodside | Okay, just a couple of quick questions. A lot of people when they think of fire districts, they think of fire and you're now here talking to us about floods. Can you describe the role that your district plays in the event of a flood emergency. |
| 02:24:14.90 | Travis Fox | So as hopefully everyone here knows, we're an all-risk fire department. We handle everything from fires to medical aids and everything in between. We will help with evacuations, pre-planning road closures, staffing locations in the event where roads become inaccessible. So if we know 101 South is closed, we'll pre-position engines and ambulances down in this area to ensure we can provide constant response. |
| 02:24:42.18 | Steven Woodside | Thank you very much, Ms. Cox. |
| 02:24:45.24 | Joan Cox | I'm sure everyone is aware that Governor Newsom has proclaimed a state of emergency due to the impending El Nino storms. He did that on September 28th. I represent two cities that have already proclaimed their own emergency, piggybacking onto his declaration in order to as early as possible avail themselves of possible Cal OES, FEMA, emergency and grant funding. Is that something that could be helpful to Southern Marin Fire for the city or for Southern Marin Fire to do? |
| 02:25:20.69 | Travis Fox | Yes, it would be helpful to get the funds available early. We are working with our county partners and our OES representatives to begin that pre-planning and pre-staging process for resources. |
| 02:25:32.20 | Joan Cox | Okay, I'm happy to share you know, a template proclamation and resolution of emergency, if helpful. |
| 02:25:39.91 | Steven Woodside | And, and, um, |
| 02:25:41.57 | Joan Cox | And is that something Sausalito should do to help you with that effort? |
| 02:25:46.72 | Travis Fox | I think we'd love to have that conversation and work towards that in a partnership. Yeah. Thank you. |
| 02:25:51.03 | Alice Merrill | Okay. |
| 02:25:51.49 | Steven Woodside | And I think the we heard from the county just a bit ago on some of the same issues we were made aware of the emergency declaration. And I think our city attorney may want to comment as to whether what's the proper mechanism now so that we are all coordinated. and all protected, if you will, under that emergency umbrella so that we can move expeditiously without all the formal processes that would otherwise be required. Um, Mr. City Attorney, any comments? |
| 02:26:24.48 | Sergio Rudin | Yeah, I will need to look into whether there is a need to do a additional local declaration of emergency for the purposes of securing Cal OES funding and other kinds of funding that you may become eligible for once you have to pay out for disaster recovery costs. Um, Additionally, those kinds of local declaration of emergency can be used to streamline procurement or trigger additional procurement Authorities that are, you know, either with the local disaster council or with the city manager acting utilaterally, basically in the declared emergency, oftentimes most jurisdictions will grant some additional authority to staff to take extraordinary measures. Um, With regards to public works projects, that doesn't necessarily avoid the requirements for competitive bidding. Unless you make additional findings. And then the problem with that is every two weeks, you typically have to come back and ratify that the emergency continues to exist and that you can still it's still such that you cannot go and bid the project. So it doesn't typically streamline Public Works projects that much. And I will say the bidding requirements for most projects Typically, they only have to be out to bid 10 or 14 days, depending on the exact nature of the project under CupCup. So. It will only streamline things a little bit on the public works procurement side. And it'll come with some headache to use emergency procurement. |
| 02:27:53.97 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Um, That answer your questions, Ms. Cox. Any other questions? Just to comment, having been a county council in three counties with fire, flood, landslide, et cetera. The declaration of an emergency typically would be declared by the county executive, and a number of cities would piggyback on that. Go to the Emergency Operations Center and all work together to make sure that you had the necessary equipment personnel, et cetera, and procurements applied for the reimbursements where it's appropriate, et cetera. So I think we're operating at this level. We're a small city and we are working closely with the county and obviously your district as well to make sure we're doing the right thing so that we're covered. And this is the unusual circumstance of an anticipated emergency. So having to come back every two weeks before the floods occur seems a little out of whack. But that's the way the law is, apparently. And what we're trying to do is use common sense. And I think that's what the governor did when he said, hey, let's get on with this. |
| 02:29:10.99 | Melissa Blaustein | Are we also gonna see the PowerPoint presentation That he brought? I think he was just speaking to the staff report. So I feel like we haven't heard of here. That's why I was waiting to ask questions. |
| 02:29:13.57 | Steven Woodside | that he wrote. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I misunderstood that. |
| 02:29:21.42 | Travis Fox | We can. We can be available. I'd want to make one more announcement before I pass over the mic. After an exhaustive search, we have named our new fire chief. And I'd like to hopefully see you guys at her badge pending next Thursday, October 15th at Fire Station One here in Sausalito. |
| 02:29:29.89 | Steven Woodside | Yeah. |
| 02:29:37.18 | Travis Fox | Chief Marquez will be sworn in and have her badge pinned at 1130 on next Thursday. |
| 02:29:42.91 | Steven Woodside | 1130 down on, let's see, Liberty Shipway. |
| 02:29:46.81 | Travis Fox | on Johnson Street, 333 Johnson Street, |
| 02:29:48.15 | Steven Woodside | Oh, yeah, it doesn't. FIRE. |
| 02:29:49.33 | Travis Fox | Thank you. |
| 02:29:49.34 | Steven Woodside | I'm sorry. |
| 02:29:50.80 | Travis Fox | Thank you. |
| 02:29:51.33 | Steven Woodside | Great. Thank you. Mr. McGowan, I'm sorry, I think we misunderstood |
| 02:29:57.12 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. It's all right. I only have a few quick slides that I thought would be interesting to the council. And it kind of dovetails into working with the fire department as well. So if we can bring those up, fairly quickly. Mike McKinley actually brought this up to me from the police department. Next slide, please. And there is a program that NOAA is using on their website where you can take a look at Sausalito. and kind of predict how much flooding can occur So next slide, please. So this is the first one you just saw was basically no flooding at all. The next one kind of shows what we've been seeing in the last couple weeks when we see flooding in the area. A lot of it happens on Gate 5, but you also see a bunch of flooding there at Gate 6, which is our northbound entrance to 101. And a couple of things to keep in mind if you go on this website is that not all of it is accurate because they don't have all the data. We'll see Clipper Yacht Harbor here. It shows that they are being flooded, but they've actually raised their elevation so that they don't get flooded. Next slide, please. And you can see, in addition, you can take a look at this website and you can increase the the mean higher high tide limit, which will show additional flooding in the area. This is a nice tool for us. Next slide, please. and I wanted to show the rest of Sausalito, And we tend to concentrate down on gate five because we know there's a lot of flooding there. But. And we want to take a look at the other areas in Sausalito where we are seeing additional flooding next to the Spinnaker. Or if we get higher tides, it could crest over on top of Bridgeway, a little bit south of Princess. So working with our other emergency services folks and our DPW folks, we want to address that early. And so that means being prepared and possibly putting out new measures that can address this flooding before it occurs. Next slide, please. All right, there are some new type of equipment. This little yellow thing on the screen is basically, it looks like a hot dog, but what it is is they fill it with water and it can be salt water. They pump it full and it acts like a dam. And so we're looking at trying to implement that down near the Spinnaker during the next larger tide. |
| 02:32:11.57 | Carolyn Revell | It is. |
| 02:32:24.29 | Kevin McGowan | We may also want to consider it on Gate 5 if the flooding gets to be too large. And it could possibly include blocking off a roadway, or it could include other closures as well. I just would like the council to understand that we are taking this very seriously from a staff perspective and trying to anticipate some of the flooding that occurs. In addition, the fire department has mentioned that He should be getting some heavy rains in the springtime. Well, we need to also take a look at slides. We need to take a look at our geology. We're going to be meeting with Miller Pacific Engineering Group to kind of take a look at some more AND I WANT TO TALK ABOUT susceptible areas so that we can put in some type of measures to anticipate what needs to happen there. But also, it's important to clean out our drainage ways, making sure that everything is ready for the rains that come to us. And we haven't had the fall leaf drop yet, but that's a pretty big deal for us. It's hard to keep up with it because all the leaves seem to drop at once. So that's it for my slides. Just want to thank the fire department as well for all their help and open for any questions. |
| 02:33:32.25 | Steven Woodside | Vice Mayor. |
| 02:33:33.48 | Melissa Blaustein | Okay, so now I would like, first of all, thank you to the fire department and to DPW, but fire department last year during the floods, I was calling, frequently and you were responding directly to homes and going there with your pumps and showing up when we were in, um, serious, having serious flooding conditions. I was wondering if you could just share with the community, you know, if something does come up and they need help from the fire department, what's the best way for them to reach you during the King tides, for example? |
| 02:34:05.34 | Travis Fox | We always recommend calling 911. You can tell the operator if it's not an immediate emergency, they will queue your call for us or we have our on duty battalion chiefs, our shift commanders can queue the calls as well. But 911 is the best way. We're not always in the firehouses, especially during the heavy storms. We're out responding to other incidents. So please call 911. |
| 02:34:27.63 | Melissa Blaustein | And in advance of, for example, the King Ties, and this is probably a question for Director McGowan, but I know that you are working very closely with our DVW department, which is fantastic. um, How do we, what's our plan for making the sandbags available? And also will, and this is maybe a follow-up for you, SMFD, would you be willing to do site visits to particular areas of vulnerability and give recommendations for preparations in advance of the Thanksgiving King Tides? |
| 02:34:55.29 | Travis Fox | We'll start with the sandbag. |
| 02:34:56.47 | Melissa Blaustein | both of you can respond together. |
| 02:34:58.04 | Kevin McGowan | Sorry, we will have sandbags available, same as we have in years past. Generally, they'll be at the MLK site. And some of them can be pre-made. And if we need to have more sandbags made, our staff is ready to do that. Sometimes we do have them available at the courtyard as well. |
| 02:35:17.17 | Travis Fox | During the high tide events in the heavy rains that we do have, we have our fire engines and our battalion chiefs driving, checking our known problem areas to try to be ahead of it. We also know that this year with the expected big tides with the El Nino, that we may start looking at evacuations. And that'll be dependent on the conditions. |
| 02:35:38.59 | Melissa Blaustein | And that actually was another question that I wanted to ask you about. I noticed that Mill Valley is hosting an evacuation in partnership with Southern Marin Fire in the next few weeks. And I was wondering if we might work together to do some sort of evacuation planning or drill for the El Nino event. |
| 02:35:55.97 | Travis Fox | Yeah, and we had that last, actually this past weekend. Right. Very successful in Scotts Valley. We can absolutely look into coordinating an evacuation drill with the city. We'd love to do that. |
| 02:36:05.76 | Melissa Blaustein | That would be great. Thank you so much. |
| 02:36:08.32 | Steven Woodside | Other questions? comments. I don't think there's an action here other than we wanted to make sure that we had a thorough discussion and also to make sure that we're coordinated with the other jurisdictions. Thank you very much. Do we need to spend much time on 5B, the declaration of emergency? |
| 02:36:35.25 | Steven Woodside | Mr. McGowan, do you think there's a need for any further discussion on that 5B? |
| 02:36:44.91 | Elaine Forbes | If I may, Mayor, I'll just say that the presentation to support this item is all about informing the community and council as to the multiple prongs and multiple approaches that we're taking to ensure that we're mitigating flooding and preparing both in the what we're calling the hyper short term, in addition to the short term over the next 60 days, which is something that we've discussed as related specifically to the Tidegate and the Coloma Street Canal. as well as information from our sustainability and resiliency coordinator, Katie Thao-Gracia, regarding our medium-term, five-year plan, and our long-term plan. So we're here to discuss that at council's discretion, but we do not have to. |
| 02:37:29.76 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 02:37:29.90 | Elaine Forbes | Thank you. |
| 02:37:30.03 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Well, but I want to make sure we do have the information in front of us and and I just wondered, given the title. |
| 02:37:33.96 | Elaine Forbes | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:37:37.20 | Steven Woodside | If there was more to discuss and indeed there is more to discuss. So let's let's hear your report, Mr. McGowan, and then we can ask questions in. and move forward with the discussion. Thank you. |
| 02:37:48.26 | Kevin McGowan | Great. Thank you very much, Mayor. So I'll try to move quickly through this presentation. And I believe Katie may have some other slides. Is that correct? |
| 02:37:56.76 | Elaine Forbes | Yep, I believe Katie Thao was attending remotely. |
| 02:37:59.09 | Kevin McGowan | Okay. So next slide, please. So as you may recall, in September, the council directed staff to take immediate action to reduce flooding related to the predicted El Nino and high tides that are coming on Thanksgiving and possibly Christmas. So based on that, DPW has developed the initial concepts related to the installation of a tide gate system at the Coloma Street Canal. We also met with a local contractor to review the concepts with the intent of installing some devices in the channel to control tidal flooding. Unfortunately, the minimum concept discussed the minimum concepts that were discussed are above the force account limits that the city can utilize to move forward. expeditiously. So DPW has initiated the development of a design and I'm almost finished with that And we'll try to get those out to bid. Um, probably by early next week so that we can get something moving. Next slide, please. |
| 02:39:02.14 | Joan Cox | That's where the emergency would help you. You wouldn't have to bid it. |
| 02:39:05.88 | Kevin McGowan | There we go. It's our understanding that the property owners who own Varda Landing Circle will be raising the roadway with the intent to mitigate overland flow that can cross it from flooding. The city only has an easement across the canal. That's all we have. Placing the tide gate system as close to the bay is intended to restrict the high tides from inundating the area between Varda Landing Circle and Gate 5 Road. The installation of a tide gate system will also require the installation of a storm water pump system to address situations where we have a high tide and a rain event at the same time. Next slide. Staff discussed two alternatives with a local contractor, including the installation of a concrete wall system within the channel and the installation of a steel plate tide gate system. which would be temporary until a more robust system can be installed. Both of these are systems that have challenges. Some of these are listed on this slide. However, the main one is that we don't have access. We're going to need to get easements. And that's a little bit above me at this point. So we're gonna need some help with this. There are some other challenges as well Reducing, putting in a tide gate system has the potential for reducing the amount of stormwater capacity. which obviously needs to be augmented by pumps or a pump station. Maintenance is also a concern. Tide gates can be problematic and they definitely need to be maintained on an annual basis. Thank you. so that we clear the siltation out. That's something that we can address. condition of the existing sheet pile wall is somewhat suspect. This sheet pile wall was built in 1981 and And it's not in great shape. In addition, each one of the options will require dewatering, which we can take care of, but it can be challenging. Next slide, please. Staff has initiated a design. for two alternatives. The first is a concrete wall system like I mentioned and The gates can be raised and lowered manually, and restrict tidal intrusion into the area. Next slide, please. The concrete option is a little more permanent, which is fine. However, the gates need to be special ordered. So, Nothing's easy, as we say. Bye. When you have to order special gates, it takes them you know, a couple of months to construct them. So And in addition, the concrete wall is a little more expensive. Next slide, please. The next option has to do with putting in some steel trenches, kind of a temporary approach. And, um, This would also include some reinforced walls. And the installation of some smaller tide gates. Now the intent to put the smaller tide gates in is that they are off the shelf. In other words, whoever the manufacturer is may have them in their yard. We can order them, put them in place. So that's what we're trying to go after to get after this quickly. Next slide, please. While the temporary plate system is a quick fix, there may be other issues associated with the steel plates, such as if you put them in a saltwater environment, they're going to corrode over the next three to five years. So we're going to have to replace that at some point in time, but that's not a huge expense. Next slide, please. Staff is also did. Staff is also discussing backup plans, and I mentioned this earlier. The utilization of temporary pumps has helped in some places But, if the tides go over the existing wall or even this new wall that we're going to put in, all bets are off. And there is that potential. The installation of tide gate system should Eliminate the overland flow for tides less than Eight feet. |
| 02:43:26.43 | Ian Sobieski | Next slide, please. I'm sorry, could you just say that again? When are all bets off? That sounded important. |
| 02:43:31.29 | Kevin McGowan | If you get a tide that's greater than eight feet, Thank you. I think everything's going to go underwater. Thank you. Sorry to interrupt. All right, next slide, here we go. um staff will continue to develop plans this week for the two bid the two tide gate options and develop a bid spec with the intent of advertising the work for at least the next two weeks We anticipate the cost to be less than $200,000 so that the city manager can go ahead and award it. which is great. For this to happen, we will need assistance in securing easements for the construction and the maintenance of the site. This is still a challenge. We also recommend securing an easement for from adjacent property owners to house the temporary pumps until a more permanent location can be established. That's just to get us through this winter time. Next slide. Thank you. Now, stepping back again, This is a challenge that I'm not too sure that we can completely addressed. There's a timeframe, there's a lot going on here. Thank you. So I want to stay rooted in the real world. If we can't get this to work well, we have to have a backup plan. And so I'm having discussions with our maintenance staff as well as other manufacturers to see if we can put in some measures to address flooding during the Thanksgiving Day period, and if we can't get anything in place by Christmas, we'll have to do the same thing again. So this is definitely a challenge, but if we have the ability to possibly close roads, put in additional measures, We may... We may survive this one. That's all I have for my presentation. Thank you. And I think Katie might be next. Is that right, Mr. City Manager? Thank you. |
| 02:45:25.40 | Steven Woodside | Before you leave, though, because I think Katie is going to be talking more long term. Maybe we could have a few questions now about short term. And just so there's no misunderstanding or concern about what we've asked you to do. I would say we're pretty much saying just do it as quickly as you can. And my impression is you're moving quickly with, is it Miller Pacific? the Engineering firm. |
| 02:45:56.85 | Kevin McGowan | No, I'm developing the plan myself. |
| 02:45:59.25 | Steven Woodside | Oh, okay. |
| 02:46:00.08 | Kevin McGowan | So I'm developing it in house. I will have Miller Pacific and another firm check it. Why? Because that's the fastest way to get this done. |
| 02:46:07.06 | Steven Woodside | Okay, and then in terms of a contractor and the contracting process, you mentioned some alternatives there. Some are quicker than others. I know you can't predict, but do you have a sense that there's at least a chance this could be done in time for Thanksgiving or Christmas or January or Christmas? Thank you. |
| 02:46:27.72 | Kevin McGowan | I think Christmas is realistic. I would be very optimistic to say we can make it work by Thanksgiving. |
| 02:46:34.42 | Steven Woodside | when you say it would be very optimistic. In other words, Thank you. You'd have to be very optimistic to think |
| 02:46:39.87 | Kevin McGowan | Yes. Okay. |
| 02:46:42.08 | Steven Woodside | Any other questions on the short term? And I think maybe just while it's fresh in our mind, there may be some public comment. I hope you don't mind. I think the sense of urgency is really focused on the upcoming King Tides. And I know we have long-term issues to discuss, and I'm open to that. But are there any public comments at this point, Mr. McCullough? |
| 02:47:00.31 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 02:47:06.19 | Melissa Blaustein | I think we have to hear the whole presentation though, right? For Katie and because Katie has more and otherwise we're taking public comment twice. |
| 02:47:12.94 | Steven Woodside | Well, I want to. Okay, I just we get we're going to get way ahead in the long term and we're going to perhaps lose track of what we just heard. I just think if you're going to make public comment on this and this only I'd like to see that now. . Is that okay? |
| 02:47:30.14 | Rob McCullough | Thank you. |
| 02:47:31.47 | Steven Woodside | Mr. McCullough. |
| 02:47:33.77 | Rob McCullough | Thank you, Mayor. I have comments that fall into two broad categories. One is a sense of urgency. And the other is a sense of what's missing from the current plan. I first want to compliment Councilmember Blaustein, I believe she was the one at the last meeting that sort of raised the red flag and said this is indeed emergency. And in terms of the urgency of this, We have seven weeks until Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is predicted to be a 7.2 NOAA tide. Christmas is a 7.4. The flooding last year was a 7.4 prediction that went up to 8.7 because of an atmospheric river effect. The NOAA predictions do not include any effects from El Nino, which as I mentioned in the last meeting, thermal expansion and the mitigation of the trade winds, not rain. That's 8 to 10 inches of additional tide. Anybody that's been watching the tide gates in San Francisco have seen that the recent tides in the last two weeks are 8 to 10 inches above the NOAA predictions right now. That's caused by what's called a Kelvin wave working up the coast from San Diego. That won't. There may be another one, but that's not in the cards now. So this is an urgent thing. This is not something we do for long term planning. This has to be fixed soon. IN TERMS OF WHAT'S MISSING, and i've been involved in quite a few pretty large government contracts and they always fall into a series of categories. And the first step is what's called required operational capabilities. That means you define what this thing is supposed to do. How big a tide does it work? How do you pump out the stormwater? What are the flow rates? I have not seen any document which specifies required operational capabilities for this project. The second thing you typically have is a timeline with milestones. showing when you have to have this thing done. And what are the milestones? When you get the biz out, when the contract comes in, when the fab starts, when it's delivered. I haven't seen any of that. Okay, and so those two things I think are pretty critical. And we should push to get those in place and in public view. Thank you. Thank you. |
| 02:49:37.65 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 02:49:37.66 | Rob McCullough | Thank you. |
| 02:49:37.68 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. you |
| 02:49:38.36 | Rob McCullough | Any other comments on this |
| 02:49:39.98 | Steven Woodside | aspect of the reports. |
| 02:49:43.87 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 02:49:43.98 | Steven Woodside | Now, wait a second. Is our news reporter wanting to make a comment? |
| 02:49:49.53 | Melissa Blaustein | Okay. Thank you. I'm not. |
| 02:49:52.75 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 02:49:52.77 | Steve Rosenfeld | David, just identify yourself. Hi, so I'm Steve Rosenfeld, a reporter with the NINIJ. So on Thursday, I was in Larkspur where the high tide at the September high tide was seven, four. And that was about 10 inches above the Noah charts, the Noah charts, the, are low. The public works director there said he expects October to be six inches higher. Thanksgiving to be six inches higher than that. And Christmas and late January to be another six inches. So that's over eight feet. And, um, I'm not making those numbers up. the The title buoy that they checked for there is not the San Francisco NOAA one. It's off Richmond. Point. |
| 02:50:35.29 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. good information uh... Okay. Do we... |
| 02:50:40.52 | Deirdre Coyne | We have one more public comment online. |
| 02:50:42.94 | Steven Woodside | There is one. Thank you. |
| 02:50:44.78 | Deirdre Coyne | that at McDougal? |
| 02:50:47.95 | Steven Woodside | is McDougal. |
| 02:50:49.33 | Babette McDougall | Yes, thank you, Mr. Mayor. I was just making some notes. Thanks to our beat reporter. We finally have a beat reporter from the Marin IJ. And boy, doesn't he feel like part of the community. Wow. Thank you for that, Mr. Rosenfeld. Thank you for your reporting. So, Mr. Mayor, thank you for opening this up for broader discussion. I remember at the previous September 1... meeting in particular, but also I think it was part of September 15 where Mr. McGowan specifically said that he was looking with the team he has And they've agreed to sort of keep talking and working. So I had the impression when they were here doing all of that together. that they were planning to stick together. And I sure hope going forward that that turns out to be true I get the impression Mr. McGowan has created a pretty good team right now, and I think it's all about the teamwork. Thank you, sir. Adieu. |
| 02:51:44.23 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Thank you. Okay, I think we can move on to the longer term, if that's appropriate. |
| 02:51:54.94 | Melissa Blaustein | I mean, I think, I think we have given clear direction to fast track the implementation of both the raising of our landing and the tide gate as up as optimistically and as soon as possible. Right. |
| 02:51:55.11 | Steven Woodside | I think. |
| 02:52:07.34 | Steven Woodside | I think that's clear. I think it's clear to Mr. McGowan. I think we're running as fast as we can to stay ahead of the tide and there's a high risk. |
| 02:52:09.83 | Melissa Blaustein | AND I THINK IT'S A |
| 02:52:19.80 | Steven Woodside | Okay, part two of the report. Katie, you're remote. |
| 02:52:25.91 | Katie Thao-Gracia | Yes, I am. Thank you so much for having me. I'll keep this, I'll keep this short, given the interest in the immediate term. Um, so to zoom out and look at Sausalito's overall sea level rise vulnerability, which we have drafted for the. draft Shoreline Adaptation Plan, we can see our vulnerability to 2050 and 2100 using the state's most up-to-date guidance. As you can see, there's extensive vulnerability throughout Sausalito shoreline in all three sea level rise scenarios, which are noted at the bottom. And given Mr. Rosenfield's comments, I'd like to just note that the high tides that we are experiencing today, the atmospheric river conditions can be expected on a near monthly basis by the time that we get to 2050 and certainly 2100. So next slide, please. |
| 02:53:21.41 | Katie Thao-Gracia | If we zoom in to civilize projections for the gate five road area, we can see flooding will greatly impact normal operations by 2050 if nothing is done. And this worsens by 2080 and 2100 to Bridgeway. That goes led to the map. Thank you. |
| 02:53:44.21 | Katie Thao-Gracia | I can keep going without the slides. So as you might recall, on September 1st, the city council accepted and filed the gate five area drainage management study, The purpose of this study was to fully understand the cause of flooding in Gate 5 Road and to provide conceptual design and cost estimates for flood mitigation measures that could be implemented before 2035 and those after 2035. So right now, We are focusing on really what could be taking place right now to 2035. So, if you, when you have the slides up, I'm not sure, it looks like there's some weird animations on there. I did not put those on myself, I swear. |
| 02:54:25.94 | Steven Woodside | I don't think we can see them. No. |
| 02:54:29.06 | Katie Thao-Gracia | Yes. |
| 02:54:34.75 | Katie Thao-Gracia | If you go to the third slide, the chart, Yeah, perfect. Um... So in the gate five area drainage management study, the consultants provided a longer term to 2035 conceptual design options and some key benefits and limitations. The top row represents the options on city property that could be moved forward with right now and include adding tide gates and existing outfalls sorry to take it to existing outfalls pump stations and storm drain improvements. So next slide, please. So the gate five area improvements really include the, what I'm calling the El Nino now preparations and the longer term designs to 2035. So using the funds that we have left in the US EDA grant, staff will work with consultants to advance these longer term drainage management recommendations in green. Those are the. will take us to 2035. And at the same time DPW is, um, DBW staff are moving forward with the element immediate El Nino flood mitigation measures now. That's what you see in red and that's what Kevin just presented on. So I just want to distinguish between the two paths moving forward. Very clearly there's what we're doing right now and then there's longer term improvements that will take us to 2035. It's staff intent that both of these efforts will complement and inform one another. and staff anticipate returning with the longer term drainage management recommendations in the winter into the spring. So that's all I have for you and I'm happy to answer any questions. |
| 02:56:16.96 | Steven Woodside | Thank you, Katie. Questions for Katie? |
| 02:56:23.10 | Steven Woodside | It's not for lack of interest. It's just that we're probably looking at the near term right now. And what you're telling us is that. just a few weeks from now we're going to have to turn our attention to the next steps. |
| 02:56:38.36 | Katie Thao-Gracia | Pretty much. |
| 02:56:38.73 | Steven Woodside | So no questions, any public comments on this item? Seeing none. |
| 02:56:45.02 | Alice Merrill | I saw a hand up online and I said... So, okay. |
| 02:56:50.07 | Steven Woodside | So, okay. Yeah. Sure. Sure. |
| 02:56:58.17 | Rob McCullough | So getting back to my first part, my urgency theme. If you run the NOAA title, predictions based just on planetary positions for the next 15 years. The king tide that's going to occur on Christmas Day this year is the largest king tide we're going to see in 15 years. Okay. You add that to the fact that there's El Nino and we have an urgent problem on our hands. Wow. Okay. Good information. Scary. |
| 02:57:23.68 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 02:57:24.71 | Deirdre Coyne | of Babette McDougall. |
| 02:57:26.06 | Steven Woodside | Ms. McDougall? |
| 02:57:29.02 | Babette McDougall | Yes, thank you, Mr. Mayor. We're just touching on the stuff that's truly near and dear to my heart. You know, I've always been living near water's edge since I was born, and that's still the case. So it's inbred in my DNA, I think is clear about that. So I care deeply about the short-term, the near-term, and the long-term, and the coordination efforts are really important. So I really want to thank Mr. McGowan By the way, I want to say, I'm not sure how we're going to line up what I will call the Bridgeway Experimental Sea Wall. which is now sort of opposite the old Willis property there. And I think it's a beautiful vault. Well done. And it's a seawall. I mean, it's meant to divert mud. off a bridgeway, but it's also a seawall coming and going. So it's important to keep that little marker in mind. That's why we need to be part of all the way to Highway 37. Because the minute the water goes behind that sea wall, we're done. So we might as well just keep moving in terms of our innovation. And I think Katie is good for that. Thank you so much. |
| 02:58:32.77 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Any other comments online? |
| 02:58:35.42 | Deirdre Coyne | Being not online. |
| 02:58:36.52 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. The action here is to receive the report. I think there's no objection to that. Without objection, we'll receive the board |
| 02:58:44.57 | Ian Sobieski | I did want to make a comment. |
| 02:58:44.72 | Steven Woodside | Yeah. Oh, I'm sorry. |
| 02:58:46.42 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. |
| 02:58:46.90 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 02:58:46.91 | Ian Sobieski | My only comment is it's easy to forget. given how challenging some of the engineering is that we just saw? at the one third. only one third of the entire country of Holland is below sea level. It's not, rocket science and it's not new technology. combination of dyking, pumping, engineering, THOUGHTFULLY INVESTED. can solve this problem robustly comprehensively. and completely. shame on us in part. or maybe the instructive lesson, maybe I shouldn't be so judging, that Mr. McAuliffe is pointing out. that this is not something that came out of the blue. This is not an asteroid from deep space. This has been predicted for years, decades, and we haven't done anything about it. And, I'm sorry, I'll have to make a snarky point. We saw how difficult it was just moments ago on a different item. to change some striping on one of our streets. It doesn't surprise me it's this hard. And I point that out because we need a cultural shift in town, and this is part of it, which is to solve our problems, we need to get ahead of our problems. We need to own them and make the hard trade-offs to solve them. We're now playing catch-up. And if we get flooded around December because of this giant King tide combined with El Nino, Part of the reason will be that we're letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. and perfection be the enemy of progress. |
| 03:00:14.88 | Jill Hoffman | Sorry, may I speak next, please? there. |
| 03:00:17.70 | Ian Sobieski | Thank you. |
| 03:00:17.85 | Steven Woodside | Yes, you may. |
| 03:00:18.46 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. So part of the snarky comment was the project that we just talked about on Caledonia Street was that there were add-ons, constant add-ons to a pretty easy project, which was let's just restripe in accordance with state law. And then there were constant add-ons and constant changes. for nice to haves. And that's why I voted no, because the |
| 03:00:43.50 | Unknown | We're on the report. |
| 03:00:43.67 | Jill Hoffman | We're on the report. I'm responding to Councilmember Sobieski's comment. And so and I'm adding on to that and I'm going to bring it back to the current project and his points for Gate Five Road. And so that's why I voted no, because we should have re-striped this about 18 months ago when it first came before us and it should have been done but it kept being delayed because other people in town wanted to add on other fanciful things And so, yes, it should have been done quite some time ago. So, yeah, that was a failure of us as a community because we should have been – Caledonia should have been safer. quite a long time ago. So shame on us. |
| 03:01:24.07 | Steven Woodside | We've got people waiting in the audience. |
| 03:01:26.70 | Jill Hoffman | just bring it back to well i'm sorry mayor but you give council member sobieski |
| 03:01:30.83 | Steven Woodside | And you've had to say on my behalf, I'm going to say now that |
| 03:01:34.45 | Jill Hoffman | to finish my comments for once. I'm going to... |
| 03:01:36.56 | Steven Woodside | I'm going to ask that. |
| 03:01:38.02 | Unknown | it's |
| 03:01:38.28 | Steven Woodside | Yeah. |
| 03:01:38.28 | Jill Hoffman | I wrote to our comments on Gate 5 Road. |
| 03:01:38.45 | Unknown | Okay. |
| 03:01:38.46 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 03:01:38.48 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:01:41.21 | Jill Hoffman | Yeah, we have... Well, Yes, and so we... I'm going to... |
| 03:01:46.60 | Steven Woodside | I'M GOING TO USE THIS ITEM AND CALL THE QUESTION. ALL THOSE IN FAVOR OF ACCEPTING THE REPORT, PLEASE SAY AYE. |
| 03:01:51.00 | Jill Hoffman | was in favor. Once again, I'm being unfairly treated. that a timer is being pulled out for me that's not being pulled out for other council members thank you. Thank you, members of the public, for letting me finish my comments. And so, for Gate 5 Road, yes, I'm glad that we're moving forward as a council for Gate 5 Road, but it's It's a collective for Gate 5 Road because it's a collective of private private THEIR OWN HIGHER. property owners down there that we're bringing together to come up with a solution. supportive of that and I'm supportive of the city for coming together and coming up with a solution to help the private property owners down there. And I'm glad that we're coming up with a solution, but I disagree with the premise from Councilmember Sobieski, because it's a difficult situation there and a difficult position. geographically. where that's situated, and so there's been some other improvements by other property owners down there that's creating some stress that's also contributing to this and its current problems. I think a collective solution is an order and I'm glad that we're moving forward and And so those are my comments in response to councilmember Sobieski's comments |
| 03:03:06.80 | Steven Woodside | Okay, since we are now going to move on from our debating society, let's move to, we've accepted the report without objection. Okay? Please let's not have this kind of... |
| 03:03:18.63 | Melissa Blaustein | have this kind of... I just meant, do we need a second? |
| 03:03:22.04 | Steven Woodside | I'm just asking without objection, can we receive the report? |
| 03:03:22.23 | Melissa Blaustein | Bye. |
| 03:03:25.33 | Steven Woodside | Is there any objection? Okay, the report is received. We have Item 5C to approve a contract. And Kathy, would you please make a brief presentation? This is a contract for city manager, interim city manager. Yes. |
| 03:03:45.28 | Kathy Nikitas | Hello. Yes, very brief presentation. I'm Kathy Nikitas. I'm the Human Resources Manager and the Council. On September 1st, Mayor Woodside and the Council at the meeting appointed then Acting City Manager, to be interim City Manager and directed us to come back with a an appointment and agreement, and we have done that. And it is attached to the agenda. And what I need to do is read aloud into the record the impact to the city for this Fort Newlyham interim city manager, and it involves a total of $13,063.54 of fiscal impact. That is moving up of $11,798.72 in wages for a six-month interim appointment. Employer's share of CalPERS is $975.75. Employer's share of Medicare is $171.08. And the employer's share of $457.00 contribution is $117.91. There are no other changes. Changes in fringe benefits would occur with this appointment agreement. And I'm happy Thank you. $15 and $0.99. There are no other changes and changes in fringe benefits would occur with this appointment agreement. And I'm happy to take questions. |
| 03:05:04.49 | Steven Woodside | Are there questions? Seeing none from the dais, are there public comments? Seeing none. |
| 03:05:13.32 | Deirdre Coyne | Seeing none online. |
| 03:05:14.36 | Steven Woodside | then I would ask if there's a motion to approve. |
| 03:05:17.06 | Deirdre Coyne | So moved. |
| 03:05:18.02 | Unknown | and I'll see you next time. |
| 03:05:18.33 | Steven Woodside | Okay, motion second. All those in favor say aye. |
| 03:05:21.30 | Unknown | Aye. |
| 03:05:22.58 | Steven Woodside | Post. Okay. That passes five zero. |
| 03:05:27.12 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:05:29.16 | Steven Woodside | It's your city manager. |
| 03:05:35.03 | Steven Woodside | OK, at long last, we have something artistic. And I hope... |
| 03:05:40.11 | Kathy Nikitas | Thank you. |
| 03:05:40.20 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Okay. One council member is stepping out for a few minutes. It is. |
| 03:05:51.60 | Joan Cox | own. |
| 03:05:51.98 | Kathy Nikitas | Thank you. |
| 03:05:52.03 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. five minutes to seven. So we'll hold off for a moment. |
| 03:05:57.59 | Gregory Taylor | Thank you. |
| 03:05:57.66 | Robert Muros | Thank you. |
| 03:05:57.73 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:05:57.78 | Gregory Taylor | THE BEST. |
| 03:05:59.70 | Steven Woodside | Um, |
| 03:06:00.62 | Deirdre Coyne | Back. |
| 03:06:01.59 | Steven Woodside | Okay, so I'm just going to introduce the discussion by saying it is with great pleasure that we welcome our Director and the Chair of the Parks and Recreation Commission and members of the Sister City Program and others who have taken advantage of the streamlined placement of public art process and are here to describe the latest. Are you ready? |
| 03:06:31.11 | Brian Vitale | Thank you. Yes, absolutely. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, City Council, City Manager, City Staff, members of the public. My name is Brian Vitale, Community Services Director for the THE PUBLIC, THE Parks and Recreation Department, And the library. And in May of 2026, City Council approved A repeal and replace on the city's art public places policy which establishes a new five-step review process for gifts and donations of artwork proposed for placement on city property on august 11th of this year we received our first application from the sausalito sister cities staff reviewed the application which met all the criteria and on september 14 2026 the parks and recreation commission voted eight to zero with one commissioner abstaining in favor of the excelsior stairs project The recommendation is for the Sausalito City Council to approve and accept Sausalito Sister City's proposal for a painted mural titled Vina del Mar Stairs. The 52 risers of the Excelsior Stairs on Bridgeway, directly across from Viena, Denmark, Vida del Mar Park is the site-specific artwork. The artist is requesting city support for power washing in Patch Creek. resurfacing of the 52 risers before installation. City staff has gotten an informal quote for approximately $8,500 for that work. As I mentioned, the city staff reviewed the proposal, which met all the criteria for consistency with the public art values and principles, site safety, maintenance burden, term and end of life intellectual property and agreements, funding and disqualification criteria, along with the optional three letters of support from the Sausalito Downtown Association, our former city manager, Chris Zapata, and Sausalito Beautiful. I have with us today our Parks and Rec Commission Chair, Stacey Cray, along with the applicant, Robert Muros, representing Sausalito's Sister Cities, and artist, Raylene Gorham. They are present and I'd like to turn it over to them to give more details on this project and you can see a 1 12th scale representation of this project behind me. |
| 03:08:48.93 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:08:49.26 | Brian Vitale | And I would offer all members of the public, including city council, to take a closer look at this, as it is pretty spectacular. So without further ado, please, Robert and Raylene. Thank you. |
| 03:09:06.58 | Steven Woodside | Welcome. |
| 03:09:07.25 | Robert Muros | Thank you so much, and thanks for having us. Once again, I'm Robert Muros, and in this capacity, I'm on the Executive Board of Salas Ludo Sister Cities. I'm also a resident and a local business owner. Raylene Gorham is also here. She's our proud and local artist as well, and she's going to talk to you a bit about the art. I'll just say that this idea of doing a staircase has been around for quite a while. We spoke with former city manager Chris Sapata about it some time back, probably over a year, maybe almost two years ago. We're briefed on the process to get art approved. It was to say the least somewhat Byzantine at that point in time. And thankfully through the good work of you all and Parks and Rec Group, it had been modified, made clear. Still, I would say very thorough and appropriate, but we were pleased to be the first one. Sometimes being the first can be a little tricky, but in this case also thanks to Commissioner Cray and her group, it all sort of came together quite well. I'll add that Vigny del Mar is our oldest sister city. It was actually brought as a sister city in the 60s, briefly took a hiatus during the Pinochet years, some interesting history there, brought back around 20 years ago, and we have a strong and vital relationship with them. Uh, As you know, Vina del Mar Park sits opposite the Excelsior Street stairs. It seemed like an obvious place to put a mural on those stairs. And there is a history of painting stairs in Vina del Mar and in Valparaiso, the neighboring city. So we are very much leveraging that Raylene and myself took a trip. to Viña Del Mar holiday time last year, met with a lot of the local artists. She got a lot of, I think, of inspiration from that. And so we've done our best to try to culturally integrate them into the process. Finally, I'll just say that we look forward to This staircase becoming somewhat of a beacon to the downtown area, a place where people can come and take pictures. It will be vibrant, bright and colorful. And there's quite a bit of... documentation about the benefits of public art for downtown areas and other parts of cities. So we're excited about it. I'm going to turn it over to Raylene to tell you a bit about the art. And by all means, do check out the model because it's pretty cool. |
| 03:11:37.46 | Raylene Gorham | Good evening, Council. Thank you for having us. I'm Raylene Gorham. I am, as he said, a Sausalitan and also an artist who specifically works with large-scale public arts. I do site-specific works. My largest piece to date covers the surface of a pier in San Francisco. and I think I'm locally best known for Marin's largest mural right here in our backyard that spans between Sausalito and Marin City in the 101 underpass area. I'm just going to talk to you a little bit about the design details at this point. The proposed design is intended to highlight our special relationship between Viña del Mar and Sausalito. It features a sisterly embrace of the earth, with Sausalito and Viña del Mar in Chile highlighted on the globe. The woman embracing the globe in the southern hemisphere is the Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet, Gabriela Mistral. She is instantly recognizable to Chileans. She's featured on their currency and a beloved public figure. I believe she was the first poet to be granted the Nobel Peace Prize in Chile in like the 40s. Gabriela's body turns into the lines of a vineyard, and Viña del Mar means vines by the sea. We are also notable for our proximity to the gateway to one of the world's most famous wine regions up in Napa. So we share that kind of relationship. The woman to the north at the top of the stairs evolves into a field of flowers. This pattern is taken from the famous Flower Clock, which is their Vina del Mar's public artwork that features most prominently. I see a strong kinship with the landscape care provided locally by Sausalito Beautiful and our fastidious residents. Our beloved little city of Sausalito is indeed a global gateway and has a long-held reputation as a community of artists. Our hope is to enliven the downtown with this unique three-dimensional canvas, and I'd be honored to take part in that. Thank you. |
| 03:14:08.61 | Steven Woodside | Thank you, Renee. Anyone else, Robert, that you want to invite up to speak to this at all? |
| 03:14:18.33 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Okay. |
| 03:14:19.20 | Melissa Blaustein | Mary, is there a way we could move the model up just so people at home can somehow like |
| 03:14:24.03 | Steven Woodside | That's a tough one. |
| 03:14:24.05 | Melissa Blaustein | Thank you. THE FAMILY. Thank you. So they could see it online. It's just so beautiful. I guess we have the PowerPoint presentation, but or maybe have it on display somewhere because I think it'd be very cool for. members of the public to be able to see it. |
| 03:14:36.33 | Robert Muros | That's a great idea. |
| 03:14:37.34 | Melissa Blaustein | and we, |
| 03:14:37.43 | Robert Muros | Bye. to leave it in somewhere here locally. |
| 03:14:40.91 | Melissa Blaustein | Okay, maybe in the library or something. Sorry, go ahead, Councilman Kaufman. |
| 03:14:42.88 | Robert Muros | Councilman Kroffman. |
| 03:14:43.88 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 03:14:44.82 | Robert Muros | Yeah. |
| 03:14:44.89 | Melissa Blaustein | Oh, good. He can zoom in on it. Look. Okay, great. |
| 03:14:45.02 | Steven Woodside | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 03:14:48.68 | Melissa Blaustein | Cool. Perfect. |
| 03:14:50.03 | Jill Hoffman | Perfect. |
| 03:14:50.27 | Steven Woodside | There's the camera, okay. |
| 03:14:51.49 | Jill Hoffman | We have a we have a picture. I mean, not just that picture, but we have a picture in the staff report, right? Can we just... broadcast the picture of it. |
| 03:15:00.18 | Melissa Blaustein | But look, they zoomed in on the... The camera's on the stairs. |
| 03:15:04.72 | Steven Woodside | Okay, really? |
| 03:15:06.39 | Raylene Gorham | Robert helped me put this model partly because the staircase is a unique canvas and there are 52 steps. So it staggers back and it adds to the like, you know, it's figurative, but it's also abstract. So the staircase kind of the model helps highlight the actual 3D kind of read of it in addition to the renderings, which can are a little bit more flat. |
| 03:15:35.99 | Jill Hoffman | Okay. There. And zoom in on the picture so you can see the That's the view. |
| 03:15:41.96 | Raylene Gorham | The View from Tracy Way. |
| 03:15:43.66 | Steven Woodside | Right. |
| 03:15:44.03 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. So cool. |
| 03:15:46.09 | Steven Woodside | Okay, just one note, Raylene, you live in Galilee Harbor, correct? Okay. And to Stacey Cray for kind of opening the door to more public art and a streamlined process, I think what's before us, we have four options. |
| 03:15:52.19 | Carolyn Revell | Okay. |
| 03:16:06.21 | Steven Woodside | And I'm just going to say the one I like the best is the first option to simply accept this so that you can move forward. There are many more steps. We may have to come back and with formal agreements, there's obviously fundraising and other things. But if we'd like it, the idea here is we're not redesigning it. We're deciding... Up or down? So I have Carolyn Revell who wishes to comment before we discuss it on the dais. |
| 03:16:37.44 | Carolyn Revell | Thank you so much. I'm here representing both Sausalito Beautiful and the board also of the Downtown Sausalito Association. Both our organizations endorsed the proposed mural on the Vina del Mar stairs. as another contribution to beautifying and enlivening our downtown. The packet includes a letter from Cass Green, the DSA president. stressing that the proposed installation will activate Sausalio's urban landscape and serve as a symbol of international cooperation Sausalito Beautiful has participated in discussions over the past several years to enhance the stairs, and we're delighted that Sister Cities has moved this project forward. It will add color and vitality, provide an attractive link to the Vina del Mar Park, which we helped activate during the recent make a difference day with planting 75 plants there. The selection of Raylene Gorham as the artist where the mural is a coup. Braylene is not only a committed member of the community who devotes many hours to volunteer activities She's a nationally recognized artist with projects in major cities including San Francisco. As a member of the five member steering committee for the mural in the passageway under Highway 101. I worked closely with her, have firsthand knowledge of how creative she is and also what a successful project manager she is. So I do hope you'll endorse this project. Thank you. |
| 03:17:58.12 | Steven Woodside | Thank you very much. Any other public comments? Anyone online? |
| 03:18:02.60 | Carolyn Revell | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 03:18:02.76 | Deirdre Coyne | Babad McDougal. |
| 03:18:05.38 | Steven Woodside | Ms. McGougal. |
| 03:18:07.73 | Deirdre Coyne | Thank you. |
| 03:18:07.74 | Babette McDougall | Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I've been looking forward to when this particular thing would finally come before the people. because I happen to live immediately next to a pathway to And the first thing I thought about when I hear, you know, the city council, many of you are new to town. by some folks reckoning, and you're going to take it upon yourself to define art in my neighborhood, and I just wonder what my other neighbors would say. So I've been a lot of... But intrepidation. But now that I see where we're starting, for as long as I've visited Sausalito as a kid, I've always called those the Spanish Steps, right? The Spanish Steps of California. So they deserve to be a focal point in my judgment. But as we go through the neighborhoods, please kindly remember, as I think Raylene will, since she lives in one neighborhood herself, that every neighborhood has its own character. And the last thing any of us want is to have that character somehow irreparably harmed or imposed upon by something other. Thank you. I yield back my time. |
| 03:19:09.57 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Alice Merrill, you wanted to comment? |
| 03:19:16.86 | Alice Merrill | I went on a trip with my father, I don't know, almost 30 years ago now, started in Halifax. And the paintings on the buildings were so cool. It was such a wonderful thing. And I've always wished that we could have that here. I would see that and I'd say, wow. That would be great. So I'm really glad that we're getting started with those stairs. Thank you. |
| 03:19:40.17 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 03:19:45.01 | Steven Woodside | Anyone else online? Okay, back to the dais. We could debate this. Yes, Ms. Cox. |
| 03:19:55.07 | Joan Cox | I just wanted to echo the comments regarding how lucky we are to have Raylene Gorham design this. You know, she designed. the beautiful tunnel between Sausalito and Marin City. She designed the beautiful Cass Gidley Marina. She is just a presence and a wonderful volunteer throughout town. So many thanks and accolades to Raylene Gorham. |
| 03:20:20.08 | Melissa Blaustein | Okay. |
| 03:20:26.51 | Rob McCullough | Yes. |
| 03:20:27.06 | Jill Hoffman | As the council liaison to the Sister City program, we've been working on this as one of the art projects and the main art project right now for the Sister City program. |
| 03:20:27.22 | Rob McCullough | Joe. |
| 03:20:27.55 | Kevin McGowan | Thank you. |
| 03:20:41.95 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you to Raylene and Robert, especially for working on this and bringing this to the council, and all the back. work. I mean, doing the model for the stairs was was a big job. I mean, it doesn't seem like it, but it was. You guys put that together and the trip to Chile that you guys went on was... Amazing. So thank you for all that you've done. both of you have done for the Sister City program. It's amazing and fully support this program. It's amazing bringing this to Sausalito. So thank you. |
| 03:21:11.97 | Steven Woodside | Other comments? Thank you. Yes, Vice Mayor. |
| 03:21:14.40 | Melissa Blaustein | I think this is really exciting. Not only is it our first use of the Parks and Rec a new system for approving public art, but it's a partnership with our sister cities and it is Reviving our relationship with Vina del Mar. So this is just a triumph as far as I'm concerned. I'm really excited about it. And just, we are so lucky to have Raylene in town and to have so many people involved. So this is just really going to be such an amazing addition. Um, and I just wanted to note, I know that council member Hoffman and I both were on the committee for the Dorothy Gibson house, and we both heard from. Heidi Snowden, who manages the Dorothy Gibson estate, And excitingly, she left some additional funds that she wanted to dedicate specifically to stairways. and to potentially having a plaque noting her walking tours of these stairways. So this is just the beginning of our decorating stairways in town. We have a lot of support for it. And I think we also have an opportunity to honor some of our residents with plaques sharing where they were a part of the community. So I don't know if you wanted to add Councilman Hoffman because I know you've been in touch with her as well. |
| 03:22:17.09 | Jill Hoffman | And I did. Yeah, I did talk to Heidi this week and we're going to follow up with her. about, um, about this project or perhaps another stairway for Dorothy. And so, Sorry, the vice mayor and I are going to follow up with Heidi on that. And that's exciting, too. So this is maybe going to spark more projects in town. And this is a spectacular start to that. So thank you. |
| 03:22:41.51 | Steven Woodside | And just a quick comment about the process. It was less than a year ago that the Parks and Recreation Commission took up the idea. Oh my gosh. We're in charge of public art. And let's look at the process. and they changed it. And it will not be for the council to decide on the quality of the art. It will be for the Parks and Recs Commission. to put out the proposals for public viewing, then to make a decision on whether it's recommended by them and then it will come to us for a final decision. I think that's gonna encourage people who may have been discouraged for years To come forward. with perhaps donations of public art. And it may overwhelm the Parks and Rec Commission for a while, but I think it's important. And we do want to be careful. I mean, Raylene does amazing work. and certainly sister cities and all those who will be raising money and have already done amazing things to bring it to this point. It's just it's just kind of a paradigm shift in the right direction. So I'm just very pleased. So I don't know that we need more discussion. Is there a motion to actually accept this? |
| 03:24:01.66 | Kathy Nikitas | So moved second. |
| 03:24:02.94 | Steven Woodside | Okay. All those in favor? |
| 03:24:05.14 | Kathy Nikitas | Hi. Hi. |
| 03:24:05.90 | Steven Woodside | That's passed unanimously. |
| 03:24:08.48 | Kathy Nikitas | Yay. |
| 03:24:08.97 | Unknown | I'm sorry. |
| 03:24:13.63 | Steven Woodside | So that concludes our business items for tonight. We do have opportunities to make further comments, hopefully not debates. And I'm going to just ask Ian if you have any reports. Okay, Vice Mayor. |
| 03:24:29.59 | Melissa Blaustein | I have just a couple of reports from the Transportation Authority meeting, which was a few weeks ago. October 7th, so that's tomorrow, is walk to school day. So if you are with your kids, walk them to school. And November 18th is going to be Ruby Bridges walk to school day. Also, the Street Smarts campaign, which are those cute signs that you see that say, slow down, I'm walking. et cetera, is relaunching. It just started on the 28th of September, and that will be going on through November 13th. Um, And we heard from the board an update on the youth e-bike safety data for Marin County. And there's some really exciting news, which is that the e-bike crash rates since we started our public education campaign fell by almost 30%, so about 28% in teens. from 10 to 15 year olds. So that's really encouraging. And helmet use also rose from 77% to 90%. So our education program for e-bikes is really taking off. We also approved an extension of the Redwood Bike Share Program, which unfortunately is not going to touch Southern Marin. So I did make some comments at that meeting to try and push us to extend the bike share to the Sausalito Ferry and potentially on to Mill Valley. So hopefully we did receive a million dollars from Senator McGuire specifically to continue the Redwood bike share program. You may have seen those bikes at the Larkspur Ferry. It's an extension of the Smart Train, so you can take the Smart Train and then hop a bike. So I'm hoping that we will be able to extend that using the additional funds from the Senator into Southern Marin. And excitingly, we finally accepted the Marin County Mobility Hub Action Plan, which was done with a $400,000 grant from MTC and is meant to really help us update and incorporate our nine rail and ferry stations in Marin County. So that's the update for transit. |
| 03:26:19.23 | Steven Woodside | Okay. Ms. Cox, any reports? Okay, Ms. Huffman? |
| 03:26:25.10 | Jill Hoffman | I have a report out from the Cal Cities, the annual Cal Cities Conference that was held down in Anaheim. And that was September 23rd to the 26th. That's a really great, it's a, It's an annual conference. for all the Cal cities member cities were one of them across. the state of California, and they had some great great seminars. Rebuilding road, some of the highlights for rebuilding roads and lifecycle, including lifestyle life cycle cost savings. which was really fascinating. that included really Lisa Smith- Less expensive ways to extend the life of your roads and i'll be giving some of this information to our city manager. Lisa Smith- Finance financing economics development housing infrastructure projects, which was super interesting and artificial intelligence integration to enhance staff performance and predictive maintenance and engaging with the community so ways to enhance. your staff, not to replace staff, but enhance staffing. So I'll be giving him some of these things. The leader in this has been San Jose, interesting and not surprising. And, even more interesting, next year's conference will be in San Jose. So thank goodness, easy commutes for all of us. And next year's president, incoming president, who is now our vice president for all of Cal cities across our state, is the um council member from san jose so not surprising that he will be our incoming president. And that the. um that the The conference next year will be down in San Jose. So that will be an easy commute for all of us. And our new incoming North Bay president for our region is Venetian Mayor Carrie Birdseye. So that was fun. We had our big North Bay lunch also while we were down there at the conference. So That is the report from CalCities. Okay. As your North Bay former |
| 03:28:21.27 | Steven Woodside | Okay. |
| 03:28:24.03 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 03:28:24.15 | Jill Hoffman | outgoing president. |
| 03:28:24.96 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 03:28:25.45 | Steven Woodside | Okay, Ms. Cox. |
| 03:28:27.04 | Joan Cox | Sorry, I forgot. I actually did attend a BCDC meeting as a BCDC alternate commissioner at which we discussed sea level rise. And I shared with BCDC that Sausalito has already commenced its regional shoreline adaptation planning effort, RSAP. known as RSEP, and that our efforts actually predated the passing of SB 272 and the RSEP requirements. Um, that we had already that the council had already heard a Sausalito shoreline adaptation plan in November of 2025. and that the Council would be initiating formal consultation with BCDC regarding It's sea level rise and shoreline adaptation efforts. |
| 03:29:22.17 | Steven Woodside | For those who don't know what RSAP means, |
| 03:29:25.06 | Joan Cox | regional shoreline adaptation planning, and it was required by SB 272. |
| 03:29:31.92 | Steven Woodside | And there's a deadline coming up. |
| 03:29:33.41 | Joan Cox | There is a deadline. We are ahead of schedule. We are ahead of the curve for Marin County, but Mill Valley actually commenced its interaction with BCDC on this effort before us. But we are we will be a close second. |
| 03:29:50.03 | Steven Woodside | Okay. So any more council committee, council member reports? No. Okay. Future agenda items. As we decided earlier today, we will have a hearing on the challenge conduct appeal from the proposed property development on Bridgeway. and that will be on the 20th, which is a regular meeting date. We do not have very many items. proposed property development on Bridgeway. And that will be on the 20th, which is a regular meeting date. We do not have very many items scheduled for that date, but I'm going to suggest that if it's okay, that we get a written update that we'll put on consent concerning the urgent matters around Gate 5 Road and Varta Landing. If there's no objection to that, I'd love to see that. progress reports, steady progress reports. Any other future agenda item suggestions? Yes. |
| 03:30:47.52 | Joan Cox | Yes, I would like to ask that we hear back regarding the SOS request for CEQA evaluation of the project at 1 and 3 Harbor Drive based on the grounds enunciated by dropper I forget his name. thick. |
| 03:31:09.33 | Melissa Blaustein | Drury. |
| 03:31:09.80 | Joan Cox | Drew Riemer. |
| 03:31:10.66 | Melissa Blaustein | I. |
| 03:31:10.93 | Joan Cox | this evening. I kept wanting to say Robert Muros because I had Robert |
| 03:31:16.36 | Steven Woodside | mirrors in front of me. If I can... If I can maybe elaborate a little bit on what I'd said earlier, um, We're gonna face some differing interpretations of the interplay between the housing laws and CEQA. There's been a lot of change at the state level. The governor has done a number of things. |
| 03:31:35.26 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 03:31:37.64 | Steven Woodside | And we may find ourselves between a rock and a hard place. In other words, we may want to do something that according to legal counsel, we don't have the authority to do, whereas other legal counsel may make the argument that we do. Um, |
| 03:31:56.34 | Joan Cox | I endorse your recommendation for a DEC relief action. I think that's the only. |
| 03:32:00.24 | Steven Woodside | I think that's the only. |
| 03:32:01.17 | Joan Cox | But I think we have to act swiftly or we'll lose the opportunity. |
| 03:32:03.90 | Steven Woodside | I agree and maybe we can do a closed session with our council on the 20th and then report out if we're going to be able to take such an action. I'll just say as a matter of kind of my own interest in these things. When I was county council, the county council would have the authority to request an opinion of the Attorney General. Thank you. |
| 03:32:22.72 | Joan Cox | Yeah. |
| 03:32:23.19 | Steven Woodside | when you're not sure. And the rule is you put out your opinion, what you think it means, and then you ask the attorney general. And those are, They're not 100% binding, but they are very persuasive in a court. so you can develop a little safe harbor for yourself. We as a city don't have that authority. Only very large cities with their city attorney has that authority. So we need to think creatively as to how we can |
| 03:32:41.11 | Unknown | Yes. |
| 03:32:49.07 | Steven Woodside | get a clear, definitive answer on what our authority is so we can then proceed in accordance with that. And we can debate it among ourselves forever, but I don't think that's productive. Agreed. Okay, thank you. |
| 03:33:02.08 | Melissa Blaustein | I just want to keep |
| 03:33:02.79 | Joan Cox | TO BE ABLE |
| 03:33:02.83 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 03:33:02.98 | Joan Cox | I'm not moving. |
| 03:33:03.92 | Melissa Blaustein | Can I just add one more thing to the agenda? |
| 03:33:06.02 | Joan Cox | I wasn't sure. |
| 03:33:07.43 | Melissa Blaustein | Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. My other item was the... I'm sorry. |
| 03:33:08.21 | Joan Cox | Yeah. I'm sorry. Yeah, the emergency proclamation. So considering whether Um, an emergency proclamation would help us expedite the public contracting for gate five road. |
| 03:33:21.27 | Steven Woodside | Yeah, and I think our city attorney indicated he's looking into that. Yeah, and we should have a better answer in two weeks. Exactly. Okay. Those are my two items. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Vice Mayor. |
| 03:33:24.75 | Joan Cox | Yeah, absolutely. |
| 03:33:29.62 | Joan Cox | Thank you. |
| 03:33:30.65 | Melissa Blaustein | I was just going to add a consideration of plaques, and I would really like it if we could hear a consideration of a plaque for Ann Arnott at the meeting on the 20th. um, So just putting that out there. |
| 03:33:43.06 | Steven Woodside | So not to be bureaucratic, but I think there may be some process we have to follow so that Mr. Interim City Manager, let's figure out what that is so we can move it. Great. Okay? |
| 03:33:58.14 | Elaine Forbes | Thank you. |
| 03:33:58.60 | Steven Woodside | Thank you. |
| 03:33:58.61 | Elaine Forbes | Absolutely. And I look forward to working with Brian Vitale on exactly how we'll bring that back to council. Okay. |
| 03:34:04.50 | Jill Hoffman | And may I request that if possible, we give a report out on the status of whatever the status is for Pelican Harbor and where we're at with negotiating with the owner of Pelican Harbor and where we're at on that. |
| 03:34:24.26 | Steven Woodside | also on the 20th. |
| 03:34:26.81 | Jill Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 03:34:26.83 | Deirdre Coyne | Yes. |
| 03:34:28.72 | Steven Woodside | Okay, and then just to remind everyone, we are not meeting on election day. So it may be that the 20th is starting to get a little crowded, potentially. Okay, any other reports of significance? Any public comment on the items we just discussed, future agenda items or reports? Seeing none. |
| 03:34:55.89 | Deirdre Coyne | We have Sandra Bushmaker. |
| 03:34:57.73 | Steven Woodside | Okay, Ms. Bushmaker. |
| 03:35:01.22 | Sandra Bushmaker | Hello, council again. I had a couple issues. I saw the article in the IJ about the Transportation Authority of Marin's $400,000 grant from MTC. MPC seems to have big plans, and that that Melissa just talked about. that was accepted. had plans for Sausalito, and I wonder, were we involved in the planning of those plans whatsoever? It has to do with bicycles and a few other things. But I was very concerned with the article that I read in the IJ and I don't know how to get the community involved in this, but I don't like state agencies like we've had to deal with dictating what happens in our town without our input. Second. |
| 03:35:46.82 | Steven Woodside | I'm not. Go ahead. I'm going to push my camera. |
| 03:35:50.55 | Sandra Bushmaker | Yeah, secondly, the country of the Netherlands, not Holland, |
| 03:35:55.20 | Steven Woodside | Um, that, that wasn't an item of six a through D. |
| 03:36:05.92 | Sandra Bushmaker | I was just going to suggest for future agenda items, that And I've suggested this about eight years ago. |
| 03:36:11.88 | Carolyn Revell | Okay. |
| 03:36:14.53 | Sandra Bushmaker | that the country of the Netherlands, it's not Holland, Ian. It's the country of the Netherlands. They regained, as you said, about 33% of their land through water management programs. And about eight years ago, I recommended to the council that represented a staff probably public works. And Council... Make a trip to the Netherlands and look at what they did there to help address our sea level rise issues. and see if any of that technology has application here in our town. |
| 03:36:48.01 | Steven Woodside | Thank you, Ms. Bushmaker. Katie is not here to report that one of the most significant aspects of our sea level rise adaptation programming, I will say, involved visitors from the Netherlands coming here to make suggestions to us. Okay, any other public comments? |
| 03:37:08.27 | Deirdre Coyne | Next we have Babette McDougall. |
| 03:37:10.79 | Steven Woodside | I suppose met Google |
| 03:37:13.10 | Babette McDougall | Why, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yes, we're starting to feel a bit late in the hour, I'm sure, and you've been very expeditious. But we do need to address future agenda items in this context. I'm glad to hear from Ms. Bushmaker because I, too, looked at that article in the Marin IJ. And I was feeling very concerned because here they are Moving into town. They sent the supervisor to tell us to get ready for placemaking. The council has done very little to specifically address what this means for us. In the meantime, we keep getting these impositions like I don't know if it's good or bad when Melissa tells us that she's reporting on this TAM thing, and yet it doesn't, as someone else just pointed out, to what extent does the Sausalito community have input? Because, Mr. Sobieski, maybe it's time to move on because you're a busy man, and I agree that you have a lot in front of you as opportunity right now. But you should not seek to continue dividing this community and pit one faction against another to try to affect the fate of Sausalito. |
| 03:38:18.00 | Steven Woodside | Ms. McDougal, I'm going to cut you off because that's not relevant to item 6A and 6E. |
| 03:38:20.89 | Babette McDougall | That's not relevant. We are stacked up, excuse me for speaking over me again, because we need to add to our agenda these very core issues. Just what is MTC planning to do? Just what exactly is Ms. Blaston's role on that committee? And why isn't there more proactive representation? all of this. And we have to be specific. I have asked for a guide for ethical behavior and conduct, and I get shot down every time, particularly by Ms. Cox, who has very strong opinions about- |
| 03:38:53.93 | Steven Woodside | Ms. McDougall, you're straying from the agenda again. |
| 03:38:56.19 | Babette McDougall | Oh, So, sir, these are all future agenda items that I have raised time and again that just keep getting ignored. Now it's getting too big to ignore. Do you understand? It's too big to ignore. We've got the Metropolitan Transportation Commission right at our doorstep now, and you all won't even talk about it. You got to bring the supervisor to talk about it. You won't. Now you get Blaustein saying, oh, I just |
| 03:39:21.65 | Steven Woodside | Time is up. Thank you. |
| 03:39:26.29 | Steven Woodside | There are times when I wish I could respond, but I won't. I think we are now adjourned. |
| 03:39:51.91 | Unknown | . |
| 03:40:11.86 | Unknown | Recording stopped |
| 03:40:12.25 | Carolyn Revell | . |
| 03:40:12.28 | Unknown | THE END OF |
| 03:40:12.33 | Carolyn Revell | Thank you. |
| 03:40:43.43 | Unknown | . |
Rob McCullough — Neutral: Raised concerns about the city's enforcement at Pelican Harbor, questioning whether the city can enforce its existing authority before changing land use rules under Measure X. ▶ 📄
Lauren DeRiemer — Against: Opposed Measure X, requested disclosure of its drafters and funders, and expressed worry that Pelican Harbor may be lost and then developed to cover costs. ▶ 📄
Virginia Irwin — Against: Criticized Measure X for dividing the community and called for more collaborative workshops; stated that Measure X is not the way forward. ▶ 📄
Babette McDougall — Neutral: Referred to Pelican Harbor as a litmus test for council alignment, challenged the mayor on limiting public comment, and urged unity on facing broader regional threats. ▶ 📄
Peter Romanowski — Neutral: Demanded access to the eelgrass report, alleged conflicts of interest in its creation, and criticized the spending of $3 million to replant eelgrass. ▶ 📄
Arthur Bruce — Neutral: Thanked the council for modifications to a lease agreement with SEBC out and expressed optimism. ▶ 📄
Sandra Bushmaker — Neutral: Noted vacancies at Pelican Harbor and feared that the developer would pursue more lucrative uses instead of maintaining the harbor; urged the city to take aggressive steps. ▶ 📄