| Time | Speaker | Text |
|---|---|---|
| 00:00:00.03 | Nastassya Saad | Order. The time is 6.29. Assistant City Manager Phipps. |
| 00:00:04.74 | Assistant City Manager | Good evening, Chair Saad, Vice Chair Genius, Planning Commissioners, staff, and members of the public. This evening's meeting is being held at 420 Litho Street and is open to members of the public. Members of the public may also access this meeting and provide public comment through Zoom. With that, I will move to call roll. Commissioner Moore. |
| 00:00:23.22 | Fred Moore | here. |
| 00:00:23.52 | Assistant City Manager | Thank you. Commissioner Merlot. Here. Commissioner Luxenberg. Present. Vice Chair Junius. Present. Chair San. |
| 00:00:30.20 | Nastassya Saad | here. |
| 00:00:30.98 | Assistant City Manager | We are all in attendance. There is full quorum. Back to you, Chair. |
| 00:00:34.73 | Nastassya Saad | Thank you very much. Item number two on the agenda is the approval of the agenda. Is there a motion? |
| 00:00:41.49 | David Marlatt | So moved. |
| 00:00:42.20 | Nastassya Saad | Thank you. |
| 00:00:43.80 | David Marlatt | SECOND. |
| 00:00:44.46 | Nastassya Saad | Thank you. Assistant City Manager. |
| 00:00:46.86 | Assistant City Manager | Commissioner Moore. Approve. Commissioner Merlatt. Yes. Commissioner Luxenberg. Yes. Vice Chair Junius. Yes. Chair Saad. Yes. Motion passes. |
| 00:00:54.71 | Nastassya Saad | Yes. Motion passed. Thank you. Item number three are public comments on items that are not on this agenda. Assistant City Manager. |
| 00:01:02.01 | Assistant City Manager | Thank you, Chair. This is the time for the Commission to hear from citizens regarding matters that are not on the agenda, except in very limited situations. State law precludes the Commission from taking action on or engaging in discussions concerning items of business that are not on the agenda. However, the Commission may refer matters not on the agenda to staff or direct that the subject be agendized at a future meeting. We will let you know when your three-minute timer has elapsed. If you're joining us from a phone, please press star 9 to raise your hand so we know that you'd like to speak. You can also submit a speaker card if you're in the chamber. That being said, looking to interested speakers in the chamber as I have received no speaker cards at this time, seeing none. Looking to the Zoom application for any raised hands and interested speakers there. Seeing none share, back to you. |
| 00:01:53.08 | Nastassya Saad | Thank you very much. Item number four is the approval of the Planning Commission minutes. We have one. This is item 4A. These are minutes from December 10th of 2025. Any notes or comments? No? Is there a motion? |
| 00:02:08.82 | Jeffery Luxenberg | So moved. |
| 00:02:09.82 | Nastassya Saad | Thank you. |
| 00:02:09.99 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Thank you. Second. |
| 00:02:11.69 | Nastassya Saad | Thank you. |
| 00:02:13.31 | Assistant City Manager | Commissioner Moore. |
| 00:02:14.25 | Nastassya Saad | Thank you. |
| 00:02:14.51 | Assistant City Manager | Thank you. Commissioner Merlot. Yes. Commissioner Luxenberg. Yes. Vice-Chair Junius. Yes. Trissot. |
| 00:02:20.43 | Nastassya Saad | Yes. |
| 00:02:20.82 | Assistant City Manager | Thank you. Motion passes. |
| 00:02:22.86 | Nastassya Saad | Thank you. Item number five are communications. ACM, do you have any communications from staff? |
| 00:02:29.10 | Assistant City Manager | I do have a communication item this evening. Chair, thank you for the opportunity. Okay. Happy New Year. And I have some additional items of communication. also relating to a summary of the most recent city council meeting and some of the actions that the community development department are taking based on council direction. So the first is related to program eight in the city's housing element. Specifically, there was a discussion at the most recent council meeting related to the implementation of program eight as related to the leveraging or disposition of the MLK park site, as well as the corpyard site. Those are both city-owned properties. Council directed that a joint RFP be created in order to solicit for both development opportunities at once. The council also created both a council subcommittee or working group, if you will, in addition to a task force composed of a number of community members and experts in the field. I will note that one of our fellow commissioners is a member and has accepted the invitation to be a part of the task force. That is our very own Commissioner Merlot. Thank you very much, Commissioner, for your commitment to the city and for your assistance in the implementation of program eight. The second communication item I have is related to the tourney street floating dock and business partnership project. The city council provided feedback regarding augmentation minor augmentations I'll say to the draft RFP that was created and staff are currently working to revise once those revisions are made. And we will be in a position to solicit for that opportunity. That does it for updates on my end. Give it back to you, Chair. |
| 00:04:14.30 | Nastassya Saad | Thank you very much, and thank you to Commissioner Marlott for being part of that effort. Just one point of clarification, ACM, is that subcommittee and working group for the RFP only, or is there a grander scope? |
| 00:04:29.96 | Assistant City Manager | I believe that it is for a greater scope and that greater scope is the implementation of program eight specifically as related to the disposition and development on the MLK park property or portion thereof to wake a portion thereof as well as same for the corporation yard. |
| 00:04:44.93 | Nastassya Saad | Thank you very much. Does anybody else have any communication items for this evening? Yes, Commissioner Moore. |
| 00:04:52.80 | Fred Moore | I'm not sure if this is appropriate time, but I was just kind of throwing out some things that as we go forward in the year, maybe we could consider either putting these on the agenda, creating a task force or opening them up for discussion or direction to staff. A couple of quick items. Sorry, I'll try to go quickly. One of them is the various parking throughout the city. I hear a lot of complaints from residents about where permit C parking is allowed. There's been a number of places in the city where the two hour parking has changed from before it was terminated at six o'clock, now it's terminated at 830. I don't know if there was a concerted or consolidated or a thoughtful method in that, but I think it's worth looking at if that's serving the people who want to visit downtown in the residence. Another thing is having some input on some of the capital improvement projects that are being processed through the city. |
| 00:05:29.51 | Steve Fabes | but I think, |
| 00:05:42.98 | Fred Moore | One in particular, again, is getting a lot of resident feedback. And unfortunately, I'm not sure the complaints right now may outweigh the positive reaction. Sidewalks on Bridgeway and not just only the sidewalk locations or the medians, but more importantly, the signage. The signage, as you probably have seen, is very robust with those bright yellow signs, which you can see probably from Tiburon or Belvedere. And maybe they didn't need to be that robust in order to be a safe sidewalk that was providing what the city wanted for as pedestrian safety. So had we been involved with that, maybe there would have been some input. So I'm not sure how that got processed at that point. Another thing is occasionally we're seeing red curbs pop up along public streets in front of houses or sidewalks or stairways where all of a sudden now public parking is taken away for a red curb. I've heard that some residents are doing that on their own and some of it's done by the police department so that could be another area that we could look into. Another one is the parklets in the city. They're using public streets. Obviously that was a big issue during COVID and very important for the vitality of the downtown and these various businesses. But maybe now, six years later, they can be looked at from a standpoint of aesthetics as well as safety and how they're marked and how they're built. two more items whether we get involved with helping the staff helping the city with solicitation of developers for various development projects to help implement that they're built two more items whether we get involved with helping the staff and helping the city with solicitation of developers for various development projects to help implement the housing department housing element |
| 00:06:09.04 | Steve Fabes | and the |
| 00:07:16.60 | Fred Moore | whether it be city-owned property, whether it be vacant land, whether there be paper streets in the city, how we can be a part of making sure that we meet those housing element obligations. And lastly, whether or not we can be involved with doing something with the old machine shop down in the Marin Ship. That's been an eyesore for, what, 50 years, and something needs to be done with it so I don't know how we motivate people our staff or the public or developers or the federal government to take care of that but to the extent the expertise to my right and my left can be involved I think that would help the city Sorry for being so winded. |
| 00:07:56.38 | Nastassya Saad | I think it's a great way to kick off 2026. Those are good ideas. Since they are not agendized yet, we can definitely take them offline and work with city staff to put them on the agenda. But I did note all of them. And Commissioner, did you want to add something on? |
| 00:08:11.25 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Well, since we're talking about things that we sort of need in 2026, I would encourage staff also to look at, we have a large number of commercial vacancies. And walking around, there are others that happened in the last few weeks that I was surprised about. So whatever we can do on outreach to help the Chamber of Commerce, to promote the city city because, again, we have a number of empty spaces. And if we address formula retail, which I understand will be coming up shortly this year, we could do outreach to firms that might be appropriate for the balance that we like. So if we're providing a list of things that we want to focus on in 2026, that might be one as well. |
| 00:08:59.15 | Nastassya Saad | Absolutely, we can add it to the list assistant city manager i'll just leave it noted on public record, but we can work to agenda agendize some of these items, as we move forward in the year. Great Thank you. I don't have any other announcements so with that will open up. the communications for public comment, ACM. |
| 00:09:20.33 | Assistant City Manager | Thank you, Chair. Looking to the chamber for interested speakers via the raising of hands. Seeing none. Looking to the Zoom application for interested speakers via a raised hand. I think none, but back to you. |
| 00:09:33.16 | Nastassya Saad | Thank you very much. Item number six is the public hearing. This is item 6A. This is for 19 Casnew Avenue and 31 Casnew Avenue. This is a tree removal alteration permit, and we have associate planner Adam Blair here to present this evening. Thank you, Adam. |
| 00:10:21.01 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:10:27.85 | Adam Blair | of it thank you chair good evening commissioners and members of the public I'm Adam Blair associate planner with the community development department the item before you this evening is an application requesting approval of a tree removal slash alteration permit to facilitate the alteration of two California Bay heritage trees on private property at 19 Casno Avenue and 31 Casno Avenue. And before we get started, I'd just like to note for the record that no trees are being proposed for removal as part of this application. The only work being proposed is alteration work. Next slide. Here's a site map showing the properties of 19 Casno Avenue and 31 Casno Avenue, 31 being to the Southeast on this diagram. 19 Casno Avenue is an 8,134 square foot lot owned by Steve Fabs. Mr. Fabs is the individual who hired tree masters to perform the alteration work proposed in this application. 31 Casino Avenue is a 5,326 square foot lot. owned by Wanda Zao. Miss Zao gave permission for Tree Masters to enter her property and alter a California Bay heritage tree located on the property, 31 Casno Avenue. That letter has been provided as attachment to in the meeting agenda. Both parcels are located within the R dash one dash six single family residential zoning district and have general plan land use designations of medium low density residential next slide. |
| 00:11:56.53 | Adam Blair | Thank you. Applicant Tree Masters on behalf of owner Steve Fabs is requesting approval of a tree removal slash alteration permit to alter to California Bay Heritage trees. It's kind of hard to see, but the two trees are called out in red on the site map above. That was from the Arborist Report. At 19 Casno Avenue, there is a California bay tree, which measures 98 inches diameter at breast height and is located directly next to the main residence at 31 Casno Avenue. At 31 Casano Avenue there, the second California Bay heritage tree measures 67 inches diameter breast height. and is located near the rear deck area of 19 Casno Avenue. Proposed alterations consist of crown height reduction for both trees, totaling about 15 to 20%. For both trees. And the arborist William Cross, ISA certified arborist with Tree Masters, noted that the proposed alteration work would result in overall foliage being reduced by approximately 80% after this alteration work for both trees. The request has been brought forth due to concerns about the health and stability of these subject trees. Next slide. Going into each of the trees, so tree number one, the California Bay tree located at 19 Casno Avenue, was reported by Mr. Cross to be in fair to poor condition with a large basal cavity at the base of the tree. photograph shown there. Mr. Cross noted that This cavity compromises the structural integrity of this tree. The primary impact target, if the tree were to fail is the main residents of 31 Casno Avenue. And the tree is recommended for alteration to reduce crown mass and leverage for the tree to ultimately ensure the stability of the tree, taking weight off of that trunk with that cavity shown there. Next slide. Tree number two, also California bait tree at 31 Casno Avenue, was reported to be in fair condition with overextended limbs and dense regrowth. There's a picture there showing the limbs spreading out. Mr. Cross noted that these features were risks for potential breakage for the tree. The primary impact target if the tree were to fail is the rear deck area of 19 Casno Avenue. And the tree is recommended for alteration to reduce risk from these overextended limbs and to maintain the stability of the tree. Next slide. Thank you. So digging into the findings, staff finds that the proposed alteration work is consistent with the required findings outlined in Sausalito Municipal Code section 11.12.030, subsection B1 through 3. Staff finds that the proposed alteration work ensures good professional practices of forestry while addressing potential hazard to property. For reasons noted earlier, seem to be some risks for failure and some structural deficiencies with the trees, so the proposed alteration work is proposed to mitigate that. Staff noted that the proposed alteration work will not significantly affect neighboring vegetation, drainage, or land stability. No trees proposed for removal, so they should have minimal to no impact on the stability of the land or on drainage. And finally, staff finds that the proposed alteration work maintains and ensures the health and stability of both heritage trees for reasons mentioned earlier. Next slide. So with that being said, staff recommends the Planning Commission approve application 2025-00190, authorizing the alteration of two California Bay Heritage trees at 19 Casno Avenue and 31 Casno Avenue, and adopt the attached draft resolution approving the requested tree removal slash alteration permit. Staff finds the proposed project is in conformance with the criteria listed in Solstice Municipal Code, Section 11.12.030. subsection B1 through 3. With that, that concludes my presentation. Happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you. |
| 00:15:47.04 | Nastassya Saad | Thank you very much, Adam. We'll open up to questions. Commissioner Luxenberg, do you have any questions for staff? |
| 00:15:52.76 | Jeffery Luxenberg | I do. So I just want to make sure this hearing was properly noticed. So in the staff report, it says that the public notice was posted in accordance with the requirements of Sausalito Municipal Code 1046-060-E2A. That provision is for historic preservation, so I don't think that's applicable. Last Friday, I went out to both sites. I didn't see any notices at all on monday i went out to the site and i saw a notice on 10 casano but nothing on on 31 casano but if you go to section 11 12 0 30 1a 1a in the project tree section it says the applicant shall place the tags on the tree and post the application so it is clearly visible from the street at the front of the lot. The tags and notice shall not be removed for 10 days thereafter. If the tags were orange tape, I saw that when I visited last Friday, but I didn't see the application posted, and the notice I saw was not an application, it was a notice. Given the large size of this tree and the huge amount of foliage affecting for both of these lots as well as the rest of the neighborhood, I just want to make sure the notice required by the Sausalito Municipal Code was complied with. Do you know if the application was posted maybe back in November 13th for the 10 days and then taken down or what's the status of notice for this? |
| 00:17:22.28 | Adam Blair | That's correct. So for both 19 and 31 Casano Avenue, a notice of pending tree removal or alteration permit application was posted at the site, and tree tags were issued to a representative of tree masters. They put up the tree tags and that notice of pending application notice on November 11th. And I notified them that in accordance with that municipal code requirement you cited earlier, they can remove the tags and the notice of pending application if they wish to do so after 10 working days. And so I believe they may have taken down the pending application notice and they may have left the tags up or maybe they removed them. I'm not sure. |
| 00:17:57.84 | Jeffery Luxenberg | So were the tags on the trees that orange tape, what do you issue to them to do that? |
| 00:18:03.49 | Adam Blair | The tags were orange tape. Tremasters did send photographs to city staff, so we did see that they had tagged the trees on November 11th. |
| 00:18:10.66 | Jeffery Luxenberg | And did they also send photographs showing the application that it was posted? |
| 00:18:16.42 | Adam Blair | the notice of pending application notice. |
| 00:18:18.93 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Whenever they posted for the 10 days, did they take photographs so if later somebody says that nothing was posted, we had one of these issues in Old Town at one point where somebody contested whether the notice was posted or not. Did they send photographs or something indicating that they put them up and they were there for 10 days? |
| 00:18:38.39 | Adam Blair | So, Tree Masters took care of the tagging for the trees. A CDD staff posted the pending application notice, so we do have photographs on file from when that notice was posted on November 11th. |
| 00:18:47.72 | Assistant City Manager | Okay. |
| 00:18:47.79 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Okay. |
| 00:18:47.97 | Assistant City Manager | Thank you. |
| 00:18:48.02 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Thank you very much. |
| 00:18:48.78 | Assistant City Manager | Thank you. Additional, Commissioner, if I might add, we appreciate the question regarding noticing how we do prioritize transparency. And one of the things that we did in addition to the noticing that Associate Planner Blair just described is to do our typical noticing, whereby we send notices, and it seems like you at least observed perhaps one, to all property owners within 300 feet. So we've actually gone, I would say, above and beyond our municipal code requirements as far as noticing is concerned for this site. |
| 00:19:15.04 | Steve Fabes | of the |
| 00:19:15.09 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:19:15.19 | Steve Fabes | Thank you. |
| 00:19:21.62 | Assistant City Manager | Okay. |
| 00:19:21.69 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Okay. I appreciate that. That's good. Thank you very much. That's the only question I have. |
| 00:19:26.72 | Nastassya Saad | Thank you very much, Commissioner Alex. Any other questions for city staff? Okay. I don't have any questions. Thank you, Adam. Do we have the applicant here to present this evening? |
| 00:19:42.53 | Nastassya Saad | Thank you very much for being here. You'll have 15 minutes. If you could just state your name and address for the record, and you may use all of your time. And if you don't wish to, whatever's remaining, you can save for any rebuttal after public comment. |
| 00:19:55.78 | Steve Fabes | Thank you. Good evening, Commissioners. My name is Steve Fabes. I'm resident of San Sausalito for the last 20 years. I live at 19 Casno. |
| 00:19:56.28 | Nastassya Saad | Thank you. |
| 00:20:07.51 | Steve Fabes | I don't have much to add, maybe just a little bit of history. I don't know whether you have received my public comment that was submitted. Thank you. |
| 00:20:14.88 | Nastassya Saad | We'll be right back. We have. |
| 00:20:15.52 | Steve Fabes | But just looking back, I think I mentioned in 2007, based under some pressure from the present owner of that house, I was required to top the bay laurel that was close to her house. And Bartlett's came in and did that and didn't require a permit. Maybe they should have done, but they didn't use a permit. Fast forward 2017 and Fifteen. Yeah, fifteen. The house has been sold and purchased by Miss Wanda Zal. And she contacted me because the same problem, the bay laurel close to her house was blocking her windows. We contracted with tree masters. An interesting day when they were topping the trees, a good old friend of mine, Kenneth Henry, came bouncing by, screaming at us to take the guys out of the trees because we didn't have a permit. Well, I didn't know we needed one, and neither did Tree Masters. Treemasters quickly got a permit and a few days later completed the topping of the trees. This time around, I brought Treemasters back in because, again, there is extensive coverage of the adjacent houses, windows, and it's actually damaging her roof. and Tremaster's got a permit. I was in Italy at the time in October. They were scheduled to begin the work and the city interrupted us and said there was more permit work to be done. So that's why we're here again tonight. I will point out that the the cutting that is being done to Maitrey and to Wanda Zhao's tree. is at exactly the same point as when I topped in 2007 and when we topped together in 2015. So I really do hope that this process, which now seems a bit more complicated, will be approved and we can proceed with putting these trees back in acceptable state for my neighbor, for her house, and also to prevent any possible structural damage should the trees topple over with the excessive top growth. Thank you very much. Do you have questions of me? |
| 00:22:45.78 | Nastassya Saad | you very much we might we'll just stop the clock at well you've got 12 12 minutes and 11 seconds remaining should you need it um if you want to remain at the podium just to see if anybody does have any questions for you commissioner marla commissioner more No questions for you. Thank you very much. So at this time, we'll go ahead and open it up for public comment. Assistant City Manager, I think I saw a hand or two raised. |
| 00:23:00.15 | Steve Fabes | No question. |
| 00:23:11.41 | Nastassya Saad | Thank you. |
| 00:23:11.71 | Assistant City Manager | Absolutely, Chair, you are correct. Not seeing any raised hands or have received any speaker cards from the audience in the chamber, but I do see two raised hands in the room, the Zoom room that is, and I'll call them in the order that they were raised. First is, a phone number, which I will not read out, but they are shown as guest. If you could unmute yourself. |
| 00:23:35.74 | Assistant City Manager | You'll have three minutes to speak. |
| 00:23:43.91 | Assistant City Manager | Um, phone number one, four one, five, three, eight, zero, eight, two, six, eight. I see that your hand is raised. You've got three minutes for public comment. Please go ahead. |
| 00:23:55.18 | Art Gil | Yes, this is Art Gil of RRI. And unfortunately, I was trying to... get in. and talk. during public comment, but it didn't work. So I have nothing to say about this. uh, I tried to to Yeah. get in on zoom and then I called the number so I would Unfortunately, I, I, I, I can't, |
| 00:24:23.53 | Steve Fabes | I can't. |
| 00:24:24.53 | Art Gil | I don't have anything to say about these trees. |
| 00:24:24.56 | Steve Fabes | I don't have anything. |
| 00:24:27.35 | Art Gil | I did have something I wanted to talk about. under public comment. Thank you. |
| 00:24:36.34 | Assistant City Manager | Thank you very much. Moving on to the next public commenter, Wanda Zhao. Welcome, you'll have three minutes to speak. |
| 00:24:50.57 | Wanda Zhao | Hi. So I appreciate Mr. Fabe's attention to the trees and all the work he's done. And I appreciate for considering our application today. More important than blocking the window on my property, it's done significant damage to my roof. It's sitting right on top of my roof. And we've already had a couple of leaks that I had to repair because of those branches. So, for the structural integrity of the home. as well as the integrity of the tree and, um, per the recommendation of the tree master arborist, as well as the safety of the residents that are in the house in case that tree does give out at some point, especially with the recent storms and such. So I, I definitely appreciate all your attention to this. your consideration for the alterations. |
| 00:25:48.04 | Assistant City Manager | Thanks very much for your comment. Chair looking to the Zoom application once again, seeing no additional raised hands. So I'll give it back to you. |
| 00:25:56.02 | Nastassya Saad | Thank you very much. With that, we'll close public comment, and we'll bring it back up to the dais here. Does anyone want to get us started with any conversation or a possible motion for the evening? |
| 00:26:07.53 | Andrew Junius | move to approve as recommended by the staff. |
| 00:26:10.55 | Nastassya Saad | Thank you very much, Vice Chair. Is there a second? |
| 00:26:14.40 | Fred Moore | second. |
| 00:26:14.77 | Nastassya Saad | Thank you. Thank you. Any discussion? Assistant City Manager, could you take roll please? |
| 00:26:20.80 | Assistant City Manager | Fish and more. Approved. Commissioner Merlot. Yes. Commissioner Luxenberg. Yes. Vice Chair Junius. Yes. Chair Saad. Yes. Motion passes unanimously. Congratulations. |
| 00:26:25.67 | Nastassya Saad | Thank you. |
| 00:26:25.71 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Go. |
| 00:26:25.96 | Nastassya Saad | Thank you. Thank you. Yes. Congratulations. Thank you very much. Thank you for being here this evening. Just a point of clarification to the city attorney. I might know the answer, but I'd like |
| 00:26:49.30 | Andrew Junius | For some reason, your mic has been muted. I cannot hear you on Zoom. |
| 00:26:57.28 | Andrew Junius | I think it is the Zoom. |
| 00:26:57.70 | Steve Fabes | the zoom |
| 00:26:58.53 | Andrew Junius | Not on the dais. If you guys can hear each other in the room, I just can't hear you. on the Zoom application and it says that the Marin TV Fetus muted. There we go. It's unmuted. |
| 00:27:10.98 | Nastassya Saad | Okay, can you hear me now? |
| 00:27:12.40 | Andrew Junius | Yes. |
| 00:27:13.18 | Nastassya Saad | I'm sorry. Um, well. Thank you. What I was asking is, is there any way that the gentleman on the phone was trying to join earlier for public comment that our item's not on this agenda and had some difficulty? Is there any chance to reopen that for him or is that a no-go at this time? |
| 00:27:37.17 | Andrew Junius | It's at the chair's discretion. So if you want to take a late public comment on that item, call that item again. I will leave it to you. |
| 00:27:45.17 | Nastassya Saad | Thank you very much. Assistant City Manager, do you still see the same phone number on the line? |
| 00:27:50.91 | Assistant City Manager | I believe I do. I'll ask that individual to unmute. Mr. Giavara, welcome back. If you're able to unmute, the chair has graciously reopened that item and you are free to comment. |
| 00:28:04.06 | Art Gil | Thank you. |
| 00:28:05.88 | Nastassya Saad | Mr. Giovara, can you hear us? |
| 00:28:08.26 | Art Gil | I can hear you. |
| 00:28:09.23 | Nastassya Saad | Thank you. You'll have three minutes for your public comment for items that are not on this agenda. |
| 00:28:12.20 | Art Gil | Okay. I wanted to talk to you a little bit about, uh, the CC district and, I am the owner of |
| 00:28:20.20 | Unknown | I'm going to go to the |
| 00:28:22.18 | Art Gil | of 599 Bridgeway. |
| 00:28:23.97 | Unknown | bridgeway. |
| 00:28:25.38 | Art Gil | but, Uh, What I wanted to talk to you about is there's a height requirement in that zone. 32 feet. uh, And there's been one. residents built in the last, I forgot how many years, in the CC district and you want housing, I've been trying to do housing, |
| 00:28:42.55 | Steve Fabes | in this. |
| 00:28:47.49 | Art Gil | But the problem, when you look at the chart, uh, The zone is allowed 100 percent. You can cover 100% of the lot. But the problem is that you have a. |
| 00:28:59.81 | Steve Fabes | that you have. |
| 00:29:01.43 | Art Gil | FAR of 1.3 So if you cover the lot, Uh, 100%. That allows. Uh, If you have a single story, that allows point three. for you to build in a in a zone that is allowed 32 feet. And it seems ridiculous that this, the parameters that you guys are setting, And you should look at those. I brought it up at council a couple times. but, . |
| 00:29:34.37 | Unknown | I'm going to go ahead and |
| 00:29:35.62 | Art Gil | You want housing. But how can you possibly build? Uh, For example, I could go up another story. But I can't because of the F-A-R And it's just ridiculous. the way this chart is laid out. and exists on a lot of the other |
| 00:29:56.09 | Steve Fabes | Thank you. |
| 00:29:56.24 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:29:56.27 | Steve Fabes | and it is a good thing. |
| 00:29:59.53 | Art Gil | areas of town. You want housing. But you restrict the building by the floor area ratio. It's something that should be looked at. because it just doesn't make sense. Yeah. |
| 00:30:14.43 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:30:15.22 | Art Gil | It's ridiculous. That was my comment. I don't know. I brought it up a couple times at council, but I'm not sure. They said they were going to or bring it up in a meeting But nothing has ever happened. This is You know, I went through it. I was trying to put senior housing at one time. And they had a special district that only applied to one street. But these... these requirements that you have have to be looked at and, and, modified. Somehow. That's my comment. |
| 00:30:54.02 | Assistant City Manager | Thank you, Mr. Giavara, for your comments. Thank you, Chair, for reopening the item to allow that comment. And I will give it back to you for the opening of our new business item. |
| 00:31:04.18 | Nastassya Saad | Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Giovara. Item number seven is new business. 7A, tonight we have the election of the chair and the vice chair. We will do this how we've always done it. So instead of doing a motion with a second, we can just go ahead and everyone or anyone who... Thank you. Assistant City Manager, did you want to make a comment? |
| 00:31:31.75 | Assistant City Manager | Just wanted to preface the item briefly by reading out one of our code sections, which is entitled 2.58.070, Annual Election to Chairperson's Limitations on Terms. Just wanted to make sure that we're all aware and familiar with that language. So 258070A, each city board, commission, or committee shall annually elect one of its members as chairperson for a one-year term. That is the item before you now. No person may be elected as a chairperson for more than two consecutive years. And C, no person may be reelected as chairperson after having served two consecutive terms without the passage of at least one year since the time of his or her last service as chairperson. And with that, I will turn it over to the commission. |
| 00:31:34.64 | Nastassya Saad | Bye. |
| 00:31:34.99 | Steve Fabes | Thank you. |
| 00:32:21.21 | Nastassya Saad | Thank you very much for those notes. So with that, we will go ahead and I will look for suggestions and names. I'd love to start with the vice chair, if there's anyone who would like to make a nomination. |
| 00:32:36.94 | Andrew Junius | I'd like to nominate Commissioner Marlott as vice chair. |
| 00:32:42.26 | David Marlatt | Thank you very much. happy and honored to play that role. |
| 00:32:48.01 | Nastassya Saad | Wonderful. Are there any other suggestions for the nomination of vice chair? With that, wholeheartedly agree. Assistant City Manager, could you please, I guess we will do it in a way in which everyone will say the name for whom they want elected. We've got Commissioner Marlott on the table, so. Please proceed. |
| 00:33:10.20 | Assistant City Manager | Commissioner Luxenberg. Commissioner Marlott. Commissioner Vice-Chair Junius. Marlott. Chair Son. |
| 00:33:19.26 | Nastassya Saad | Commissioner Marlow. |
| 00:33:19.97 | Fred Moore | Thank you. |
| 00:33:20.04 | Nastassya Saad | Thank you. |
| 00:33:20.58 | Assistant City Manager | Commissioner Moore. |
| 00:33:22.38 | Fred Moore | I like to say Commissioner Marlott would be an excellent vice chair and I'm very happy to endorse Commissioner Marlott as |
| 00:33:29.84 | David Marlatt | Thank you. |
| 00:33:30.08 | Fred Moore | chair. |
| 00:33:30.38 | David Marlatt | Thank you. Commissioner Merlot. Well, I'm always one to get along with everyone else. I'll just say Commissioner Marlott, just to get along. |
| 00:33:39.88 | Assistant City Manager | Lovely. Commissioner Merlot, or should I say Vice Chair Merlot, congratulations. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you very much. |
| 00:33:49.01 | Nastassya Saad | Wonderful. We think that's a wonderful addition for Vice Chair. Actually, with that note, before we move further, I just did want to say to Vice Chair Junius that it has been beyond a pleasure working with you, and we really appreciate all the hard work that you've done here on the commission, and I want to personally thank you because I know you've helped me run a few meetings when I was absent, so thank you for that, and we still look forward to all the involvement you have on the working group coming up in the next year, so. With that, now the election of the chair. Commissioner Luxembourg. |
| 00:34:28.10 | Jeffery Luxenberg | uh, sure. So I think you've done an excellent job over the last year. I think you're handling meetings very well, especially when it comes to public input on projects, uh, especially when they're contentious. Uh, during the five years that I've been on the commission, the chair has always served as, uh, assistant city manager explained two years in order to provide for continuity. The code allows for that. I would recommend we continue this process, which has served the commission very well. And so I'm pleased to nominate Chair Saad for chair for 2026. |
| 00:35:02.59 | Nastassya Saad | Thank you very much. I have loved being chair in case I have not been shy about that. It's been a pleasure. So do we have, I appreciate that. I appreciate what you said, Commissioner Luxenberg. Are there any other nominations for chair for this year? |
| 00:35:20.29 | Nastassya Saad | Assistant City Manager. |
| 00:35:23.16 | Assistant City Manager | Commissioner Luxenberg. Chair Saad. Commissioner Junius. Saad. Chair Saad. |
| 00:35:30.20 | Fred Moore | your thoughts. |
| 00:35:32.24 | Assistant City Manager | Commissioner Moore. |
| 00:35:34.28 | Fred Moore | I'd like to repeat some of the commission. Jeffrey's comments about I really appreciated how the chair has conducted the meetings over the last year as the newest member on the commission. I appreciated the interaction with not only all of us up here on the dais, but also the public in making sure the meeting runs as efficiently as possible with as much input and transparency. So I think I can support her again for another year. |
| 00:35:44.25 | Steve Fabes | to his |
| 00:36:01.85 | David Marlatt | you |
| 00:36:01.89 | Assistant City Manager | Vice Chair Merlot. |
| 00:36:04.16 | David Marlatt | Thank you. Yeah, I'd also let the Chair Sot and very much appreciate the smooth morning meetings and engagement with the Commission and the City. Thank you. |
| 00:36:12.53 | Nastassya Saad | Thank you. |
| 00:36:12.57 | David Marlatt | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 00:36:12.62 | Nastassya Saad | Thank you. |
| 00:36:12.92 | David Marlatt | you |
| 00:36:12.97 | Nastassya Saad | and |
| 00:36:13.21 | David Marlatt | Thank you. |
| 00:36:14.66 | Assistant City Manager | Congratulations Chair Saad, look forward to another year with you in the chair seat, motion passes unanimously. |
| 00:36:22.04 | Nastassya Saad | Thank you very much all. Thank you all. And item eight, adjournment. Okay, so moved. Thank you very much, everybody. Have a great evening. |
| 00:36:31.27 | Assistant City Manager | Happy New Year, everyone. Happy New Year. And good evening. |
| 00:36:32.14 | Nastassya Saad | Happy New Year. |
| 00:36:39.10 | Unknown | Thank you. Thank you. |
Wanda Zhao — In Favor: Ms. Zhao, owner of 31 Casno Avenue, expressed support for the tree alteration, noting that overhanging branches have damaged her roof and caused leaks, and that the work is needed for structural integrity and safety. ▶ 📄
Art Gil — Neutral: Mr. Gil spoke about unrelated concerns regarding the CC district's floor area ratio and height limitations, suggesting the council review these regulations to facilitate housing. He did not address the tree item. ▶ 📄