Understanding Measure K - What’s at Stake for Sausalito
Dear Neighbors,
This November, Sausalito voters will decide on Measures J and K—two important measures to help us build more needed housing and meet state housing requirements.
We here at Positive People support creating more housing in Sausalito—and more affordable housing for seniors, workers, teachers, young families, and first responders. We also want the City to stay in compliance with state requirements, avoiding steep fines that could hurt our town, as well as loss of local control to determine where housing goes.
So please read the voter information guide you receive carefully before voting.
For this email, we want to focus on Measure K.
You may have received an alarmist flyer about Measure K, complete with false claims and a photoshopped high-rise in MLK Park. And you’ll most likely receive more. So it’s important to be informed.
Our goal is to counter this fear and misinformation about Measure K with fact-based information and thoughtful analysis.
Below are the pros and cons of Measure K as we see them, along with additional context and pictures, to help you make your own informed decision.
What does Measure K do?
It would allow affordable housing to be built on a portion of the Martin Luther King (MLK) campus, specifically the Bus Barn site and a portion of the adjacent parking lot. The measure caps development at 50 units within a 32’ height limit. It would use 2 acres of the total 18 acres of the MLK site.
Measure K: The Pros
Affordable senior housing. The proposed project focuses on affordable homes for seniors, helping fill one of a number of urgent community needs.
Feasibility. Of all the affordable housing options proposed, this project has the highest chance of actually being built, delivering much-needed and state-mandated housing units.
Replaces aging facilities. The existing Bus Barn and parking lot require hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs in the coming years. Replacing them with housing averts those costs.
32’ height limit. Working with neighbors, the City made concessions to lower the density and impose a 32’ height limit to help preserve many of the neighbors’ views.
Meets state requirements. Measure K is currently our only way for Sausalito to meet its state mandate for affordable housing. Without it, we will fall short of meeting our low- and very-low-affordable housing rquirements. This puts us at risk of our Housing Element being decertified and falling under the “Builder’s Remedy” (explained below). We could also face significant fines that could hurt our town.
City can ensure affordable housing project: While there are other sites on our housing element, this one is unique because it’s owned by the city, and not a private property owner, and therefore the city can control how it’s developed and ensure that it becomes affordable senior housing and not mid-market or luxury housing.
Approving this can buy us time. With the city in control of this property, we can look for alternative housing sites after the vote and not risk going into “Builder’s Remedy.” Passing this measure does not commit the site to being built.
Measure K: The Cons
Location challenges. The housing site is situated near tennis, pickleball and basketball courts which could make it a less-than-ideal spot for housing.
Loss of leased city facilities. The city has several tenants who lease space in the bus barn. These leaseholders, and generated city revenues, would not be replaced.
Loss of city-owned space for future public use. The measure dedicates city-owned property to housing, removing the option of potentially repurposing it in the future for a community center or other civic and public uses.
Removal of parking spaces. The housing site would remove existing parking spaces, utilized by tenants, park goers and community events, potentially impacting nearby on street parking.
Construction impacts on other tenants. Tenants like the Lycée Français next door will face significant disruption during construction. This may cause some tenants to leave.
Reduced density. Significant concessions were made to nearby neighbors, lowering the density of the project. Given our limited land area, reducing the number of units here could force future housing to other parts of the city.
Addressing False Information
No Towers, No Loss of Park
You may have or will receive an alarmist postcard urging you to vote no, with a picture of a 9 story tower in the park. The claim is the 32’ height limit was taken out of the measure. THIS IS FALSE.
The 32’ height limit is referenced multiple times in the measure. The postcard shows changes to the summary, which has no bearing on the 32’ limit. Read the full legal text here, Clause 15 and Section 1 clearly state the limits.
Other opponents have said we are “building in the park.” That’s misleading.
The project site is not the grassy fields, dog park, tennis courts, or pickleball courts. It uses only 2 of the 18 acres that make up the MLK site.
Housing would replace the Bus Barn building and part of the parking lot (see pictures). The park itself is unchanged. Today, the aging Bus Barn is rented for private use. Click the picture to see the location in Google Maps.
An Important Decision
Sausalito urgently needs affordable housing, and while this proposal is not perfect, waiting for perfect has left us with almost no progress for decades.
This project offers a real chance to deliver affordable homes for seniors, helping fill an urgent need in the community. At the same time, it helps keep Sausalito from potentially receiving hefty fines and from facing the state’s Builder’s Remedy, where we would lose control over where and how housing gets built.
On the other hand, foregoing potential future civic uses, putting housing near noisy ball courts, losing lease revenues, parking and impacting other tenants is a high cost. This is something that must be carefully considered.
This is not an easy decision, but it’s an important one. We are not going to advise you on how to vote—that choice is entirely yours of course.
What we are committed to is giving you fact-based information and an honest look at the trade-offs as we see them, so you can make your decision with clarity, not based on fear and misinformation.
The Marinship Question
We do believe that it's unfortunate that the City did not seriously consider appropriate vacant, underutilized, and blighted sites in the Marinship. A choice was made earlier in the process to exclude these sites from consideration leaving us with the choices before us now.
Preserving and enhancing the Working Waterfront is vital, and it is slowly decaying due to neglect and lack of investment. Many office buildings are mostly empty and have outlived their useful life. Choosing to use MLK land while ignoring Marinship locations is shortsighted. Still, the need for affordable housing today is pressing, and regardless of the outcome, we must consider these issues.
If you are not familiar with this area, we encourage you to take a walk thorugh the Marinship and see for yourself. The photos have links to the locations.
What is the Builder’s Remedy?
California’s Builder’s Remedy is a state law that comes into play if a city’s Housing Element is not certified by the state. In that case, developers can bypass many of the city’s zoning restrictions and propose housing projects of almost any size and density—as long as a portion of the units are affordable. The city has little ability to say no. For Sausalito, that could mean large, market-rate developments in places we may not want them, with far less community input or control.
Thank you,
Adrian
Positive People for Sausalito
P.S. Sign up for our email list at www.positivepeople.com
