City Council May 27, 2025
City Council Meeting Summary
| Time | Item | Item Summary | Motion Summary | Comment Summary |
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| 00:00:02 | None: None | The meeting of May 27, 2025, is being held at 420 Litho Street in the council chambers and is being shown live on the city's website, Zoom, and cable TV channel 27. | No Motion | 0 Total: 0 In Favor 0 Against 0 Neutral |
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| 00:00:20 | I: CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL - 4:00 PM | Mayor Cox called the special city council meeting to order at 4:00 PM on Tuesday, May 27th, 2025 (00:00:20). The city clerk then proceeded with the roll call. Councilmembers Blaston (00:00:31), Hoffman (00:00:33), and Sobieski (00:00:35) were present. Vice Mayor Woodside was expected to be slightly delayed (00:00:39). Mayor Cox was also present (00:00:40). | No Motion | 0 Total: 0 In Favor 0 Against 0 Neutral |
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| 00:00:43 | II: CLOSED SESSION - 4:00 PM | Mayor Cox announced that the council would be discussing items C1 through C3 in closed session. These items include existing litigation (YIMBY versus City of Sausalito), anticipated litigation, and labor negotiations with the Sausalito Police Association. Councilmember Sobieski recused himself from item C2 due to potential financial impact on his property. (00:01:10) | No Motion | 0 Total: 0 In Favor 0 Against 0 Neutral |
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| 00:01:44 | III: RECONVENE TO OPEN SESSION - 4:30 PM | The meeting reconvened to open session at 4:55 PM, following a closed session with no announcements. The City Clerk called the roll, confirming the presence of all council members. The council then recited the Pledge of Allegiance. Mayor Cox then asked for a motion to approve the agenda. The first item on the agenda was a public hearing regarding the certification of the amended 2023-2031 housing element environmental impact report, adoption of CEQA findings, statement of overriding considerations, mitigation monitoring and reporting program, and approval of the amended housing element and adoption of amendments to general plan chapters one land use and growth management element for community design, historic and cultural preservation element and five circulation and parking element. The Mayor noted that this meeting culminates 18 months of work since the initial adoption of the housing element in January 2023 (00:03:37). | Motion to approve the agenda, moved by Vice Mayor Woodside, seconded. Motion carries 5-0. (00:02:48) | 0 Total: 0 In Favor 0 Against 0 Neutral |
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| 00:04:07 | 1.A: Public Hearing: Certification of Amended 2023-2031 Housing Element Environmental Impact Report (EIR); Adoption of CEQA Findings, Statement of Overriding Considerations, and Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program, and Approval of Amended 2023-2031 | The item concerns the certification and adoption of the Amended 2023-2031 Housing Element and its associated Environmental Impact Report (EIR). Mayor Cox provides background, noting extensive public feedback and HCD certification, emphasizing the limited scope for further revisions beyond those made in response to HCD (00:04:58). Brandon Phipps summarizes the process, highlighting public hearings, collaboration with various groups, and the goal of increased housing production (00:06:21). He notes the city's progress in approving housing units and processing pending applications (00:07:05). He mentions changes directed by the council in February, including site conversions and amendments to programs (00:07:34). He reports HCD's letter of substantial compliance (00:08:25) and the need to rezone opportunity sites by January 2026 (00:09:28). Beth Thompson reviews Planning Commission recommendations, including revisions to specific sites (84, 202, 63, 303) and unit allocations (00:11:32). She details City Council directions, such as removing opportunity site status from certain sites (00:12:50) and updating project information (00:13:35). She also describes revisions to programs 4, 8, 15, and 19 (00:14:49). She states that the EIR was conducted in compliance with CEQA (00:19:07). She recommends adopting a resolution to rescind the existing housing element, certify the amended EIR, adopt CEQA findings, and approve the amended housing element and related general plan amendments (00:19:25). Councilmember Sobieski asks about the number of housing applications in process (00:20:23), with Brandon Phipps reporting over 100 units approved and approximately 147 units in process (00:20:33). The item then goes to Public Comments, followed by council discussion. | Motion to adopt a resolution certifying the amended 2023-2031 housing element EIR, adopting CEQA findings, rescinding the sixth cycle housing element, and approving general plan amendments to adopt the amended housing element and amendments to land use, community design, historic preservation, and circulation and parking elements. (00:25:35) | 3 Total: 1 In Favor 1 Against 1 Neutral |
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00:21:50 Sophia Collier was In Favor: Acknowledges the immense effort involved and expresses gratitude for the council's leadership. She notes the receptivity to public input and praises the improved housing element compared to the initial version. She fully endorses moving forward with the recommendations (00:22:37).
00:23:31 Scott Robinson was Neutral: Asks for more information about the proposed building in MLK Park, specifically regarding its height and other details (00:23:36). 00:23:56 Brian O'Neill was Against: Argues that the proposed amendment doesn't address fundamental flaws, compounds issues by removing units, and fails to provide evidence for the availability of non-vacant sites (00:24:00). He claims the city has been out of compliance and that certifying the EIR after the fact is procedurally improper (00:24:18). He asserts the entire amendment could have been avoided with a prior EIR adoption (00:24:58). |
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| 00:51:40 | 1.B: Public Hearing: Introduction and Waiver of First Reading of Ordinance No 06-2025, An Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Sausalito Amending the Official Zoning Map of the City Of Sausalito and Adopting Various Textual Amendments to Title 10 o | Brandon Phipps introduced the public hearing for Ordinance No. 06-2025, which amends the zoning map and Title 10 of the Sausalito Municipal Code to implement the sixth cycle housing element. The ordinance aims to ensure consistency with program four of the city's housing element by rezoning and adopting overlay zones for residential development at identified opportunity sites. The rezoning of sites impacted by voter initiatives 1022 or 1128 will be brought before voters in November. Councilmember Blaustein asked for confirmation that the ballot measures will be agendized at a later date for community input, which Phipps confirmed will occur on July 1. Vice Mayor Woodside clarified that the zoning changes would not affect MLK (site 84) tonight, as this will be decided by voters in November. (00:54:39) | Mayor Cox moved to introduce by title only and waive the first reading of Ordinance Number 06-2025, amending the official zoning map and Title 10 of the Sausalito Municipal Code for implementing the sixth cycle housing element. (00:58:02) Councilmember Blaustein seconded. (00:58:33) The motion carried five-zero. (00:58:37) | 1 Total: 1 In Favor 0 Against 0 Neutral |
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00:55:43 Sybil was In Favor: Sybil expressed excitement about the housing element and noted the absence of an implementation program for senior and disability-accessible housing. She suggested a visitability ordinance to create more suitable housing for residents needing accessibility features and offered to help develop a draft for consideration. She noted that there are 3,140 voters over the age of 55 and 2,629 over the age of 60.(00:55:43)
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| 00:58:42 | 2: ADJOURNMENT | Mayor Cox announced the meeting's adjournment and stated that the next regular City Council meeting is scheduled for June 3, 2025, with the open session commencing at approximately 7 p.m. (00:58:48). | No Motion | 0 Total: 0 In Favor 0 Against 0 Neutral |
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City Council Meeting Transcript
| Time | Speaker | Text |
|---|---|---|
| 00:00:02.00 | Unknown | meeting the special meeting of May 27, 2025 is being held at 420 Litho Street on council chambers. It's also being shown live on the city's website website. It's live on zoom and it's on live on TV cable TV channel 27. |
| 00:00:20.11 | Mayor Cox | Thank you. Good afternoon, all, and welcome to the special city council meeting for Tuesday, May 27th, 2025. It is 4 p.m., and I will ask the city clerk to call the roll. |
| 00:00:31.59 | Unknown | Councilmember Blaston. |
| 00:00:32.95 | Mayor Cox | Here. |
| 00:00:33.80 | Unknown | Council Member Hoffman. |
| 00:00:35.05 | Mayor Cox | Here. |
| 00:00:35.08 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:00:35.13 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:00:35.30 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:00:35.52 | Unknown | Councilmember Sobieski? Here. Vice Mayor Woodside? |
| 00:00:39.20 | Mayor Cox | will be slightly delayed. |
| 00:00:40.85 | Unknown | and Mayor Cox. |
| 00:00:42.12 | Mayor Cox | here. |
| 00:00:42.98 | Mayor Cox | Thank you. |
| 00:00:43.50 | Mayor Cox | Okay, first item of business is our closed session. We will be discussing items C1 through C3. C1 is conference with legal counsel, existing litigation, YIMBY versus City of Sausalito. C2 is conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation. And C3 is conference with labor negotiators, employee organizations, Sausalito Police Association. |
| 00:01:07.60 | Mayor Cox | Is there any public comment on closed session items? |
| 00:01:10.70 | Councilmember Sobieski | And mayor, I'll just point out that I will have to accuse myself from the second item. I understand the location of the property is, and nature is such that it may have a financial impact on my nearby property. |
| 00:01:20.73 | Mayor Cox | Thank you. |
| 00:01:22.31 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:01:22.33 | Councilmember Sobieski | See you. |
| 00:01:22.52 | Unknown | No problem. |
| 00:01:22.85 | Councilmember Sobieski | public. |
| 00:01:22.97 | Unknown | to comment. |
| 00:01:23.61 | Mayor Cox | All right. With that, we will adjourn to closed session. We will reconvene upon the conclusion. |
| 00:01:44.39 | Unknown | All right, we're ready, Mayor. |
| 00:01:45.62 | Mayor Cox | Okay. Okay. |
| 00:01:46.75 | Mayor Cox | Good afternoon, everybody, and welcome back to the special meeting of the city of Sausalito City Council for Tuesday, May 27th at 2025. It is 4 55 p.m. We have returned from closed session and there are no closed session announcements. At this point, I'll ask the city clerk to call roll. |
| 00:02:11.67 | Unknown | Councilmember Blaustein. |
| 00:02:13.99 | Mayor Cox | Presence. |
| 00:02:14.61 | Unknown | Councilmember Hoffman. Here. Councilmember Sobieski. |
| 00:02:15.98 | Mayor Cox | Here. |
| 00:02:17.90 | Unknown | Here. Vice Mayor Woodside? Here. And Mayor Cox? |
| 00:02:21.93 | Mayor Cox | here. We are all here for this important meeting. I will ask us to rise and say the Pledge of Allegiance. |
| 00:02:34.03 | Unknown | I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. |
| 00:02:34.35 | Mayor Cox | to the flag. |
| 00:02:37.47 | Mayor Cox | America. |
| 00:02:38.54 | Mayor Cox | to the report. |
| 00:02:48.43 | Mayor Cox | All right, I'll ask for a motion approving our agenda. |
| 00:02:52.75 | Vice Mayor Woodside | So moved. Second. |
| 00:02:52.76 | Mayor Cox | So moved. |
| 00:02:54.38 | Mayor Cox | All in favor? Aye. That motion carries 5-0. The first item on our agenda is a public hearing. |
| 00:03:02.21 | Mayor Cox | Certification of amended 2023 to 2031 housing element environmental impact report. Adoption of CEQA findings statement of overriding considerations and mitigation monitoring and reporting program and approval of amended 2023. 2023 2031 housing element and adoption of amendments to general plan chapters one land use and growth management element for community design historic and cultural preservation element and five circulation and parking element. |
| 00:03:15.34 | Unknown | 2020. |
| 00:03:31.02 | Mayor Cox | to ensure consistency with the draft proposed amended housing element. |
| 00:03:35.54 | Mayor Cox | I will invite our |
| 00:03:37.75 | Mayor Cox | Community and Economic Development Director Brandon Phipps to provide a staff report. I do want to note preliminarily that this meeting this afternoon culminates literally 18 months of work ever since we adopted first adopted our housing element in January of 2023. Almost immediately the Housing and Community Development Department, although they certified our housing element, |
| 00:04:07.16 | Mayor Cox | Yeah. |
| 00:04:07.40 | Mayor Cox | Um, |
| 00:04:08.30 | Mayor Cox | identified some changes they wanted to see. And we realized the importance of undertaking a comprehensive environmental impact report related to our housing element. |
| 00:04:18.34 | Mayor Cox | And so we did that. |
| 00:04:20.21 | Mayor Cox | During that process, we received extensive public feedback. There are literally, you know, over a thousand pages of letters and responses in the housing element EIR. |
| 00:04:31.62 | Mayor Cox | Report and so we dutifully considered all of those comments and incorporated them to the extent possible in this amended housing element which then went back to HCD and |
| 00:04:44.27 | Mayor Cox | For review, we received last Friday a certification from HCD, for which we are very grateful, which is the prerequisite to our being able to go ahead and adopt a housing element this evening. |
| 00:04:58.28 | Mayor Cox | The reason I share all this with you is that this housing element already reflects all of the feedback received from the Planning Commission and the City Council in February of this year. And this is the document that has been reviewed and certified by the. |
| 00:05:16.56 | Mayor Cox | Um, |
| 00:05:17.84 | Mayor Cox | Housing and Community Development Department. And so there is limited opportunity tonight for us to make further revisions rather than |
| 00:05:25.01 | Mayor Cox | it's important that we understand and approve |
| 00:05:28.23 | Mayor Cox | THE REVISIONS THAT HAVE BEEN MADE SINCE FEBRUARY IN RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS FROM THE HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT. AND SO |
| 00:05:36.92 | Mayor Cox | Thank you. |
| 00:05:37.24 | Mayor Cox | With that, I'm very proud and pleased to turn this over to Brandon for a report. And also, our wonderful... |
| 00:05:44.58 | Mayor Cox | consultant Beth Thompson, who has really been instrumental in navigating the very complicated |
| 00:05:50.51 | Mayor Cox | process as you can see from our 1100 over 1100 page staff report on these two items |
| 00:05:57.71 | Brandon | Thank you, Mayor, for the excellent introduction. And good afternoon to you, Vice Mayor, Council members, members of the public, and staff. Thank you for being here today, as mentioned, for this very important special meeting. Happy to be with you this afternoon, as always, this time to introduce Item 1A. As the Mayor read in its entirety, I'll summarize a public hearing on the certification of the city's housing element, EIR, |
| 00:06:21.68 | Brandon | approval of the amended housing element and adoption of amendments to the general plan to ensure consistency with the amended housing element. As council is aware, the city has been working on an amended housing element since around the third quarter of 2024. This process has been highlighted by a number of public hearings and study sessions by both the city council and planning commission, collaboration with the Department of Housing and Community Development, the City Council Housing Element Working Group, a number of community stakeholder groups, as well as a concerted public outreach process, which generated numerous comments from stakeholders and community members, which we thank the community for providing. And congratulations, council members on getting to this point. |
| 00:07:05.99 | Brandon | Even while city council members and staff have engaged in the concerted process to amend the previously adopted housing element, the city has not lost sight of the primary goal at hand, which is in short, increased housing production. As detailed at a recent May 6 budget presentation, the city has recently approved numerous housing units over 100 in total since the start of the sixth cycle, which started in around 2023, excuse me, in 2023. |
| 00:07:34.66 | Brandon | and is currently processing approximately 147 units at different stages of the development review process. Congratulations, council members, on that as well. As council recalls, this item was most recently heard by the city council on February 25 of this year, where council directed a number of changes to the draft amended housing elements, such as the conversion of certain opportunity sites to inventory sites, amending the overlay designation for site 84 and integrating recent project applications into our approved or entitled pending project list to reflect recent development interest. These changes motivated a number of updates to programs in our amended housing element as well, such as changes to program four related to ensuring the inventory of sites accommodates our arena, |
| 00:08:25.88 | Brandon | Program 8, related to public property conversion to housing, and Program 15, related to inclusionary housing, and Program 19, related to development procedure review. Once these changes were reflected, following a seven-day public posting period, which began on May 6, staff transmitted the latest version of the amended housing element to HCD for their review. And I am very pleased to report, as stated by the mayor, that on May 22nd, staff received a letter from HCD stating that the amended housing element, as proposed, meets the statutory requirements necessary to remain in substantial compliance with state housing element law. This letter of substantial compliance was one of the last dominoes that needed to fall to allow for the city council to approve the housing element and the |
| 00:09:16.40 | Brandon | related items that we're presenting this evening. With this letter in hand, the City Council has the opportunity to adopt the proposed amended housing element and associated items and remain in compliance with state housing element law. |
| 00:09:28.97 | Brandon | Before I pass it off to Beth Thompson of DeNovo Planning Group to discuss details associated with the item, I'd like to remind City Council and the public of the follow-on need to meet state timelines to rezone housing element opportunity sites by January 30, 2026. We have developed a somewhat aggressive schedule in order to support a ballot measure in November of this year for the rezoning of certain opportunity sites impacted by voter initiatives and Council's action this evening will keep us on course to meet that schedule thank you very much Council I am and will be available to answer any questions for now I will pass the mic on to Beth Thompson Beth welcome and the floor is yours |
| 00:10:12.31 | Beth Thompson | Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and members of the Council. It's a pleasure. |
| 00:10:13.03 | Brian O'Neill | Okay. |
| 00:10:16.49 | Beth Thompson | to be back with you tonight for the amended housing element project. |
| 00:10:21.20 | Beth Thompson | We're already sharing the presentation on the screen, so I'll just quickly go through this. You've seen this a number of times before this evening, so next slide. |
| 00:10:30.18 | Beth Thompson | So we've made the... |
| 00:10:31.58 | Beth Thompson | Presentation a little more brief tonight. |
| 00:10:35.05 | Councilmember Sobieski | Thank you. |
| 00:10:38.12 | Beth Thompson | So the housing element addresses how Sausalito will meet its state housing requirements, including accommodating its regional housing need allocation or arena of 724 units. You're going to want to go back just one slide. |
| 00:10:52.84 | Beth Thompson | There we go. |
| 00:10:54.09 | Beth Thompson | The adopted housing element is available on the city's website and the revised draft amended housing element is also available at on the city's website and those include, of course, the iterations of the housing element between the adoption and now so there's a trail of housing element revisions and up to. |
| 00:11:11.30 | Beth Thompson | Dates available for review on the city's website. |
| 00:11:14.68 | Beth Thompson | Next slide. |
| 00:11:16.82 | Beth Thompson | On February 19th of this year, the Planning Commission did review and consider the housing element amendment project. And they recommended that the city council adopt the amended housing element. And that's not the modified amended housing element alternative that had also been presented. |
| 00:11:32.60 | Beth Thompson | And they recommended the following revisions, which are provided as well in the attachments. Site 84, the MLK Park site, they indicated should be reduced to at least 80 units. Site 202, Altamira, to change and reduce the overlay from the housing 70 to housing 49, decreasing the maximum allowed density and reducing the capacity of the site. |
| 00:11:54.82 | Beth Thompson | Site 63. |
| 00:11:56.75 | Beth Thompson | removing that site as a potential opportunity site and site in the element. |
| 00:12:01.42 | Beth Thompson | and then site 303-1-3 Harbor Drive |
| 00:12:05.34 | Beth Thompson | adjusting the units by income allocation to increase the very low income units by 20 units, reduce moderate income units by five units, and reduce the above moderate income by 15 units with no net change in the total units. The Planning Commission also recommended to the City Council that both the City Hall and Spencer Avenue fire station sites be removed from consideration in the housing element. |
| 00:12:29.94 | Beth Thompson | Next slide. |
| 00:12:35.27 | Beth Thompson | So the revised amended housing element does include the changes that were recommended by the planning commission and considered by the city council, as well as additional revisions that were identified by the city council when you met to consider the housing element in late February. |
| 00:12:50.93 | Beth Thompson | And the direction we received from the City Council included to remove the opportunity site status from sites 201, 202, and 63, and retain these sites as inventory sites with their current zoning. So what that means is that there is no overlay applied to these sites, and there is no increase in capacity beyond what is accommodated under the current zoning for these sites. So, for example, site 202 would be up to 28 units. So each of these would remain at what could be developed under their current zoning and the current general plan designation. |
| 00:13:22.08 | Beth Thompson | Site 44, which is 1315, 1319 Bridgeway. We were asked to revise to reflect the project that's been approved for that site, which accommodates four new units. Site 55 at 109 Napa. |
| 00:13:35.51 | Beth Thompson | to reveal |
| 00:13:36.95 | Beth Thompson | I think that is actually 409 NEPA, to revise this to reflect the project also proposed for this site, which includes five total units and three net new units. |
| 00:13:46.32 | Beth Thompson | Site 84, the MLK site, |
| 00:13:48.90 | Beth Thompson | to |
| 00:13:49.91 | Beth Thompson | Reduce the MU49 overlay to the H29 overlay, allowing up to a maximum of 29 units per acre at the MLK site, and also reducing the total accommodated capacity to 50 units. |
| 00:14:03.70 | Beth Thompson | We also, based on conversations with HCD, did update the city's approved, entitled, and pending project information. Since the housing element was adopted in 2023, the city has had a lot of development act |
| 00:14:17.33 | Beth Thompson | a lot of accessory dwelling unit projects, some multifamily projects, a lot of project applications have been processed, some approved, and some are still in the pipeline. And so we did update the housing element to reflect the capacity from all of those projects and then also to update the projected accessory dwelling units to reflect the recent trends. And so these revisions provided an overall increase of 52 units, so increased the capacity of what can be accommodated under the housing elements. |
| 00:14:46.24 | Beth Thompson | Next slide. |
| 00:14:49.07 | Beth Thompson | We also made some changes. We revised program four as directed by the council to provide guidance to address the potential shortage to accommodate the RHNA in the event that occurs. |
| 00:14:58.91 | Beth Thompson | Program eight was revised to include additional measures to encourage development of sites 73 and 75, publicly owned sites included in the housing element. |
| 00:15:07.67 | Beth Thompson | Program 15 was revised to ensure that the inclusion |
| 00:15:11.32 | Beth Thompson | program. |
| 00:15:12.51 | Beth Thompson | is effective at encouraging opportunities for affordable housing. |
| 00:15:16.48 | Beth Thompson | which relates to some corrections and analysis of the inclusionary housing program. |
| 00:15:22.40 | Beth Thompson | Some additional revisions are made to program 19, which addresses the city's permitting process, as well as the objective design and development standards. And these measures were identified to ensure the effectiveness of the proposed objective design and development standards, their odds, and the city's permit tracking and processing procedures by reviewing and analyzing how implementation of these works and making adjustments down the road if necessary. |
| 00:15:47.27 | Beth Thompson | There were also revisions to the background report to provide further information regarding the odds, regarding inclusionary housing requirements, how the site selection criteria and methodologies were used to refine the opportunity sites and the inventory sites. There was also significant information added to address the comments that had been received from the public on the amended housing element, and then also to update the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Analysis, the AFFH analysis, to address the changes to the sites that have now been identified to accommodate the RHNA. So those adjustments to the opportunity and inventory sites are reflected in the background report. |
| 00:16:24.80 | Beth Thompson | Next slide. |
| 00:16:28.35 | Beth Thompson | So with all of these changes, we have some updated figures. These are throughout the housing element. So where these overlay sites have been revised, those three sites that I mentioned are now converted to inventory sites and shown in red. The blue, yellow, orange, green, purple, and pink still identify sites that are the overlay sites that would be rezoned in future actions, some tonight and then some through subsequent ballot measures. Next slide. |
| 00:16:57.68 | Beth Thompson | And then I won't go through this slide in detail. It's just the same figure with these underlying zoning shown. |
| 00:17:04.12 | Beth Thompson | Next slide. |
| 00:17:06.69 | Beth Thompson | So with these changes to the housing element, there are some revisions to the capacity. |
| 00:17:11.46 | Beth Thompson | So the adopted housing element accommodated about 908 units, which provided a buffer towards the arena |
| 00:17:17.79 | Beth Thompson | Planning Commission's recommendation would accommodate about 924 units. |
| 00:17:22.43 | Beth Thompson | And the City Council's recommendation with the adjustments to address the pending and approved projects would accommodate 923 units. Each of these scenarios continues to accommodate the RHNA and to provide a buffer in the various income categories. |
| 00:17:39.26 | Beth Thompson | Next slide. |
| 00:17:42.40 | Beth Thompson | The amended housing element was reviewed for environmental impacts in the Environmental Impact Report, or EIR, for the Sausalito amended six-cycle housing element project. |
| 00:17:52.20 | Beth Thompson | And that draft EIR was circulated for a 45 day public review and comment period. |
| 00:17:57.48 | Beth Thompson | And subsequently portions of the draft EIR were recirculated for another 45 day comment period. |
| 00:18:03.88 | Beth Thompson | Upon the close of those comment periods, all of the comments received, the comment letters were included in a final EIR, which identifies in response to each of the comments made |
| 00:18:14.85 | Beth Thompson | on the EIR, and then there's also an additional errata to the final EIR as well, that further refine some of the information provided. |
| 00:18:23.23 | Beth Thompson | The revised draft amended housing element does include some modifications to the project as reviewed in the EIR. And these changes from the city council direction |
| 00:18:33.44 | Beth Thompson | So these changes that are in the March 27th and May 5th housing element that have been circulated do result in an overall reduction in the number of units. These changes would not require rezoning or other. |
| 00:18:44.99 | Beth Thompson | actions that would increase the lab densities when compared to the amended housing element project as reviewed in the draft and recirculated draft EIR. There's no increase in the significance of environmental impacts, nor are there any new significant environmental impacts associated with these modifications to the revised draft housing element in comparison with the project as analyzed. |
| 00:19:07.78 | Beth Thompson | The environmental review has been conducted in compliance with CEQA. And as I had mentioned, there are no new environmental issues identified that would require substantial revisions to the program EIR or require further environmental review. |
| 00:19:22.95 | Beth Thompson | Next slide. |
| 00:19:25.72 | Beth Thompson | And with that, the recommendation is that the city council adopt a resolution of the city council of the city of Sausalito rescinding the six cycle housing element. |
| 00:19:36.44 | Beth Thompson | certifying the amended 2023 to 2031 housing element program EIR |
| 00:19:42.01 | Beth Thompson | Adopting the CEQA findings, statement of overriding considerations and mitigation monitoring and reporting program for the amended 2023 to 2031 housing element. |
| 00:19:52.43 | Beth Thompson | Adopting and approving the amended 2023 to 2031 housing element. |
| 00:19:57.14 | Beth Thompson | adopting and approving the related general plan amendments. |
| 00:20:00.50 | Beth Thompson | directing staff to file a notice of determination, |
| 00:20:03.74 | Beth Thompson | and making findings related to compliance with state law, non-vacant sites, and mixed-use sites. |
| 00:20:08.97 | Beth Thompson | And with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions regarding the project. |
| 00:20:13.85 | Mayor Cox | Thank you, Director Phipps and Beth. Any questions for staff? |
| 00:20:20.40 | Mayor Cox | Yes, Councilmember Sobieski. |
| 00:20:23.33 | Councilmember Sobieski | Director Phipps, you highlighted some numbers I wanted to write down about housing applications that are already in process against our RENA number. Could you summarize those again? |
| 00:20:33.46 | Brandon | Yes, happy to. Thank you for the question, Council Member. So these are also in a presentation on record that was presented at a May 6 City Council meeting. It was an accompanying slide in my PowerPoint presentation. But to repeat, we have approved over 100 units in total since the start of the sixth cycle. So that's since 2023. And we are currently processing approximately 147 units at different stages of the development review process. |
| 00:21:06.80 | Councilmember Sobieski | So even today, when we're going to finally be approving this, you're already 14% of the way towards the RENA number. |
| 00:21:14.99 | Brandon | I think we're making great progress. |
| 00:21:20.13 | Mayor Cox | Other questions? |
| 00:21:24.69 | Mayor Cox | City Clerk any questions online? |
| 00:21:31.46 | Unknown | Seeing none, but we do... |
| 00:21:33.13 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:21:33.67 | Unknown | You want to open public comment? Yes, I'm now going to open. |
| 00:21:34.53 | Mayor Cox | coming up and open it up for public comment |
| 00:21:38.73 | Mayor Cox | I will first call on Sophia Collier. Welcome. |
| 00:21:47.12 | Mayor Cox | And thank you for your kind note to the city council and staff. |
| 00:21:50.22 | Sophia Collier | Yes. |
| 00:21:51.62 | Sophia Collier | Well, first of all, I just want to acknowledge what an amazing effort this is. Like this is unbelievable amount of work. |
| 00:21:59.12 | Sophia Collier | that is involved here. |
| 00:22:00.77 | Sophia Collier | and the leadership of the council to carry this forward and to try to |
| 00:22:05.24 | Sophia Collier | make, find |
| 00:22:06.73 | Sophia Collier | a solution that works and listen to the public is just awesome. |
| 00:22:11.10 | Sophia Collier | I mean, I know that when we were in here with save our Sassolito, |
| 00:22:15.38 | Sophia Collier | with 670 folks making different points and |
| 00:22:20.31 | Sophia Collier | passionately so and very grateful to hear |
| 00:22:24.19 | Sophia Collier | the receptivity to those |
| 00:22:27.01 | Sophia Collier | Wonderful to work with the team, Brandon, and everybody who worked on it. It's a very tough job. |
| 00:22:32.92 | Sophia Collier | We're under a lot of pressure here. |
| 00:22:34.94 | Sophia Collier | And I think that we did an admirable |
| 00:22:37.27 | Sophia Collier | job. Certainly there's going to be people like not happy about this or that. But in balance, I think this housing element is much better, much more improved |
| 00:22:46.48 | Sophia Collier | than the one we began with. So I really have to, Steven Woodside who joined the council and put his shoulder right to the wheel, our mayor leading us through this entire process. So I just wanna thank everybody that's been part of it on behalf of Save Our Sausalito and on behalf of myself. I just think it is great effort and very pleased to see it. I fully endorse moving forward as we are recommended to do so. Thank you. |
| 00:23:17.63 | Mayor Cox | Thank you. Who else? |
| 00:23:20.03 | Unknown | Seeing none. |
| 00:23:20.62 | Mayor Cox | Thank you. |
| 00:23:21.41 | Mayor Cox | I see a hand raised. Please step forward, sir. |
| 00:23:25.82 | Mayor Cox | and no one online |
| 00:23:27.49 | Unknown | Now we have somebody online. |
| 00:23:28.60 | Mayor Cox | Thank you. |
| 00:23:28.67 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:23:28.69 | Mayor Cox | Okay. |
| 00:23:28.84 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:23:31.46 | Scott Robinson | Scott Robinson, 625 Olima, Sausalito. I'm curious. |
| 00:23:36.69 | Scott Robinson | to know a little more about the building proposed in the MLK Park. |
| 00:23:40.64 | Scott Robinson | how tall and so forth. |
| 00:23:43.61 | Mayor Cox | Thank you. |
| 00:23:46.17 | Mayor Cox | Any other comments? |
| 00:23:47.54 | Unknown | Brian O'Neill's online. |
| 00:23:53.07 | Mayor Cox | Welcome, Brian. Long time no see. |
| 00:23:56.60 | Brian O'Neill | Good afternoon. This is Brian O'Neill on behalf of EMB Law. |
| 00:24:00.97 | Brian O'Neill | The proposed amendment does not address the fundamental flaws that permeated the prior housing amendment attempt, and in fact compounds those issues by removing units on sites that are available. |
| 00:24:11.90 | Brian O'Neill | which EMB has already explained in detail in prior comments to the city and to HCD. |
| 00:24:18.34 | Brian O'Neill | Among other things, the city has failed to provide substantial evidence or make findings that non-vacant sites will be available for residential development during the upcoming cycle. |
| 00:24:28.46 | Brian O'Neill | The prior housing element was not in substantial compliance, and the city cannot amend a housing element that does not comply with the law. |
| 00:24:36.29 | Brian O'Neill | The amendment does not change the fact that the city has been out of compliance this entire cycle. |
| 00:24:43.33 | Brian O'Neill | Further, it is procedurally improper to certify an EIR after the fact. |
| 00:24:48.46 | Brian O'Neill | The EIR identifies significant impacts from the prior housing and element |
| 00:24:53.23 | Brian O'Neill | confirming that the EIR must be certified prior to adoption, not after. |
| 00:24:58.75 | Brian O'Neill | The entire amendment could have been avoided had the city prepared an EIR prior to adoption as legally required. |
| 00:25:05.72 | Brian O'Neill | Thank you. |
| 00:25:07.19 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:25:08.49 | Unknown | No further public comment. |
| 00:25:10.26 | Mayor Cox | Any further public comment here? |
| 00:25:13.36 | Mayor Cox | All right, seeing none, I will bring it up here for discussion and for a motion. |
| 00:25:20.45 | Mayor Cox | Does anyone want to go ahead and make the motion that we can be discussing? |
| 00:25:25.57 | Mayor Cox | All right, I will move. |
| 00:25:27.45 | Mayor Cox | Thank you. Thank you all. |
| 00:25:35.86 | Mayor Cox | I will move that we adopt a resolution certifying the amended 2023-2031 housing element EIR and adopting the CEQA findings, statement of overriding considerations, and mitigation monitoring and reporting program, rescinding the sixth cycle housing element, and approving the general plan amendments to adopt the amended 2023-2031 housing element and to adopt the amended |
| 00:26:00.23 | Mayor Cox | and amendments to the land use and growth management, community design, historic and cultural preservation, and circulation and parking elements. |
| 00:26:11.23 | Mayor Cox | THE FAMILY IS |
| 00:26:11.30 | Vice Mayor Woodside | Second. |
| 00:26:12.92 | Mayor Cox | All right, and with that, we can start our discussion. I'm going to go ahead and just lead off briefly to address the comments that we just heard from Brian O'Neill. So, first of all, I did not understand the comment that there are no findings that non-vacant sites will be developed. |
| 00:26:30.40 | Mayor Cox | Beth or Brandon, do you have feedback? |
| 00:26:33.35 | Mayor Cox | To that, I was not aware that we needed to make a finding that non-vacant sites |
| 00:26:38.58 | Mayor Cox | would be developed. |
| 00:26:40.71 | Matt Leigh | So I will address that. There is findings specifically in the draft resolution of adoption. Housing element law requires that you make specific findings with respect to non-vacant sites and the likelihood that they are going to be, the existing uses will be discontinued. |
| 00:26:52.81 | Councilmember Sobieski | on vacation. |
| 00:26:58.87 | Matt Leigh | or that they will not pose an impediment |
| 00:27:01.94 | Matt Leigh | for development during the housing element cycle. So those findings are, |
| 00:27:05.67 | Matt Leigh | Matt Leigh- And I think that's a great question for you, and I think that's a great question for you, and I think that's a great question for you, and I think that's a great question for you, and I think that's a great question for you. |
| 00:27:23.93 | Matt Leigh | on non-vaconsites. |
| 00:27:25.75 | Mayor Cox | Thank you for that. I will note that our resolution at Section 8 does have a specific section devoted to non-vacant sites. I will say I am personally aware of at least three non-vacant sites that are planned for development. One is the FedEx site in the Marin Ship. Another is the site owned by Dan Morgangan where we have avatar uh restaurant and the former chinese restaurant and a third is the city's own corporation yard a fourth is the city's mlk property assuming that the relevant resolution passes and so i am very well aware of um |
| 00:28:08.69 | Mayor Cox | of not only the existence of the findings but also um the plans to develop uh non-vacant sites i also wanted to address the comment by mr o'neill about asserting that we cannot adopt a non-compliant housing element i would like to note for the record that first our housing element that was adopted in january of 2023 was specifically found to be compliant by the housing and community development department. So I don't know how much further evidence we could have in place of having a compliant housing element. In addition, we received and it is attached as an exhibit to our staff report attachment 14, a May 22, 2025 letter from HCD finding substantial compliance with housing element law of HCD. |
| 00:29:02.02 | Mayor Cox | the amended housing element that we are |
| 00:29:04.27 | Mayor Cox | considering this evening. |
| 00:29:06.14 | Mayor Cox | Finally, there was a comment made that you cannot approve an after-the-fact environmental impact report. I will note that the city undertook great lengths and efforts to ensure that we circulated and received comment and responded to that comment on an environmental impact report specific to this amended housing element. And so... |
| 00:29:31.65 | Mayor Cox | We not only circulated it once, we circulated it twice because we inadvertently left out a chapter during the first circulation. And so the city has been very vigilant and thorough in ensuring that its process for adoption of this housing element is appropriate. And so those were just my preliminary comments to respond to this. |
| 00:29:50.64 | Mayor Cox | those comments from |
| 00:29:52.46 | Mayor Cox | Thank you. |
| 00:29:52.58 | Mayor Cox | a |
| 00:29:53.99 | Mayor Cox | lawyer on behalf of a party with whom we are in litigation. And with that, I'll turn it over to others for comments. |
| 00:30:04.26 | Sybil | um, |
| 00:30:05.17 | Sybil | I'll start. |
| 00:30:05.20 | Vice Mayor Woodside | I'll start, and I want to just first point out that I've only participated on this side of the dais in the last few months, and previously I was in the audience and paying attention, and as time went on, paying even more attention, because there were things in |
| 00:30:05.81 | Mayor Cox | I'm sorry. |
| 00:30:05.84 | Sybil | Thank you. |
| 00:30:23.39 | Vice Mayor Woodside | the housing element that I liked and things that I didn't like. |
| 00:30:27.44 | Vice Mayor Woodside | And I think that's probably true for almost everybody looking at the document now. You're going to find things that you think are imperfect, but I think it's important to look at the big picture. We have an approved housing element in compliance with the law. We are moving forward to provide more housing. And from my point of view, the more affordable housing, the better. |
| 00:30:50.71 | Vice Mayor Woodside | And it's a challenge. |
| 00:30:52.30 | Vice Mayor Woodside | unlike or we are like most cities, we have been given a number far greater than |
| 00:30:58.63 | Vice Mayor Woodside | than at any time in history of Sausalito, and that's true of many cities. |
| 00:31:03.96 | Vice Mayor Woodside | And the reason we're given this number is because the legislature |
| 00:31:08.41 | Vice Mayor Woodside | has said that the lack of affordable housing is a matter of statewide concern, and the legislature then took it upon itself to mandate that cities create a housing element with these large numbers. |
| 00:31:25.05 | Vice Mayor Woodside | I have to compliment my colleagues here on the dais. You voted unanimously along with my predecessor, Janelle Kelman, to approve the housing element. And you did so within the deadline. And it was compliant legally. And you deserve a lot of credit for doing that, even though I'm sure each one of you can find flaws in aspects of it from your personal point of view. |
| 00:31:49.59 | Vice Mayor Woodside | But we have to act as a whole on behalf of the city to keep us not only out of trouble, but to do the right thing to do our best to provide affordable housing in our town. So with that, I'm certainly happy at this point. |
| 00:32:05.23 | Vice Mayor Woodside | to vote yes. I have to admit I'm feeling a little bit of a letdown because we're at the end of a very laborious project that took the time of many, many people, too many to single out at this point. But I do want to say something about the mayor. The last few weeks, I have witnessed her every Monday morning riding herd on the staff, as she is very capable of doing, to make sure we meet the deadlines. And she deserves a lot of praise for bringing us to this point. Thank you. |
| 00:32:50.41 | Councilmember Hoffman | Yes, thank you. |
| 00:32:51.45 | Councilmember Hoffman | So anybody, well, at the May 20th meeting, I made comments about my concerns about changes to modifying Sossley Ordinance 10.44.190, and that was changes that had to do with our inclusionary housing program that required at least one affordable housing unit. It also had to do with our requirements for residential housing on the second floor throughout our commercial districts. and IT ALSO HAD TO DO WITH OUR REQUIREMENTS FOR RESIDENTIAL HOUSING ON THE SECOND FLOOR THROUGHOUT OUR COMMERCIAL DISTRICTS. MY ISSUE WITH THAT WAS THAT WE SEEM TO BE UNDOING OUR CURRENT AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROGRAMS AT THE SAME TIME ON ONE HAND AND ON THE OTHER HAND, WE ARE |
| 00:33:33.81 | Councilmember Hoffman | creating more housing requirements throughout town, on the other hand. |
| 00:33:39.90 | Councilmember Hoffman | that. |
| 00:33:40.69 | Councilmember Hoffman | As part of that, we did not have any inventory about what units that applied to. And these were commercial districts across town and were going to affect neighborhoods across town and residents across town. And so I didn't understand the urgency with that. I didn't understand why we were doing that without the metrics for the council to make that decision or residents that it was that these decisions are going to affect or tenants that this was going to affect and the affordable housing current affordable housing stock or future affordable housing stock nor how that was going to affect future programs that we were going to be voting on this summer and the burdens the the new burdens that was going to place on neighborhoods. And I was not comfortable voting on that ordinance and changes that ordinance, nor did I see the urgency to vote on that prior to this vote tonight, nor do I currently see that. Councils make these kinds of decisions all the time. Affordable housing policy decisions are often and constantly primarily not driven solely by financial considerations. Other factors such as social equity, community needs and policy considerations |
| 00:34:58.44 | Councilmember Hoffman | also play crucial role in shaping affordable housing policies, for example, |
| 00:35:02.67 | Councilmember Hoffman | Councils may prioritize and often prioritize housing for seniors or residents who can age in place even if means less financial return. This this ordinance that we voted on specifically gives the Planning Commission the ability |
| 00:35:18.30 | Councilmember Hoffman | to do away with a residential affordable housing stock |
| 00:35:22.28 | Councilmember Hoffman | um simply on a consideration that's not economically feasible or that is just not easily um |
| 00:35:30.11 | Councilmember Hoffman | physically feasible to retain residential housing stock. We did that without community input without notice to the residents who actually live in these units. I think that's wrong. And so I voted against that ordinance change, and I don't believe I'm prepared to vote for this vote for this this housing. I'm not for that reason tonight. There was no urgency for that vote last week. |
| 00:35:54.24 | Councilmember Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 00:35:55.34 | Councilmember Blaustein | you |
| 00:35:55.41 | Unknown | I'd like to. |
| 00:35:55.76 | Councilmember Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 00:35:55.80 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:35:55.85 | Councilmember Blaustein | I can respond. Sure. |
| 00:35:57.18 | Councilmember Blaustein | Okay. I just want to directly respond to address the concern that the recent changes in inclusionary housing compromised the integrity of our housing element because a lot of time and effort has been put into consideration with regards to affordability in this housing element. As someone who has voted for basically every housing project because I'm a strong advocate of affordability, I feel like I need to say something to the effect of that. So just to be clear, HCD already issued a letter confirming that our housing element is in substantial compliance with state law. That funding acknowledges our commitments under Program 15, including our plan to, quote, study, monitor, and refine our inclusionary housing strategy over time. Program 15, this program commits the city to monitoring the efficacy of its inclusionary requirements. |
| 00:36:37.61 | Councilmember Blaustein | requirements by initiating a fee nexus study in 2025 and by December 2025 adopting in lieu fees for smaller residential developments. It goes on to say HTC received public comment indicating the city council recently exempted projects of four dwelling units. They remind the city this action should be evaluated for consistency with the program commitments. The amendment we passed actually does not walk away from affordability. It reflects our recognition that smaller projects might require a different more tailored approach, one that we're already working to actively define. We are not just making general promises. We've actually agendized specific actions for July 1st that include an inventory of affordable housing in the downtown, the launch of a fee nexus study aligned with the December 2025 commitment, development of a new inclusionary fee structure, and proposals for renter protections and anti-eviction policies. And to that end, I want to bring up another program in our housing element, Program 22, Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing. This program includes commitment to implement a variety of critical actions within the city. For example, a |
| 00:37:35.04 | Councilmember Blaustein | programs committing to anti-displacement actions, including the development of an anti-eviction protection and rent stabilization ordinance, also requested to be agendized by July of 2025. These steps that we are taking for affordability as a council now demonstrate that we're taking not only a data-driven approach, but an equity-focused approach that not only meets our RHNA obligations, but it meets the needs of our entire local community. Because for me, this housing element was an opportunity to show our community that we stand for more affordable housing and for doing the right thing and the housing element is not just a standalone it's a living evolving document and it does require adaptation and certifying it tonight while continuing to implement all of these policies and refine them is how we're not only going to uphold uphold our state compliance, but also the public trust and amount of time that we've put into this process. So I will be voting yes on this housing element and I stand beside our our programs that will improve affordability in our community. |
| 00:38:32.07 | Councilmember Hoffman | Mayor, may I make? |
| 00:38:33.34 | Councilmember Hoffman | Yes. |
| 00:38:34.59 | Councilmember Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:38:39.38 | Mayor Cox | All right, I'll make some preliminary comments just to address Sausalito's commitment to affordable housing. So since, you know, I started serving on the Planning Commission in 2008 and worked with our first, with my first housing element for the city in 2010. So this is my third or fourth housing element for the city. And I will say that we have long demonstrated a commitment to affordable housing. In fact, that is the metric we have most easily met over all of these years. It is the moderate and above moderate requirements that we have been more challenged to meet due to the built out nature. |
| 00:39:17.84 | Mayor Cox | of Sausalito. So for example, in 2010, we considered our liveaboards, some of whom had lived on their boats longer than many of our hillside dwellers have lived on hills, we considered them to be transients. We changed that law, we reached out to the US Census and actually had liveaboards reclassified to become residents to enjoy the ability to get mail, to vote in Sausalito and to be stakeholders in Sausalito. And our example has since been followed by various other marine communities throughout California. We adopted first an accessory dwelling unit ordinance. Not only did we adopt that ordinance, we put in place an amnesty program so that anybody who had built an accessory dwelling unit during the time that they were prohibited in Sausalito could go ahead and come forward and very easily have that housing approved by the city of Sausalito. We quickly followed that with an extension of the amnesty program for accessory dwelling units and the adoption of a junior accessory dwelling unit program. In addition, the city personally is undertaking the facilitation of the development of affordable housing on city properties so that we can guarantee, ensure that it is 100% affordable and that it serves our seniors, which is the biggest demographic here in town, both at the corporation yard and at the MLK site, which is site 84, which will come up for voter approval later this year. And so at least for the 15 years that I have been involved with Sausalito's housing element, we have done more than our fair share, I believe, to demonstrate our commitment to affordable housing throughout town. |
| 00:41:04.59 | Mayor Cox | Much of our, many of our inventory sites and other sites that are within our housing element are throughout town. We are not focusing affordability on just one sector. And... |
| 00:41:18.34 | Mayor Cox | uh again i want to address the ordinance that we approved first reading last week we will be bringing back the very issue that council member hoffman raised for a full hearing in front of the city council on july 1. |
| 00:41:31.73 | Mayor Cox | And so we have not just walked away from that. We adopted that ordinance to keep moving forward, but we are coming back to bring the data specifically requested by council members Blaustein and Hoffman on July 1st. |
| 00:41:48.91 | Mayor Cox | Councilmember Hoffman. |
| 00:41:49.70 | Councilmember Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:41:50.02 | Councilmember Hoffman | Thank you. |
| 00:41:50.95 | Councilmember Hoffman | With regard to the |
| 00:41:55.69 | Councilmember Hoffman | comments that have been made. |
| 00:41:58.84 | Councilmember Hoffman | There's no indication that ACD has been informed of the actions that we took on May 20th. |
| 00:42:03.99 | Councilmember Hoffman | or the changes to the ordinance. So there's nothing in the, in the letter that they sent to us that speaks to the, |
| 00:42:09.05 | Councilmember Hoffman | the issue. |
| 00:42:10.07 | Councilmember Hoffman | or the actions that we took. |
| 00:42:12.12 | Councilmember Hoffman | or that they're aware of the actions that we took. So there's comments in their letter, but there's nothing that indicates or there's no, I don't believe that they were informed of the actions that we took. |
| 00:42:20.63 | Councilmember Hoffman | And so... |
| 00:42:21.47 | Matt Leigh | I would recommend that the council defer discussion of this item until we can properly agendize it. |
| 00:42:26.40 | Matt Leigh | under the Brown Act. |
| 00:42:28.19 | Matt Leigh | because as a practical matter, I don't think that this item, which is the discussion of our prior ordinance which passed, |
| 00:42:36.56 | Matt Leigh | is salient or necessarily directly germane to the action the council is proposing to take this evening and which has been agendized. |
| 00:42:46.33 | Councilmember Hoffman | I'm not understanding that direction from our city attorney. |
| 00:42:49.15 | Councilmember Hoffman | This is- |
| 00:42:50.41 | Matt Leigh | I would recommend that if you want to have a deeper discussion about |
| 00:42:53.89 | Matt Leigh | these issues or this agenda or revisiting the prior ordinance the council passed the last meeting that we agendize it and put it on a agenda under the brown. |
| 00:43:10.75 | Mayor Cox | I'll move that we accept the city attorney's direction on this point. |
| 00:43:17.30 | Vice Mayor Woodside | Second. |
| 00:43:18.56 | Mayor Cox | City Clerk, would you call the roll? |
| 00:43:23.22 | Unknown | Councilmember Blaustein. |
| 00:43:25.55 | Unknown | Council member Hoffman. |
| 00:43:30.64 | Councilmember Hoffman | Hoffman. |
| 00:43:31.98 | Councilmember Hoffman | It's my name. I believe I'm next on the roll call. |
| 00:43:35.28 | Unknown | Oh, sorry. Yeah, you're not. Yeah. Sorry. I called Blaustein and then I called Hoffman. |
| 00:43:39.91 | Councilmember Hoffman | Hoffman, love. |
| 00:43:40.77 | Unknown | Sure. |
| 00:43:40.80 | Councilmember Hoffman | Yeah. |
| 00:43:42.09 | Unknown | Exactly. |
| 00:43:42.68 | Councilmember Hoffman | Yes, city clerk. I believe I'm next. My vote is no. |
| 00:43:46.64 | Councilmember Hoffman | Okay. |
| 00:43:46.69 | Unknown | Okay. |
| 00:43:47.27 | Unknown | Thank you. Council Member Sobieski, Vice Mayor Woodside. Yes. And Mayor Cox. |
| 00:43:47.50 | Mayor Cox | Thank you. |
| 00:43:47.65 | Mayor Cox | Thank you. |
| 00:43:53.31 | Mayor Cox | Yes, that motion carries for one. All right, any further? Yes. |
| 00:43:58.51 | Councilmember Sobieski | Thank you, Councilmember. So I was new on the City Council, and I'm not a lawyer. I often say that I'm an engineer. And when I joined the City Council in 2016, |
| 00:44:09.91 | Councilmember Sobieski | 21 one of our first votes was the beginning of this process hiring the consultant and engaging in this quite complicated legal morass process and it's not a |
| 00:44:25.52 | Councilmember Sobieski | And it was hard for everybody, but I want to commend everyone for |
| 00:44:29.18 | Councilmember Sobieski | where we are now. In the last housing cycle, that's the previous housing cycle, in total we built something like 80 units across town, 80 new units. So already, we haven't even certified our amended housing element, we're doing that today, but according to our director, Phipps, we are almost twice that. |
| 00:44:49.89 | Councilmember Sobieski | So, |
| 00:44:51.07 | Councilmember Sobieski | It is kind of a different era in Sausalito where we actually are building housing at a rate... |
| 00:44:57.97 | Councilmember Sobieski | dramatically faster than in previous cycles. So we're responding to the challenge from the state. Change can be hard, |
| 00:45:06.58 | Councilmember Sobieski | And the concern always is that this kind of housing could undermine the character of our town. |
| 00:45:13.04 | Councilmember Sobieski | And that's always been the fear. And in the face of that fear, we perhaps cited too much on not building housing. But this new housing element actually is already exceeding that. So I voted against this housing approach when I first joined the council because I felt like we should have an urban planning approach. And I still advocate for it. But I want to commend the outcome here in that it is more serious and a compromise among many factions to actually identify sites that can build housing and that we are building housing we got a bunch of comments from people that |
| 00:45:44.80 | Councilmember Sobieski | intend to actually build housing and we're on a good track to do so so i want to give kudos to everybody who's endured this long march to success uh last week we got a letter from hcd uh certifying our housing element or saying it's in compliant with state law and tonight we're going to certify it uh bringing an end to that part of this journey uh and future agenda items in the future i hope hope we will continue to go with this. |
| 00:46:13.59 | Councilmember Sobieski | Momentum and set aggressive targets on actually adding the kinds of housing we want in Sausalito. Many of our employees can't afford to live here. |
| 00:46:21.96 | Councilmember Sobieski | many young families can't afford to move here. And I think we should be more aggressive in being proactive in designing programs that actually are fiscally realistic in promoting that kind of achievement. And I look forward to engaging on that subject in the future. So thank you, Mayor. |
| 00:46:43.95 | Councilmember Sobieski | Thank you. |
| 00:46:43.96 | Mayor Cox | Thank you. |
| 00:46:46.60 | Mayor Cox | Thank you. |
| 00:46:48.98 | Councilmember Blaustein | I have been involved with the housing element, I would say, in a lot of ways since the mayor and I served on the general plan advisory committee, where we had the opportunity to say, wait, we're going to do that on the housing element. And this has been an incredible collaborative effort by our staff, by everyone on the dais, by our planning commission, and by our community. And again, I've continued to be impressed and moved by the amount of community input and how much our residents really care about what the makeup of our town looks like. And I'm really excited because as I've said many times before, I feel like the people |
| 00:47:25.49 | Councilmember Blaustein | you know, serving our community, deserve to live in our community. And it looks like we're going to have a lot of opportunity for more workforce housing. We're going to have an opportunity for more senior housing. And we got here because we took the time necessary, the months and months, and I would argue even years, to get us to a place where not everyone is thrilled. And that probably means we did a pretty good job. If no one, if everyone, if one group of people is especially happy and the other group is unhappy then we didn't exactly compromise and I think we're going to see new housing opportunities across our community in every pocket in in the best way possible and I'm really looking forward to working with our community development department and our city manager to |
| 00:48:04.44 | Councilmember Blaustein | see more |
| 00:48:06.04 | Councilmember Blaustein | of that housing actually come to fruition. So thank you so much to everyone who's been involved and everyone who, even everyone who just wrote one letter. We read all of them and it meant a lot. |
| 00:48:16.39 | Mayor Cox | Thank you. I will echo those comments and I will say this has truly been an iterative process. It's funny, Councilmember Blaustein, that you mentioned the General Plan Advisory Committee. You did not mention the Blue Ribbon Housing Committee in 2018. |
| 00:48:31.88 | Mayor Cox | in which we sat down with local architects and other residents to figure out how can we better streamline the production of housing in Sausalito. And we came up with a number of programs, which now... |
| 00:48:45.13 | Mayor Cox | Oh. |
| 00:48:45.97 | Mayor Cox | we are in there and are in the process of being adopted through our odds. And so that it truly has been a years long iterative process to which all of these council members and so many of our devoted staff, our city manager, our city attorney, our city attorney, |
| 00:49:01.48 | Mayor Cox | have invested hours and hours and hours, literally, you're right, Vice Mayor, for the last, what, at least eight weeks, we have met every Monday morning at 9 a.m. We have had conference calls with HCD. We have had internal discussions, myriad, to ensure that we are addressing all of our various stakeholders' concerns in an equitable and appropriate fashion. I also want to point out that the housing element sort of like the general plan is a blueprint but it has lots and lots of implementation programs and it's the implementation programs that will truly carry out the intent of the housing element. So the housing element doesn't contain a whole lot of detail. It instead relies on implementation programs to carry out its goals, such as the production of affordable housing, the streamlining of development permits that meet certain objective design standards. Various mechanisms to ensure, as Councilmember Sobieski pointed out, that we indeed are facilitating and meeting |
| 00:50:13.87 | Mayor Cox | production goals during the cycle. And so I'm really proud of this document. It reflects so much energy, effort, thoughtfulness, and really the best of intentions by all of those communities. |
| 00:50:29.03 | Mayor Cox | concerned. And so I will encourage us to adopt this by a 5-0 vote and to really allow the details to be worked out as we work through the implementation of the housing element. And so thank you all for your efforts. And unless there are any further comments, ready to call the question. |
| 00:50:50.27 | Mayor Cox | All right, city clerk. |
| 00:50:52.11 | Councilmember Blaustein | I'll have a good one on it. |
| 00:50:53.82 | Mayor Cox | No, we voted to discontinue discussion of ordinance 10 point related to 10.44. But we have not to adopt the city attorney's recommendation. We have not voted on the adoption of the housing element. |
| 00:51:07.18 | Mayor Cox | Did you have any more comments you wanted to make about the housing elements? |
| 00:51:10.57 | Mayor Cox | Okay. All right. So city clerk. |
| 00:51:15.36 | Unknown | Councilmember Blaustein. |
| 00:51:17.36 | Mayor Cox | Thank you. |
| 00:51:17.37 | Councilmember Hoffman | Enthusiastically, yes. |
| 00:51:19.18 | Unknown | Councilmember Hoffman. |
| 00:51:20.68 | Councilmember Hoffman | No. |
| 00:51:21.59 | Unknown | Councilmember Sabieski? Yes. Vice Mayor Woodside? Yes. Mayor Cox? |
| 00:51:26.77 | Mayor Cox | Enthusiastically, yes. All right, that motion carries 4-1. Congratulations to all. A truly phenomenal accomplishment. |
| 00:51:35.02 | Mayor Cox | Okay. |
| 00:51:36.34 | Mayor Cox | That's okay. |
| 00:51:37.88 | Councilmember Blaustein | Thank you. |
| 00:51:37.89 | Mayor Cox | Thank you. |
| 00:51:37.98 | Mayor Cox | Thank you. |
| 00:51:40.17 | Mayor Cox | With that, we will move on to our second public hearing, Introduction Waiver of First Reading of Ordinance Number 06-2025, an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Sausalito amending the official zoning map of the City of Sausalito and adopting various textual amendments to Title 10 of the Sausalito Municipal Code for the implementation of the sixth cycle housing element. |
| 00:52:01.53 | Mayor Cox | And again, I will invite our Community and Economic Development Director, Brandon Phipps. |
| 00:52:07.71 | Brandon | Thank you very much, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council Members, members of the public, and staff. This item is primarily a follow-on item to the action that Council just took. This is, as stated by the Mayor, a public hearing of an ordinance amending the official zoning map for the City of Sausalito and reflecting textual amendments to Title X of the Sausalito Municipal Code. Again, primarily for and to create and in connection with the implementation of the sixth cycle housing element. This amendment primarily creates consistency with program four of the city's housing element, which involves the city completing its program of rezoning and adopting overlay zones to allow development of residential units, identified opportunity sites at densities identified in the amended housing element. The action before council this evening is to approve the rezoning of opportunity sites not impacted by voter initiatives 1022 or 1128. And as council is aware and as stipulated in the staff report, the rezoning of sites impacted by those voter initiatives will be brought before voters via a ballot in the upcoming November election. In addition to the rezoning of sites not impacted by voter initiatives, the proposed ordinance also creates the overlay zones, which reflect the overlay zones presented in the city's housing element. And details on those zones are shown in the staff report as well as the proposed ordinance. there is also a specific site list that's being considered in connection with this item and the specific shown in the staff report as well as the proposed ordinance. There is also a specific site list that's being considered in connection with this item and the specific development standards as well. Those are called out. I'll leave it there and I will open it up to any questions. Thank you. |
| 00:53:44.91 | Councilmember Blaustein | Councilmember Blaustein. Just a quick question, Director Phipps. Just to be clear, the ballot measures and the language for the ballot measures will be agendized at a later date so the community can weigh in? |
| 00:53:45.77 | Brandon | Yeah. |
| 00:53:55.09 | Brandon | Absolutely. Really appreciate that question, Council Member Blaustein. And I'm just going to pull up my calendar so I can ensure that I'm getting this on record. We're tentatively scheduled to bring the ballot measure item that you mentioned before Council on July 1. So that's another excellent opportunity for the community to be able to weigh in in connection with these important items. Thank you. |
| 00:54:17.53 | Mayor Cox | Vice Mayor Woodside. |
| 00:54:19.13 | Vice Mayor Woodside | Quick question. Director Phipps, the zoning changes that we would authorize if we pass this tonight are, as you said, only affect those that are not subject to the initiative. That would mean they're not changing the zoning for MLK tonight, correct? |
| 00:54:39.62 | Brandon | That is an excellent wrinkle. Thank you very much for that, Vice Mayor. I will, yes, I will clarify that. And you are correct. Site 84 is not a part of City Council's decision this evening. That will be up to the voters to consider in November. And that is assuming that all of the appropriate dominoes fall in connection with how we're bringing this item before Council, directing the ballots be provided to the county and to have those items put on with the appropriate ballot language. |
| 00:55:10.48 | Vice Mayor Woodside | Thank you. |
| 00:55:12.78 | Mayor Cox | Other questions? City Clerk. |
| 00:55:19.19 | Unknown | Sorry, I see no public comment right now. |
| 00:55:21.23 | Unknown | Thank you. |
| 00:55:21.27 | Mayor Cox | No questions. Oh, questions. OK. Oh, wait, sorry. I'm ready for public comment. I have no speaker cards from the, and I am opening the public hearing. I see no speaker cards from the audience. Is there anyone online? |
| 00:55:21.28 | Unknown | No questions. |
| 00:55:36.54 | Unknown | See you, buddy. |
| 00:55:38.97 | Mayor Cox | Welcome, Sybil. |
| 00:55:43.85 | Sybil | Thank you, Mayor, City Council members. I'm so excited that you were actually past the housing element. And as you start to look at these implementation programs, I noticed that one really is missing, which is an implementation program to really see that we build housing that's accessible for seniors and people with disabilities for the now 3,140 people over age 55. |
| 00:56:16.20 | Sybil | that are current voters in South Salido |
| 00:56:19.47 | Sybil | 2,629 of them over age 60, according to our election board. And so we need to think about that. I'm looking forward to working with you on a potential visitability ordinance to make available more suitable housing for folks that need a little bit more accessibility built into the residents that are being constructed. So I thank you very much for saying that you'll contemplate making such a, you know, passing such a ordinance in the future. And I'm working with folks in the city to develop a draft to suggest and bring to you. And of course with Mr. Fitz when he has time to work on this. But we want to provide something to give you a starting point. So we've been doing a lot of research in that area and hope to be helpful in that way. Thank you very much. |
| 00:57:27.61 | Mayor Cox | Thank you, Sybil, and thank you for your ongoing decades long commitment to our seniors here in Sausalito. And you have my commitment that at the agenda setting committee will place a visitability ordinance on our agenda for consideration as soon as the community development department has a chance to take a breath and survive the first six months of 2025. |
| 00:57:53.43 | Unknown | No further public comment? |
| 00:57:54.97 | Mayor Cox | All right, I will close public comment and bring it up here for discussion. Who would like to lead off? |
| 00:58:02.84 | Mayor Cox | I'm going to lead off by making a motion. I move that, and by the way, I've closed the public hearing. I'm going to move that the City Council introduced by title only and waive first reading of ordinance number 06-2025, an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Sausalito, California, amending the official zoning map of the City of Sausalito and adopting various textual amendments to Title 10 of the Sausalito Municipal Code for the implementation of the sixth cycle housing element. |
| 00:58:33.24 | Councilmember Blaustein | second. |
| 00:58:34.89 | Mayor Cox | All right, any discussion? |
| 00:58:37.56 | Mayor Cox | All in favor? Aye. That motion carries five zero. |
| 00:58:38.87 | Councilmember Blaustein | Aye. |
| 00:58:42.45 | Mayor Cox | I'm not sure. |
| 00:58:48.16 | Mayor Cox | Okay, with that, we are ready for adjournment. The next regularly scheduled City Council meeting will be held June 3, 2025, with the open session due to commence at approximately 7 p.m. Thank you all. |
| 00:59:03.92 | Vice Mayor Woodside | you |
| 00:59:04.93 | Sybil | Thank you. |
