Sausalito is giving the public more time to weigh in on the city’s draft general plan.
“We would like to give additional public time for public comment on both those documents,” Mayor Susan Cleveland-Knowles said of the plan and the environmental impact report. “But we also have an interest in wrapping up this process so it’s not years and years away.”
The initial schedule called for two Planning Commission hearings in September and two City Council sessions in October, said Lilly Whalen, community development director. Earlier this year, the council aimed to have the process completed by October.
Two Planning Commission meetings on the topic are now set for Sept. 16 and 30. The City Council will discuss the plan Sept. 22. Council members also agreed to postpone completing the plan beyond December if needed due to residents’ concerns about transparency and the pace of the process.
Residents watching the most recent council meeting complained the changes were too much to absorb in such a short time, especially amid the pandemic, political discourse leading up to the November election and smoke from the wildfires. They have asked the city to slow down and be more transparent.
“We’ve asked for a slowdown so that they can be robust,” said Alice Merrill, a city resident. “But it’s these little three-minute (public comment) segments that really aren’t OK.”
Councilwoman Joan Cox said she pushed to finish the plan before the election to avoid having to bring new council members up to speed on four years of work. But she endorsed the idea of slowing the process down to allow more time to review changes to the plan.
“Legally our process has been adequate,” she said. “But I think in the time of COVID-19, with the smoke, as someone mentioned, and the other challenges that have existed, that taking the more measured and conservative approach is the best course.”
Since the last update in July, the council directed M-Group Consulting to include language that promotes social equity, diversity and racial justice; add age-friendly housing; establish a pandemic response; address environmental sustainability issues such as sea level rise; bring the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria into the planning process; and allow for the possibility of developing housing in the Marinship area.
The city has paid M-Group about $1 million since the consultant group began the process in 2017.
Vice Mayor Ray Withy said accusations that the council has not been transparent and has rushed the process are “utterly ridiculous.” But he said the spirit of the plan does call for transparency.
“It’s clear that it is important to maintain that transparency and maintain that robust conversation to ensure that there’s no possibility that we could be accused of some of the conspiracy theories that have already arisen that were trying to rush this through before the election, which is all nonsense,” he said.
Three seats are up for grabs this November. Cox is being challenged by Melissa Blaustein, Aaron Singer, Janelle Kellman, Vicki Nichols and Ian Sobieski. Councilmen Joe Burns and Withy chose not to seek reelection.
Former city mayor Sandra Bushmaker said jamming in another meeting into the existing schedule does not address the issue of transparency.
“I am very concerned that the public has not had an opportunity to digest it and to even realize that there was a special meeting being held tonight,” Bushmaker said at the Sept. 1 meeting. “I disagree that we’ve had robust public input and debate.”
Sausalito resident and former councilman Peter Van Meter said he is concerned about the inclusion of parcel-by-parcel rezoning into the plan, which opens the door to rampant development in the Marinship area.
Sausalito resident Jan Johnson said it’s reprehensible that only Cox heeded the recommendation from the general plan working group and the general plan advisory committee by voting in July 7 to keep housing out of the Marinship area.
Bob Silvestri, founder of Community Venture Partners Inc., wrote a letter questioning the numbering and placement of policies and programs between general plan drafts.
Silvestri also criticized what he referred to as a lack of transparency leading up to the policy that “eliminated all language that barred land-based housing in the Marinship.” He said that the “unagendized vote … at that meeting was likely a violation of the Brown Act.”
Tom Ford, M-Group director of urban design, said the July 7 meeting was publicly noticed with public comment. He said the numbering and location of policies were changed as the group consolidated based on direction from the city’s working groups.
“The general plan update that we’re working on, as with the 1995 general plan, does not allow a residential use in the I District or the W District (in the Marinship),” Ford said. “Of new programs that have developed or been proposed for the general plan update for overlay zones or residential related are citywide. They’re not directed at any specific areas or district.”
Language was added to clarify that the city will tackle housing in the general plan during 2023-31 housing element process, Whalen said.
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Sausalito extends general plan discussion for more input - Marin Independent Journal
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