Supporters of a ballot initiative to remove decades-old obstacles to growth in Sausalito’s Marinship have submitted a petition to the city with more than 1,000 signatures.
The measure seeks to revise Ordinance 1022, which voters approved in 1985 and blocks most new development in the 210-acre former World War II shipyard in the city’s north end.
“We’ve made some pretty amazing progress on our AIM initiative petition,” Adrian Brinton, an organizer, said Tuesday.
“We started circulating a week ago, Friday, and we basically gathered over 1,000 signatures in 10 days,” he said. “We just submitted our signed books to the city clerk this morning.”
Seventeen unpaid volunteers gathered the petition signatures, said Sharna Brockett, another organizer. About 550 valid signatures – 10% of the city’s voters – are needed to qualify.
“Wow, that speaks volumes for them,” Mayor Steven Woodside said. “Assuming the signature count holds up and they meet the required percentage, it will go on the ballot.”
The old shipyard has numerous sections. Its southern end is dominated by hulking boarded-up machine shops, lots filled with shipping containers, and run-down structures and vehicles. Closer to the shoreline, its mid-section contains working boatyards, marinas and artist studios. Other pockets have a handful of offices, restaurants and other businesses.
Last November, voters rezoned several lots in its northern tier for state-mandated high-density housing. A developer has notified officials it seeks to build a 294-unit apartment complex on a 3-acre site.
The ballot measure and its amendments are a 266-page document that proponents say would balance preservation and modernization.
“We have an artist community. We have industrial work. We have shipyards, boat-building. And we also have blighted areas,” Brinton said. “We also have areas that have been really lacking in investment for decades. And our codes and/or rules around what can get built are extremely restrictive and also put in by voter mandate.”
“It really can’t be economically developed to add new workspaces, so we created the AIM initiative,” he said.
During the past 20 years, numerous master planning efforts by city officials have languished due to local frictions and a lack of political will, Ray Withy, a former mayor and initiative supporter said.
“It needs to be repealed because in planning sessions people start narrowing their thinking,” he said. “They suddenly say, oh we can’t do that because it’s against 1022, and so the whole debate gets narrowed.”
“The most important thing it does is return control back to the City Council,” Withy said. “It is really forcing the City Council to act.”
“This is about breathing new life into our waterfront and investing in our industrial zones,” Brockett said. “When this passes, a lot of businesses down there will be able to regularly sell what they create, what they catch … it does not rezone for housing or hotels or anything like that.”
Once petition signatures are verified and the measure qualifies, Woodside said the city attorney will write an impartial analysis and summary.
“I urge everyone to stay tuned and pay close attention,” he said. “I urge people to look at the purposes of this initiative and try to understand them.”
“Very little has happened over the last 40 years,” Woodside said. “I think that’s probably why a number of people in the community are interested in some level of change.”