The Sausalito City Council agreed this week to upgrade sidewalk corners and add parking on Caledonia Street.
The council met Tuesday to approve the plan, which will add 30 or more parking spaces along the six-block stretch.
Assembly Bill 413, a 2023 law to improve pedestrian safety, could have forced the removal of 21 parking spaces along Caledonia and side streets, worrying businesses and residents.
“Holy smokes,” Councilmember Ian Sobieski said. “To go from what we were looking at a few months ago to adding 30 spaces is magic. And the possibility of more is tremendous.”
“This has been what I have been hoping for ever since AB 413 was passed,” Councilmember Joan Cox said.
AB 413 required cities to remove parking spaces within 20 feet of crosswalks or within 15 feet of curb extensions. Sausalito had been reluctant to do that along a mixed commercial-residential corridor that already has a shortage of parking.
This spring, the council hired SWA Group, a landscape and urban design firm, to partner with its traffic consultant, Parametrix, to explore parking and street design alternatives.
The law has provisions where the red curbing can be reduced if other safety measures are instituted, such as extending sidewalk corners into intersections so drivers slow down and see pedestrians and cyclists better. Other sidewalk amenities, such as benches, planter boxes and bike racks, could be added to those extensions.
SWA Group designer Zachary Davis and public works staff presented a series of options for corners and parking. The first was extending corners at intersections and slightly reducing parking space lengths on Caledonia Street.
“Curb extensions can be constructed of either semi-permanent materials, such as paint and flexible posts, or more permanent raised concrete curb installations,” a staff report said. “Installation of curb extensions, along with updating parallel parking striping on Caledonia, would yield approximately 104 parking spaces, replacing 18 of the 21 parking spaces lost due to AB 413 implementation, resulting in an overall reduction of just 3 spaces in the area.”
The next option was adding perpendicular parking along one side of four adjacent streets — Bee, Litho, Locust and Turney — and leaving a 24-foot-wide two-way lane. That modification could add 40 or more parking spots, Davis said.
Parking for neighborhood residents would remain free. Meters would be installed on the side streets for visitors.
The consultants also said more spaces could be added through a “pilot project” where one side street would have perpendicular parking on one side and parallel parking on the other.
During public comment, business owners praised the plan to upgrade the sidewalk intersections and add parking.
“I’m in huge support of this,” said Adam Driver, founder of Driver’s Market and Deli. “I just want to make sure in doing this we’re not taking away the ability to have delivery trucks.”
Yoshi Tome, owner and chef of Sushi Ran, said the corner improvements and additional side street parking are “perfect for now.”
“Caledonia Street is going through a huge transition in terms of businesses,” he said. “I would also urge you to consider extending the period of time in which our visitors can park.”
Several current and former Caledonia Street residents also said more parking is needed — and should be free to residents.
The council unanimously supported the improvements and pressed the public works department to implement them as soon as possible.
It also passed a second motion instructing public works staff to try the pilot project of perpendicular and parallel parking on one side street.
“Residential parking will continue to be free,” Cox said. “And, indeed, parking should be more plentiful in light of the creation of more spaces.”