{"id":302707,"date":"2026-05-06T15:38:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T15:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/302707\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T15:38:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T15:38:24","slug":"sausalito-pro-growth-group-pushes-marinship-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/302707\/","title":{"rendered":"Sausalito pro-growth group pushes Marinship changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Sausalito group has launched a ballot campaign to remove decades-old obstacles to growth in the Marinship area.<\/p>\n

The former World War II shipyard covers 210 acres at the city\u2019s north end. In 1985, voters approved Ordinance 1022 to preserve its \u201cmaritime character\u201d by blocking most new development.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe perception that\u2019s behind this group is that nothing really has happened in 40 years,\u201d said Fred Moore, a planning commissioner and supporter. \u201cThe intensity of uses haven\u2019t increased. The marinas haven\u2019t expanded. \u2026 And, in addition to not changing, things are now decaying.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we are trying to change are some of the prohibited uses, letting businesses sell what they make,\u201d said Adrian Brinton, an organizer with the group, called Sausalitans for a Thriving Waterfront. \u201cWe have a lot of producers in the Marinship and right now they are prohibited from selling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used to have 23 fishing fleets out of Sausalito. Now we only have eight,\u201d said organizer Sharna Brockett. \u201cAnd they can\u2019t, for example, create a co-op to start selling like a fish market.\u201d<\/p>\n

In recent years, advocates have called on officials to create a Marinship master plan and amend Ordinance 1022 to lift development restrictions. Growing impatient, they created the citizens group and drafted a ballot measure to revise the zoning law. The initiative was filed recently with the city clerk, starting the ballot-qualifying process.<\/p>\n

Ordinance 1022 was created to reduce automobile traffic and related development, according to city documents.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is in the best interests of the present and future residents of the City to reduce the increase in automobile traffic generated by new development in the City\u2019s commercial and industrial zones and to preserve the maritime character of those areas by reducing permissible density,\u201d the ordinance said.<\/p>\n

To achieve that, it preserved and froze existing uses, barred parcels from being split into smaller lots, barred conversion or changes in use, and capped the floorspace of any building at 30% of the underlying lot size. Additionally, these prohibitions could only be overruled by voters, such as last fall\u2019s Measure J, which allowed an office complex to be replaced with apartments.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are underutilized parcels and one reason is the land-use laws,\u201d Brinton said.<\/p>\n

\"BoatsBoats are docked in Clipper Yacht Harbor in the Marinship area of Sausalito, Calif., on Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (Alan Dep\/Marin Independent Journal)<\/p>\n

The measure, titled \u201cThe Arts, Industrial & Maritime Preservation & Improvement Initiative\u201d or \u201cAIM Initiative,\u201d would loosen specific 40-year-old restrictions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re increasing the floor area ratio and we\u2019re increasing the height limit a bit to encourage three- to four-story commercial buildings,\u201d Brinton said. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about complementary businesses. We want cafes, coffee shops, galleries, restaurants, things like that. \u2026 With the passage of Measure J, it\u2019s super important to have some services down there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, if you want to put a bakery down there, you don\u2019t have to go to voters,\u201d Moore said. \u201cOr if there\u2019s a retail shop, certain retail shops are allowed, if you get the proper permits.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so much these old laws are preventing,\u201d Brockett said. \u201cWhat this would do is change that so the people who are there \u2014 the artists, the industrial fabricators, the makers, the creators, the maritime businesses, can actually start to adapt and grow and thrive if they want to.\u201d<\/p>\n

The City Council has been planning to revisit Ordinance 1022 as part of its economic development discussions.<\/p>\n

Mayor Steven Woodside said he is aware the campaign filed the measure with the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s very important to carefully read it to ascertain its major objectives,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a complicated lengthy process document.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike other ballot measures, only voters \u2014 not the City Council \u2014 can modify the ordinance initially passed by voters.<\/p>\n

Organizers said they will seek to gather 800 petition signatures by early June to qualify the measure.<\/p>\n

Brockett said several public forums are being planned, and she expects lively debate.<\/p>\n

\"GateA car drives down Gate 5 Road in the Marinship area of Sausalito, Calif. on Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (Alan Dep\/Marin Independent Journal)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Sausalito group has launched a ballot campaign to remove decades-old obstacles to growth in the Marinship area.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302708,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[387,7,383,181,23,992,89001,100,180,993,266,101,103,102,3624,3625,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-302707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-business","tag-california","tag-economy","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-marin-county","tag-marinship","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-north-bay","tag-northern-california","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sausalito","tag-sausalito-city-council","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}