Sausalito has dealt another setback to a proposed seven-story condominium development on the waterfront.<\/p>\n
The City Council voted Tuesday to reject an appeal by the developer and property owner, who said the city improperly deemed its project application incomplete.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe city\u2019s conclusions are not frivolous, pretextual, intended to cause delay and without merit,\u201d Councilmember Joan Cox said before the vote.<\/p>\n
The council also rejected the developer\u2019s \u201cchallenge conduct notice,\u201d which claimed city staff and the council intentionally delayed and blocked the 49-apartment project.<\/p>\n
Both votes were 4-0. Councilmember Ian Sobieski recused himself from the appeal hearing because he lives near the property at 605-613 Bridgeway.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think the council\u2019s totally wrong,\u201d Kenneth Stahl, the attorney for the developer and property owner, said after the council meeting. \u201cThe law is pretty clear that you have to meet your housing element commitments.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLitigation is definitely a possibility,\u201d Stahl said. \u201cAnd by the way, that\u2019s not just from us, but there are pro-housing organizations that also have the ability to sue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sausalito resident Linda Fotsch owns the two parcels, and the development company is Willy\u2019s LLC. Fotsch submitted the development proposal in 2023.<\/p>\n
Fotsch expected it would be automatically approved because she said it complied with the city housing element, a state-mandated plan listing housing sites.<\/p>\n
City planners said the project is in a historic district, requiring a review under the California Environmental Quality Act. They concluded her application was incomplete.<\/p>\n
That determination led to a long stalemate. In 2025, Fotsch appealed the finding to the Planning Commission and lost. That led to the council appeal hearing on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
In the interim, community opposition mounted, including a petition with 1,700 signatures. The council, meanwhile, amended its housing element to downsize projects at Fotsch\u2019s site.<\/p>\n
Her attorney and lawyers on the council \u2014 Mayor Steven Woodside, Cox and Councilmember Jill Hoffman \u2014 parried for several hours with technicality-laced arguments.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn January of 2023, the city adopted a housing element that designated this property for 49 units with a density bonus,\u201d Stahl said. \u201cThat means it would be approved ministerially with no discretionary permits and that the project would not be subject to the California Environmental Quality Act. \u2026 The city then reversed course, beginning in 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sausalito planning consultant Neil Toft said the half-acre site is in the historic district, did not qualify for a CEQA exemption and is not entitled to as many residences as the developers claimed and sought to build \u2014 even with some reserved for affordable housing.<\/p>\n
More than 200 residents submitted letters to the city, most opposing the project.<\/p>\n
Only two people supported the plan during the public comment period Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cReverse the incorrect Planning Commission\u2019s adverse decision,\u201d said Chris Sullivan. \u201cIt\u2019s time to change the dialogue. Marin is changing. Even other communities are welcoming improvements.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most speakers said the project is inappropriate for the historic downtown district, a tourism draw.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have lived on Bridgeway, just a few blocks from this proposal, for 35 years,\u201d said Adrianna Dinihanian. \u201cPlease deny this proposal. There is no place for this giant enormous building in that area of town. It is completely out of scale and out of character.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody wants this,\u201d said Susan Keegin, a 50-year resident. \u201cYou have so many letters that have been written by my neighbors and a lot of my neighbors are sitting here. It\u2019s a full room. You know what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fotsch said, \u201cI have lived in Sausalito for nearly 40 years. I raised my four children here. I am not an outside developer coming to Sausalito. This is my home too.\u201d<\/p>\n
During their discussion, council members said the developers didn\u2019t undertake a California Environmental Quality Act review. They also said the city\u2019s zoning \u2014 which is not the same as its housing element allocations \u2014 does not allow as many residences as the developers proposed.<\/p>\n
They also said Fotsch\u2019s team never returned with an updated application, even though her presentation slides showed a less conspicuous building.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe city has substantial evidence from the four historic analyses that the project may cause a substantial adverse change in the significance of the buildings and of the historic district,\u201d Cox said, referring to the threshold that required a CEQA review.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do want to reiterate from our staff\u2019s suggestions that this is not a denial of the project,\u201d Vice Mayor Melissa Blaustein said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m encouraged by potential alternative designs we\u2019ve heard about and seen for the very first time this evening.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the hearing, Woodside said Fotsch could return with a scaled-down project. The city\u2019s current housing element and zoning allow a maximum of 29 residences for the site.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sausalito has dealt another setback to a proposed seven-story condominium development on the waterfront. The City Council voted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[7,1011,181,23,992,100,180,993,266,388,101,103,102,3624,3625,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-507648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-california","tag-housing","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-marin-county","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-north-bay","tag-northern-california","tag-real-estate","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\/507648","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=507648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}