The Larkspur City Council has rejected a challenge to a controversial plan for a new tennis club in the center of town.<\/p>\n
The applicants want to tear down the Mt. Tam Racquet Club at 1 Larkspur Plaza Drive and replace it with a smaller recreational center. It would include several small buildings, eight outdoor tennis courts, a three-lane outdoor pool and various green spaces.<\/p>\n
The Planning Commission approved the project design, two permits and two height exceptions during a hearing on Aug. 11. More than 100 people attended the hearing, some for the project and others against.<\/p>\n
A resident, Howard Ortman, appealed the commission\u2019s decision on Aug. 19. The appeal said the project would violate a permit requirement not to be \u201cdetrimental to the general welfare\u201d because it would remove an indoor pool and indoor tennis courts that residents need.<\/p>\n
Ortman also alleged that the applicant failed to address flooding risks from the rising sea.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe my concerns are echoed by over 300 members that have signed two different petitions,\u201d Ortman said.<\/p>\n
The council heard the appeal on Wednesday. City staff said the project complies with all conditions for approval and recommended that the council uphold the Planning Commission.<\/p>\n
Alex Othon, a city planner, said neither the Planning Commission nor the City Council can require certain amenities unless they are \u201creasonably linked to the required findings for approval.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe amenities offered by a private club to its members are at the discretion of the club and its ownership,\u201d Othon said. \u201cThe facility is not required to provide any services to the public for public benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n
The project site is partially located in a flood zone, according to the city, and has to build any new structure above the Federal Emergency Management Agency base flood elevation. Othon said the project complies with all flood zone, drainage and stormwater requirements.<\/p>\n
Mark Harris, the owner and developer of the new club, said he understands the site is an important place for the community. Harris said the objections of the project opponents are conflated with their feelings about the closure of a club he does not own.<\/p>\n
Harris said he has worked with the owners of the Mt. Tam Racquet Club to keep the business open while the new club is in development.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t help but feel that if the plans before you were for a shopping center or a medical building or a housing development \u2014 while I know these concerns would still exist and this group of petitioners would still be upset \u2014 I\u2019m not sure there would be petitions and I\u2019m not sure they\u2019d be here tonight,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Harris said he has been listening to the community and offered to continue conversations in private forums, but emphasized the project needs to be financially feasible. He said the smaller footprint of the club allows for this financial stability.<\/p>\n
Many residents spoke at the council meeting. Opponents said the project does not appeal to current club members; that members would be priced out; and that older residents would lose health programs like classes for people with Parkinson\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n
Proponents said the new club would add a beneficial, attractive business to the community.<\/p>\n
The council agreed with staff and the commission findings and unanimously denied the appeal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reality is, I don\u2019t believe we are in the position to tell you how to run your business,\u201d Councilmember Scot Candell said to Harris.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a hard standard. I hear that what is coming is detrimental to some people for sure, but the standard is not relative,\u201d said Mayor Stephanie Andre. \u201cI can\u2019t make that finding. It is not detrimental to the workers and the people who live in the surrounding area.\u201d<\/p>\n
The council encouraged Harris to listen to public desires. It also largely agreed that the city should focus on providing more health services for older residents.<\/p>\n
Councilmember Catherine Way said her husband took the Parkinson\u2019s class at the club before he died. She said there are opportunities for the city to provide the services the community wants.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s got to be creative ways in which we can think of the service area that may not be met in this renovation, but still have other resources in our community to serve those needs,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Larkspur City Council has rejected a challenge to a controversial plan for a new tennis club in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":852892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[28,2356,97,203956,203953,205671,2558,983,5415,3,4910,5413,7234,99,428],"class_list":["post-852891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-business","tag-california","tag-health","tag-larkspur","tag-larkspur-city-council","tag-larkspur-corte-madera","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-marin-county","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-north-bay","tag-northern-california","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/852892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}