Good evening. I am opening the January 6th meeting, regular meeting of the Corn
Madiraa Town Council. Um, we just had a closed session and we have nothing to
report out of that closed session. I ask for a roll call, please.
Council member Andrews >> present.
» Council member Beckman >> here.
» Council member Azio >> here. Vice Mayor Casissa
» here. >> Mayor Thomas
» here.
» So, um, we'd like to have open time at this time. Any Oh, I'm sorry. We have to
pledge first. Pledge of allegiance, please.
» Aliance to the United States of America to the
republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
All right.
Now, we will begin open time. Any member of the public is allowed to
speak for three minutes about anything that is not on our agenda this evening.
Uh those of you who would like to speak uh raise your hands to be recognized and
we will direct you to the podium. Please speak into the mic loudly so that you're
picked up uh for those online and everyone in the room. Thank you. Uh next
will be Miss Batty and we'll start with you sir.
» Bob Middlestead uh ebike access. Thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and council
members. Two years ago, two Redwood High School
students rode in the J about what they called quote undercover undercover
motorcycles on their campus. We now call them emotos. They tried to
remind public officials at the time and the local police that the number one
priority was keeping roads and the kids safe.
Here we are in 2026, two years later, and the problem has only gotten worse.
It's now been widely publicized in the New York Times, CBS News, the J, and the
Legislator Leg Legislative Commission report by the Manetta Transportation
Institute. In response, we can try and pass the
buck. We can congratulate ourselves on everything we've done, but to be honest,
I think we need to face the fact that more needs to be done, and I think we
should redouble our efforts. This is a multiaceted problem, but at bottom, it
is a law enforcement problem. So, I asked the CMP
um a uh representative why they were not doing more to cure the emoto problem at
Redwood High School. Um which is just down the street from the police
headquarters after all. And this is what I got this afternoon. Quote, "Parents
are not enthusiastic about us going after children, nor our schools. We are
not the Gestapo. I found that that response chilling.
Um, parents don't get to decide when to let their children break the law and
schools from the ones I've talked to and I've talked to a lot want the police to
help them enforce the law and get rid of the emot. And the Gustapo comment goes
without any further thing. So, here's what I ask this court to do as part of
our continuing dialogue. First, agendaize the issue for an upcoming
meeting and declare the policy of this community is that emoto enforcement at
Redwood High School and beyond is important to the community regardless of
what some scoff parents might want. And second, remember that the Central Marine
Police Council is charged with quote developing policy for the CMPA,
not the other way around. And I don't think we should tolerate a
policy of deferring to parents who want their kids to break the law. In fact,
it's a crime for parents to allow juveniles to operate motorcycles without
licenses. Uh and finally, the CMPA and I did agree on one thing, which is the
importance of going after the manufacturers on a consumer product uh
protection basis. So, I've submitted a petition um calling on the DA and the
attorney general to do just that. And I ask each of you to consider signing it.
Thank you. >> Thank you.
» Hello everybody. I'm Susie Batty. Um hello to all of you who I know pretty
well, most of you. Um I am here because uh we had a flood the last few days and
I happened to be um uh part of the neighborhood response group in East
Corder Madera. So I thought it would be a good idea for me to just give you a
threeinut quick thing and I wrote these points down and I'll try not to talk as
much as I usually do. I'll try to just get these points out and maybe some of
them will be helpful um in my notes. Um my first note to
myself is compliments and that really is true. Um I think in general things went
fairly well. Uh there were delays on some things but uh the the street
sweeper has not stopped. He's been through Mariner Cove time after time
after time from as soon as they could get in there until um until even even
today. Um I do believe that um and public works and the fire department was
present um more so the uh the fire department I saw there the first day uh
late in the afternoon. You know, it took a while to see what was going on and
this was January 1st and I want to remind everybody that that's one thing
to think about. It was a holiday and it had to be a difficult time for all the
departments. Um, I realized that and I think in general they did a pretty good
job. There should have been some uh we ran out of of sandbags uh in in Mariner
Cove and I think uh we needed to somehow figure way and this is communication of
letting the people in Mariner Cove know what and when and where they could get
those sandbags. A lot of this boils down I think to communication. Um, I think
the alerts could have they they were prominent when they uh after a while,
but in the very beginning it was a little bit slow getting alerts out. I
think um I'm also thinking that people got on next door like during and after
and all that and there was, you know, somebody should have done this, somebody
should have done that. I think it would be really good if the town had someone
who monitored next door and could see the comments that are going on and we
need somebody who will uh correct the information, make sure that the
information that people are yakking about is correct. Um so I think that
would be very helpful. Um vacation time for uh particularly for uh public works.
I'm I know that some towns do this and there might be a way of splitting their
vacations in such a way that particularly in the winter months in the
times when there we know that there's going to be problems that probably out
there people shouldn't shouldn't have less vacation. They deserve plenty of
vacation but maybe it can be divided up in such a way that we at least have a
pretty big staff because on January 1st we only had one. I know that my time is
up. The one thing that I think is important is that uh can the town please
schedule a meeting particularly for Mariner Cove with the experts there so
that questions can be answered and that it could happen really soon. I'd like to
see it happen at Cove School. Neighborhood response group was asked if
they could do it. I don't think it's our place. I think it's better for the town
to do it. And thank you for the dumpsters that were delivered today.
It's going to be very helpful to the residents. Again, it's uh getting the
word out. So, thank you. >> Thank you.
Anyone else like to speak? David, good to see you.
» Hello, David Bell. Uh 33 Echo. Um want to just simply say echo everything Susie
said, but for Marina Village.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Lauren Cosgrave and my
husband Shawn and I own 23 Harbor Drive in Marina Village with our two daughters
age 8 and nine. During the recent storm, our home flooded as a result of water
over topping the burm behind our property. This was not a case of
groundwater seepage or an unpredictable failure. It was a visible, repeatable
overflow of a known structure. This burm has been a point of discussion
between homeowners and the town for over 10 years. And regardless of formal
ownership, it is clearly functioning as a flood control infrastructure.
When it over tops, water is directed towards homes and streets and neighbors
and including my home. We are not here tonight to assign blame
or debate fault. We are here because this problem is foreseeable and it will
happen again unless it is addressed in an engineered way. We are asking the
city to do three things. Commission or share a professional engineering
evaluation of the burm and surrounding drainage on Harbor Drive. Clearly
identify responsibility for preventing future over topping of impacts to homes.
and provide a timeline for implementing a long-term mitigation solution.
This flooding has real consequences financial, emotional, and safety related
for families living here. We are committed to being constructive
partners, but temporary or peacemail fixes are not enough. Our request is
simple. Please acknowledge this is a predictable risk and commit to a
permanent solution so residents are not put in this position again.
Thank you. Is there anyone else?
» Hi. Uh, my name is Robin. I live on 37 Kargo near Susie. I actually lived on
Harbor when I was in high school. Um, so couple things. I I won't get to all the
details, but I have some older family members that uh for decades have been
very angry about the lack of dredging in the area. So, I've heard a lot over the
years about local regulations and problems with
SQUA and the strategies for flood management and um probably way more than
I would like. I understand there's been various plans over the years with the
flood wall and raising homes and things like that.
My understanding um is that you know issues related to SQA stop things or
stall things for years or decades um not just with flooding but also with
I've seen it with bike infrastructure and and many things in so I'm wondering
if the city has made any efforts to work with the state on like streamlining SQA
reviews or like you know there's a stadium in LA that famously got put up
quickly with SQL streamlining processes. So I'm very curious to hear about that.
Thank you.
Hi, my name is Karen Grant. I live on Meadow Crest. This isn't the issue I
came for tonight, but I think it was absolutely ridiculous that the town
closed for two weeks. Unless you're a school kid or a school teacher, who
takes two weeks off at the holidays? Most people get Christmas Eve, Christmas
Day, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day. Has this always been the case? I was really
up against the gun to get a permit because the solar
um tax relief is ending. And it was I just couldn't believe the town shut down
for two weeks and gave themselves two weeks off. Thank you.
Would anyone else like to speak in the room? Uh how about online?
» We have three hands raised from attendees online. We'll start with Patty
Stolier. Right. >> Go ahead, Patty. Good evening. Thank you
everybody. Um I just want to report out a couple things from the Twin Cities
disaster preparedness committee meeting yesterday. Uh one is we kept reiterating
that people were thinking this was due to the rain. It was not due to the rain.
It was due to the king tides and the rain didn't help any. But it wasn't
anything like 1982 when we got 16 ines of rain in three days. Um and so uh that
meant it was very predictable. People sort of took it in stride when
they heard that the king tides were coming. And we talked about the
possibility of maybe having blue flag days when there was going to be a a
really urgent necessity to uh get the word out and call people's attention to
the potential threat. And the other was um maybe some signs in neighborhoods
that are low. I think there's one over by Lucky that says this area is prone to
flooding, but um that would be good to have those. I think uh the town did an
amazing job overall. Uh, as Susie said, getting the word out a little bit late,
but um, I kept trying to correct people and Bob Bundy kept trying to correct
people on Next Door if they were thinking that the towns had, you know, a
hundred years to figure this out and why haven't they stopped the rain and the
tide. So that I think people just need to get an inflatable Bobo punching bag
and let their um uh frustrations out rather than posting on Next Door. But um
I think overall we weathered so to speak the storm pretty well and um hats off to
Cord Madera and we made all the news. Thanks.
Um, next we have Roy Walford.
» Go ahead, Roy.
» Good evening. I uh echo the compliments to the town
staff who was on the point, fire department. They're real good. Also, Mil
Valley Refuge. Uh my wife asked her to give them a call, say, "Hey, pick up the
garbage real early." uh because uh the day before uh it was
one day delayed in picking up garbage because of the holiday
and the trash cans, all the cans were floating down Seawolf Passage and I was
going out trying to pull them up, knocking on doors saying, "Hey, pull in
your cans because the tide was coming in." And I have, my wife and I have
lived uh here since 1974. And the most our garage or house ever
flooded was a few inches into the garage.
We had on Friday three and a half inches uh of water in the garage and the
following day we had 8 and 12 in and we had sandbags and everything else. The
following day I got smarter about sandbags. I also got a submersible pump.
So I pumped out water as fast as it came in. So if anybody's sandbagging, get a
submersible pump. But the real key issue here is with all the things going on
with the earth, the astronomical, there was uh there there was a confluence of
unexpected items that were not predicted. So the predictable tide uh
was in the 7.2 ft area. It wound up being about 8.71.
Now, there was another flood just 200s of a foot less in 1998,
and it was on February six. You go check the records, and it was an 8
uh 57, something like that. We never flooded from that. What's the
difference? Well, there were a lot of things. There was an offshore storm
surge with the wind blowing from the southsoutheast. It pushed the water in.
We had lots of rain, lots of runoff, settlement, subsidance.
We settled our we had subsidance uh between 1998 uh and this year of
probably a little over a foot and that one foot made all the difference. And it
was obvious that an awful lot of the houses uh along the shoreline have
lowlying land. They need to build that up. And I know Bob has been talking many
years uh about getting a burm or a levy out there. It's needed and it's got to
be at least 10 foot. We've got lots of material to build those leveies. It was
from dredging Cordadera Creek in the mid70s when the fairies were coming in
and it build up a lot of the levies that are out in the marsh right now. So, uh,
I hope the town really presses to to get those barriers built up because we don't
know when another storm was hit and a predicted tide is being predicted for,
uh, December, but we don't know if all the astronomical, astrological, and all
those things will come together all at once.
» Thank you. Thank you, Roy. Okay. And then we have one hand raised from
Elizabeth Oul.
» Go ahead, please. Hi, this is Elizabeth and John at uh 19
Harbor and uh we live two doors down from Lauren who spoke uh a few speakers
back and we're probably echoing most of what she said but um I think our house
was hit the hardest in our neighborhood. We have tens of thousands of dollars
worth of damage to our house and uh we just we really need the burm to be
reinforced along this stretch of San Clemeni Creek. Uh it's it's affected so
many homes along here. Uh and um we were just wondering if there's any chance
it's three days later, but for the governor, Mr. Newsome uh to
declare some kind of state of emergency after the fact to get some kind of uh
help, financial help to uh deal >> FEMA or whatever to deal with
» uh what we we're going through right now. It's uh it's um it's not a good new
year so far for us. So uh that's all I wanted to say. Uh thank you and and I
seed the rest of my time.
Thank you. And then one more hand [clears throat] raised um from Peter
Butt.
Go ahead, Peter. Oh, he might have changed his mind and
the hand went down. Oh, it's back up. Sorry,
» Peter. Go ahead. Sorry, I'm here. Uh I live on Golden Heind Passage, uh
part of the NRG with with Susie and I've heard a couple of mentions um about
communication and and there's there's a lot of of um long-term planning, right,
and and uh discussions that have obviously taken place over the years and
and and for the foreseeable uh future as to what solves are. But from a from a a
shorter term communication standpoint, um I I don't feel and and maybe it was a
miss on my part. I'm a little bit of a weather nerd. I tend to to look at
websites, but I don't feel that the advanced warning and notification was as
solid as it could have been. Whether that's Alert Marin or or Nixie or, you
know, from the town itself, but something that seems to be an easier
fix. Um, you know, at some point you can only fight the water so much, but at
least getting people prepared as best they can to be as as as have as many
sandbags as they can and and whatnot. Uh, I felt like I was a little caught
off guard and again, maybe that was just me, but thank you.
» Thank you. No other hands raised from attendees um
online and the comments that we received via email were added to the website and
are available for the public to view. Um and no additional emailed public comment
has been received. >> All right.
Thank you. Um thank you to everyone who Oh, wait. We have another person in the
house. Please step forward.
» Good evening. U Thank you. I just I'm Lucinda Smith and I would like to make a
request. Um I love the fact that we have the board over there, but when we're
having detailed information showing on it, it's sometimes difficult to see it.
And I was wondering, I know you have to have it for the the uh council, but I
was wondering if we could have another one that would be behind the mayor,
which would be more visible for all of the audience to see. just I know it's an
expense but a consideration. Thank you. >> Thank you. And is there anyone else?
» All right then. So, >> yeah.
Yeah. And and thank you, Mayor Thomas. One
piece of clarification. We do have an item a special meeting item on after the
regular agenda which is the proclamation of a local emergency. So this is I
appreciate everyone speaking now. I'd like to first off just um really thank
everybody for providing coming here tonight if you if you did or speaking
online. I think we are still in a lot of ways um just coming off. I think today
is the first day we had some drying out. We had flooding even as late as
yesterday um with road closures and um and I know
other structures and garages closed um flooded as well. But I I think it's
really important for us to hear uh from our community uh what happened. Um we
aren't in all places at all times. So, I think knowing what the damage was, uh,
and really I'm I my heart goes out to those that were really severely flooded.
That's the first I'm hearing that actually some homes themselves were were
flooded and I was actually at um Lauren's house, I guess, before it got
really bad on uh Saturday. So, uh, but thank you for coming here. Um, and I
also understand council member Cassiso is over at that same area of Harbor on
the other side of 21. And so it's it's just really important for us to hear the
concerns um about what what went wrong. You know, what I appreciate some of the
comments about seeing staff out there and what we did okay and did right. I
mean, there's always room for for being better as staff, being better prepared.
Um uh and so I think hearing from all of you is really most important for this
evening. I know we'll have um opportunity in the near future to
discuss sort of more of the narrative of how we responded and how we intend to do
better going forward. Um, I will like I I also wanted to use some of this time
just to alert inform the council of um
some of our current thoughts and some of the things that we observed
um and uh talk about perhaps uh following up at the next meeting or
certainly in the future. There were some suggestions for having separate
meetings. We have a flood board as well that has regular public meetings on just
these types of issues, but we will certainly be following up. And
importantly, I think one thing we certainly can do
is um this was a this was an extreme event. Um this was uh I kept hearing the
news calling it an epic flood, which is not I think that's only on the West
Coast they're going to be using that word, but but it was an extreme title
event. Um I think there were uh many of us not just CO Madera, Larksburg, up and
down Marin in the county. I think it's fair to say a certain degree caught off
guard by the extreme. We we knew the king tides were coming. We've had king
tides tides before, but that additional confluence of wind and the storm surge
and the rain as well. Um I don't we've we were at record levels if not record
levels we were like this far below record record levels from a actual title
event and so um it was uh something that we were not expecting when uh until
Friday and then certainly once Friday came around and we got the understanding
that it was going to be about a foot and a half above expected tide um we started
preparing in and uh more significantly Um, so,
uh, this event did expose our vulnerabilities that we've been
talking about for a long time in terms of title flooding.
Uh, we haven't seen this, as I said, it was a record event in decades. Um, this
wasn't just an event that affected private property. We had major regional
highway infrastructure impacted uh, on Saturday. I'm looking over at Chief
Martin. I know his his team and and CMFA was out there on the highway carrying
people out out of the water and and uh towing cars and really supporting and
making sure that critical infrastructure could could be safe to pass as much as
possible. Um we had low-lying commercial areas that
were severely affected. Um, I did reach out to some of the property owners, the
the family who owns Big Five and and SF Fitness. I think their their take is it
was they did a pretty good job mitigating. It was it was uh um
certainly they were significantly impacted but not to the extent that I
think it looked like from some of the images and we you know I reached out to
say we're there to support you and what can we do and I would say that to
everybody here as well like the needs what you know what are the things that
the town can do this is the time that it would be helpful to hear that we did
hear from some that the that um the a debris box would be helpful. And so
we've got one out there with the help of MVRS early today out at Cove Parking
Lot. Um but if there's another location uh in Marina Village, let us know. We we
there are actually better locations to to um place those perhaps at the end of
of uh Harbor Drive, street end, one of the street ends. We're happy to do that
and get get right on that. Um uh but we also had town facilities
damaged. Our corporation yard um I I should say flooded for the last 4 days
and is out of commission. Um our interim public works director Chris Goods here.
Um that power is out there right now. Um so we it was pretty extensive damage. We
haven't seen that at the courtyard for many many decades as well. Um, and we're
we're figuring out how to actually so while our maintenance team was out there
actually trying to do all the good work of uh keeping our pump stations running
and delivering sand uh their own they flooding as well at at um the
corporation yard. And so we'll we'll be talking about that. We're currently
doing an initial damage assessment and estimate for the town. Um and we'll be
working on that with respect to mostly our corporation yard and some pump
facilities as well. Um, and so I do want to just comment and thank our the team
that was out there during the weekend, uh, starting, you know, really New
Year's Day, uh, through, uh, yesterday. Um, our public works team,
in particular, interim director Chris Good. Um, I also really want to
highlight Superintendent Wes Sitler's work. He was non-stop for days. um our
entire maintenance team uh Nick Udeni, Neil, Lucas, uh other Nick and uh also
just mention our support that we had as we always do from Flores as well. They
were out there in force as well and so that was really important to have those
extra hands. um you know they our infrastructure held
up relatively I I think it's fair to say well um given the circumstances um you
know our staff they're monitoring and keeping all our pump stations
uh working I think it can't be understated the importance um not only
the extreme on Saturday but this has been four days our infrastructure has
been dealing with these floods so it's not just a one-day event of an record
tide it's the length I think of the high tides which we haven't seen before as
well. And so that infrastructure, all the pumps working constantly over that
period of time really tested them and they held up well. We had one pump uh I
think one pump station over at Black Kettle Lagoon um burn out and so that's
in that's actually out right now and we're um trying to seek uh repair and
potentially replacement for that. Um, our public works staff also assisted
assisted CMPA with road closures um throughout town. I
want to thank CMPA for being out there. Um, [snorts]
uh, we had brought in some overtime um, some additional officers to support that
effort. Again, not only most of their focus was along the major um, exits and
entrances to Highway 101. Um and public works also uh as much as
we could procure and deliver additional um sand to uh the stations as well as as
out there. And I understand certainly there's probably some lessons there
learned as well. But according to West, we had about 30 to 35 tons of sand. Uh
well over,200 sandbags were deployed to the sandbag stations throughout town.
Um what we um uh I'll just quickly report that with
the corporation yard um we currently where we have um as you know we we have
some hazardous materials there. We do have to do some cleanup with Serpro and
some professionals. will be hiring some professionals to uh assess the damage
and it could be several weeks that um that facility can't be used at this
time. So, I just giving the council a heads up on that and we'll be trying to
make some temporary arrangements for our staff in the meantime in terms of use
the use of that facility. Um,
you know, I I think uh again just want to
focus on um taking in information at this point. And so uh if there is
additional information that the community wants to uh share with us, we
have set up a an email address. Um we're going to tempor we're going to use for
now public comment at uh court ofa.gov uh for um reporting concerns. It's the
public there's many eyes looking at that public comment email. So I think it's a
good a good way to make sure that we're receiving any uh concerns from our
community or needs that are um raised over the next few days. Um, and as well
we've talked about getting a form out there just to get a better handle on the
damage that's occurred at various different locations. Um, we have a bunch
of uh images and photographs. That's also useful as we continue our
discussions about how to better protect uh the community out there uh on the
east side, but also other areas of town. Um and so this is a process of where we
actually um are going to hopefully better understand the weak points in our
flood protection and address those um as quickly as possible. I know we have a a
good uh opportunity with our strategic planning session with the council coming
up to talk about that and I assume we will do so. Um and this will be uh one
of the most important topics to discuss that. Um
with that I think I can unless the council has questions for me um I can
stop my report at this time. Um, you know, I I do think at the end of the
day, we have to look at this as an opportunity to raise awareness
um and urgency as well, not only with our community, but our regional partners
and find longer term solutions to uh this recurring issue. Um hopefully not
as extreme as we've seen, but we know it it will recur. So, thanks.
Thank you very much. Um, council, do you have any questions?
» I have one. Ready? >> I'm going to put you on the spot, Adam.
» I think I've raised this before. Am I allowed to ask a question?
It turns it into an agenda item. We can wait till the the next meeting then.
I'll bring it up then. >> Okay. Thank you.
» Okay. Great. Then we will move on to an interview for a applicant to the
commission on aging and that
applicant is an Sparkman. Hello,
welcome. Good evening, mayor,
uh, vice mayor, and council members, and thank you for the opportunity to apply
for this, uh, role and for speaking tonight. Thank you very much.
» Okay. Well, we will give you one minute for an opening statement if you'd like
and then you'll have four questions that I believe have been provided to you
ahead of time and um you'll have two minutes to answer those and then each of
those and then um a closing statement if you prefer. All right. So um you may
share a little bit about yourself please. Thank you.
We have lived here in Cto Madera for 35 years and it's been a great great
experience. We live on the east side. We're the hill dwellers on the hill
dweller side and our kids went to school here um actually through the Reed system
but then to Redwood High and a lot of their friends over here on the west
side. So, it's um been a a good journey and I'm very proud of the town and I
wanted to talk about um age related issues and I want to congratulate Corda
Madera for being an age friendly town and um we have discussed that fact and
I'm going to stop my opening right now. Okay, I'm going to move in to the
questions but before I do that, can I say one more thing please?
» Yes. I'm a I have an interest in this because I'm a nurse attorney and I did
healthcare law so it's really near and dear to me. Um so that's my opening
statement. >> Wonderful. So the first question is what
well it almost answers that but you can reiterate if you want to add anything.
What motivated you to apply for the commission on aging and what do you hope
to accomplish with your participation? >> Thank you. Yes, I did allude to that a
bit, but actually some more distinct events took place in the last 10 years.
Um, a family member has um aged older than me and requires a lot of of help
and a lot of hospitalizations, all of that. And I'm sure you and your
families have been through it. So, it's a lived experience, but also um we've
discussed this. I'm um on the dis the Marin Healthcare District and this is
one of our subjects because aging adults, you know, have um
[sighs and gasps] food, housing insecurity, everything.
You know, they really do face a lot of issues here in Marin and they're
growing. So, that's what spurred my interest. But in particular, and I don't
know if you're aware of the civil grand jury issued a report in 2022 to 2023
on the silver tsunami in Marin, and I've been kind of following that. So that's
that's what motivated me as well. >> Um, what do you see as the most pressing
issues facing older adults and family caregivers in Marin today? There's two
kind of parallel um threads. One thread is in the medical arena. You know, it's
very hard to get PCPs through primary care doctors. I was speaking with a
woman at a at a Marin Villages event recently and it took her one year to get
a PCP. So, that's an issue. It's also an issue with a hospitalization.
Oftentimes, not having family members at advocates, things of that nature. and
then post hospitalization going to post-accute care is very challenging.
Those are hard transitions for the family. They really are. So those are um
pressing issues on the medical side, but there's also issues on the home side
with your caregiver, your activities of daily living. It's very challenging. You
can be very isolated. You have IT challenges, home repairs, and you want
to stay in place rather than go to a facility. So, it's kind of a mixture of
both of those threads. Those are the issues.
Um, how do you see the role of commission in promoting dignity,
independence, and quality of life for older adults and caregivers in Marin
County? Um, in terms of the commission, I see
them as kind of a as a hub, a central hub, and then you
have spokes going out with the towns and the agencies and some of the um like the
hospitals and other healthcare entities. So, I see the commission as the hub in
in coordinating and um in in addressing all of these challenging issues. That's
how I see the commission. Wonderful. That's really good answer.
Um, and then how would you encourage broader community input and engagement
in the commission's work? I would say uh
the commission and or towns actually also need to promote their good work
like uh the commission can share best practices like with court of Madera
we're age friendly. I don't know of the other towns if they are things of that
nature. Sharing also um challenges how you overcome those um resources.
So that's what I see as kind of a one of the solutions.
» Yes. >> Thank you.
» And um if you would like to give a one minute closing statement, you may do so
now. >> You could have a little water.
» Absolutely. I had an In-N-Out Burger and they're too soft. [laughter]
I know they make you thirsty. Water in there. Okay.
In closing, I I want to see this as an opportunity
to um kind of promote our town and our our best work and also our elders. When
we moved in, we had neighbors and the women in our neighborhood bought the
development on Ring Mountain. And I don't think people know about that. And
do you know how much we use Ring Mountain and how important that is to
our health and not only medical but mental and that's the other thing in
closing the mental health is just so ignored and we really need to address
that. So thank you all for your consideration. We really appreciate it.
Thank you very much. [laughter]
All right then. Um, would anyone like to make a motion or uh
make a comment? I will move that we have an Sparkman serve the remainder of the
2026 term on the age council. And um I would like to say that I'm so excited
for you to step up because I know that once we get our intergenerational center
going, you will be one of the smiling faces that I see there. It's a great
place to lobby people to get involved and and do things. I think it will be.
» We'll second the motion. >> All right. Please take a vote. And just
for the record, we didn't receive public comment on that item. Um and no hands
raised. No hands from um Zoom attendees are raised at this time either. Um so we
have a motion and a second. And I will call the vote. Council member Andrews,
» yes. >> Council member Beckman,
» absolutely. >> Council member Ravasio,
» wholeheartedly. >> Vice Mayor Cassissa,
» yes. >> Mayor Thomas,
» enthusiastically. >> Thank you. The motion carries.
» Thank you, Ann. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Look forward to it.
» Thank you. >> Yes.
We move on to the consent calendar. The purpose of the consent calendar is to
group items together for which uh which are routine or have been discussed
previously and do not require further discussion. They will be approved in a
single motion. Any member of the public may comment on the consent calendar.
Town council, town staff, or the public may request removal of an item from the
consent calendar. Um, do we have any public comment on the consent calendar?
Okay. Uh, anyone on the council wish to, uh, remove an item or discuss an item on
the consent calendar? All right. Then, may I have a motion to
approve? >> I'll make the motion to move the consent
calendar. >> Second.
» Council member Andrews. >> Yes.
» Council member Beckman. >> Yes. Council member Ovasio,
» yes. >> Vice Mayor Thomas, Vice Mayor Casissa,
sorry. >> Mayor Thomas,
» yes. >> Thank you. The motion carries.
» Thank you. Uh next we have um a public hearing, the first reading and possible
introduction of an ordinance related to the subdivision and development of
qualified Senate Bill SB9 projects and amending portions of title
17 subdivisions, title 18 zoning and title 22 objective design and
development standards of the Cord Madiraa municipal code. And I believe
that uh principal planner Martha Batitalia has the report for us.
» Yes. Good evening, honorable mayor and members of the council. This evening,
you'll be holding a public hearing and considering amendments to the town's
existing SP9 regulations. A planning staff proposes amendments to
the existing regulations to ensure compliance with Senate Bill 450. Uh the
draft ordinance also includes several minor clerical and clarifying amendments
that have been identified by staff. Uh the draft ordinance is included as
attachment one uh to the packet and the proposed changes to the ordinance are
shown in strikethrough for text proposed to be deleted and underlined for new
text.
Uh the first portion of the presentation includes some background information on
state laws. Uh, Senate Bill 9, also known as the
California Home Act, was signed by Governor Nuome in September 2021 and
became effective on January 1st, 2022. The bill allows homeowners within single
family zoning districts to build up to two housing units on their existing
parcel or to legally split their single family parcel into two separate parcels
and develop each with two units.
Next slide. U most single family residential
properties in the state were affected by SB9.
This legislation applies to all single family residential zone properties
within an urbanized area with some limited exceptions which includes such
things as if the parcel is located in a historic district. The map on the slide
shows the zoning districts in Cord Madera and SP9 applies to all parcels
that that are zoned R1 which is the beige color and it's the most common of
the residentially zoned parcels in in town. Also applies to R1A shown in
yellow to R1B shown in lime and to R1C shown in green. Next slide.
Uh there are two different scenarios uh for development under SB9. Uh the first
is additional development when the lot is not being subdivided.
Um on a vacant lot, two new SP9 units can be built and the minimum size per
state law is 800 square ft for each unit. SP9 allows for an additional unit
on a property that is developed with an existing uh residence. And this type of
scenario is not very common in court of Madera. In instances when a property
owner is not subdividing their property, it's more common for an owner to add an
additional unit using ADU state law. Um SP9 also allows for property to be
subdivided into two approximately equalsiz parcels. Uh following the
subdivision, each parcel but must be a minimum of 1,200 square ft and
homeowners can build uh two homes on each of the lots for a total of four
units.
Next slide. Uh Senate Bill 450 uh was signed by Governor Nuome in September
2024 and it became effective on January 1st, 2025.
Uh this bill amends SB9 in several ways. U most notably uh the bill prohibits
local agencies from imposing objective zoning subdivision or design standards
that are not applied uniformly to the underlying zoning district. A
development standards that are applied to SP9 projects can be more permissive
than the standards applied um to the underlying zoning district, but they
cannot be more restrictive. and staff is proposing several um amendments to the
existing SP9 regulations to comply with this bill.
Slide. Uh the next section includes some
background information on prior ordinances adopted by the town and also
on applications that have been received. uh given the limited time between when
SB9 um was signed in January in September 2021 and when it became
effective on January 1st, the town council adopted an urgency ordinance in
January 2022 to regulate projects submitted pursuant to SB9.
The urgency ordinance adopted by the town council established a ministerial
review process for projects submitted under SP9 and it also included objective
standards. Uh subsequently on December 6, 2022, the town council adopted an
ordinance uh which became effective on January 5th, 2023 which established the
permanent regulations for SB9 units and for lot splits.
Next slide. Uh, the permanent SP9 ordinance included amendments to title
17 subdivisions, title 18 zoning, and title 22 objective design and
development standards. The ministerial review process that was included in the
permanent ordinance was the same as what was established in the urgency
ordinance. The permanent ordinance included a new chapter, chapter 1831A,
which established the review process and also included the development standards
for both two-unit developments and urban lots split applications.
And most of the objective standards that were in the urgency ordinance were
carried forward into the permanent ordinance. And staff believes that most
of the existing objective standards can continue to be applied to eligible
projects.
Uh, since SP9 became effective on January 1st, 2022, the planning division
has received 11 SP9 lots split applications as shown on this table. And
this table was also in the staff report as well. Consistent with state law, the
applications have been reviewed ministerally for compliance with
development standards in both the urgency and permanent ordinance. Eight
of these maps have been recorded and the application at 489 Monaceto was
withdrawn because the property owner was unable to meet the fire hydrant
standard. Uh to date, the town has not approved any SP9 units. Uh the property
owners of 208 Chapman Drive submitted a design review application for an
approximate 1,800 square foot residence on the new lot created through the SBI
lotslit. And this uh design review was approved by the planning commission and
it's currently under construction. Next slide.
This map shows the location of the urban lots applications that have been
submitted in CTO Madera. Uh most of the applications are in the hillside
neighborhoods and this map is included as attachment three to
uh the town council also previously adopted an ordinance in December 2021
which established objective standards for qualifying multifamily projects in
Porta Madera and this also included SB9 developments and these objective
standards are applied uh to projects when dis typical discret ary processes
are not uh are not used. The objective design and development standards also
referred to as odds toolkit is codified in title 22 of the municipal code. The
odds toolkit includes a zone the T3 edge neighborhood zone which applies to SP9
projects that are proposed on in single family districts.
The permanent SP9 ordinance adopted by the town council in 2022 included some
changes to the T3 edge zone to better align those development standards with
the R1 zoning district standards. Planning staff is proposing uh some
additional changes at this time uh to comply with SB450 and changes are
proposed to the height standard to the E parapit and also to the side setback
standard. Those two are highlighted in yellow on this table slide.
The town's existing SP9 ordinance includes different size and height
requirements per unit which is based on the setbacks of the unit.
These next few slides also include additional information on allowable size
and heights and also on the existing fire access and suppression standards.
The urgency ordinance adopted by the town council in January 2022 included a
maximum unit size of 1,000 square feet. The permanent ordinance adopted by the
council in December 2022 included a two-tiered approach to size which which
limited the unit size to 800 square ft if the unit was reducing side and rear
setbacks which is allowed under state law. and a unit could be up to 1,200
square feet if the proposed unit met the setbacks of the T3 edge zone which again
are similar to the R1 zoning district. Staff felt that the proposed increase in
size could function as an incentive to comply with the setbacks of the T3 edge
zone instead of units reducing setbacks to 4 feet as allowed by state law. And
if a homeowner wanted to build a unit larger than 12,200 square feet, they
could submit a design review application. And this is what the owners
of 208 Chapman elected to do. And to preserve the town's existing 1,200
square foot cap on SP9 units while complying with SB450,
the design review chapter is also being amended to exempt uh new units that are
1,200 square ft or less from the discretionary design review process. And
these units would be required to comply with uh the objective standards in
chapter 18. Next slide.
The existing T3 edge neighborhood zone currently allows a maximum height of 22
feet to the highest eve parapit and a maximum height of 30 feet overall. Uh
the height standard to the highest EVE parapit is inconsistent with SB450
because the underlying residential zoning district uh permits a maximum
height of 30 ft and it does not have a separate height requirement to the EVE
parapit. So the draft ordinance uh removes this
height requirement to the EVE parapit. The permanent ordinance adopted in
December 2022 included two different height standards for SP9 projects. The
allowable height is the same as the height established in the T3 edge
neighborhood zone if the project meets the setbacks of the T3 zone which again
mirror the R1 development standards. In cases where units were located were
reducing setbacks. The maximum height was 16 ft and that height could be
increased to 20 feet if the structure is in the flood plane and is being raised
to comply with FEMA and Madera Municipal Code. And the next few slides include
examples um of the allowable heights. So in the first example,
uh this project meets the setback of the T3 edge neighborhood zone as being
amended to comply with SB450. So the setbacks are 20 ft for the front,
6 feet for the side, and 25 ft for the rear. In this case, the maximum height
is 30 ft and the maximum unit size is 1,200 square ft. And the draft ordinance
is removing the height to the eve and parapit and also modifying the side
setback from 10 feet to six feet. And these changes are being made to comply
with SB 450. Uh this next example uh the unit is
reducing uh the setbacks to 4 feet as allowed by state law. So the setbacks
are 20 ft for the front and then four feet for the side and rear. In this
case, the maximum unit size is 800 square feet and the maximum height is 16
feet. In this example, uh the parcel is not located within a flood flood plane.
Uh this third example assumes that the property is in the flood plane. And in
this case, the height of the structure can be raised an additional four feet.
So for each foot the structure is raised to comply with FEMA regulations, the
height can increase by a foot. So the maximum height is 20 feet, which allows
for a 4ft array. Um, in addition, the side and rear setbacks are increased by
one foot for each additional foot of height. So instead of a 4ft side and
rear setback, the setbacks are 8 feet. and the maximum size of the unit is 800.
Uh the adopted ordinance also included several objective standards related to
fire access which are shown on this slide. Planning staff discussed these
existing standards with the central marin fire department fire chief Ruben
Martin and Chief Martin confirmed that all of these standards apply to new
homes in the WOOI. Um so as such um no changes are proposed to these existing
standards. Next slide.
The adopted permanent ordinance also included several fire suppression
standards which are shown on this slide. And one of the existing fire suppression
standards um requires that when the unit is located 5 ft uh to a a fence that the
fence material needs to be a non-combustible material. This standard
is not required for other residences and so it's proposed to be removed um from
the ordinance to comply with SB4.
The draft ordinance also includes some additional amendments to title 17 and
also to title 18 as well. The ordinance revises the time that a final parcel map
um can be obtained once a tenative map is approved from one year to two years
and this change is being made to ensure consistency with the subdivision map
act. Additionally, revisions are proposed to section 1721040
and these amendments bring the current code language into alignment with how a
map is actually filed. This existing section is very outdated and it doesn't
align with um how maps are actually filed.
Uh the ordinance also includes a new section section 1824115
and this section adds relevant housing crisis act provisions into the zoning
ordinance. Um among other things, the housing crisis act precludes the town
from approving a project that would reduce the number of dwelling units on a
property. And it also includes requirements for a developer to comply
with replacement or relocation requirements of a protected unit that's
demolished. And the ordinance includes uh defines what a protected unit is.
The planning commission held the public hearing on December 9th to consider the
proposed draft ordinance. Um, on December 9th, prior to the the hearing,
staff provided the commission with a revised draft ordinance. The revision
included the addition of two new definitions in sections 1831A30.
These new definitions were for right-of-way and street and also
included a a rec a modification to a a section to clarify that each resulting
parcel must have access to provide access to or adjoin the public vehicular
ride of way. Um staff believes these changes reflect the intent of the
current language. The planning commission adopted a resolution
recommending that the town council adopt the ordinance with several modifications
which include revising the general plan consistency section to state that
certain policies and programs related to slopes and environmental constraints
cannot be applied to SB9 projects. correcting a government code citation
and then revising a section to clarify the procedures apply to
non-discretionary projects.
Next slide. Uh so there are several options available to the council this
evening. The council could consider introduction of the ordinance as
presented or consider introduction of the ordinance with modifications or
could direct staff to return with additional information and analysis and
continue the discussion at a future. That concludes the staff presentation.
I'm available for any questions. In addition, Chief Martin is here available
to answer questions about fire access and also the assistant town attorney and
Danforth is also participating remotely. >> Thank you very much.
Um, do let's see do public comment. >> Okay. All right. Do I have questions
from the council? >> Jim. Yes, [clears throat] I'm looking at
the access and fire suppression standards.
Uh it says
of a proposed unit is located more than 150 ft from a frontage roadway. Could
you define what frontage roadway means? So that would basically be your fire
apparatus access roadways. So it's any roadway that has uh meets the current
town accord standards and some of these that do not. So this basically every
roadway that's here. So what we're saying is that it needs to have access
to a public rideway or a public roadway. Okay.
And then it says, "Uquire a minimum 20 foot wide driveway
for any project in the wildland urban interface that includes a new driveway.
If you're connected to a couple of thousand foot long
private driveway that doesn't meet the 16 ft standard,
would you just ignore that?" >> No. If uh that driveway sits solely on
one parcel in one property, they would have to improve that entire driveway to
16 ft. >> Okay? And if it's a half a dozen or
dozen parcels all connecting to a shared driveway,
» and so what we can only do is um allow or require these improvements or roadway
infrastructure improvements on the existing parcel that's actually creating
a project. So, for example, I can't have one property owner fix the entire
infrastructure for 12 parcels. Um, they can only improve a pond and widen a
roadway that sits adjacent to their property. And you and you actually
currently require them to do that. >> Yes, we do.
» Okay. And
if they're connecting to this private driveway, but they're also
one of the big lot, you know, the big lot that's getting split
» is on a main street. >> Would you require them to have a
driveway to that main street? >> Um, if we anticipate requiring access to
get to the property, then yes, we would require a driveway to be 16 ft in length
for us to get to the residence. Yes. Okay.
» Now, if the residence has say a short 25 ft driveway, which is typical for most U
single family residences, and we have access from that frontage roadway, that
won't we won't require the long access and turnarounds that fire departments
need because we can access it from the existing roadway.
» Okay. >> Thank you.
» Uh, anyone else have questions? I I just had a couple.
» Okay, good. >> Um, information overload, but I
appreciate all the work. [laughter] It seems assuming the height
requirements higher than what we the town had before. Is that correct? Or is
that the way I'm reading it? >> Well, the the main change is uh we're
removing the height standard to the EVE parapit because that standard doesn't
apply to the under in the underlying zoning district. So that's being
modified so that if a if if a if a unit complies with the setbacks then it can
be up to 30 feet and there's no longer a 22 foot height standard. Um and then the
the height of the structure is either 16 if they're reducing setbacks then the
max height is 16 ft up to 20t if it's in a flood plane and that is similar to how
we treat allowable height of ADUs as well if they're reducing setbacks.
» Okay. And all these changes are pretty much ma mandated by state law. Correct.
Correct. >> Okay. And then just one quick question
for you, Ruben. On one of these properties, um, it notes that a property
owner was unable to comply with the fire hydrant requirement. Can you just
background what that was? >> Yes.
» Um, thank you, uh, Council Member Casa. Yes. So, our uh objective standard for
our fire hydrant requirements is there needs to be a hydrant with the ability
to supply 1,000 gallons a minute um within 350 ft of wherever that
resident's driveway or access point is going to be. So, if you for example can
think of I'm going to walk out my front door, go to the roadway, whether I go
left or right, do I have a hydrant within 350 ft? Um the property in
question unfortunately there was no water man that it sat through the middle
of the roadway all the way up quarter Avenue. So it would have been too cost
prohibitive for the property owner when you split it to put in I think it was
1500 ft of linear pipe. Um so it would have been a multi-million dollar
project. >> Okay.
» Just to split it. >> Okay. Thanks.
» Uh any questions? Thank you Martha. Um just a question
about 209 itself. So I don't know if you know all the details of that law but I
understand there are requirements regarding ownership and occupancy of
these projects of these properties that are involved. Is that true? And do you
know what those requirements are? So SP9 has a requirement that the applicant uh
needs to intend to live in one of the units for three years once the the map
is approved. So there's an affidavit requirement uh that an applicant submits
um stating the intent to reside in one of the units. So, not that they've lived
in it prior or they live in it currently, just that they plan to live
in it after it's built or >> Yeah, it's they need to intend to reside
in one of the units for 3 years after the map is approved.
» Okay. Thank you.
» Uh now we'd like to open it up to uh public um comment. Uh is there anyone in
the room who would like to um step to the microphone and
yes we have one. Thank you.
» Hi Karen Grant again. Mine is the property at 1161 Meadow Suite Meadow
Crest which I subdivided under SB9. I I first want to clarify. I
feel like after attending the planning commission meeting on this, you're
debating all this, but it's my understanding that you've been out of
compliance with SB450 for a year now. So, you kind of have to adopt the
changes to comply with California law. Anyway, um it took me three and a half
years. I feel the town was an obstacle to doing it, which wasn't the intent or
the spirit of SB9. It cost me $50,000. Um, the way the town deals with outside
consultant, they have just one that kept reviewing my plans. The public works
pays whatever bills come in. They don't question them. There's no transparency.
I could not see their hours. They kept making revisions and I'm like, "Why
didn't you make this the first revision or the second? Why are you bringing it
up now? Nothing's changed." Um, I got a bad attitude from the town that I was
questioning, you know, if they were patting my bill
or not, whether this outside company. So, I think it could have been
streamlined. The town could have been more helpful. It could have been less
money. We intended to um age in place, which Cordon Madera says it's in favor
of. We were going to build two 1,200 foot homes, one for a daughter who's a
single mom, uh and the other for my husband and I and rent out or sell the
big house. But since it took us three and a half years and was such a mess to
deal with the town, we just have an accepted offer. a young couple will come
in and build a $5 million mansion, which, you know, it it doesn't meet the
housing needs of California. It wasn't what the intent, it wasn't what we had
planned. Um, so very disillusioned of how this was handled.
And I just hope the town, if you really like, we need infill. We need more small
homes. We need um people are going to age in place. they might want to do what
we were planning, but it took us so long and was such a mess, we just didn't even
want to touch it. So, I just want to say that first of all, you got to come in
compliance with the law. 450, I think, was put in place because SB9 wasn't
towns were finding ways to stall it or not comply or whatever. Um, there may be
another Senate bill after this if things don't start moving in a more timely
manner. And I don't know, that was just my case. I don't know what's happened
with the rest of if everybody else's experience has been that, but thank you
very much.
» Thank you. Uh, do we have anyone else in the room who would like to speak on the
matter? Yes.
Albert D Lima with WA Associates and u my my question is to do with um buyer
access roadways and Mr. Martin. Um, at the uh at the last uh planning uh
meeting about this topic, um there we were told that um the fire
access roadway doesn't necessarily have to be 20 ft
wide per the um court of Madera Municipal Code. Um that's not um what
I've been experiencing. um and dealing with um fire uh
department and trying to see what's compliant and um I'd just like to get uh
some clarity on, you know, if there's an existing frontage road, you're doing
your lot split that's been a fire access road for the neighborhood for, you know,
as long as the neighborhood has existed. Um, is that allowed to continue or or
not? Because I get um one set of answers from planning and a different set of
answers from fire and um we need to um unite the two.
» Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to speak on this topic?
Right.
Thank you, Lucinda Smith. Again, thank you, council, for giving us the time to
kind of express our concerns and questions. I do have some questions.
Um with regard to the buyer impact fee, is it applicable just to the new uh
applications or is it applicable to all residents courta? How will it be build?
Is it build to the property owners or is it build to the um developer?
Um I wanted to talk about the number of units that we have to provide housing
for. 725 I believe is the number over the current um arena period or your
current period. We're two years into that period and we've already approved
or are about to approve 549 units which is over 50%. So I wonder
what happens in a year or two when we have another one come through and then
another one come through. How long will we let these go on so that our town
doesn't get completely overbuilt? We don't have the infrastructure to support
it. So, I'm concerned about that. Um, and I I wanted to
um
what's the basis for determining the fire impact fee and who it applies to? I
think I kind of already covered that question, but I wanted to understand who
pays for it and and how it's built out to
u
and and I guess that's about the ends of my questions, but thank you very much
for your time. >> Thank you. Anyone else in the room? Uh
any people online? >> We don't have any hands raised from our
attendees online and we didn't receive email and public comment for this item.
» Okay. Um would would you guys like to uh address
any of those questions or >> Yes. Uh thank you, Madame Mayor and
members of the council and u members of the audience. Uh Ruben Martin, your
local fire chief here with Central Fire Authority. Um so yes so to clear up the
confusion is uh the fire department requires a 20 foot wide fire apparatus
access road to get to a property. Um I believe the um the question that the
gentleman had of whether um an existing roadway which is 15 ft in width can
still be sufficient enough to add three or four or five units on it. We felt
under our review and our objective standards that this was the opportunity
to improve the frontage of the roadway as we mentioned earlier
taking it from 15 ft to 20 ft in order for the new residents of the new
property owners have adequate access to their homes and so that way they can
receive adequate emergency services. So for us it's a 20 foot wide fire
apparatics access road to the properties that are being built.
Um and then um when it comes to uh the fire impact fees, so Lucenda, the fire
impact fees are designed um so the fire department um can maintain adequate
level of service with our equipment and our facilities as the town continues to
grow. Um the intent behind it is for all new development coming in is for them to
pay the impact fee and whether it's the developer or if it's a single family
residence whoever is designing that or in charge of the finances would be
responsible for making those impact fees.
And just another point of clarification, the number of units that uh Linda
mentioned, 529. Um to date, there's been one multifamily
project of 99 units that's been approved. There's another application
that's currently under review, an assisted living facility with 150 units.
And then we anticipate in next sometime hopefully this year, there'll be an
application at the Macy's site which could be up to 300 units. But at this
point, we have not seen an application for that site. So, we don't um we don't
know for sure what that what that will look like. Um and then in regards to the
the kind of processing of SP9 applications, um whenever there's new
legislation, it oftent times takes a little while to get implementation off
the ground. We continue to develop um materials. So since the Kurin's
application, we now have additional information on what should be on maps
and then FAQ information um as well. But we do use uh outside consultant to do
the technical review of maps because we do not have a surveyor on staff. Um so
that is why it can still be expensive to subdivide land in in California.
» Thank you. So, I will bring it back to the council
for any comments. >> Oh, I'm sorry. I thought we checked
online. Did we check online already? Okay. All right.
Okay. So, um we'll bring it back to the council for comments and possibly a
motion.
» I I would like to comment about what Martha just said. There was a lot of
kickback on 209. There were people who said, "Are you kidding me? You're going
to take a single family home and turn it into four units." So, there was some,
you know, let's wait and make sure that the state is serious about this. So, I
think you were just an early adopter and, you know, just like the first kid,
you get you get the unproven parents, you know. So I think now, not that
you're an unproven parent. I think that now that we realize that the state is
really digging in on these things and we have to do them. We're doing them. It's
not the end of the world. If you were starting right now, I think you would
have a much better experience. And I do apologize for whatever contribution I
made to saying what. So thank you. >> Anyone else,
Jim? and and I'll move that
» they uh >> excuse oh sorry
» I really hope they're serious about enforcing the width of the roadways for
uh these lot splits and uh roads connecting
to the lot splits cuz in the past we've sort of uh
gone with the minimum level of uh when there's push back we've sort of
backed off and I think the town over the last 30 40 years uh where we ended up
[clears throat] today was not well served by backing off at
those times. So anyway, good. [clears throat]
» Thank you. Uh so you need motions, right? So do we have a motion or do you
want to Oh, sure. >> I just wanted to make one one quick
comment. Um, you know, first of all, I I don't think there's too much to say here
substantively. The law is the law and we will comply. Um, but I did want to just
echo and and thank Pat for her sentiments. Um, you know, I think it
it's really unfortunate when members of the public are trying to exercise their
rights under the law and they find it difficult to do so. And I know that for
example, when SP9 was passed, I believe I was mayor at the time and and you
know, our town attorney was looking through this thing and said this is kind
of halfbaked legislation. And I think, you know, we are the town, uh, you know,
in my assessment as a government agency is pro housing and I'm really proud of
that fact. Uh, but I think a lot of times we're working with very confusing
or ambiguous state law and we're trying to sort of piece together, you know, the
local version of these regulations as we believe we're required to do. And
sometimes these things kind of evolve in real time as our understanding of what
state law is changes, as the courts change their interpretation of what
these state laws are. So, all of this is just to echo, you know, Pat's sentiment.
I I I am sorry that that you had a a a dismaying experience um you know, trying
to uh do your lot split, trying to trying to do your project. Um and I just
I I hope you know that that that was not the intent of certainly the town or any
of our staff members. Um but with that, I'm I'm happy to make uh a motion here
to introduce the ordinance. >> Second.
» And I'll second or Jim K. >> Council member Andrews.
» Yes. Council member Beckman, >> yes.
» Council member Roasio, >> yes.
» Vice Mayor Casisa, >> yes.
» Mayor Thomas, >> yes.
» Thank you. The motion carries
» microphone. >> Oh, sorry. Okay. Um, let's see.
All right. So with that, we will go to council reports. So we're going to do
them. Yeah, we'll do them now. We won't wait till the third meeting.
All right. And so we will start with the town manager.
» Um I I think I've exhausted my time with my report, which is entirely on the last
several days of flooding that we've occurred. So I'll seed back to the
council. >> All right. Great. So, uh, which, uh, uh,
Jim, do you have a report for us? >> No.
» Okay. Um, Eli, >> come back to me. I got to comb through
my calendar. >> Got it. I know. I
» I'm ready. I'm ready. >> Take it away. Just a couple things. Um,
I met yesterday with the Marin Healthy Youth Partnership and they, uh, thanks
to the kids are on a campaign to ban tobacco sales from Marin County. Ross
and Tibberon have already done it, but they don't have any people selling
tobacco, so it was rather easy for them. Um, but I'm hoping Cord Madera will take
that on. And um,
what was the other one? The other one was oh the MCCMC's
legislative committee which is a subcommittee of the mayors of councils
and and uh mayor and mayors in Marin County has been challenged regarding the
Brown Act. So, um, we have always said that because MCCM isn't technically, um,
I don't know all the details, but we're going to allow public in the meeting
until we get a final ruling on whether the subcommittees also have to abide by
the Brown Act or whether just the overarching committee does. And that's
all. >> Thanks. Uh, just a couple things. Uh
12:18 I attended the um quartermad employee Christmas party. Always a fun
time. And then yesterday I attended at Marine
Transit Board meeting. Just a couple of things there. Um one thing um we've been
working on project on East Francisco Boulevard for new maintenance facility.
Uh we adopted the final initial study and uh mitigated um declaration
yesterday. So basically this year we'll move into the design phase of that
project and hopefully in 27 um that project will get off the ground. One
other thing a couple other things on Marin Transit um we appointed Robert
Betts as the new general manager for Marin Transit. Um Nancy Whan who was the
general manager she was there for about 10 years. She actually retired. Um she
is a Cordera resident. So, just a shout out to her because she did a great job
with Marine Transit guiding Marine Transit through COVID um electron trying
to gear up for electronic buses. So, she did a tremendous amount of work. Um it's
a retirement welld deserved. And then we reordered yesterday also. So, I was
appointed um vice president of the board and that's it. Thanks.
» Yes, anticlimactic. I think I only had one thing actually and it was today. We
had a central marine sanitation agency ad hoc committee meeting still trying to
hammer out the details of that proposed uh deal with Sanfell Sanitary District
but the the lawyers are on the case
» since we were in the holidays I don't have too much I think the one one thing
I did I think I won't mention but um I did um
is that two days ago, I think it was, uh took a tour of the uh flood um areas,
flooded areas here with our Congressman uh Jared Huffman and a number of people
from um uh Marin uh emergency um uh what OEM and then also there was one thing I
thought was interesting. There was also someone there from uh one of the weather
services that had been uh doing some reporting for us and uh he explained
that how they admitted that there were some things that they just couldn't
foresee with this latest storm. And um they are working on their models with
what they learned that they couldn't see before but could see after and they're
trying to work on their forecasting models to give a little more better
picture of what the strength of the tides and basically the confluence of
conditions what they would create. So it was kind of a very very you know he was
very humble and very clear that like yeah we we really feel that we could
have given um that that there was it was bigger than they had thought it would be
but because this particular confluence of of uh conditions uh was kind of
something they hadn't seen before that it would all strike at once. So I
thought that was that gives me hope. I think you know learning from these um
occurrences it just makes us able to prepare better
uh next time. So that was a very very interesting um uh uh meeting for us. So
that's my biggest meeting. [laughter]
So, uh, with that, we got the we are adjourned.
No, >> we're not.
» Oh, number nine. Oh, yeah. So, the um Oh, yeah. Well, I know we have that, but
that's another meeting, right? So, what I was trying to what I was getting at
though is that we got the reports done and the Oh, and the other the only other
thing is um does anyone have anything to suggest for the upcoming
um agenda for the January 20th meeting?
» Can we make a a suggestion not necessarily for that meeting but for a
soontobe future meeting? the issue of the ebikes. You know, we've been asked
many, many times to take that on if we could get Chief Norton here from the
police and maybe I mean, I know Eli has written to Lori Fugali asking her to get
on these issues of the manufacturers who are producing illegal bikes and selling
them to our parents. Is there is there anything we could do if we put it on the
agenda, at least people can come and talk about it and hear what's going on?
I think based on some of these comments we've had in the past several months, we
I did arrange with CMPA that Lieutenant Duanius or one of the lieutenants would
attend the next uh BPAC meeting and discuss it there. If the council wants
to have that discussion instead at the council level, of course, that's your
discretion, but I think that's an appropriate venue to have that
discussion and really provide an update on their enforcement, which they've been
doing. >> Okay. I know they just canled the BPAC
meeting for next week though because public works is kind of busy. So I
understand that. But an upcoming meeting, I guess that
would work.
» I support that, you know, but we need to um
respond it with some kind of a decision.
Um so so um do I uh adjourn this one or keep
going and call the ones to order? Okay,
we don't we do >> okay.
» So what say you attorney
» if Okay. Uh so this is specifically about the agenda of the next meeting.
Okay.
» And David Bell, uh flood control board. Uh I think with a lot of emotions and
we're all limited to providing input and open comment. Uh I know the agenda was
developed prior to the title uh wave. Um well the king tides. Please put on the
agenda for the next meeting a discussion of the the flood events and a plan for
the town to hold maybe more popup sessions, meet with the community, uh
delve into what Miss Ba uh Miss Batty proposed, maybe meeting at the Cove
School, put something on the future agenda to show the town is addressing
the king tides and the flooding events.
All right. Um, thank you. And I'm I'm sure we will need
to, you know, we want to be well prepared.
» I think that that was the intention. Yeah. I expect we can have some
discussion on a more full discussion about some of our past
work that we've done with respect to um addressing this issue and what we can do
going forward. And so that sounds like a good opportunity to discuss further.
» Right. Sounds good. Definitely. So we with that we will adjourn this meeting
and then we have another meeting afterwards. It's you are free to stay.
» Yes. It's open to the public >> and we will let them know.
» All right. Now right into
» next.
» So do they know what the next meeting's about?
» Okay. Um yeah, I think it was noticed.
» Okay. So actually some people are staying. So, uh, if anyone is
interested, yeah, if anyone is interested, this next meeting is about,
um, declaring, uh, an emer local emergency that would be taking, um,
helping us to get funds for fixing the corporate yard, uh, the corpyard, um,
damages from the storm. Yes. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Okay.
So, I'll call this meeting to order. Um, do we
have any public Oh, you have to do the roll call
again. Okay. Roll call. No one's left. >> Um, Council Member Andrews,
we're doing roll call. >> Oh, I'm here. We have President Council
» member Beckman >> here. Council member
» here. >> Vice Mayor Casissa
» here. >> Mayor Thomas
» here. All right. Then um is there any public
comment regarding this uh item 3A only the consideration and possible action to
adopt resolution 01206
proclaiming a local emergency in the town of Cord Madera.
We did receive public comment um via email prior to the start of this meeting
and it was added to the website. We haven't received any additional public
comment and currently from our 11 attendees online, we don't have any
hands raised um at this time.
» Okay. And um shall we please have the uh report who's
» Absolutely. uh mayor and council members. Um so this is an item uh that
obviously is related to the recent events of the last weekend in the last
several days. Uh and I'm requesting that the town council proclaim a local
emergency uh for the town of Cordadera.
Uh we've attached to the staff report a resolution that would fulfill the state
requirements for an emergency proclamation and allow
further state and federal processes relating to providing financial
assistance to Cordera for local emergency
um response. And and really I want to um uh make sure that this is
clear that this is really related to uh the town's response and damages that um
we've incurred obviously the most significant one at this point. We're
estimating the the value of the damages to the corporation yard. um we have to
basically do a this is a procedural move where we actually uh proclaim this, send
it up to OEM and then OEM was going to support us with advocating with the
state. Um and I think as well as our other county jurisdictions as well who
also participate in this and um it may allow for reimbursement uh of some of
our uh expenses particularly with the corpyard overtime
uh pump we heard you know we have damage to a pump um those sorts of things and
um but it's not assured I want to be clear about that uh the governor has not
declared a state of emergency or any declaration of emergency uh statewide.
Obviously, the federal government hasn't either. And my understanding is it's
um it's it's certainly not a given um that we will receive money, but I think
we if we do this step, we can we may it might happen. So, without doing it, we
have no possibility of recouping any uh expenditures on this. Um so,
That is uh essentially my report for this. Again, there's a resolution sort
of describing the events and why um this serious nature of the events and
[snorts] um we will be working if adopted we'll be working with OEM going
forward. Um and I think actually it's been great to work with OEM on this
process in particular with Steven Torrance. I've been in communication
with him over the last couple of days and he's been providing guidance as well
in terms of the appropriate steps to take for this. So,
» thank you. Uh, any questions? >> Yes. [clears throat] How long would this
state of emergency be in effect?
Ratifi. So, go every 60 days. I'll I'll turn it over our town attorney,
» Amy Acriman, town attorney. Uh, under state law, uh, the council has a duty to
terminate the state of emergency as soon as practically possible. Um, if it isn't
terminated, it needs to be ratified every 60 days. So, it's really dependent
on the nature of the emergency. >> Basically, every 60 days, we'd have to
review it unless it Yeah. I mean, for example, I know we had
one during COVID that lasted for a very long time and it was
» 2020 to 2023. >> The last time we proclaimed a local
emergency was related to atmospheric rivers in 2023 related to a landslide we
had up on um Marina states, I think it was up on the um one of the hillsides on
the east side of town uh to repair that damage. So, this isn't infrequent. Um, I
don't I don't believe we would necessarily go
past a six, you know, first this might be the only time we actually would do
this. Um, so
» question anyone else? >> So, is it possible that this emergency
declaration could help with, you know, we heard about the the burm
uh breaking down and the water coming through. So actual damage to
infrastructure, roads, areas within our neighborhoods, not just the corporation
yard, but the community itself. >> Well, town town property. It theor it
theoretically could. Um, some of those that we are describing are not town
owned facilities or property. Even some of the BMS are out in in in not in
frankly they're some of those I think are stateowned property with fish and
wildlife and others. So >> So that wouldn't be covered.
» Those particular those particular BMS not under this? No. And yeah.
» Is there a way to get emergency declaration that would cover losses like
that and have it inventoried or is it too late for that or No.
Amy Amy wants something. >> Well,
so I will say I think in general my understanding and again talking to OEM
uh it is very unlikely that um any governmental assistance will be
provided to private property owners. Uh even in the worst disasters, they only
cover uninsur um sorry uh
losses after insurance already pays for its share of the losses and damages. And
so that's not specific to your question
about BMS and lot certainly pump >> streets and sidewalks
» pumps pump infrastructures. Some of these other
» BMS are not are not townowned facilities.
» Okay. But so they just have to be town owned. So the pump stations, the
infrastructure, the pipes, >> anything that's been damaged would be
inventoried. And then >> Correct.
» Okay, good. That's good to hear.
» Yeah, just I just have a couple. One is resolution says it's town
manager/emergency operations manager. Is that you?
» Okay, just checking [laughter] >> by the really spoken
» dual title, >> another title. And I'm just going to
zoom in on one particular area. The burn behind like um 192123.
Do you know is that burn private? Is it state? Or do you know I know the
property lines may extend out or if Chris knows
» Chris here. I don't know if we've gotten that surveyed, but I my understanding is
when when R.J. Well, I'll I'll hand over to you Chris. Go ahead.
» Yeah. Um our understanding is it's I mean it's in private property. We did
find records that at some point the town had dredged San Clementi Creek and
actually put material up there, but it's not clear if we ever actually got
permanent easements or anything for continued maintenance.
So, as far as we know, it's private property.
» Okay. So, we're back to the point. Any money we get would just cover town's
property. It wouldn't cover anything on Harbor.
I I don't even know from it's hard to ascertain damage to a burm. I mean, our
you know, it's an existing facility and it's not necessarily damaged. It was
over topped during this event because of the high tides.
» Okay. All right. Thanks.
» Wait, you need public comment first?
» We already took public comment. We do public comment.
» Hey Adam, just one more quick question. I assume that at that Larksboro, Mil
Valley, other towns are going to be filing the same thing we are.
» Well, my understanding is for this event uh the deadlines tomorrow. I have shared
our proclamation with Larkpur certainly as uh and so I'm not I haven't heard if
they are actually putting this on the agenda. The other thing to note is that
as an emergency operation manager, I could have signed this and then there's
seven days by for the council to ratify it, but since we already had this
meeting scheduled, we just figured we'd put this directly on and let the council
um you know, make the resolution and make the decision tonight.
» Okay. And I know it's a double-edged sword, but um with the co-op yard,
possible put in insurance claim through our insurance carrier
going through that process today of just thinking about that. Um and so I'm not
sure uh exactly what we're still going to we have some questions for Bay
Cities, our insurer and property insurance and what's covered and what be
excluded under this. >> Okay. And then I'm sorry, is Larks
helping us out at all with trying to store their co-op yard? I've talked to
Yeah, I've definitely talked to uh city manager Dench Wards. He's offered to
support our our team to the extent they they can and it's needed uh in their
corporation yard. So, we'll be if if there's a need, I think we're just need
to sort of uh dry out ourselves in a sense and sort
of start to put it together a game plan as soon as tomorrow and figure out what
we're going to do on this temporary basis. We're still receiving
information. And I should say there was also some uh because you know we had to
turn the power off because of electrical concerns as we saw. I'm not saying you
know they're doing investigations right now on the fire over on industrial but
saltwater gets into electrical circuitry down at that level. That's a concern. So
we're being very obviously very cautious about
making sure it's safe um before opening that facility back up.
» Right. It also affects any of the equipment with salt water getting in the
croen. Okay, thanks.
» It may have been in the report, but um I I'm not quite remembering. Do we have a
dollar amount of the damage yet or we >> So the the process with this
proclamation will also send an initial damage um estimate up to OEM. It's it's
very you're spitballing a little bit. I'm just saying like it's
» X dollars. So, >> we don't know yet. We're still we're
still we have um >> contractor sort of assessing the
situation. We've had our building uh official and inspector down at the site
taking a look and just going to have to continue to go ahead.
» Okay. Thank you. So with that, um, do we have
a motion to approve, uh,
yeah, the proclamation? >> Make a motion to adopt resol Oh, go
ahead. >> Sorry. Motion to adopt resolution number
012026.
» Council member Andrews, >> yes.
» Council member Beckman, >> yes.
» Council member Oasio, >> yes.
» Vice Mayor Cassissa, yes. >> Mayor Thomas,
» yes. >> Thank you. The motion carries.
» Thank you. All right then. Um, and with that we
adjourn our third meeting. >> Third and final meeting.
» Three meetings.
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