Sausalito is having a civil war—the battlefield is the waterfront.
The folks behind Measure X want to end voters’ right to decide most business zoning, saying the process stymies growth. Instead, the City Council would take over. A citizen petition with more than 1,000 signatures put the measure on the ballot.
Residents on the other side fear the initiative will open the waterfront to big development, ruining Sausalito’s charm. It allows larger buildings and loosens limits on the type of businesses that can operate on valuable land along Richardson Bay.
Most of that property is in the Marinship, a former World War II shipyard at the north end of the city. The rest stretches along the central waterfront to the Spinnaker restaurant. Much of the area is low-lying and floods, a risk that grows as sea levels rise.
Artists, maritime craftspeople and other trade workers now fill the old shipyard. Supporters and opponents both say they’re fighting to keep them there.
A visit to the ballot box on Nov. 3 will settle the matter. Measure X goes by the snappy name of Arts, Industrial & Maritime Preservation and Improvement Initiative.
Until then, each side continues to argue its position. Diameter Plants makes the case for supporters. Owner Angela Nicholas wants to move her exotic plant shop to a bigger space. Her current spot on Caledonia Street has one door and no parking or loading zone. She set her sights on the Marinship.
In June, the city approved her permit for a plant design office with a showroom. But then came the catch.
“No retail use is permitted pursuant to the Marinship Specific Plan,” a city planner wrote.
That condition banned selling plants. The shop remains on Caledonia.
“I live in Sausalito, and I would love to stay in Sausalito,” Nicholas said in a Yes on Measure X campaign video. “And if I can’t find a space for my business here, I may have to move.”
A city staff report says retail, restaurant and fitness businesses frequently seek space in the Marinship but aren’t allowed under current zoning. No new construction has happened there in recent years, the report adds.
Opponents say there’s an easier fix than the 266-page ballot initiative. The City Council could clear up the retail rules with a simple ordinance, according to Sophia Collier, president of Save Our Sausalito.
If approved, Measure X overhauls four of the city’s governing plans and ordinances, throwing out the 1988 Marinship Specific Plan.
Another of the four, Ordinance 1022, passed in 1985, requires a ballot measure for most business zoning changes. Voters must approve revisions before they take effect.
Under Measure X, voters would lose that power, except in the Downtown Historic District.
The initiative also increases size limits on buildings by revising portions of the zoning code and General Plan. On a 10,000-square-foot industrial lot, today’s rules permit 4,000 square feet of floor space. Think of a modest structure on less than half the lot.
How large could buildings become with Measure X? The 4,000 square feet would jump to 30,000, or 7.5 times the size.
Buildings could also cover more of the lot, and the maximum height rises from 32 to 47 feet. That’s about four stories instead of the two or three currently allowed, according to Goldfarb & Lipman, a law firm the city hired to study the measure.
Collier said backers overreached and “got greedy.”
“They went way too far with their big buildings and repeals of rules,” she said. “And that is why we must say no.”
Measure X proponent and former Mayor Ray Withy counters that some of the higher limits are meant for marine work, like boat cranes and sail lofts.
“And this concept of big developers are coming in and it’s going to turn the whole place into, I don’t know, whatever is the latest fantasy concoction that the opponents of Measure X are coming up with,” he said. “It’s going to be slow, incremental growth.”
Goldfarb & Lipman’s report also predicts “modest and incremental” change. About 21% of office space in the Marinship stands vacant, the analysis found.
Land values would soar the day the measure passes, sending developers racing to the planning office to file first, Collier said.
Zoning changes proposed by businesses or property owners haven’t gone before voters in 40 years, according to Sharna Brockett, manager of the Yes on Measure X campaign.
Opponents see the vote as the city’s protection.
“Basically, the most important reason is that it functions as a circuit breaker,” Collier said. “There are lots of developers throughout the world who would love to build a big project on the waterfront in Sausalito.”
Should Measure X pass, a building that fits within its new rules could be approved by city planners or the Planning Commission. The City Council would weigh in only on appeal.
Anything the measure doesn’t allow needs a zoning change, requiring public hearings before the Planning Commission and a final vote by the City Council. The five-member Council could even amend Measure X without a public vote.
“Public hearings would remain, yes,” Collier said at a debate last month. “But a hearing is not a vote. At a hearing, you stand in line to make a comment. At the ballot box, you decide.”
If the Council approved a zoning change on its own, residents could force a public vote by gathering signatures. But that takes organizing.
Control over zoning isn’t the only concern. Allowing more kinds of businesses may drive up rents and price out the artists and tradespeople who work on the waterfront, Goldfarb & Lipman reported.
“They’re going to look for the renter who could pay the most,” Collier said. “So that renter is not likely the small business user that’s there now.”
Nothing in Measure X requires new artist space or affordable rents. The initiative does include protections for the ICB Building, an artists’ hub, and the historic Arques Shipyard. But Goldfarb & Lipman calls them “vague and unenforceable.”
Attorneys for Yes on Measure X believe the protections are enforceable, Brockett said.
New development would bring in tax revenue to help pay for more than $100 million in deferred infrastructure repairs, according to Brockett. City staff warn the new revenue likely won’t cover the bill, at least at first. And that’s before flood protection.
Traffic is another unknown, and a major worry for opponents. Planning Commission chair Nastassya Saad is among them.
“We have a single artery in this town, which is also your emergency access,” Saad said at the debate. “There is no traffic study.”
Supporters paint a sunnier picture, literally. Their illustrations of what the waterfront could become feature a “Sausalito Fish Market,” a “Salty’s Coffee” shop and a bayside swimming pool.
“Every time you hear a benefit, ask, is it in the law or is it just a promise?” Collier said. “The rules for much bigger buildings become law. The promises don’t.”
A plant shop that can’t sell plants, backers say, shows exactly what the current law delivers.
If Measure X fails, voters still have the final word. The city’s General Plan already calls for a rewrite of the Marinship rules. Change is likely, but it’s anyone’s guess as to when.
A temporary ceasefire is scheduled for Nov. 3.
