On Nov 12 the Sausalito City Council recommended a Marinship vision to guide Marinship-related policies for the City’s General Plan Update. * This is but one step in a long process—the plan itself still needs to be approved. Here, FHA president Michael Labate speaks to the Marinship-specific aspects of The Plan and why we should care:
— letter from Michael Labate, FHA President —
After the FHA board meeting on Nov 12, I went to the Sausalito City Council meeting where the Council was discussing the Marinship General Plan Vision. Maria Finn, Jane Thompson, Victoria Joy and others from the houseboat community were there as were lots of Marinship business owners and workers.
The General Plan is up for renewal for a 20-year period—implementing changes to the existing plan could have serious impacts for us.
The meeting was long and around 11:00 p.m. I finally got to speak. I explained to the Council that we 800-1000 people, on 400 houseboats, are extremely dependent on the Marinship area. Almost all of our concrete barges were built there. Lots of the service industries we need are there and any phasing out of the working waterfront would be devastating to us.
I told them we don’t get to vote in Sausalito politics even though we are Sausalitans.
At the meeting a lot of comments were made about:
- inclusion of senior housing into the area
- a continuous bike/pedestrian path
- live/work spaces for the artist/working trades
- land subsidence and sea level rise
- possible creation of a live-aboard marina
Although we are far from the City of Sausalito voting on changes to the existing plan, I believe the Council is in support of maintaining the working waterfront and not changing the area into another Pier 39.
For more info, please look at:
Sausalito Recommends General Plan Vision for MarinshipLook to get involved; this is important to the floating home community.
Respectfully,
Michael Labate, FHA President
— repost from Nov 15 Sausalito Currents —
City Council Recommends General Plan Vision for Marinship
At its meeting on Tuesday, November 12, the City Council recommended a Marinship vision to guide Marinship-related policies for the City’s General Plan Update. The vision was developed in conjunction with the General Plan Advisory Committee following the Marinship Community Workshop on September 7 and previous Council input in October.
The vision recommended by the City Council is as follows:
- The Marinship is a working waterfront maritime and industrial neighborhood that is planned and developed with innovative solutions to sea level rise combined with regional and global sea level rise reduction and management programs.
- The Marinship welcomes residents of houseboats and liveaboards while providing safe and convenient public access to transit, the shore, and to parks with a low-impact and functional vehicular and pedestrian circulation network. The neighborhood is supported by updated infrastructure, has unique local neighborhood-serving services and amenities, and is home to a thriving community of artists and innovators.
- The Marinship neighborhood respects and protects water-dependent uses as well as the neighborhood’s historical maritime and industrial nature and character.
As they discussed the vision on November 12, the councilmembers reinforced their support for the Marinship’s working waterfront and artist community. The Council also supported:
- Economic sustainability—defined as “a dynamic process in which communities anticipate and accommodate the needs of current and future generations in ways that reproduce and balance local social, economic, and ecological systems, and link local actions to global concerns—as a concept to consider throughout Sausalito, including, but not limited to, the Marinship
- Subareas as a tool to consider using for the General Plan Update, but not specifically part of the Marinship vision
- Opportunities for more senior and live/work housing in Sausalito, but not specifically in the Marinship and not to the detriment of the viability of industrial operations in the Marinship
- A waterfront path for Sausalito residents and workers in the Marinship that promotes accessibility and prioritizes the working waterfront, and a Bridgeway-adjacent path that safely separates bicyclists and vehicles
- Environmental remediation and infrastructure improvements as strong factors in the General Plan Update, but not specifically as part of the Marinship vision
The next steps in the General Plan Update process are General Plan Advisory Committee meetings focusing on policy frameworks. In these meetings, the committee will discuss the policy make-up of General Plan elements (chapters). The first of these meetings took place on November 13, and the next two will be on December 3 and December 17. Draft element frameworks are available online.
In addition, public comment is open for the scoping period of the environmental review process. The Notice of Preparation (NOP) is available online, and comments on the scope and content of the environmental impact report may be submitted to the City until 5:00 p.m. on Monday, December 9.
* The current schedule for the General Plan Update process calls for the preparation of a draft General Plan Update in spring 2020, followed by a community workshop and further refinements. Consideration of a final General Plan Update by the City Council is anticipated for September 2020.
Further reading: Sausalito Working Waterfront