Proposed New Home Triggers Petition on Issaquah

The Pirate has been a popular attraction on floating home tours | photo by Ric Miller | post by Larry Clinton

Approximately 90 residents of Issaquah Dock signed a petition to the Marin County Board of Supervisors and the management of Waldo Point Harbor expressing their concerns about a proposed home swap there.

Here’s the precise wording of the petition:

From the undersigned residents of Issaquah Dock, Sausalito

Requesting our voices be heard on a proposed home swap that will adversely affect our community.

Issaquah Dock is a close-knit community of 74 floating homes. We respect and take care of one another. Integral to being a respectful member of any community is being considerate of the impact our individual and collective actions have on our neighbors.

Now: the buyer of #4 Issaquah Dock purchased that floating home, a 1911 historic tugboat, long an important part of the identity of Issaquah Dock. He plans to remove it, destroy it, and replace it with a far larger floating home (53’ long x 28’ wide) that is out of character with our dock. This for his personal gain, without communicating or showing consideration of how the new, much larger and wider structure, one with little charm, will affect the neighbors or our community, or the natural environment.

Only one neighbor has been contacted regarding the intended change, and that was only verbally. This developer has not contacted other neighbors or anyone else as to his plan, intentions, timing or the impact this will have, and has declined to put his promises in writing. We have many concerns, are frustrated, and have tried to no avail to understand this egregious activity.

In our past, to make major improvements on our homes, we have been expected to submit letters of support and understanding from those neighbors who will be impacted by the work and/or changes. This has not happened here – and it implies that this purchaser’s pattern of moving in homes in the middle of the night is possible again by this developer, who has demonstrated this on other docks.

We request that Marin County bring into this permitting process considerations of how the planned move will affect neighbors, dock residents, and the Bay itself (which will be adversely affected by the larger footprint of the intended vessel/home).

People come from all over the world to see this unique and beautiful community because our homes and our lifestyle are so interesting and unique. The overwhelming majority of homes are owner-occupied: we have our life’s investment in homes and the beauty of our community. We would like to see this continue.

We, the undersigned Issaquah Dock community members, request the proposed Issaquah Dock #4 permit application be referred to the Marin County Design Review Board, and be subject to all planning and community review processes.

For an idea of how the developer feels about this situation, and the floating home community, check out this YouTube video.