A dangerous, environmentally destructive project in the historic district.
The grove today
After the clear-cut
Monster #2 — a second oversized project from an affiliated developer of 605 Bridgeway
83 Princess Street is the second of two oversized projects to target the Princess Grove. It would clear-cut its trees, dig two levels into a fragile hillside, and wrap a designated 1884 landmark in a 39-unit, 66-foot building.
We're seeking denial of the application on its legal and environmental deficiencies.
Updates
Latest from the campaign
The grove is a living habitat — not a vacant lot
Two young great horned owls, perched on the Glen Bank house at 83 Princess. They are part of a living habitat Dr. Shawn Smallwood documented across both sites: 62 species of vertebrate wildlife, at least 20 of them special-status — from monarch butterflies to five kinds of bat, recorded in 146 passes in a single two-hour evening. The grove produces roughly 127 young birds a year, and there is no room on the site to replace the 22 trees that sustain it.
More on the wildlife →
A fragile hillside, dug four levels deep
The site sits at the foot of a slope the developer's own geologists place in the second-least-stable category — “where the steepness of the slopes approaches the stability limits of the underlying geological materials.” Their plan still calls for digging four levels, into that hillside below Bulkley Avenue — through undocumented fill, with groundwater expected inside the excavation. Their report is only a preliminary feasibility letter, and the City has already flagged that the grading plan leaves out the cut-and-fill, the retaining walls, and the erosion control.
An 1884 landmark, demoted to a clubhouse entrance
The house at 83 Princess — “Glen Bank,” built in 1884 — is listed by the California Office of Historic Preservation as a contributor to the Sausalito Historic District, and has been since 1981. The application claims the site “is not listed on the Local, California or National Register” — while withholding the historical evaluation report the City needs to judge it. The plan keeps the old house only as a private “clubhouse” entrance for the new units. It is said to have been the home of William Tiffany, the early Sausalitan who in 1911 saved the cypress that became the Founder's Tree.
What the developer shows you
Rendered in a gauzy haze and a bed of green, the applicant's image hides what the project does: 39 units on a clear-cut lot, reaching 66 feet and covering 54.7% of the parcel — up from 7.7% today. The greenery in the picture is the grove the plan removes.
The same building, at scale
Drop the same building into the neighborhood at scale, and its massive size becomes clear. Six floors stepping up a hillside of one- and two-story homes, overshooting the City's floor-area and coverage limits by enough to trigger heightened design review. This is the massing the plans actually describe.
The case
Why we oppose this
Hillside at serious risk.
The developer's own geologists rank the slope's stability borderline — yet the plan digs two levels and 30 feet into it, with groundwater inside the excavation.
It clear-cuts the Princess Grove.
The plan removes all 22 protected trees on the site, including coast live oaks, buckeyes, and bays. That destroys the habitat they provide for special-status owls, hawks, monarchs, and bats.
It would gut a designated historic home.
The 1884 “Glen Bank” house is a California-listed contributor to the historic district — which the application falsely claims isn't listed, while withholding the report that shows the truth.
It dwarfs everything around it.
Thirty-nine units and 66 feet, covering more than half the lot — where the historic home today covers a fourteenth of it.
A startling admission from the project's own engineer
“The occurrence of a new shallow landslide or excessive erosion involving surficial soils on the relatively steep site slopes cannot be excluded.”
Location
Where is it
How we got here — the full timeline▸
The record
Timeline
August 2025
The developer's geologists report on the slope
A preliminary geotechnical summary (Murray Engineers) places the site in a marginal slope-stability zone and describes a 30-foot excavation into the hillside.
Read the document ↓November 2025
"Monster #2" is filed
An affiliate of the 605 Bridgeway developer files a formal application for a 39-unit, 66-foot building wrapping the historic Glen Bank house.
December 2025
The City finds the application incomplete
A Notice of Incomplete Application lists deficiencies across the trees, the affordable units, the demolition plans, and the missing historical evaluation report.
Read the document ↓January 2026
SOS files Dr. Smallwood's wildlife report
Documenting one continuous grove across 83 Princess and 605 — 62 species, 20+ of them special-status.
Read the document ↓February 2026
SOS attorneys write to the City
Detailing the legal and environmental deficiencies in the application.
Read the document ↓Now
The application is stalled
The developer must file a complete resubmittal before the City will resume review. No hearing has been scheduled.
Key documents (4)▸
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