Solve the problems. Don’t gamble the waterfront.
We can have the waterfront we want—without Measure X.
Measure X begins by deciding how much developers can build, then applies the same extreme zoning approach across very different waterfront properties. It asks voters to approve far more commercial development before Sausalito has finished the traffic, shoreline, infrastructure, and financial work.
This is not a choice between Measure X and doing nothing. The Better Way starts with what our community needs, what our roads can handle, and which land is actually suitable for development.
Make practical improvements now.
Help artists, craftspeople, fishermen, boatbuilders, and marine trades directly. The City Council can consider targeted code changes that add compatible uses and give makers more flexibility without opening the Marinship to massive new buildings and higher-paying office uses. Makers can already sell what they create in up to 15% of their space. The City can consider allowing more accessory retail within existing development limits, along with other complementary uses that strengthen the working waterfront. Use pumps, tide gates, drainage improvements, and temporary barriers where they can reduce flooding now. Near-term action does not have to wait for a speculative future stream of development revenue. None of this requires Measure X.
Make the housing already authorized work.
Sausalito has authorized nearly 1,000 new homes along and near Bridgeway. Those homes matter, and we need to plan for them honestly. Bridgeway is our one main road and a critical emergency route. Update the traffic and public-safety analysis to include the housing already authorized. Then limit additional development to what our roads, intersections, and emergency network can safely support. Measure X would authorize millions of square feet of commercial development on top of the housing commitment. That additional traffic and infrastructure demand could make the homes Sausalito has already planned harder and more expensive to deliver. Plan for the housing first. Do not jeopardize it with an unrelated blanket commercial upzoning.
Build on suitable land—not our most vulnerable shoreline.
Measure X is not confined to the Marinship. It applies extreme new rules to Waterfront parcels from beside the Spinnaker through the Marinship and toward the north end of town—including some of Sausalito’s lowest, most flood-exposed land. Finish the shoreline plan before rezoning that land. Decide what should be protected, raised, restored, floated, adapted, or left open. Identify parcels that are actually suitable for new buildings, then consider development rules that fit those places. Building more fixed private property in the path of rising water is not a flood plan. It can create more buildings, utilities, roads, and private value that the public will face pressure to protect later. Future development revenue is uncertain, arrives only after development, and is not dedicated to shoreline adaptation. Do not upzone the most vulnerable parcels in the hope that the resulting development will somehow pay to protect itself.
Keep responsibility clear.
Put real numbers behind roads, drainage, shoreline adaptation, public services, and long-term maintenance before changing the zoning. Make the costs, expected revenue, timing, and funding gap public. Require every new project to pay its fair share of the infrastructure and adaptation it requires. Do not shift private development costs onto residents. Write zoning changes clearly, examine their full consequences, and bring major changes to voters one proposal at a time. The facts should determine the answer; the studies should not be used to justify a buildout chosen in advance.
Move forward with confidence.
With the Better Way, Sausalito can move forward with confidence: practical action now, responsible planning, and development based on facts. To move forward on that path, we must reject Measure X. Vote NO.
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