At its meeting on October 1, the City Council will hold a study session to discuss amendments to the City's 6th Cycle Housing Element that was approved in January 2023 and certified by the State of California in May 2023. At the meeting, the Council will also hold a study session on expanding the scope of Objective Design and Development Standards (ODDS) for the City.

The Council will not consider formal adoption of the amended housing element or the ODDS at the October 1 meeting. Such decisions will take place at a future meeting or meetings.

For this statewide cycle of updates to city and county housing elements, the State of California gave Sausalito the task of identifying sites that could accommodate at least 724 new housing units by 2031. The City's appeal of its 724-unit allocation was denied.

Taken as a whole, the Draft Amendments to the 6th Cycle Housing Element [20 MB] propose to reduce densities and scale at some sites while adding density at other sites to prioritize sustainable waterfront development and preservation of the City's downtown historic district.

A complete list of amendments to the housing sites in the adopted housing element can be found on page 5 of the staff report for this item. Please find an updated link on the meeting agenda if the one in the previous sentence stops working.

Following the discussion of amendments to the housing element, the Council will conduct a study session to review a draft of more comprehensive Objective Design and Development Standards (ODDS) to regulate building projects, as required by recently enacted state housing laws.

The updated ODDS provide an alternative permitting pathway for construction projects that create two or more net new multifamily units on properties zoned for multifamily units. If approved, the ODDS would simplify the standards of project approval and introduce new objective standards for privacy, view protection, and historic preservation.

Questions about the draft amendments to the housing element or the ODDS can be directed to Principal Planner Neal Toft at ntoft@sausalito.gov.

If you would like your written public comments to appear on the agenda for the meeting on October 1, please direct them to cityclerk@sausalito.gov. The agenda also includes information on making comments at the meeting in person or via Zoom.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CITY'S 6TH CYCLE HOUSING ELEMENT

VIEW THE AGENDA AND DOCUMENTS FOR THE OCTOBER 1 COUNCIL MEETING

MAP SHOWING AMENDED HOUSING OPPORTUNITY SITES