Merchants and residents clash over Old Corte Madera Square parking

Town staff recommended a modest rewrite of parking rules around Old Corte Madera Square: restrict all parking inside the Menke Park lot and cut its time limit from 4 hours to 2, add four new 1-hour spots on Montecito Drive, mark previously unmarked gravel spots near the trail with a 72-hour limit, and lift the 4-hour cap on Corte Madera Avenue past 1st Street and the Hill path, making it unrestricted. Staff explicitly ruled out a residential parking permit program.

“We have a very small team of enforcements employees in Corte Madera and if it is too default to enforce, such as the ADU ordinance, it will not be successful.”— Jim Rizzo, 16 Serra Street, in written comment on the parking study

The plan, based on a study by consultant Amy Lyle, drew mixed reviews from the two people who live and work closest to it. Lisa Jones, who runs Masterworks Kids' Fine Art at 305 Montecito Drive, largely endorsed the study but asked the Town to go further, carving out two spots at the end of her building for her own use and a neighboring employee, and complaining that neighbors routinely camp multiple cars in front of her studio for days at a time. 'The parking for my business has deteriorated since the Video Kamron days,' she wrote, adding that nearby residents 'abuse the spots with multiple cars and beyond 72-hour parking' and have ignored her requests to ease up.

Jim Rizzo of 16 Serra Street took the opposite view, arguing the study itself is flawed. 'This is not an adequate "study" of the issue,' he wrote, saying it was based on a single day of observation and ignores how parking pressure shifts by day and time. He contends the real culprits are long-term employee cars, not shoppers, and pushed instead for 2-hour permit parking with resident guest passes on Redwood, Serra, Montecito and Willow, plus a dedicated employee lot at Menke Park, modeled on a parking pilot near Redwood High School and Madera Gardens.

The council held the hearing and introduced the ordinance amendment Oct. 6; a resolution and second reading would follow at a future meeting before any new limits take effect.

Families rally to save REC INC programs for disabled adults

A wave of letters landed on the council's desk this week defending REC INC, the Town's recreation program for adults with developmental disabilities, after staff moved to discontinue or disrupt several of its signature events, including the 3rd Friday Dance, Lions Club activities, basketball, sports night and party night.

“Rec Inc has created something singular in Marin: a place where people with developmental disabilities are not on the sidelines of community life, but are welcomed into it. That kind of belonging takes years to build, and it would be heartbreaking to see it diminished or lost.”— Neelama Eyres, mother of Kai Schiesser

Parents, participants and partner nonprofits said the cuts would erase something hard to rebuild. 'It is unconscionable that Corte Madera would discontinue these vital community events,' wrote Jennifer Kirmse, noting that 'people with disabilities, particularly developmental disabilities, often struggle to find social connections in the larger community.' Nancy Dow Moody, president and CEO of Lifehouse, urged the Town to keep the programs running at their current level and to lean on former staffer Erin Duggan's institutional knowledge while training replacements.

Thea Yoshida of Community Homes & Services offered to help find a path back: 'We would welcome the chance to talk about what it would take to bring these programs back.' Several commenters asked that families be included in any decisions about the program's future.

Council moves to legalize two-unit use at 125 Baltimore

At 125-127 Baltimore Avenue, the council opened a public hearing on a General Plan and zoning change to legalize a two-unit residential use that has existed on the property for years without matching its zoning. The proposal would redesignate the land from Low Density Residential to Medium Density Residential and rezone it from R-1 to R-2, bringing the legal nonconforming duplex into conformance with Town rules.

The Planning Commission recommended approval back on August 11, and staff asked the council to adopt a CEQA exemption and the General Plan resolution, then introduce the zoning ordinance for a first reading, with final adoption to follow a second reading at a later meeting.

The zoning fix also clears the way for a separate, future step: a lot line adjustment to correct an encroachment from a neighboring home onto the property line, which the Town says will be processed on its own once the underlying zoning matches reality.