Council signals yes to fire protection impact fee on new housing, with worries about pricing out builders

Larkspur is moving toward charging new residential development a fire protection impact fee. Consultant Matrix Consulting Group presented a nexus study Wednesday night laying out a per-square-foot fee on new single family, multifamily and assisted living/memory care construction, to pay for fire apparatus and facilities as the city absorbs its housing targets — 979 units and roughly 2,155 new residents by 2040.

“The idea here is you're asking new development to lay out some investment to sort of represent a fair share of what they weren't here to pay for to build up in the first place. That's a common practice in the utility world.”— City Manager Dan Schwarz

Fire Chief Ruben Martin framed the study as a service-level question: "Our concern within the fire service was how can we maintain the existing level of fire protection services... as the jurisdiction continues to grow and expand." City Manager Dan Schwarz was blunter about scale, saying "This development we're looking at now is on a scale where this is going to hurt our ability to serve the community if we get all 979 units built."

Not everyone was easy about adding another line to a pro forma. One council member said, "I just worry that for these larger multifamily homes... the cost of development is so high already. Do we disincentivize people from building by just adding on another fee?" As proposed, the fee would be cut by 50% for 100% low- and very-low-income affordable projects and waived for ADUs under 750 square feet. Corte Madera has already adopted the same fee structure by urgency ordinance because of pending projects.

There was no formal vote. Council reached consensus — by nods, per the record — to have staff return at a future meeting with a resolution and ordinance to implement the fee. The mayor, while supportive, said the city should develop a more thought-out philosophy on fees generally and where its revenues come from.

At 217 Via La Cumbre, city puts a lien on an abandoned house after another summer of weed complaints

The Council held a public hearing on 217 Via La Cumbre in Greenbrae (APN 070-272-02) and voted unanimously to confirm the record of costs and place a special assessment and lien on the property, recovering what Central Marin Fire Authority and the city attorney spent abating overgrown weeds and refuse.

“every year this property comes up again as a nuisance where we get multiple phone calls and complaints from neighbors”— Central Marin Fire official, presenting the abatement costs

The fire official presenting the item described a house that has become a recurring file: "This property... appears to be an abandoned single family residence... every year this property comes up again as a nuisance where we get multiple phone calls and complaints from neighbors." Staff said the pattern goes back to 2018, and that the owner was unresponsive this year.

A council member asked whether the city has to keep sending the fire chief to court to get abatement authorized — "Are there other tools?" The city attorney answered that entering private property to do work "is subject to constitutional limitations and going to the court to get the court to authorize the abatement work addresses those issues."

The only public comment came from resident James Holmes, who urged the city to keep the enforcement narrow: "The problem being addressed in this enforcement proceeding is specifically overgrown weeds... it is not the extreme draconian provisions in LMC 14.04... I would point out that there are probably a number of Larkspur residents perhaps aging and/or living alone who are just doing the best they can." The hearing closed with no opposition and the resolution passed.

A downtown merchant asks the city to stop writing parking tickets until January

During public comment, a downtown merchant identified as Jay asked the Council for a holiday break from enforcement on and around Magnolia Avenue: "I'm here to humbly request a reprieve in issuing parking tickets in the downtown area... until mid January, early January, some date that could be determined." His argument was competition — malls offer free parking, downtown Larkspur offers a two-hour limit and a citation.

“I'm here to humbly request a reprieve in issuing parking tickets in the downtown area... until mid January, early January, some date that could be determined.”— Jay, downtown merchant, during public comment

A council member pushed back on the premise, noting that "the parking restrictions were meant to benefit the stores so that people don't just park all day and leave their car." Chamber director Marty Murphy added that the pressure on those two-hour spaces isn't mainly diners: "It's not so much the patrons of the restaurants... It's more their workers that are parking on the streets and in the lots all day for eight, nine hour shift."

No action was taken — the Council can't act on non-agenda items — and the discussion ended without direction to pause enforcement.