✿Larkspur Daily
The Week in Larkspur · December 7 – December 13, 2025
City Council · special meeting, Wednesday, Dec. 10

Andre takes the gavel with a vacancy tax, parking reform and more density on her list — and word that Serenity closes Dec. 17

The Council's annual leadership rotation went by voice vote and without dissent Wednesday: Gabe Pollson was elected Vice Mayor and Stephanie Andre was elected Mayor, both unanimously, succeeding outgoing Mayor Katherine Way, who got a presentation for her year in the chair.

“It's been 20 months of pretty steady work... I think just given the circumstances that this is a very good result for the city of Larkspur.”— Council Member Andre, reporting on the Serenity sale

Andre used her first minutes with the gavel to say what she wants out of the year. On downtown, she called for a vacancy tax "to encourage continuous utilization of valuable property" paired with a review of minimum parking requirements, pointing to Mill Valley's parking study as a model. On housing, she framed the state mandate as a reason to loosen local process: "Let's streamline and remove unnecessary barriers to development... to encourage greater residential densities and locations identified in our housing element's plan." She also listed the new library, a recreation facility and city hall planning, accessibility and traffic safety work — including the roundabout at North Magnolia near Hillview approved earlier this year — and continued work with the Climate Action Forum.

The night's substantive news came from the ad hoc committee of Andre and Council Member Kendell: the long-litigated Serenity property has entered into a contract to be sold, with closing expected December 17. The parcel returns to the property tax rolls, with new revenue expected to begin around 2026. No vote was needed; the report was informational, and it closed out a file Andre had worked as a council member right up to the evening she became mayor.

The tributes ran warm in both directions. Andre on Way: "She knows how to read the room really well and she's extremely diplomatic and articulate in her views." Pollson offered the rules he keeps — "Never talk negatively, only about your plans. Never gossip... be polite, thank people. The power of politeness." Mike McDermott of the Larkspur Volunteer Fire Foundation had the last word for the new mayor: "Stand up to be seen, speak up to be heard, and sit down to be popular." Note the calendar: the December 17 regular meeting is cancelled, and the next regular Council meeting is January 7.

Meeting video|Agenda
Planning Commission · meeting of Tuesday, Dec. 9

109 Elm teardown approved 3-0 — eight heritage trees out, seven Podocarpus in, and a trash enclosion six inches off the line

At 109 Elm Avenue, the commission approved demolition of the existing residence and garage and construction of a new two-story 3,827-square-foot house, a 572-square-foot two-car garage, roughly 300 square feet of accessory structures and a 553-square-foot ADU inside the footprint of the new residence — 5,266 square feet of development in all. The package also carried a slope use permit for 520 cubic yards of cut and 362 of fill (158 hauled off-site), removal of eight heritage trees, fence height exceptions for a 6-foot fence in the front setback where 42 inches is the max plus an 8-foot fence on the western side yard, and a setback variance putting a trash enclosure six inches from the property line where five feet is required.

“It's not going to be in daylo yellow, I'm assuming. Is that correct?”— Chair Swisser, before voting to approve the Backstage awning

Staff recommended approval with a Class 2 CEQA exemption but drew one line: it could not make the hardship finding for the trash-enclosure variance, and advised that if the commission approved it anyway it should strike condition of approval #10. The commission did exactly that — after a commissioner warned about precedent, noting that a future applicant could roof a similar structure and make it taller. Staff's fix was to have the motion spell out why this case was acceptable: the enclosure is unroofed and no taller than a permitted fence.

The trees were the neighbors' concern, and they were resolved before the vote. Raymond Lynch, next door at 115 Elm, told the commission his household had reviewed the plans and worried that stripping out trees and greenery would cost them privacy — but said that once the applicants agreed to plant seven Podocarpus trees along the driveway, ideally 12 feet tall, they no longer objected. Architect Jared Pelosky noted the property is allowed 28 percent floor area ratio and the design comes in at 25; owner Josh Turner said the family had made efforts to meet neighbors and expects this to be their forever home. One commissioner called it a beautiful design and the first project since joining the commission that needed no FAR exception.

The commission also approved design review for a 532-square-foot awning at 295 Magnolia Avenue, over the front patio at Backstage Wine Bar — permanent rather than retractable, charcoal gray, and without the plastic side paneling seen on some other downtown structures, which a commissioner specifically credited in making the findings. Both items passed 3-0, with Commissioners Campbell and Hull and Chair Swisser voting yes and Commissioners Wagstaff and Chmer absent. The Dec. 23 meeting is canceled; the commission returns January 13.

Agenda|Meeting video|📍 Map
Climate Action Forum · meeting of Thursday, Dec. 11

Larkspur's all-electric building code is stuck in Sacramento, with the clock running on 300-plus units at Larkspur Landing

Larkspur's 2025 adoption of CalGreen Tier One — the state's stretch building code — was never approved by California, because the city didn't submit the energy calculations required to go beyond baseline energy provisions. The upshot, the city manager told the Forum, is a local ordinance that is technically adopted but not state-approved, leaving staff in what he called a weird spot on enforcement.

“I would say let's go for high impact. Even if it's high effort, if it's high impact, the only way we're going to get on track is to do stuff that has high impact.”— David Mahler, Climate Action Forum member

The proposed fix copies Fairfax, San Rafael and the county: re-adopt CalGreen Tier One while excluding the energy provisions, and separately embed electrification goals in the General Plan so a local implementing ordinance has a policy foundation. Staff wants that folded into the January building code action, though it likely won't make the January 7 agenda and may slide to January 21 — with a framework in place by the end of 2026, before the Larkspur Landing property and its 300-plus units get built. The 2023 Berkeley decision, which barred jurisdictions from requiring all-electric construction, hangs over the whole exercise.

The Forum also settled its own agenda for the next one to two years. Working from a quadrant analysis of impact versus effort — built on a survey that drew just five responses — members started with five high-impact/low-effort items and ended with eight, adding electric yellow school buses, enforcement of the electric landscape equipment rules, and grid technologies like microgrids and battery storage. Members concluded the 2021 Climate Action Plan's wording is out of date, overtaken by Berkeley and the Air District's zero-NOx rule, and agreed to draft a standalone statement of reconciled goals rather than amend the CAP line by line. A one-page dashboard from Katie and Council Liaison Sarah Margulies shows emissions falling since 2019 but not fast enough for the 2030 goal. David Mahler and Margulies will draft the language, with a resolution to Council around February or March.

Reed Baxter reported back from the Bay Area Air District's Stationary Source Committee, weighing amendments to the zero-NOx rule that takes effect January 1, 2027 for water heaters and space heaters — not cooktops, but more than 90% of the emissions at issue. Of roughly 40 speakers in a room of 80 to 90, nearly all backed implementing on schedule; the exceptions were realtor-affiliated commenters seeking a delay. Baxter counted six of seven committee members present as supportive, one undecided, with a January workshop, February review and a possible March board vote ahead.

Meeting recording|Agenda
Larkspur Library Board · meeting of Monday, Dec. 8

A $14,000 ebook gap, and 750 neighbors lined up to hand-carry the collection to the new library

Larkspur's digital collection has quietly become one of the library's busiest departments, and Monday the Board got the bill. Staff reported 64,418 Libby checkouts last year, up from 563 in the service's first year, against Marinet's regional spending-equity formula, which sets a target of $15,643 a year for Larkspur outside of Marinet dues. The city has historically spent about $1,500 a year, partly covered by federal IMLS grant money that is now uncertain.

“I think it's a bad look to have this new beautiful building and then say, oh well, we don't have this anymore.”— a Library Board member, on cutting digital services

Every option for closing the gap involved subtraction: cutting Hoopla, dropping the Canopy streaming service, or ending newspaper subscriptions — the Times, Journal and Chronicle run roughly $5,000 a year. Hoopla is already rationed at $450 a month and eight uses per patron. "Once we hit our $450 cap, the service isn't available for the rest of the month," Director Damon said. Board members were cool to passing the hat: one floated a "Hoopla genie" donor sponsoring the budget through the Friends or Foundation, while another said flatly, "I don't like the idea of funding things through a bake sale kind of thing. I think the city has an obligation, but the city has a finite pool." No decision was made; staff recommended no cuts this fiscal year and better usage tracking first. The question returns at city budget season, and the Board drafts its annual letter to Council on January 12.

The other half of the meeting was about the move. Chris Linhard of the Rose Lane community briefed the Board on a community "Book Brigade" planned for a Saturday morning in spring, likely March or April: roughly 750 participants handing about 1,000 books along a route expected to take 50 minutes. Yellow vests, a "Larky" mascot costume from the Friends, QR-code signups through Signup Genius, promotion via the Marin Buzz app, local business sponsorships, a possible combined ribbon-cutting with the Commons Foundation with music and food trucks, and recyclable bags if it rains. One rule is settled: "We said no dogs," Linhard said. A board member asked that the first and last books be chosen deliberately; Damon suggested the Larkspur history book, which exists in a first and a revised edition — "past and present."

Practical notes: children's programming will be scaled back before the move (last Thursday's marionette show drew about 70 kids), a moving consultant has been hired, and the library closes with City Hall from Wednesday, Dec. 24 through Monday, Jan. 5, reopening Tuesday, Jan. 6. The book drop stays open with one staff member clearing it, but holds won't be processed for pickup. Book Brigade planning resumes January 6.

Meeting recording|Agenda

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