After $192 tickets and a neighborhood petition, Niven Park goes off-leash for six months

The week's one big fight was about dogs. A resident petition asked the Council to carve out a portion of Niven Park, on the Cape Marin/Greenbrae edge of town, where dogs could legally run off-leash. Staff went further than the petitioners, recommending the entire park except fenced areas like the playground be designated off-leash for a one-year pilot with no time-of-day limits — police had told staff that time restrictions generate more complaint calls than they resolve. The Council split the difference: a six-month pilot, park-wide, no fencing, no sub-areas, no time limits, approved 4-1, paired with a community-organized 'ambassador' program meant to defuse complaints before code enforcement or police get involved.

“Nobody came out to give us any idea why all of a sudden community officers were destroying our community by coming out twice a day and just handing out $192 tickets... $250 expensive tickets.”— Corey, a 33-year Cape Marin resident, during public comment

The heat in the room came from enforcement, not policy. The agenda lists 14 public comments, including one resident who came back for a second turn. Corey, a 33-year Cape Marin resident, described officers arriving twice a day: "Nobody came out to give us any idea why all of a sudden community officers were destroying our community by coming out twice a day and just handing out $192 tickets... $250 expensive tickets." The City Manager later told the Council enforcement had been driven strictly by resident complaints about off-leash dogs, and that citations are audited to guard against pretextual stops.

Staff's worry was what the city can still promise everyone else who uses the park. "If we make any portion of the park off leash for dogs without fencing that area in, we're not really able to guarantee to any other patron that they won't encounter an off leash dog," the City Manager said. Supporters kept the frame narrow: "This is not a broad policy change," one resident said. "It's a very targeted low-risk pilot to solve a specific very local problem." Cape Marin resident Tom Miller argued the waterside stretch was the better spot because sound dissipates there; resident Denise Rocha praised the community dog owners have built and asked for a real feedback channel. The dissenting council member wanted leashes kept on park-wide, citing other patrons, the precedent for Larkspur's other parks, and health and safety — opposing both fencing and off-leash designation.

There was also a small moment of civic housekeeping: Mike Marles told the Council he had signed his wife's name to the petition, and Council Member Marles put on the record that her husband had used her email address and that she had not made up her mind. The City Manager cautioned that a dog ambassador program cannot carry legal enforcement authority and floated a community bulletin board for informal self-policing instead. Six months from now, the Council will have to decide whether the experiment held.

1000 Drakes Landing Road flips from rentals to for-sale — and Larkspur gets its first moderate-income ownership units

The already-entitled 19-unit townhome project at 1000 Drakes Landing Road (APNs 022-050-06, -14, -24 and -25) came back to the Council with a change of plan: build it for sale, not for rent. The approved project used a density bonus and carried four affordable rental units — three low-income and one moderate. As an ownership project the code would call for a different mix (5% low, 5% moderate, 10% above-moderate), so the applicant asked for an 'alternative equivalent action' making all four affordable units moderate-income for-sale homes.

Staff recommended approval and told the Council these would be the first entitled deed-restricted moderate-income ownership units in the current housing cycle — a modest but real first for the city's housing element bookkeeping. The Council adopted Resolution 28/26 unanimously, 4-0, after one member caught that the resolution's language didn't match the municipal code; 'moderate level units' was corrected to 'moderate income units' before the vote.

A new library building running at 'limited' service: the budget season's opening question

Department heads walked the Council through a plain-language service-level self-assessment — ideal down to basic — as the preliminary FY2026-27 budget takes shape. The most striking answer came from the library, which despite its new and larger home at The Commons rated itself 'limited': five days a week and no evening hours. "We're primarily at five days a week and we don't offer any evening hours," Library Director Damon Hill said. "It's a little colder, more transactional." He asked to restore a frozen position and add resources to reach 'standard.'

“We're primarily at five days a week and we don't offer any evening hours... it's a little colder, more transactional.”— Library Director Damon Hill, on the library's current service level

The City Manager said he expects to come back with a proposal to at minimum unfreeze a frozen library position so Hill can hire immediately, while staff recommended community surveys and focus groups to pin down which hours and programs residents actually want before bigger staffing bets. Council members pressed for hours past 5 p.m. and Sunday openings so students and working residents can get in the door; the Commons Foundation president said the group is raising money to extend hours and fund enrichment programming.

Recreation reported climbing from 'limited' toward 'standard' after a long short-staffed stretch, crediting a new recreation coordinator and Saturday coverage, with plans to expand camps and events. Administration rated itself between 'advanced' and 'standard' but carried an old auditor flag: "The auditor says you have a super user and you're not supposed to have a super user... you probably should have somebody who's dedicated to this particular function," the City Manager said, making the long-term case for a dedicated finance position. No votes were taken; polling and budget proposals come back later.