Neighbor Fights Tennis Club's Plan to Clear a Wooded Curve for Employee Parking

No formal application was on Tuesday's council agenda, but a resident who lives directly across from the planned new tennis club used public comment to put a marker down: she's alarmed by a proposal to relocate employee parking to a wooded lot behind the club, on what she called a dangerous, flood-prone curve.

“I live directly right across the street from where he's planning to put an employee parking lot... there's 14 beautiful trees back there... he could easily add a few more spots instead of destroying that pretty little area in the back.”— Debbie Harowitz, resident

Debbie Harowitz told the council the site holds 14 mature redwood and eucalyptus trees that would be cleared for the lot, and argued the club could instead squeeze a few extra spaces into its existing front lot without touching the grove. She said she'd already checked with the city's own arborist: "I called Kent Julen of Arbor Science, the city's tree authority, who said the eucalyptus is not a fire hazard and all the trees are healthy."

There was no staff recommendation or vote attached \u2014 this was public comment only \u2014 but the objection now sits on the record ahead of whatever comes next in the club's permitting process, putting the tree removal and traffic/flooding concerns squarely in front of the council before any application is formally filed.

Council Backs Tougher Oversight for MCE After Grand Jury's 'Series of Missteps' Finding

The council unanimously approved a formal response to the 2026 Marin Civil Grand Jury report titled "MCE (Marin Clean Energy): A Series of Missteps Highlight Need for Governance Changes," agreeing with all of the grand jury's findings and recommendations and noting that both have already been put in place at the agency.

“I would like to jump on the Mayor Andre bandwagon—you have been doing a phenomenal job of looking into things, finding problems, and fixing problems.”— Council Member, on Mayor Andre's oversight of MCE

The cover letter, drafted for Mayor Andre's signature, backs MCE's mission while pushing for a finance committee, stronger governance training for board members, and a permanent CEO search. Mayor Andre framed the goal as leaner operations rather than dismantling the agency, telling colleagues the city hopes tighter operations can translate into steeper rate cuts for customers starting in fiscal 2027. Another council member pressed the harder governance question: whether board members are properly trained and actually show up to do the job.

One public commenter tried to raise the low-income housing element and the 'Lucky' site during the discussion but was told that was off-topic for this letter and would be handled separately by email. A colleague praised the mayor's watchdog role on the item before the vote, and the council approved the letter as drafted, with one wording fix to keep the mayor's title consistent throughout.

New House at 16 Elm Avenue Would Run Bigger Than the Rules Allow

At 16 Elm Avenue, owner Michael Folk wants to tear down the existing single-family house and replace it with a new two-story home and attached garage, designed by Polsky Perlstein Architects.

The plan needs more than routine design review: it requires a Floor Area Ratio exception, since the proposed 3,093-square-foot house works out to an FAR of 0.21 \u2014 above the 0.19 (2,793-square-foot) maximum otherwise allowed on the lot. Because of the site's slope, the project also needs a slope use permit to move 283 cubic yards of cut and 79 cubic yards of fill.

The Planning Commission takes up design review, the FAR exception, and the slope permit together this Tuesday; as of the agenda's posting, no staff recommendation or public comment was yet on record. It's one of two matters this week testing how far city rules bend for individual lots \u2014 the other being a city-initiated street vacation next door on Palm Avenue.