Business tax overhaul heads toward November ballot after record turnout of comment

The week's biggest civic event wasn't a hearing outcome but a mailbag: Council's Tuesday consideration of a resolution to put a business license tax overhaul on the November 3, 2026 ballot drew 36 written comments from residents and business owners, by far the heaviest volume on any agenda item this week.

The measure would rewrite Chapter 5.04 of the municipal code, adding tax categories for maritime and general service businesses, clarifying how mixed-activity businesses get classified, and giving Council authority to reduce rates administratively down the road.

Commenters ranged from longtime civic voices like Linda Pfeifer and Jann Johnson to business figures like Scott Robinson and Evan Jane Kriss, but the record doesn't preserve what they said o offoffered no formal recommendation either way, leaving Council to weigh in live before deciding whether the measure goes to voters this fall.

No outcome has been reported yet. If adopted, the measure locks in for the November ballot; if not, staff will need further direction before the filing deadline.

State crosswalk law brings a wave of Caledonia Street parking worries to Council

A quieter but still pointed fight played out over Caledonia Street, where staff asked Council for direction on implementing Assembly Bill 413, the state law requiring clear sightlines by banning parking near marked and unmarked crosswalks.

Ten residents wrote in, including Michelle Molkalla, Patti Frazier, Teri Lang, Angela Johansen, and corridor neighbors like the Elmensdorps and the Gaetanis. The letters aren't quoted in the record, but the turnout points to real anxiety about losing already-scarce curbside spots.

Staff came in with design alternatives and possible amendments to municipal code section 10.40.120, but no specific recommendation this was a direction-setting conversation, not a final vote, so the design options and the code changes could still shift based on what Council heard Tuesday night.

Shared staircase serving five Alexander Avenue homes up for rebuild approval

At 22 Alexander Avenue, applicant Kai Okada, representing owner Timothy Isaac, sought a Nonconformity Permit to tear out and rebuild the wooden staircase, landings, rails, and lighting serving five residences "14 through 22 Alexander Avenue"on the east side of the street.

The plan calls for full in-kind replacement in the same footprint, encasing four existing concrete piles in a new concrete mud slab, and replacing the deck at 22 Alexander. Staff found the project categorically exempt from CEQA review as an existing facility and recommended approval of application 2026-00028, with no public comments logged.

The same Wednesday meeting also gave commissioners a broader study session on streets, sidewalks, and parking citywide " Public Works Director Kevin McGowan, Principal Planner Matthew Mandich, and Parking Manager Wayne Kwon walked through encroachment permit standards and revisited Council's stalled parklet program, dormant since COVID-era outdoor dining permits lapsed. No vote was scheduled on that discussion; it's meant to set up policy changes down the road.