SAN FRANCISCO via SAUSALITO, CA
Lee Heidhues 7.5.2025
The destruction of rustic California continues to bulldoze its way through the state as developers and realtors cash in on the law requiring tens of thousands of housing units be built.
Sausalito, the small town north of San Francisco in which I spent my high school years is not immune from this scourge has been taken over by YIMBYism. The one time quaint town, famous for its bohemian and laid back lifestyle, is lurching into the urban sprawl of the 21st century.
The town’s planning commission has green lit a massive building project which will disrupt an entire neighborhood. 19 units will be constructed on four stories. What was for over a hundred years a sleepy section of Sausalito is going to be torn asunder to satisfy the rapaciousness of developers and realtors.
Excerpted from Marin Independent Journal 6.26.2025
The Sausalito Planning Commission has approved the city’s largest new housing project in two decades.
The site is an overgrown lot and hillside hollow with decaying garages, century-old structures and apparently abandoned cars.
The lot will be cleared and two-dozen trees removed.
Workers will excavate 5,200 cubic yards of soil, which planning commissioner David Marlatt said could be 700 truckloads. The site will be graded and retaining walls built to enclose the complex.
After the meeting, Brandon Phipps, the city community and economic development director, said it is on track to meet its state housing mandate in less than two years. The mandate is to allow 724 more residences by 2031.
The panel voted Wednesday to permit the four-story townhouse-style complex at 1755 Bridgeway near Easterby Street. The plan calls for 19 condominiums in two buildings.
Four residences will be sold at a reduced price to moderate-income households to satisfy a state housing mandate. The rest will be market rate.
“This is the first major multi-family housing project in decades,” said Andrew Junius, vice chair of the Planning Commission. “These 19 units are going to fit right in. I’m very, very excited to see it move forward.”
The city’s last project of this scale was Rotary Village, an income-restricted 22-residence project built in 2004.
The developers filed their first application for the project in 2018. It has been scaled back in response to concerns voiced by neighbors and city officials, city planner Kristin Teiche told the commission and audience before recommending its approval.
Planning commissioners noted they could not reduce the project’s size under state laws. The commission unanimously approved the complex after amending some conditions where city staff would revisit guest parking issues and the exterior color and design.
“In the last 30 days, the city of Sausalito has approved 31 units of housing,” Phipps said.
Top photo: The property at 1755 Bridgeway in Sausalito on May 9, 2023. A developer plans to build 19 condominiums there, including four for moderate-income households. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal)
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