Ready when you are all right.

So, I'd like to call to order the planning commission meeting of Monday, August 11th, 2025.

And if you would stand with me and we'll do the Pledge of Allegiance.

Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

To the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible of liberty and justice for our all.

Thank you, everyone.

Do a little roll call here.

Commissioner Tiernan is not here.

Commissioner Crockett, here.

Commissioner Griggy?

Here.

Commissioner Havill.

Commissioner Roche is not here.

And Commissioner Stuckenbroker.

Here.

Wonderful.

And Commissioner Derby is here.

Um, and approval of the final agenda.

Do I have a motion?

Moved.

Second.

Oh, there we go.

I'm gonna do a quick roll call.

Commissioner Crockett.

Hi.

Commissioner Griggy.

Aye.

Commissioner Havill.

Hi.

Commissioner Stuckenbroker.

Hi.

And Commissioner Derby's and I as well.

Wonderful.

I'm gonna open the public comment.

Um, I don't believe we have any people that can call in for that.

Uh, the public comment period is for anything that's not on the agenda.

Seeing nobody in the audience, I will open and close that.

Going once, going twice, done.

All right.

Moving on.

Uh consent items.

None.

Unfinished in other business, none.

Public hearings, none.

General business.

You are up.

All right.

Thank you, Commissioners.

Uh, so my name's Brett Walker, senior planner with the Navado Planning Division.

So tonight we have a presentation regarding the city's update to its general plan safety element to add policies and programs regarding climate adaptation and resiliency, and also to identify residential developments in hazard areas that have less than two evacuation routes.

Uh so for this general plan update, the city did hire consultant uh placeworks.

They're a planning design and environmental consulting firm to assist the city.

So uh placeworks is joining us tonight remotely, and they'll be making a presentation, and their presentation will cover the work we've done so far, where we're at now, where we're going, and then the focus is going to be on these conceptual policies that placeworks and city staff has identified.

And out of these conceptual policies, we'll then be drafting uh more specific policies that will then come back to the planning commission and ultimately the city council.

Uh so with that, I'd like to introduce uh placeworks staff that we have on the call today.

Uh we've got Jacqueline Protzman Rohr and Tammy Seal.

And uh at this point, unless you have any questions for me right now, I'm gonna turn it over to Placeworks for their presentation.

Yes, yes.

The present presentation will briefly mention each of the steps in the safety element update and overall policy concepts, and then there'll be an opportunity at the end for questions and comments.

So, as Brett mentioned, the community development department is leading the effort to update the safety element.

My name is Jacqueline Pratzman Rohr with Placeworks, and I'm the project manager on the consultant team, and I'm joined this evening by Tammy Seal, who is the principal in charge on the consulting team.

So now for the overview of the safety element.

So to start off with, what is a safety element?

It is one of the mandatory elements of a general plan and focuses on natural and human-caused hazards within and surrounding Navado.

The goal of this element is to protect the city and help increase resilience to natural disasters for residents, businesses, infrastructure, and the environment.

So these hazards in Navado include flooding, wildfire, emergency evacuations, and also hazards that may worsen due to climate change, such as sea level rise, extreme heat, and drought.

So the safety element, which is part of a city that works section of the general plan, is just one part of Nevado's overall approach to protecting the community against hazards, and it integrates with several other city documents to do this.

The safety element is a high-level broad document that discusses the overall public safety and climate adaptation approach.

There's the climate action plan, which is a comprehensive plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase resilience throughout the city.

There's also the local hazard mitigation plan, which is a more detailed short-term action plan, and then the emergency operations plan, which is the city's internal plan for emergency response and recovery.

The safety element will integrate information from each of these plans and tie into them as appropriate to help create a cohesive safety approach.

Other benefits of updating the safety element are to ensure consistency with other general plan elements and city plans, incorporate the Marin County local hazard mitigation plan into the element, comply with California government code requirements, and improve eligibility for grant funding to implement resiliency and hazard mitigation projects.

Since the previous update to the general plan, several new laws related to the safety element have come into effect.

There's a focus on climate change adaptation and resilience through SB 379, which is the focus of this project, requiring safety elements to prepare climate change vulnerability assessments, and then develop a comprehensive set of goals, policies, and implementation actions to build resilience in the community.

AB 2140 allows for the incorporation of the local hazard mitigation plan, which makes the city potentially eligible for increased disaster relief funds.

And finally, SB 99 requires the identification of evacuation constrained residential areas throughout the city, which are those neighborhoods and parcels that have less than two ingress and egress routes.

This update also includes the integration of the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authorities AB 747 study and builds off the evacuation wildfire policies and actions that are already in the general plan.

Now, provide a quick overview of the climate change vulnerability assessment and the results.

The vulnerability assessment is the main analysis conducted as part of the safety element update.

It evaluated how people and key community assets such as buildings, infrastructure, and economic systems may be affected by climate change hazards and the degree to which they're vulnerable.

The study followed the four-step process outlined in the California Adaptation Planning Guide, including identifying exposure to hazards, analyzing the sensitivity of populations and assets, and the potential impacts of the hazards, evaluating adaptive capacity, which is the ability of populations and community assets to prepare for, respond to, and recover from hazards using existing resources, and then putting all of that together to assess vulnerability.

These are the climate hazards included in the vulnerability assessment.

So more frequent extreme heat events, more frequent and intense regional wildfires, increase in the frequency of drought conditions, increases in shoreline flooding and emergent groundwater from sea level rise, and more intense rainfall and severe weather events, which can also lead to an increase in landslide events.

The vulnerability assessment evaluated how 10 different climate change hazards may affect 58 different population groups and community assets in Navado.

The vulnerability assessment identified several priority vulnerabilities, which are the people, buildings, infrastructure, economic systems, ecosystems, and key services who should be considered as the city's priorities in adaptation resilience planning.

Identifying a population or community asset as a priority reflects the severity of the climate change impacts and the level of harm, while also considering other factors such as the size of the population, the role that an asset plays in maintaining community-wide well-being, and the potential for a population or asset to be impacted by compounding or cascading effects of interacting hazards.

So for populations on this slide, priority vulnerabilities included low resource households due to limited financial resources to prepare and recover from hazards, low resource people of color due to historic housing patterns concentrated in hazard-prone areas, and then potential language barriers, people with high outdoor exposure, such as outdoor workers or unhoused individuals, and older adults who may have mobility and health challenges that may worsen during hazard events.

For infrastructure and services, the vulnerability assessment identified emergency services as a priority due to multiple fire stations located in flood zones and the potential for communication outages, transportation infrastructure, including highway 101, State Route 37, bridges, and the smart rail being vulnerable to flooding, water and wastewater systems due to the increase from sea level rise by 2030, energy and communication infrastructure due to transmission lines in both fire hazard zones and sea level rise prone areas, and homes and residential structures due to mobile home communities in high risk of high risk of extreme heat, flooding and severe weather, and then hillside neighborhoods at risk of wildfire and landslides.

For economic drivers, we identified healthcare facilities, major employers, and parks and recreation as priorities.

The Nevado Community Hospital is vulnerable to shoreline flooding by bin century.

Major employers, such as biotech companies and Nevado Unified are vulnerable to power outages, transportation disruptions, and extreme heat.

And then 14 of the city's parks are in fire hazard zones, which can be damaged by wildfire and smoke.

And for the last category, ecosystems and natural resources, the Hamilton wetlands and marshlands were indicated as a priority due to permanent inundation from sea level rise and the risk of drought reducing freshwater inflows, and then riparian corridors were also identified due to vulnerability to extreme flooding and drought cycles, and then potential contamination and increased sedimentation during flood events.

So this next section will go through what we've done to date for community outreach and some of the feedback that we've heard.

So the first phase of outreach was conducted between December 2024 and June 2025 with a focus on collecting input on climate vulnerabilities and safety priorities.

So from December to March, we held six service provider meetings.

And then once the vulnerability assessment report was posted on the city's website, a community-wide survey was opened between May and June.

During the same period, we held a community workshop at City Hall.

And then the safety element also has a separate project website, which has been updated regularly with project deliverables and community outreach summaries.

So as mentioned, we held six service provider meetings covering five topic areas between December and March.

Participants included public agencies, special districts, and other organizations that serve that provide services to the community.

And in total, we spoke with 16 different service providers.

So during these meetings, we learned the most vulnerable populations are aging adults, persons with chronic illnesses and disabilities, the Latinx and immigrant communities, unhoused individuals, and pregnant persons and families with young children.

We also learned that there are several critical needs or barriers, including communication gaps, infrastructure vulnerabilities, resource coordination, and the need for essential services.

For the community workshop and community wide survey, we had 14 people attend the in-person workshop and 78 people respond to the survey.

The workshop asked the same questions as the community-wide survey to reach a wider audience.

And when asked what impacts of climate hazards community members experience most, we heard poor air quality, power outages, and increased insurance costs from wildfire, disruptions to daily activities and health concerns from extreme heat, loss of power for medical devices from public safety power shutoff events.

When asked about priority vulnerabilities, community members stated persons with chronic illnesses and disabilities, older adults and low-income households for populations, energy systems, major transit routes, and emergency services for critical infrastructure, and then agriculture, outdoor recreation and health care for economic drivers.

And then lastly, when we asked the community about a vision for resilient Novato, community members said a socially connected, environmentally conscious, and strategically prepared city.

And then most recently, we held a study session with the Sustainability Commission on July 17th.

We heard strong support for backup energy and communication systems during power outages, support for limiting development in fire and flood prone areas, concerns about fire stations and water facilities and hazard areas, a request for stronger policies focused on low-income and other vulnerable populations, a desire for clear distinction between a city action versus coordinating with regional agencies and service providers, and an interest in policies related to managed retreat.

So, based on new state laws, the findings from the vulnerability assessment and the outreach activities conducted to date, we've prepared the following broad policy concepts for your review and feedback.

So to start off, the policy concepts are broken into seven main topics or goals in the safety element.

Two of the topics are in the current version of the safety element, and five of the topics are new in response to SB 379 and the findings of the vulnerability assessment.

Several of the policy topics would involve coordinating with agencies owning infrastructure and/or providing services to Novato, such as the Nevado Sanitary District, Nevado Fire Protection District, and the North Marin Water District.

We've added those agencies or departments in parentheses after those applicable policies.

Let's get into the first topic, which is drought.

So these policy concepts include water efficient landscaping and water conservation, installation of rainwater harvesting and graywater systems, maintaining adequate water supplies and emergency response protocols during drought conditions, and public education around water conservation.

Next is extreme heat, which is another new topic.

So these policy concepts include passive cooling and new development, encouraging shade structures and tree plantings, community cooling centers with backup power generators, integrating extreme heat into emergency response plans, including plans for outdoor workers, increasing the urban tree canopy, and ensuring grid reliability during heat waves.

And this is also a new policy topic emergency preparedness and response.

These concepts include coordinating coordination of evacuation plans and emergency notifications with regional agencies and service providers, ensuring adequate response times for emergency services, requiring development to comply with current versions of the California building code, improving secondary evacuation routes, evacuation plans for those without access to a vehicle, and maintaining mutual aid agreements with regional agencies.

So the flood and uh the flood and inundation hazards section is an existing topic that we've updated and expanded as part of its project, mainly to add a sea level rise and emergent groundwater.

Policy concepts include nature-based flood protection, developing sea level rise adaptation projects for transportation infrastructure, monitoring groundwater emergence, developing a sea level rise managed retreat strategy, maintaining the Hamilton Hamilton Wetlands Restoration Project as a natural flood barrier, prohibiting new critical facilities in sea level rise and emergent groundwater areas, and requiring flood protection, flood resistant construction for new development in low-lying areas.

Another updated and expanded topic is fire hazards.

So these policy concepts include vegetation management plans, adequate emergency vehicle access and water supply, managing public lands to minimize wildfire risk, fire resistant landscaping, and then public education on fire code requirements and defensible space.

The next topic is human health hazards, another new topic.

These policy concepts include monitoring and reporting new pests and diseases, outdoor worker safety and training, preparing local health care for large-scale health hazards, and helping vulnerable populations connect to health care providers.

The last topic, also a new topic, is severe weather.

These concepts include tree trimming programs, coordinating for public safety power shutoff events, designing new development to withstand high winds, backup power systems at critical facilities, improving stormwater infrastructure, and rapid debris removal during and after severe weather.

So I'll quickly go over next steps.

So we've provided a QR code and the link to the safety element update website on this slide.

And this includes the outreach summaries from the community workshop and community-wide survey.

Our team will also move forward with preparing the draft safety element, which will be out for public review in September.

And we'll also be going to city council for a study session in early September as well.

So with that, that concludes our presentation, and I will turn it back over to Brett.

Thank you.

So at this point, we'd like to give you the opportunity if you had a chance in advance on the tonight's meeting or thought of some uh items during the presentation to give us some feedback.

You know, since we haven't fully developed the policies at this point, it's probably more on a higher level observations of what you might have.

And then separate, but what's going on tandem with this project is um consultation with uh Federated Indians of Great and Rancheria as part of since this is a general plan update consistent with uh what's referred to as uh Senate Bill 18.

We did invite uh the local tribes to consult on the project.

And so um don't have a lot of details regarding that process at this point.

We've had one conversation, and uh we'll be uh meeting with them again in the hopefully near future.

Um, and this process really gives the tribal organizations the ability to um provide input into the general plan update whenever the city is doing an update.

So we'll have more on that later, probably when we have some draft policies and once we get a little bit further into the consultation process.

So, with that, um, I'll just turn it back over to the planning commission.

Thank you.

Uh Commissioner Crockett, any questions or comments from you?

My comments are just that um I think it looks comprehensive, looks very um necessary, frankly, uh timely.

I didn't see anything in it that I found real surprising or uh that, but I'm I'm I'm curious, and I'm not sure if this is a meeting to discuss it, but about timing or implementation over time and funding or financing of some of these efforts, most of which will ultimately entail significant expenditure, it seems.

Yeah, so uh since this is part of the general plan, this is a higher level program document and higher level program policies and programs, and so uh, you know, I would anticipate for the future, you know, this may give us direction on what type of uh more project level studies the city should do, um, or some of our uh agencies we work with, the sanitary district, that sort of thing.

And so this I would say is really a uh a policy document that will hopefully provide some direction for the city and making decisions in the future, and yeah, I think um funding is a major, a lot of these projects that will be necessary over the next 20 to 75 years are very expensive projects.

So I think that's another big conversation.

Yes, yeah.

Thank you.

Okay.

Uh Commissioner Stuckenbroker.

No questions at the point.

No questions at the moment.

Thank you.

Commissioner Havill.

Yeah, so this was great.

When I was reading through the materials, um, I kept on thinking we should rename this the zombie apocalypse preparation plan because it's it brings up all those issues.

Like, what do you do when the power goes out?

What do you do when the floods come or the rain or the fire?

You know, it's it's all those things that you know, the insulin stored in the fridge that goes bad because the electricity went out.

Like what you know, how do we prepare for that?

Um years ago, I had the pleasure of working alongside the Marine County Fire Department, and there was a group of Italian firefighters that were touring West Marin.

And as they're driving around, they're like they're looking around, just amazed.

Like, you let people build up there, you know, like homes like nestled in the forests and picturesque and beautiful.

The firefighters were like, Well, yeah, it's America, freedom.

And the Italians just were like, You're idiots.

Like you're when a fire comes, those guys they can't get out, their homes are gonna burn, everybody's gonna die.

Well, yeah, America, freedom.

And it it was uh it was a really interesting sort of you know, getting outside of seeing the worldview as to like you know, development and how that works and what it looks like in other places.

Um the Mount Vision fire way back in what was that, 95?

Like how many 90, 80, 90 homes were destroyed in that event.

Um so it's it's you know, in recent history, we've had we've had disaster events.

So it's good to see all this conversation happening.

I think another observation I'll I'll offer up is the city's um sustainability program, so sustainable design, green building.

Um, you know, I noticed you know the the references to uh architecture that you know uh south-facing orientation, longer roof overhangs that you know keep keep things cool in the summer and warmer in the winter based on the angle of the sun with respect to the development.

You know, that's those development principles, those design standards, those those concepts, they go back way before any of the zoning stuff.

I mean, it's that was stuff that was happening at the you know, when this country was first being developed because we didn't have air conditioning at that point, and we didn't have um all the monitored menu that we have now.

So that the the wisdom and the the know-how is there, it's just a matter of implementing that.

And you know, the other, I'll throw this out to you that the other thing, you know, are despite our sustainability program and the city's striving towards a you know a greener, more sustainable development, which dovetails with all of this because that's ultimately safer and more resilient to climate change of as well as disasters.

Um I know staff must be incredibly frustrated when somebody comes in with a 4,000 square foot home or a 5,000 square foot home and says, Oh, but this is this is green.

This is very this is very sustainable.

It's like you cannot tell me that you know this this home is the ecological footprint of that home dwarfs, you know, any significant meaning trying to, you know, get that out in the sustainability program.

Um again, freedom, regulation.

It's it's a tight rope that we walk.

Um, but I I like that this plan is I like all the new topics that are coming up in it, because it does take a broader, you know, it's taking a broader, more comprehensive look at what climate change means, and it's it's striving to try to address things that we haven't even thought of yet.

Um, you know, the only other thing I would, and it it I know it's referenced here, but the you know, the concept of disease.

Um as the climate changes, we're going to see shifts in ecological systems and biology that uh I we don't even know what's gonna happen.

So we just you know, and if for the people out there that are saying, well, that's yeah, that's fake news.

We just had a pandemic, folks.

Like holy smokes, like, so this is this is a good thing to be talking about, and I hope uh I hope some good policies come out of it.

Thank you, Commissioner Hapel.

Uh Commissioner Greedy.

Yeah, thank you.

Um this is my first meeting, so I probably have a few more questions than might be necessary later on.

Uh my first question generally relates to the policies that were being proposed.

Um, you know, a lot of them rely on other agencies, other special districts in Novato to implement.

Uh I was just wondering uh if city staff could speak to the uh collaboration that is required to implement that just so I can get a better sense of it.

I I apologize.

I'm still you know getting my sea legs.

Uh, but I suspect it would also help, you know, those that might watch this meeting later on for that context.

Yeah, yeah.

So here in Novato, most of you are probably aware we've got Nevada Sanitary District that has the wastewater treatment plant and the pipes for sewer.

Um, North Marin Water District provides water supply.

Nevada fire protection district is a special district that encompasses a larger area than the city, and it's not directly under the city administration.

Uh Marin County flood control district, they um they do a lot of work along some of the waterways.

Um, so yeah, a lot of local and regional agencies that aren't directly under the control of the city.

And so, yeah, there will be a lot of collaboration necessary.

Um, one thing I did do uh after the sustainability commission meeting, there was a comment of do all these special districts have to do the same type of planning.

Um, and I did some.

I looked in state law to try to find it on my own, and then I asked them them the questions, and uh I don't think they have to.

So it might be a little bit of a uh a missing point in state law that these other agencies that own and manage a lot of infrastructure might not be doing the same type of work that we're doing.

So, yeah, there will be the need to uh have those conversations and try to figure out what are they're going to be doing to plan, you know, Novato Sanitary District's wastewater treatment plan at the end of Davidson, is very close to a sea level um elevation.

Some of the fire districts stations are in areas that, you know, maybe by 2100, or may require storm surge, but in the future they could be in areas that might not be accessible.

So yeah, it's definitely a good question.

And yeah.

Thank you.

My next question I think might best be directed to the um placeworks um team.

I noticed on looking on page two.

Um the uh table one provides a good overview of a lot of the uh vulnerable populations that the report identifies.

Uh, but I noticed that it's using 2022 uh census data, and I believe the 2023 numbers came out last year.

I was just wondering if you had a sense for whether those numbers changed in a particular direction if there was any increases in uh the demographic or in these uh populations that were uh identified as being particularly vulnerable.

Uh I was just as an another note.

I'm I'm assuming that this is uh the Novato table is just the incorporated area.

Uh it might also be useful as a point of comparison to use the Novato Unified School District as a comparison because that also includes the unincorporated islands surrounding the uh the city that we also have to uh, you know, that we exercise certain extraterritorial jurisdiction over.

Um I don't know, I'm just spitballing here, but it it might be a useful comparison because there is some demographic differences in those unincorporated islands compared to the city.

Uh but yeah, I was just wondering if you had any thoughts on the on any potential changes that the more recent data might reveal.

Sorry, I'm a I'm a census nerd, so I'm just I apologize uh to my fellow commissioners.

Great questions, great questions.

I don't know, Jacqueline or Tammy, if you have a response, yeah.

The vulnerability assessment, um, we likely use the similar data to what was used in the latest housing element so that the general plan elements would be consistent.

Uh, the data from 22 2022 to 2023 likely it is likely different, but not substantially different.

So the percentages of populations are likely the same.

Um, we did only include the incorporated uh incorporated areas of Novato because that is what is covered in the general plan, um and not the unincorporate the unincorporated islands.

However, the maps that were made as part of the vulnerability assessment and the safety element itself uh do show those unincorporated island areas, okay.

I I appreciate it.

I I guess I'm still I still have a lot of uh sea legs to get here, I guess.

Uh, but I really appreciate your answers and your insights into that.

Uh I was also wondering about the landslide table or the map.

I I'm scrolling down trying to find it.

Uh I believe it it's on page 14.

On the existing landslide areas, I was just wondering what the methodology was for most landslides, few landslides uh what classifies an area as meeting one of those criteria.

I'm like I said, I'm still just getting my sea legs.

I'm just hoping to get that.

And I'm I'm assuming this is the vulnerability assessment report that you're you're looking at.

Yes, uh on page 14 of the vulnerability assessment.

Okay, uh so that landslide map was taken from um association of bay ABAG, Association of Bay Area Governments.

They have a hazard um a hazard viewer, and the their landslide data is a little bit more accurate than what the state provides.

Um so the I would have to I would have to look back through the the met the made the metadata to look at what exactly the zones mean.

Um the most landslide areas are the areas that have a higher susceptibility of landslides, uh and few would be there's still a likelihood, but the likelihood is less.

I don't know the percentages on specifically for the different zones, though.

Offhand.

No worries.

I I can I chime in on that one?

Because you're asking great questions.

So you're you're doing great.

Um Mr.

Marshall, you might remember what are the name of the maps, the geological stability maps.

They used to be maintained by the County of Moran community development agency.

Salem Rice maps?

Yeah, those ones.

I'm willing to bet that those provide the basic frameworks.

So they're they're essentially these quad maps of the entire county.

And it goes through and it evaluates all the different geological stabilities throughout the county.

The maps themselves are vintage, they're hand-drawn.

But they're also um arguably some of the best information around.

So I'm I don't know, staff, what do you think?

I'm willing to bet that those maps are based somewhat or use that data to some degree.

Yes, I think what we end up with is you look at several different forms of data for landslide conditions.

One is the ABAG resources uh with their hazard information.

Salem Rice maps are certainly one of them.

And then when we get down to individual projects, we'll have a geotechnical engineer who will assess a development site, or um, if we're talking about infrastructure, there will be geotechnical and civil engineers looking at soil conditions.

Um, so a lot of different data sources to form where landslide risks exist and to what extent um severity.

And I have just a few more questions uh if you all will permit my filibustering to continue a little bit longer.

Um another question I had was just generally uh about the the vulnerable populations that were identified.

I was just I think just as a general comment.

Actually, I'll save my comments for later on.

Uh I imagine we'll have another round.

Uh well, we won't, so go for it.

Oh, you mean another hearing or tonight?

Tonight, right?

Well, we probably won't do questions.

We don't have an action, so typically what we do is we'll ask questions, they answer, then we have some final comments because we have to make a motion to do something.

I don't think we have any actions tonight.

So I would just say that ask every question you'd like.

Okay, it's yeah, go for it.

Thank you.

Of course.

I guess I'm still getting my C levels.

That's all right.

I really appreciate uh all of you for bearing with me.

All good.

Uh I would just as when I imagine this will probably come back before us probably in two weeks, maybe a bit longer.

In the next month or so, probably.

Probably uh sometime in October.

Okay.

I'd be a little curious to see.

I know that the the census data is a little limited, but you know, looking at some of these uh hazard maps, uh just having worked on redistricting in the community for so long and kind of getting a sense for like the demographic distributions of Novato, uh, that there were, you know, some areas that were, you know, as the report points out, uh, that there are some vulnerable populations that are that face diff, you know, in the city that face different hazards.

And I was I think it might strengthen the analysis in the report uh and as we look at these policies to kind of see those those maps.

Uh I know the ACS provides it by block group, which isn't as granular as these maps are, but you know, just generally seeing like where those uh populations that don't have access to a car or uh or like low-income communities are located in the Nevada.

I think that that would be uh generally helpful as we're evaluating some of these policies that come down the pipe.

Uh and then the last thing I wanted to um flag as well, kind of in a similar vein is like is the uh evacue uh the evacuation constrained populations.

Uh how I guess my question is what what I I I understand that it's uh two routes in and out, but I'm I'm I guess my question is what do the what count as the two roads?

Like for example, Indian Valley, uh that neighborhood more or less has three roads in and out.

You have uh Wilson, McClay, and Indian Valley.

Uh Novato as it as a city effectively only has four.

We have Nevada Boulevard, Highway 101 going north and south, and then highway 37.

So, you know, theoretically, the entire town has four uh egress routes.

What and then there, you know, there are some neighborhoods that might or some streets like a cul-de-sac that might only have two roads in and out.

Um I'm just wondering what level does the egress does or is an egress route considered, I guess.

And I'm trying to phrase my question effectively, but I I might it might be I don't know.

Sorry, I'm yeah, I can I can start to I can start to answer and then I can let uh Jacqueline jump in.

Uh you know, one of the things we're looking at would be dead end streets or cul-de-sacs, um and there's a couple different parameters that the ultimate map may include uh the state uh state fire marshal or it might be the state fire code, they identify um streets that are limited to one access point if they have 30 or more single or two family homes on them, and Jacqueline can correct me if I was wrong on that.

Um so that would be if you've got a cul-de-sac with 29 single family homes, then that in theory would not be considered evacuation constrained.

But when you get to 31 homes or more, then it would.

In speaking with Jacqueline and Tammy prior to tonight, they've said that some communities use a threshold of 10 homes when you have a cul-de-sac situation.

Um it really is if you've got a cul-de-sac or a dead end street, it's getting you to an option where you have two directions to go, two options to go.

And I'll uh let Jacqueline jump in if she has any other comments on that.

Yeah, the only thing I want to add is that uh there are kind of two general types of neighborhoods in Navado.

One are um kind of a hillside neighborhoods that have some of them have single access in and out.

There's only one street.

Um so even if you can go east or west on that street, there's really only one access road in or out of a neighborhood or a specific parcel, depending on you know the size of the the parcel.

Um there's also in more of the valley areas, uh less sloped are the cul-de-sacs that Brett was mentioning, and um those also only have one access point in or out, and um we're currently working with Brett to decide on the the threshold of whether to consider 10 units or 30 units that Calfire uses for that threshold of what's considered evacuation constraints, depending on how many parcels are associated with those cul-de-sac neighborhoods, those are all of my questions.

I'll just kind of close by echoing my commissioners and saying that I you know I really appreciate all the work that has gone into this.

Uh it really has been very informative to kind of see in such detail what the challenges facing our community for the long term are going to be, and you know what some of the options are for potentially addressing them.

So I really appreciate all the work that had city staff and placeworks that put into this uh looking forward to this process, thank you, Commissioner Grigie.

I guess I'll finish it up here.

Um actually, my first question is for Jacqueline.

And I can oh, sorry, I was like expecting her face to suddenly pop up.

Sorry, yeah, sorry, this is for place works and and Jacqueline.

Anyhow, uh my question specifically, uh we're in the beginning phase of this process where we're putting this into the general plan as a as a goal, right?

Um, have you, in your experience, I'm assuming you've worked with other cities.

Have you seen any of these plans through to the end where policies implemented?

Uh we've yes, we've worked all over the state um helping communities update their safety elements, um, and we've seen them through all the way to adoption.

Um we've some uh for some projects we do recommend, you know, financing and funding mechanisms, um, not necessarily the implementation of the projects, although we have heard, you know, anecdotal stories from communities later on implementing the different policies and programs.

Okay.

Have any of those been specifically land use policies, such as um anything for the development code, building code, you know, rezoning or redesignation?

Uh safety element, not really um the redesignating or rezoning, but uh especially for communities that have fire hazards, um, and as as you've probably heard the changing of the fire hazard maps, um, we have you know, when those go into effect, having stricter fire hazard standards, um, similar to with flooding as well, um, and having the policies or programs and a safety element affect uh actual development.

Wonderful.

So if there are any, so again, this I know is the beginning phase, and I'm just like the rest of my commissioners are very complimentary.

I know we need to do this, and it's uh great job.

However, I do I am curious, do will any type of land use policy change or request to change that will come back through us, correct?

Yes, I believe you all will see and provide recommendation on the full list of policies and safety element update before it is approved.

Wonderful.

Although there are no land use change land user zoning changes proposed as part of this project.

Thank you, Jacqueline.

Yes.

Uh anyhow, I guess that's my point, is I'd love to make sure that we get to weigh in on anything.

I'd hate for there to be something like this put forward, and it's like, hey, anywhere with trees is now a fire hazard, we shouldn't allow any more development there, or hey, we can no longer develop unless there's you know two ways out on a you know for a three unit subdivision.

That's all I'm saying.

That's my opinion, but I'd love to be able to weigh in on those things when they come back around.

Yeah, sounds like we can.

All right.

That's good for me.

Without any other further comments, I'll just say any other further questions, all right.

Not hearing any, we're good on our side, so public comment, and then if there's any wrap-up comments for the uh commission.

This um, so that was odd.

I was looking that earlier.

This is not a public hearing, this is general business and a presentation, so we still do have a public comment portion of it.

Correct.

Okay.

Understood.

So that being said, I will open the public comment period.

There we go.

Look at that.

There we go.

Not seeing anybody and knowing you can't call in.

I'm gonna close the comment period.

Okay, that is done.

Um any other further questions or comments.

And forgive me, uh, Commissioner Griggy, I'd kind of I didn't think there was gonna be a second round, but there was a public comment period.

So any other questions or comments?

None from me right now, but I'm sure that like 30 seconds after walking out, I'll have more.

Typically how it goes.

You know what I'll I'd like to just amplify something, Commissioner Griggy talked about, which was that coordination with other regional agencies, groups.

I think that's actually a really insightful point.

Um, you know, there is an emergency operations center, just um that's supposed to tie everybody in, but those systems get dusty real quick.

So I I think his point about making sure that everybody else is thinking about this is an excellent point.

Yeah, actually, do we collaborate with FEMA on a lot of this stuff or no?

Um so the city participates in the FEMA floodplain program.

Uh that's uh administrated through our engineering division.

Um and I know I don't know the name off the top of my head, but I know that the city has a program where they every so often have to provide additional information to FEMA to get some sort of certification for the the city.

And I I've heard it assists with um insurance rates also.

I off the top of my head I can't remember the name of that program because our engineering division uh deals with that.

Great.

The the local hazard mitigation plan is also coordinated with FEMA, and usually all of the uh special districts uh take part in that plan as well.

Wonderful.

Thank you, Jacqueline.

All right.

Well, I don't know if we need to move on to anything else, but I think I'll close that topic.

We're good there, and thank you very much, Placeworks and Jacqueline.

I had one more.

Oh, one more question, go for it.

Yeah, I I was also sorry, one one more thing that's kind of.

It was 30 seconds, just like you said.

As promised.

Uh I was also I was wondering if uh, speaking of kind of the collab the collaboration comments kind of jogged my my mind.

Um I was wondering if there had been any outreach or discussion with like uh Marin Transit or any of the like public transit agencies that provide service to Novato.

Uh you know, we had talked earlier about uh individuals whose uh who do not have access to a car, you know.

Having grown up here and spent uh decent amount of time taking public transit in Novato, uh, you know, basically for three and a half years in high school and beyond.

Um it's an issue near and dear to my heart.

Uh but I was just wondering if uh there had been any outreach, if there had been any insights related to uh Marin transit.

I know that they had recently kind of consolidated their routes uh due to budget constraints.

Um just something to consider, I guess, going down the line.

Like, you know, kind of I said earlier, I really appreciate all the work that's gone into this, and I apologize for just nitpicking.

Yeah, uh so part of our outreach uh from December through March.

One of the groups that we met with, we call it like a transportation and transit group.

And so, as part of that call, we had Marin Transit, Smart, Golden Gate Transit, I believe TAM was also on there.

We also had Caltrans on there.

So I think we hit most of the both from a single occupation vehicle with Caltrans to all the different transits agencies on a call, and we did get a lot of feedback from them about um their ability to assist with evacuations since most of them do have the bus fleets and smart with the trains that they uh they would be able to assist during evacuations.

Um yeah, so excellent, thank you.

I I again I appreciate I appreciate all the work that's gone into this, and I apologize for lobbing questions at y'all like uh kind of.

Don't apologize, you'll get used to it.

These guys are certainly used to it.

All right, I think nothing else to say on that topic.

So again, thank you, placeworks.

Uh thank you, Jacqueline.

And then there was someone else there, and I forgive me.

Um but yeah, thank you very much.

Um anything else on the committee liaison report.

Nothing at this point.

Uh the next scheduled meeting would be August 25th, but we don't have an item ready for that yet, so it's likely that one will be canceled.

And then the next one up would be September 8th.

So we'll see if we have anything ready for the commission at that point.

Wonderful.

Any further comments before I close?

All right, hearing none.

I'll close out on the commission hearing.

Thank you, everyone.

Thank you.

All right, one hour.

I sort of sure.

Yep, yep.

It would have been quicker if I kept my point.

No, no, no.