Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Ready when you are.

Alright.

So, good to I'd like to call to order the planning commission meeting of Monday, 08/11/2025. And if you would, stand with me,

and we'll

do the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of

America, to the republic for which it

stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, everyone. Do a little roll call here. Commissioner Tiernan is not here. Commissioner Crockett? Here. Commissioner Grigey? Here. Commissioner Havel? Here. Commissioner Roche is not here. And commissioner Stuckenbroker?

Here.

Wonderful. And commissioner Derby is here. 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. Aye. Commissioner Grigey. Aye. Commissioner Havel. Aye. Commissioner Stuckenbroker. Aye. And commissioner Derby's an eye as well. Wonderful. I'm gonna open the public comment. I don't believe we have any people that can call in for that. 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. Alright. Moving on. Consent items, none. Unfinished in other business, none. Public hearings, none. General business,

you are up.

Alright. Thank you, commissioners. So my name is Brett Walker, senior planner with the Novato 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. So for this general plan update, the city did hire consultant, Placeworks.

They're a planning, design and environmental consulting firm to assist the city. So 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 place works and city staff has identified. And out of these conceptual policies, we'll then be drafting more specific policies that will then come back to the Planning Commission and ultimately the City Council.

So with that, I'd like to introduce placework staff that we have on the call today. We've got Jacqueline Protsman Rohr and Tammy Seal. And 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. 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 opportunity at the end for questions and comments. So as Brent mentioned, the community development department is leading the effort to update the safety element. My name is Jacqueline Protsman Rohr with PlaceWorks, and I'm the project manager on the consultant team. And I'm joined 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 Nevada. 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 Nevada include flooding, wildfire, emergency evacuations, and also hazards that may worsen due 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 Novato'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 s b three seventy nine, 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 twenty one forty 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 Authority's a b seven forty seven study and builds off the evacuation wildfire policies and actions that are already in the general plan. Now I'll 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 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 Nevada. 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 priority 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 exposures 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 health care facilities, major employers, and parks and recreation as priorities. The Nevada Community Hospital is vulnerable to shoreline flooding by Bincentury.

Major employers such as biotech companies and Nevada 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 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 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 as the community wide survey to reach a broader 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 shut off 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 Nevada, 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 17. 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 a 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 three seventy nine and the findings of the vulnerability assessment.

Several of the policy topics would involve coordinating with agencies, owning infrastructure, and or providing services to Nevada, such as the Nevada sanitary district, Nevada fire protection district, and the North Marin water district. We've added those agencies or 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 gray water 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 the flood and inundation hazard section is an existing topic that we've updated and expanded as part of this project mainly to add 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 emerging 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 shut off 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 the safety element update website on this slide, and this includes the outreach summaries of 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 of tonight's meeting or thought of some 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 consultation with Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria. As part of, since this is a general plan update consistent with what's referred to as Senate Bill 18, we did invite the local tribes to consult on the project.

And so don't have a lot of details regarding that process at this point. We've had one conversation and we'll be meeting with them again in the hopefully near future. And this this process really gives the tribal organizations the ability to 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, I'll just turn it back over to the Planning Commission.

Thank you. Commissioner Crockett, any questions or comments from you?

My comments are just that I think it looks comprehensive, looks very necessary frankly and timely. I didn't see anything in it that I found surprising or or that. But I'm curious and I'm not sure if this is a meeting to discuss it, but about timing or 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 since this is part of the general plan, this is a higher level program document document and higher level program policies and programs, and so, you know, I would anticipate for the future, you know, this may give us direction on what type of more project level studies the city should do or some of our agencies we work with, the sanitary district, that sort of thing. And so this I would say is really document that will hopefully provide some direction for the city in making decisions in the future. And yeah, I think funding is a major, a lot of these projects that will be necessary over the next twenty to seventy five years are very expensive projects. I think that's another big conversation.

Yes. Yeah. Thank you. Okay.

Commissioner Stuckenberger.

Questions at the moment.

Thank you. Commissioner Hamill?

Yeah. So this was great. When I was reading through the materials, it 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 do when the floods come or the rain or the fire? You know, it's it's all those things, 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? Years ago, I had the pleasure of working alongside the Marin 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? And 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 a it was a really interesting sort of, you know, getting outside of seeing the world view as to, like, you know, development and how that works and what it looks like in other places. You know, the Mount Vision fire way back in, what was that, 95? Like, how many 90 eighty ninety homes were destroyed in that event? 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 sustainability program. So, design, green building, you know, I I noticed, you know, the the references to architecture that, you know, 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 you know, when this country was first being developed because we didn't have air conditioning at that point, and we didn't have all the monitor menus that we have now.

So that well, the 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 I'll throw this out to you. The the other thing, you know, our 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 as well as disasters. I I know staff must be incredibly frustrated when somebody comes in with a 4,000 square foot home or a 5,000 square 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 the ecological footprint of that home dwarfs, you know, any significant meaning trying to, you know, get that out in the the sustainability program. Again, freedom, regulation, it's it's a tight rope that we walk. But I I like that this plan is 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. 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.

As the climate changes, we're going to see shifts in ecological systems and biology that 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 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 I hope some good policies come out of it.

Thank you, commissioner Hampel. Commissioner Griegy.

Yeah. Thank you. This is my first meeting, so I probably have a few more questions than might be necessary later on. My first question generally relates to the policies that were being proposed. A lot of them rely on other agencies, other special districts in Nevada to implement. I was just wondering if city staff could speak to the collaboration that's 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, 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 Nevada, most of you are probably aware, we've got Nevada Sanitary District that has the wastewater treatment plant and the pipes for sewer. North Marin Water District provides water supply. Nevada Fire Protection District is a special district that encompasses a larger area than the city and is not directly under the city administration. Marin County Flood Control District, they they do a lot of work along some of the waterways.

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. One thing I did do after the sustainability commission meeting, there was a comment of do all these special districts have to do the same type of planning? And I did some I looked in state law to try to find it on my own, and then I asked them the questions, and I don't think they have to. So it might be a little bit of 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 have those conversations and try to figure out what are they going to be doing to plan, you know, Nevada Sanitary District's wastewater treatment plan at the end of David Sen is very close to a sea level elevation. Some of the fire district 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

Thank you. I have my next question I think might best be directed to the PlaceWorks team. I noticed on looking on page two, table one provides a good overview of a lot of the vulnerable populations that the report identifies. But I noticed that it's using 2022 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 demographic or in these populations that were identified as being particularly vulnerable.

I was just as another assuming that this is the Novato table is just the incorporated area. 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 city that we also have to that we exercise certain extraterritorial jurisdiction over. 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.

But, yeah, I I was just wondering if you had any thoughts on the on 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 I apologize, to my fellow commissioners.

Great questions. Great questions.

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

Yeah. The the vulnerability assessment, we likely use the similar data to what was used in the latest housing element so that the general plan elements would be consistent. The data from '22 2022 to 2023 likely it is likely different, but not substantially different. So the percentages populations are likely the same. We we did only include the incorporated incorporated areas of Novato because that is what is covered in the general plan and not the unincorporated the unincorporated islands.

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

Okay. I I appreciate it. I I guess I'm still I still have a lot of sea legs to get here, I guess. But I really appreciate your answers and your insights into that. I was also wondering about the landslide table or the map. I'm down trying to find it. I believe it's on page 14. On the existing landslide areas, I just wondering what the methodology was for most landslides, few landslides. 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 to get that.

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

Yes. On page 14 of the vulnerability assessment.

Okay. So that landslide map was taken from association of bay ABAG, Association of Bay Area Governments. They have a hazard a hazard viewer, and the bare landslide data is a

little

bit more accurate than what the state provides. So the I would have to I would have to look back through the the the meta the metadata to look at what exactly the zones mean. The most landslide areas are the areas that have a higher susceptibility of landslides, 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. Mister Marshall, you might remember what are the name of the maps, the geological stability maps that used to be maintained by the County of Marin Community Development Agency?

Salem Rice maps?

Yeah. Those ones. I I I'm willing to bet that those provide the basic framework. 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. And it does so using soil samples and soil types. The maps themselves are are vintage. They're hand drawn, but they're also arguably some of the best information around. So I'm I don't know. Staff, what do you think? I'm I'm willing to bet that those 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 ABEG resources 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 if we're talking about infrastructure, there will be geotechnical and civil engineers looking at soil conditions. So

a lot

of different data sources to form where landslide risks exist and to what extent severity.

Alright. And I have just a few more questions. If y'all will permit my filibuster to continue a little bit longer. I had or another question I had was just generally about the the vulnerable populations that were identified. I was just I think just as a general comment actually, I'll I'll save my comments for later on. I imagine we'll have another round.

Well, we won't. So go for it. Oh, you mean another hearing or tonight?

Tonight. Right?

Well, we probably won't do question we don't have an action. So typically, 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.

Yeah. Go for it.

Thank you.

Of course.

Like I said, I'm still getting my suit No.

It's alright. Alright.

I really appreciate all of you for bearing with me.

All good.

I would just as when I'm I imagine this will probably come back before us probably in two weeks, maybe a a bit longer, in the next month or so, probably.

Probably sometime in October.

Okay. I would just be I'd be a little curious to see I I know that the the census data is a little limited, but, you know, looking at some of these hazard maps, just having worked on redistricting in the community for so long and kind of getting a sense for, like, the demographic distributions in Novato, that there were, you know, some areas that were you know, as the report points out, 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 report, and as we look at these policies, to kind of see those those maps. 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 populations that don't have access to a car or or, like, low income communities are located in the Nevada. I think that that would be generally helpful as we're evaluating some of these policies that come down the pipe.

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

How

I guess my question is, what what I I I understand that it's 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, example, Indian Valley, that neighborhood more or less has three roads in and out. You have, Wilson, McClay, and Indian Valley. Nevada as a 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, egress routes. What and then there, you know, there are some neighborhoods that might there's some streets like a cul de sac that might only have two roads in and out. 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 Jacqueline jump in? You know, one of the things we're looking at would be dead end streets or cul de sacs. And there's a couple different parameters that the ultimate map may include. The state state fire marshal or it might be the state fire code.

They identify 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. 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.

So 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 let Jacqueline jump in if she has any other comments on that.

Yeah. The the only thing I want to add is that, there there are kind of two two general types of neighborhoods in Nevada. One are, kind of a hillside neighborhoods that have some of them have single access in and out. There's only one street. 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.

There's also in more of the valley areas, less sloped are the cul de sacs that Brett was mentioning, and those also only have access point in or out, and we're currently working with Brett to to decide on the the threshold of whether to consider 10 units or 30 units that Cal Fire uses for that threshold of what's considered evacuation constraint depending on how many parcels are associated with those cul De Sac neighborhoods.

And saying that I really appreciate all the work that has gone into this. It really has been very informative to kind of see in such detail what the challenges facing our community for the long term are

Thank you, commissioner Grigey. I guess I'll finish it up here. Actually, my first question is for Jacqueline. And I oh, sorry. I was, like, expecting her face to suddenly pop up. Sorry. Yes. Sorry. This is for Placeworks and and Jacqueline. Anyhow, my question specifically, we're in the beginning phase of this process where we're putting this into the general plan as a as a goal. Right? 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 policy is implemented?

We've yes. We've worked all over the state helping communities update their safety elements, and we've seen them through all the way to adoption. We've some for some projects, we do recommend, you know, financing and funding mechanisms, 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. Has have any of those been specifically land use policies such as anything for the development code, building code, you know, rezoning, redesignation?

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

Wonderful. So if there are any so, again, this I know it's the beginning phase, I'm just like the rest of my commissioners are very complimentary. I know we need to do this, and it's a great job. However, I 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 chain land use or zoning changes proposed as part of this project.

Thank you, Jacqueline. Yes. Anyhow, I guess that's my point is I'd love to make sure that we get to weigh in underneath. 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.

Yep.

Sounds like we can. Alright. That's good for me. Without any other further comments, I'll just say any other further questions? Alright.

Not hearing any. We're good on our side. So So public comment and then if there's any wrap up comments for the commission. This

so that was odd. I was looking at 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. Any other further questions or comments? And forgive me, commissioner Grigey. I'd kinda 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 for me right now, but I'm sure that, like, thirty 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 Greed talked about, which was that coordination with other regional agencies, groups. I think that's actually a really insightful point. You know, there is an emergency operation center just 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?

So the city participates in the FEMA floodplain program. That's administrated through our engineering division.

Mhmm.

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 insurance rates also. Mhmm. I off the top my head, I can't remember the name of that program because our engineering division Mhmm. Deals with that.

Great.

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

Yeah. Wonderful. Thank you, Jacqueline. Alright. 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, Placeworths and Jacqueline. Had I had one more. Oh, one more question. Go for it.

Yeah. I I was also sorry. One one more thing that's kinda

It was thirty seconds just like you said. That was yeah. As

promised. I I was also I was wondering if speaking of kind of the collab the collaboration comments kind of jogged my my mind. I was wondering if there had been any outreach or discussion with, like, Marin Transit or any of the, like, public transit agencies that provide service to Nevada. You know, we had talked earlier about individuals who's who do not have access to a car. You know, having grown up here and spent a decent amount of time taking public transit in Novato, you know, basically for three and a half years in high school and beyond.

It's an issue near and dear to my heart. But I was just wondering if, there had been any outreach, if there had been any insights related to, Marin transit. I know that they had recently kind of consolidated their routes, due to budget constraints. Just something to consider, I guess, going down the line. Like, know, kind of I said earlier, I really appreciate all the work that's gone into this and I apologize for just nitpicking.

Yeah. So part of our outreach 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 occupancy vehicle with Caltrans to all the different transits agencies on a call and we did get a lot of feedback from them about their ability to assist with evacuations, since most of them do have the bus fleets and SMART with the trains, that they they would be able to assist during evacuations. Yeah.

Excellent. Thank you. I I I again, I I I appreciate all the work that's gone into this, and I apologize one: for lobbing questions that y'all, like, tennis

Don't apologize. You'll get used to it. These guys are certainly used to it. Alright. I think nothing else to say on that topic. So, again, thank you, Placeworks. Thank you, Jacqueline, and then there was someone else there, and I forgive me. Yeah, thank you very much. Anything else on the committee liaison report?

Nothing at this point. The next scheduled meeting will be August 25, 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 8. So we'll see if we have anything ready for the commission at that point.

Wonderful. Any further comments before I close? Alright. Hearing none, close out on the commission hearing. Thank you, everyone. Thank you.