You are Invited - "Meet The Novato Police Chief, Q/A", 7pm, Wednesday, 08/12/2020, Via Zoom.

Come join us to meet the Novato Police Chief and your neighbors this coming Wednesday at 7pm via Zoom at the comfort of your home!

Chief McCaffrey was appointed in November, 2019. We are inviting San Marin Neighbors to meet Chief McCaffrey and ask question you might have about the current state of Novato Police Department. The meeting will be held via Zoom. *Topic – Meet the Chief, Q and A * Presenter – Novato Police Chief, Matt McCaffrey * When – 7:00pm, Wednesday, 08/12/2020 * Where – via Zoom * Register – Please email Sylvia Barry (see below) to register and get the Zoom link. Per Chief’s request, please send your questions for the Chief to Sylvia who will collect the questions and send to Chief in advance. This works well using Zoom. If there are time left, we will entertain questions on the floor. Any questions about this or how to use Zoom for the meeting, please contact Sylvia Barry at Sylvia@SylviaBarryRE.com or c/t 415-717-0293

District 1 City Council Candidate Forum, 6:30pm-8pm, Wednesday, Sept 25th at All Saints Church

Dear San Marin Neighbors,

District 1 City Council Candidate Forum, 6:30pm-8pm, Wednesday, Sept 25^th at All Saints Church

Save the Date, San Marin!  San Marin Improvement Association will host the District 1 City Council Candidates Forum on Wednesday, September 25^th, at the All Saints Church.  We'll have a moderated Question and Answer meeting with the candidates from 7:00-8:00 pm, and a pre-meeting meet and greet from 6:30-7 pm.

This is a meeting by SMIA for our SAN MARIN neighbors and surrounding District 1 neighbors.  

Novato Council has recently voted to start holding District Elections instead of At Large Elections for the City Council Elections starting with the upcoming election on November 5^th.  San Marin is within District 1 Boundary.

Both Candidates for District 1 reside in San Marin and will be attending the Forum.  Please come, meet our candidates and bring your questions and concerns. 
District 1 Candidates are: 

• James Petray
• Susan Wernick

District 1 (pink area) includes SMIA Area (Area bounded by Novato Blvd on the west, Simmons Lane on the east, including Partridge Knolls I, and up to Mt. Burdell), Novato Chase (development behind San Marin High), a rectangular area around the Square Shopping Center bounded by Novato Blvd (e), Center Road (w), Wilson Blvd (S), and Sutro Ave (n), FFIC  and the commercial areas north east of FFIC, Partridge Knolls II behind FFIC, San Marin East,  San Marin Valley, Area south of San Marin but north of Downtown Novato, including Marion Avenue to Vallejo Avenue to Redwood Blvd on the east, which includes Hidden Valley and Atherton Place across from Trader Joes.  
For an interactive map of District 1, go to  https://arcg.is/KS90b0  You can zoom in and out of the map.  

* Parking Note - All Saints has been very gracious in letting us use their facility through the years.  There will be a Choir Practice that night and some choir members need parking close to church.  Please save spaces close to church entrance for Choir members and park on the street if you can.

Sylvia Barry
San Marin Improvement Association

415-717-0293

www.SanMarin.org

San Marin Neighborhood Garage Sale Scheduled for Saturday, 09-21-19, 9am to 1pm

San Marin Improvement Association’s (www.SanMarin.org) 2019 Annual San Marin Neighborhood Garage Sale is scheduled for Saturday, September 21 between 9am and 1pm.

Same as in previous years; please email your garage sale to me at Sylvia@SylviaBarryRE.com by Friday, September 20, 12PM to be listed on www.SanMarinGarageSale.com as well as be included on the Garage Sale Map/List I will link and print for bargain hunters.

Please go to www.SanMarinGarageSale.com frequently for updates (note the garage sale list (2018) and map (2-17 still) and will be updated periodically until receiving all entries by 12pm, Friday, 09/20).

Thank You!
Sylvia Barry
San Marin Improvement Association
sylvia@SylviaBarryRE.com call/text (415) 717-0293

NUSD Seeking Feedback about the Updated Environment Impact Report by August 24th

NUSD Is seeking comments about the updated Environment Impact Report by August 24th.

"Comments on the revised environmental documents can be emailed to EIR@nusd.org, faxed to 415-898-5790 or mailed to Yancy Hawkins, Novato Unified School District, 1015 Seventh St., Novato, CA 94945.

More information on the process and copies of the environmental documents can be found online at bit.ly/2ysR3H8"

San Marin - Upcoming Meetings - Novato Blvd/San Marin Drive Intersection 02/12, Comstock Commons Neighborhood Meeting, 02/19, San Andreas Site Meeting 02/28

Dear San Marin Neighbors,

Just want to inform you of upcoming meetings for three ‘POTENTIAL’ projects in the San Marin neighborhood:

Novato Blvd and San Marin Drive Intersection, Comstock Commons (south/east corner of San Andreas and San Marin Drive, the old Texaco Station Site) and San Andreas School Site 2^nd Neighborhood meeting.

1)      Novato Blvd and San Marin Drive Intersection, 6pm, Tuesday, 02/12, City Council Meeting.  Item J.2.

This is to request City Council’s approval for the staff to start studying traffic concerns at the intersection of Novato Blvd and San Marin Drive and come up with recommendations to address the concerns.  

From Project Initiation Report - “The pedestrian and bicyclist safety concerns identified in this project were first brought to the City Engineer by San Marin High School ninth grade student, Ashley Leonard and her Girl Scout Project Advisor, Paul LaPerriere. In addition, the Draft Novato General Plan 2035 Update Traffic Analysis identified the intersection of Novato Boulevard and San Marin Drive/Sutro Avenue as requiring traffic mitigation. The City of Novato Engineering Division proposes to initiate a new Capital Improvement Project to improve the intersection of Novato Boulevard and San Marin Drive/Sutro Avenue.”

    

Please see item J.2. of City Council Meeting Agenda for 02/12.

J. General Business.

J.2. Adopt a resolution amending the 2018/19 Budget to add Capital Improvement Project #19-009, intersection improvements at Novato Blvd and San Marin Dr/Sutro Avenue, to the Capital Improvement Program

Staff Report

Attachment 1 - Resolution

Attachment 2 - Traffic Memorandum

Attachment 3 - Project Initiation

Attachment 4 - Budget Excerpt

2)      Comstock Commons (200 San Marin Drive, South-East corner of San Andreas and San Marin Drive, the old Texaco Station Site). 7pm, Tuesday, 02/19, at Margaret Todd Center – Room #3

       Please click for  Information on Comstock Commons Project

Notice was just given to the neighbors about this meeting.  Projection Description:

“Proposed six (6) live-work units on a 25,700 square foot parcel. Each live-work unit contains 743-square feet of non-residential studio space and 970-square feet of living area, with a building height of 27-feet. The units will be clustered as 3 separate buildings, each with 2 live-work units. The lower level of the buildings will be non-residential and the upper level will be used as living units. 

The live-work units will be located towards the southern portion of the parcel, and required parking for the units located in the northern area of the parcel. There will be 15 parking spaces provided on-site, which includes 2 ADA accessible spaces.”

3)      San Andreas School Site 2^nd Neighborhood Meeting is rescheduled for 7pm, Thursday, 02/28, at All Saints Church.

This is the 2^nd Neighborhood Meeting for NUSD to come and  update San Marin Neighbors on the results of the Feasibility Study conducted during the past few months by City of Novato.  The meeting was tentatively scheduled for March 7^th but is now rescheduled for 02/28 due to staff availability.    

NUSD/City of Novato will present the findings to NUSD Board of Trustees on Tuesday, 02/26 (open to public) and will follow up with San Marin neighbors on 02/28.   

Please mark your calendar and attend the neighborhood meeting.

A Favor – Please let your San Marin Neighbors know about these meetings and also ask them to email me if they would like to be put on the email list.

Thanks,
Sylvia Barry
San Marin Improvement Association  

415-717-0293

sylvia@SylviaBarryRE.com

www.SanMarin.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sanmarinimprovementassociation/

San Andreas Site

Dear San Marin Neighbors, 

Upon learning that NUSD is looking at possible uses of the San Andreas School Site located just south of the San Marin Drive, San Marin Improvement Association held a meeting on September 19^th with NUSD, the Stakeholder, presenting and City of Novato, assisting, for our neighbors to get firsthand information from the source. 

Approximately 50 neighbors attended the meeting.  The meeting was interactive, with lively discussions and concerns for NUSD and the City to address.   

We learned from the meeting that the site has sat vacant for quite some time and it is time for NUSD to look at potential use of the site, especially with the declining school enrollment.  NUSD did a survey, first with NUSD employees and then included the City as well as Novato Fire District, to see if the employees would be interested in workforce housing.  The response was favorable.  The sites being considered include the San Andreas school site and the adjacent smaller city site, which is currently used as a  park (collectively called San Andreas Site).    

The plan is for NUSD to conduct a feasibility study of what can be done to the site.  An update of the feasibility study will be presented on November 13 at the joint meeting of the City of Novato and NUSD.  These are very preliminary discussions of  possibilities, such as workforce housing +/- market rate housing, possible sale of the lot and have workforce housing elsewhere in the city, etc.  Nothing is definite and no further action will be taken until after the feasibility study is completed with favorable results to go forward.  

If any project should go forward, the City of Novato said that proper development approval procedures will be followed, including full environmental review through the required CEQA (California Environment Quality Act) process to make sure the site is suitable for housing.  Workshops will be conducted to inform and receive feedback from Novato residents as well as San Marin neighbors. 

The San Marin Improvement Association feels strongly that San Marin neighbors should learn facts from the source.  As discussed in the meeting, we are waiting for the results of the feasibility study to be presented to both the NUSD Board of Trustees and the City Council.  We will arrange a San Marin Neighborhood meeting after that for NUSD and the City to come and present the findings and what their next steps might be for the property.

Thank you for your patience and we will be in touch once we hear from NUSD and/or City of Novato.

Questions and/or concerns about the site, the meeting, and the process, please contact Leslie Benjamin, NUSD Communications and Community Engagement Director, at LBenjamin@nusd.org  

Sylvia Barry

San Marin Improvement Association   

www.SanMarin.org

The Annual San Marin Improvement Association's (www.SanMarin.org) San Marin Neighborhood Halloween Parade is scheduled Saturday, October 27th, at 11am. 

The parade starts in front of 181 San Andreas Drive (5 houses from San Marin across from the field) 

Categories are (0-2,3-5,6-8,9-12,groups/families, and pets). 

There will be a table set up before 11am for kids, families and pets to register and receive a number for judging. Parade will be led by Novato Fire and will commence on the normal route, down San Andreas, turn right onto San Carlos and finishing at All Saints Church where we will have a Halloween Costume contest. 

Big shout out to Novato Fire, Novato Police and the San Marin High School students for helping with the parade each year. 

Many thanks to San Marin neighbor Clint McArdell for stepping up to organize this event for the past few years, San Marin High students for helping, and All Saints church for allowing us to use their ground for awards ceremony each year! This is how we make our community great for everybody!

Let your neighbors and friends know and see you October 27th! 

We are in need of Volunteers - both Adults and High School Students (will receive volunteer hours). 

Please call Sylvia Barry (415) 717-0293 or email sylvia@SylviaBarryRE.com if you can help!