At approximately 6 a.m. this morning an underground water main maintained by Marin Municipal Water District (MMWD) burst and undermined a power pole at the corner of San Rafael Avenue and Beach Boulevard.
The pole leaned in away from the street toward the immediately adjacent properties, but did not fall. However, the now leaning pole caused significant power outages throughout the community. Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and MMWD responded immediately, as well as, Fire and Police personnel. The City’s Building Official, Lee Braun, who lives in the community and was out of power himself, responded to assess the situation. He immediately contacted emergency officials, to include the myself. He opened the Community Center’s Founder’s Room and provided coffee and heat to those interested.
PG&E’s restoration estimate is approximately 2-3 p.m. today. They were able to “jumper” a few wires to another pole on Acacia Avenue and restore power to several areas in the community. Areas along San Rafael Avenue, Windward, Peninsula Road, and Beach had power restored before 8 a.m. Areas up on the island had power restored as well. Power is still being restored in other areas.
Water has been turned off and MMWD has not yet provided an estimated restoration time. At this time, MMWD is waiting on PG&E to stabilize the power pole and address the power restoration prior to excavating the area to work on the water main.
For more information and updated information, stay tuned to BEARS 840 AM, contact the Belvedere Police Department, and/or visit the PG&E and MMWD websites. The Community Center will likely remain open until 2-3 p.m. today, Sunday, December 14.
Categories: Emergency Preparedness · Public Safety
Tagged: Emergency Preparedness, Power Outage
The City Council met last night at their regular meeting. The Agenda was pretty light but there were three very important issues for the Council to review and approve. The first was the Second Reading and Adoption of the Marin Energy Authority Joint Powers Authority (JPA). The Council approved the first reading of the Ordinance in November and December’s adoption of the Ordinance formalized the City as a member of the JPA. By the end of December, nearly every City in Marin (and the County) will be founding members of the JPA slated to bring Marin energy alternatives over the next several years. There remains a tremendous amount of work to be done as the JPA begins its mission. The City Council tentatively appointed the Mayor and Vice Mayor as representatives to the JPA, but as the JPA evolves the Council may rotate the membership to members that have the time and specific interest in serving on this very important Board.
The second important issue on the Council’s Agenda was the approval of the request for funding for “Walk Your History.” The City of Belvedere, Town of Tiburon, Belvedere-Tiburon Joint Recreation and the Belvedere-Tiburon Landmarks Society have all joined forces to present, “Walk Your History.” Walk Your History is to be a FREE community event designed to get our residents out on April 5, 2009 to learn about the fascinating Belvedere and Tiburon history. THere will be three walking loops on the Peninsula dotted with volunteer docents at historic hotspots. The new “Then and New” and “Looking Back at Belvedere” stations in Belvedere and Tiburon will be incorporated into the event as well as historical homes, the Belvedere Fire, the China Cabin, Ark Row, Main Street and the local speakeasy & bootlegger - Sam, the Railroad Depot and so much more. Loops will start and end at the Belvedere Park for the Walk Your History BBQ lunch. Watch for more information on this free community event!
Lastly, the City Council confirmed the nominations of Citizen of the Year and Citizen Emeritus put forth by the Citizen of the Year Committee. The Committee met on December 2 to review the nominations and unanimously recommended Dr. Bruce Sams as the 2008 Belvedere Citizen of the Year and Rita Fink as the 2008 Belvedere Citizen Emeritus. These individuals have made significant contributions to the community over extended periods of time and are more than due for their moment. Congratulations to both! Please plan to attend the Annual Belvedere Town Hall Meeting on January 26, 2009 where both will be recognized for their achievements!
For Audio of last night’s meeting, please visit the City’s RSS Audio Feed at feed://www.cityofbelvedere.org/CityAudio.rss.
Categories: Clean Energy & Sustainability · General Government
Tagged: City, Council Meeting
Last night’s General Plan Committee Meeting included a healthy discussion of the “opportunity sites” identified through prior community meetings on housing and development. Prior community forums identified 7 potential sites for sustainability and suitability of housing development. These sites were:
- Properties owned by Belvedere Land Company in the vicinity of San Rafael, Beach, and Teal Roads. Specifically mentioned was the area of carports along Beach Road and other portions of the site(s) that are currently developed with 2-story apartments and duplexes.
- The Boardwalk Shopping Center (portions in Belvedere).
- The former Christian Science Reading Room site at the corner of Beach Road and Main Street.
- City-owned property along Lagoon Road, specifically, the Tennis Court Parking Lot.
- The City Hall Parking Lot.
- The Mallard Road development.
- The San Francisco Yacht Club Parking Lot.
The group analyzed the pros and cons of each site as identified by the community forum members in an attempt to provide the General Plan Consultants with a strategy for prioritizing and/or eliminating any of the sites as potential development opportunity. As you may be aware, the City is tasked by the State with identifying sites for development of 17 new units in Belvedere, some of which must be affordable. The City does not have to build the units; nor does the City have to engage a developer or property owner to develop the units. However, what the City must do is identify those areas where such development might occur and provide the underlying zoning or specific plan development guidelines that would allow that development to occur on the identified sites.
The “opportunity sites” are those areas that were identified by the community as potential sites where such development might occur. Any one site is unlikely to solve the entirety of the City’s housing element issues - i.e. all 17 units - nor would the community be likely to support such a development. Therefore, the General Plan Update Committee is analyzing the pros and cons of each site and tasking the consultants with identifying the acceptable potential of the site that would fit the community’s needs. Additional housing methodologies would also be investigated such as furthering the development of 2nd units.
After much discussion, the Committee identified the top 5 opportunity sites (1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 - in no particular priority) on which the consultants should focus for the site’s development potential. The remaining two were placed on the lower end of the spectrum to be investigated further if the others sites become infeasible. To be clear, “development potential” is purely that - potential. There are no identified plans for development. The “potential” of a site would be captured through “up-zoning” the site so that it could accommodate further housing development in the likely form of multi-family development, senior housing, or other similar development potential. The underlying property owner could choose to take advantage of the up-zoining or could leave the property in its current state.
If you would like to be involved in the further refinement of these opportunity sites and/or any phase of the General Plan Update, please stop in for the meetings which are typically held on the 4th Tuesday of every month at 6 p.m. Due to the holiday’s the next meeting is Wednesday, December 17 at 6 p.m. Audio of the meetings is posted on the City’s website and is available via RSS feed. Agendas and staff reports are posted on the City’s website at http://www.belvedere2030.org.
Categories: General Plan Update · Planning
Tagged: General Plan Update, Planning
