Frequently Asked Questions

Background

  • Three things make the current rules unworkable:

    • Building is nearly impossible. The code caps floor area ratios (FAR) at 0.4 — meaning 1,000 sq ft of land allows only 400 sq ft of space. That's too small for a real workshop, let alone room to grow. Forty years of Ordinance 1022 produced almost no new artist studios, maritime uses, or industrial spaces.

    • Economic activity is explicitly discouraged. The Ordinance prohibits changing from one permissible use to another if the change "results in increased commercial usage" (Section (d) of 10.200.2).

    • Routine decisions require a citywide vote. Almost any meaningful change — a new use, a variance — requires a vote of registered Sausalito voters. The city can't say yes through normal government processes, creating a nearly impossible hurdle for even routine changes.

  • For most waterfront businesses, no. Regular retail sales are not a permitted use. Businesses can create, make, and produce, but cannot regularly sell to the public on their own premises. Businesses like Heath Ceramics that sell today were grandfathered in when Ordinance 1022 passed in 1985.

The Problem Today

  • AIM stands for the Arts, Industrial and Maritime Preservation & Improvement Initiative. It amends and modernizes Ordinance 1022, a 1985 voter-passed measure that has left Sausalito’s waterfront unable to adapt, grow, and thrive to meet the needs of today. It preserves and enhances the economic vitality of the waterfront’s arts, industrial, and maritime heritage so it can grow and thrive, generating increased revenue to fix its crumbling infrastructure without raising taxes on residents.


  • To get AIM on the November ballot, we need 800 registered Sausalito voters to sign the official petition by early June. Be the first to know when the official petition is available to sign by adding your name at: www.sausalitothrive.com/sign.

  • In 1985, residents passed the Fair Traffic Initiative (Ordinance 1022) to reduce traffic from new development and preserve the maritime character of the commercial and industrial zones. Forty years later, those same rules now prevent waterfront businesses from growing, thriving, and adapting. Buildings are aging, infrastructure is crumbling, streets are flooding, and office buildings stand half vacant. Because 1022 was created by a citywide voter initiative, only a new citywide voter initiative can change it.

  • No. AIM amends Ordinance 1022 to fix its ambiguities and support the arts, industrial, and maritime communities. Across most of Sausalito's commercial areas, much of 1022's framework stays intact — including the prohibition on new commercial office buildings. In the working Industrial and Waterfront zones, AIM updates development standards so businesses actually have room to operate.

  • The AIM Initiative is sponsored by Sausalitans who are members of many local community groups and have thought deeply about how to create a genuinely Thriving Waterfront. They are local residents who are tired of watching our waterfront crumble while businesses struggle to adapt and survive.

What AIM Changes

  • Regular retail sales become possible if a business is making items onsite. No special permit, no citywide vote — just normal business. For example:

    • A baker can open a retail counter and sell bread directly to residents

    • Fishermen can open a regular fish market on shore to sell to the public

    • An artist can sell work directly from her studio

    • A furniture maker can sell pieces from his workspace

  • AIM raises the FAR cap from 0.4 to 3.0, opening underutilized parcels to new and expanded workspaces for artists, makers, maritime enterprises, and light industrial uses — the first real incentive to build new arts, maritime, and industrial spaces in decades. Height is capped at 47 feet in the Industrial (I) zone (lower than the existing 65-foot ICB building) and 32 feet in the Waterfront (W) zone, with a practical exception for maritime necessities like walking cranes.

  • Complementary businesses that fit the waterfront's character and are currently banned or hard to permit. For example:

    • Coffee shops and cafés so workers and residents have somewhere to go

    • Marine retail stores for gear, supplies, and equipment

    • Fish markets and wholesale seafood sales

    • Distilleries, galleries, and open studios with retail

    • Harbor, marina, and floating facilities

    Marinas deserve special mention: you cannot have a strong maritime industry while prohibiting the infrastructure that supports it. Today, marina expansion is essentially banned, starving boatbuilders and marine trades of the market they need to survive. AIM lets marinas expand responsibly under BCDC and state oversight.

  • Routine land-use decisions return to normal city government processes — with public hearings, environmental review, and community input. No ballot required for everyday decisions.

    This doesn't bypass planning; it makes planning viable. In 2010, residents invested thousands of hours in the Waterfront & Marinship Plan, which was never implemented because changes to Ordinance 1022 require a citywide vote. AIM removes that barrier so future planning efforts can actually result in action.

  • The reason is the age of 1022 and California election law. The changes to Ordinance 1022 are only about 5 pages.

    Over the years, 1022 has been incorporated into our General Plan and Municipal Code in confusing and surprising ways. We made specific changes to reverse these things, and election law requires that we show the entire section that was changed. This can be dozens of pages.

    Since we are retiring the Marinship Specific Plan, the entire plan must be included, with an “X” over every page. This is 127 pages of the initiative.

But What About…?

  • No — the opposite. New commercial office buildings remain prohibited, and heights step down toward the shoreline. This reform is primarily about activities, not size: letting working businesses operate normally without arcane permits. For artists and small businesses, AIM creates more ways to show and sell work and more room to expand studios. The current rules are what's hollowing out the creative community; more open studios and working spaces strengthen it.

  • More usable space generally moderates rents. Industrial rents in Sausalito are among the highest in the Bay Area — often over $3/sq ft, compared to roughly $0.75/sq ft for comparable space in Alameda. Rents are high partly because there's so little to lease. More supply means more options.

  • Several places and uses are written directly into the measure:

    • Downtown Historic District. Completely excluded. Boundaries as of January 1, 2026 are permanently protected, and any change of use downtown still requires a vote of the people.

    • Arques Shipyard and ICB Building. Explicitly protected. No new use can displace the ICB Building or its shipways.

    • Housing in the Marinship. AIM does not zone for housing. To the extent practical, future state-mandated housing should prioritize unused parcels before building in parks, and be compatible with the waterfront's arts, industrial, and maritime character.

    • The Machine Shop. Currently federally owned and expected to be sold soon. AIM rezones it from public institutional to industrial when ownership changes hands, enabling productive industrial use.

  • No parcels are rezoned to housing in this initiative. This initiative returns the power to zone back to the normal city government process with full public participation and environmental review – like in most towns. This could allow for compatible implementation of mixed-use housing but in a planned and careful way. What's more, if this measure passes, it is the express intent of the voters that empty parcels be prioritized for housing before placing it in our parks or adjacent infrastructure. Additionally, Sausalito will have the tool of being able to negotiate with property owners variances and other quid pro quos to help motivate them to build things that fit our scale and character. This negotiation is largely prohibited by 1022 which disallows the use of variances and planned developments.

  • Yes, and in a good way. An arbitrary local cap has long limited liveaboards and houseboats in Sausalito regardless of actual conditions or state law. AIM removes that local cap and defers instead to BCDC, the Bay Plan, and state law, the agencies that actually regulate the Bay. By removing Sausalito’s cap and enabling Marinas to expand, this could increase more houseboat and liveaboard opportunities in slips.

  • No. The Downtown Historic District’s boundaries as of January 1, 2026 are excluded.

  • Very little new space has been built for decades, but demand is high. AIM creates incentives to create new industrial space for artists, creators, and makers, which will allow the community to grow and thrive.

    If we don't do something to fix the infrastructure and address sea level rise, this area won't exist in the future.

Benefits & Next Steps

  • By enabling more compatible uses and economic activity, AIM generates new tax revenue and private investment without raising taxes on residents — which is how deteriorating storm drains, flooding streets, and failing piers actually get fixed. It also welcomes cafés, galleries, and small retail alongside existing studios and maritime businesses, plus water-based amenities like public kayak launches, water taxis, and floating facilities — giving residents real reasons to visit and linger.

    AIM is sponsored by Sausalitians for a Thriving Waterfront, a group of local residents who decided to act rather than watch the waterfront crumble. To place the initiative on the November ballot, the group must collect 800 signatures from registered Sausalito voters by early June. Add your name to the list on the homepage to be notified when the petition is ready to sign.