Via email : from savoursausalito – excerpt

Thank You City Council & SOS Supporters

On Tuesday night (12/2), the City Council voted unanimously to keep Chapter 3: View Protection in Sausalito’s new Objective Design & Development Standards (ODDS). With strong turnout both in person and on Zoom — and more than 115 public comments submitted — the community’s support for protecting Sausalito’s views was clear.

This is a significant win for SOS supporters and all of Sausalito.

The unanimous vote shows the Council heard residents’ concerns, and it reflects the strength of Chapter 3, which was carefully developed by Sausalito volunteers over many months.

“If not for this effort by these volunteers and by the members of the city there wouldn’t be view protection.” – Mayor Joan Cox

What Was At Stake

Heading into the meeting, View Protection was at risk. Some Planning Commissioners had pushed to remove Chapter 3 and leave Sausalito without View Protection. Without this Chapter, a developer could get approval for a project and still block resident views.

Your advocacy helped ensure that did not happen.

Software Enabling Chapter 3: ViewSync

Chapter 3’s View Protection standards require a reliable, objective way to measure view impacts. The answer was a software tool called ViewSync which was created by talented Sausalito based software developers and other experts with input from SOS supporters. It provides a clear, consistent analysis that gives the City a fair enforcement tool and developers predictable standards. Without a software tool Chapter 3 could not be adopted.

“This software is brilliant, and it works.” – Vice Mayor Steven Woodside

How it works: ViewSync is built on a super-detailed specialized aerial map of Sausalito with elevation data recorded every six inches, capturing buildings, hillsides, trees, and terrain. These billions of data points create a precise digital “LEGO” model of the entire city.

Using that model, we can draw a straight line from any property to the water and see precisely what is in the way. Because the dataset is so large, the calculations run on Google’s cloud computers, giving us access to the same scale and high reliability that powers Google.

“This is a design tool that we architects really welcome.” – Michael Rex, Architect

Through a simple web app, developers can insert a proposed building and quickly see how it affects surrounding views. Developers will appreciate this benefit too: once they build a project, their own views will be protected under the same standards as everyone else’s.

The magic of this system is that it also allows us to identify perfect places and forms for development that fit into the community.

“Congratulations. It’s really cool and innovative.” – Councilmember Ian Sobieski

Watch the presentation and discussion of view protection here >>