Corte Madera Council Expects Busy Fall Season

The Town Council, like many families in the area, usually takes a break in the summer. We did not hold meetings in late July or early August, but are now back and hard at work.

Fall will be very busy for the Council, but I wanted to draw your attention to two specific upcoming items:

• Highway 101 Construction - One of the most important things happening this fall will be a review of the Environmental Impact Report for the Greenbrae Corridor Improvement Project. It is scheduled to be released in October, and we will probably review it at a meeting shortly thereafter and provide comments. This is a very large project, and involves, potentially, major reconfiguration of most of the entrance and exit ramps between Wornum Drive and Sir Francis Drake in both North and South bound directions. A start date has not been settled on yet, but this is potentially  happening in the next few years. The potential impacts on our town are huge, both positive and negative, so please, attend this meeting if you can and let us know what you think.

• Twin Cities Police Shared Services – The Twin Cities Police Department has entered in to a shared services agreement with the San Anselmo Police Department. So far it has been going extremely well. The Town is saving considerable money as a result, and service has improved, as there are now more traffic police on the street. The department is considering a full consolidation, incorporating both departments in to one organization. The results would be, among other things, significant additional savings to the Town, and further improvements to service.

We know the Police are one of the beloved institutions in this community, so we plan to have a public hearing on this soon to answer questions and give everyone a chance to ask questions about how this would work. Stay tuned for an exact date, but it will hopefully be on the agenda at a September meeting.

In other recent developments, the Council unanimously passed a resolution stating we will continue to abide by the Brown Act, a state law that promotes transparency in government. It became controversial recently when the State announced they were cutting funding for it, and that it would no longer be enforced. We, along with several other towns and what I expect will be every town in the County, have agreed to continue to stand behind it.

We also passed, at the request of a local resident, a resolution that stipulates water will be served in the Town’s restaurants only at the request of the customer. This measure promotes conservation of one of our most precious resources, as it saves water that is not consumed, but also saves water in washing glasses.

Finally, I have two community updates:

• Town Park Plaza and Café Verde – this project is quickly moving to completion. We are hoping for a grand opening of the first phase of the project in September.

• Secondly, believe it or not, Corte Madera’s 100th anniversary is coming up in 2016! We will be having a discussion at one of our Council meetings in September about setting up a committee to start planning for the event. Please attend and give us your thoughts, it’s not too early to start working on what should be a great party!

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