Attempting to maintain city control may cost millions of dollars beyond the $10-12 million that the city proposes to give away

Even if a bidder arrives to partner with the city to develop MLK, the costs for the taxpayer could be significantly higher than giving away 2 acres of irreplaceable Sausalito land worth approximately $10-12 million.  

Although the city claims that a 50 unit building could economically be built here,  the city has an unfortunate track record of seriously underestimating the cost of work at MLK.  The geotechnical properties of the site have not yet been explored, but neighboring properties and the MLK field itself have proved to present real groundwater issues.  USGS maps indicate that the area is a liquefaction zone, meaning that construction will have significantly increased cost due to earthquake hardening.

A salient example of the city’s failure to accurately assess costs is the drainage work at MLK park.  The city estimated this would cost $40k.  The final bill was nearly $600k.

The prospective city development partner will face tremendous expenses getting this project off the ground.  If they cannot self finance and cannot find acceptable private financing options, they will turn to the city with their hands out.

If the city cannot or will not provide the financial backstop, then the developer will not be able to proceed.  A density bonus developer will again push their project.  

If the city refuses to partner, or claims that Measure K prohibits them from partnering, we will be in the same legal peril I have described above.

We don’t have to take this risk.