Tiburon Town Council again rejects streamlining for bigger second units

The Tiburon Town Council has approved routine updates to the town’s second-unit rules so they align with existing and pending state laws, though a bid to increase the maximum unit size for streamlined approval failed in a split vote.

At the council’s Jan. 15 meeting, Mayor Holli Thier’s attempt to increase the maximum square footage for ministerial approval — at the staff level without a public hearing — from 1,000 square feet to 1,200 square feet failed 2-2, while the remaining package of updates passed 4-0.

Councilmember Isaac Nikfar joined Thier in supporting the increased unit size, while member Jack Ryan and Vice Mayor Jon Welner opposed it; Councilmember Alice Fredericks was absent.

The size limit has been a recurring point of contention. Though residents can get a 1,200-square-foot unit with a public hearing and design review, the Planning Commission recommended the higher streamlined limit three times in 2021. The council rejected it 3-2 in February 2022. The issue resurfaced amid Thier’s and Nikfar’s fall reelection campaigns, when a Marin judge struck down Tiburon’s identification of a Paradise Drive property as being able to accommodate 93 units in its state-certified 2023-2031 housing element, where Tiburon was required to identify sites for at least 639 total new units.

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