Burke, Carapiet poised to join Belvedere City Council

The Belvedere City Council will gain two new members in December when planning Commissioners Pat Carapiet and Kevin Burke step into new roles to replace Nancy Kemnitzer and Jim Lynch.

Burke and Carapiet are running uncontested alongside incumbent Sally Wilkinson in the Nov. 5 election, guaranteeing their spots on the board. Kemnitzer declined to run for reelection after fulfilling the customary two-term council limit in Belvedere, and Lynch chose not to run for a second term.

For complete local election coverage, visit thearknewspaper.com/election2024.

Carapiet, Burke and Wilkinson will all be sworn in to their four-year terms at the council’s December meeting. The two planning commissioners are joining the council at a pivotal time. The city continues to seek state approval on its mandated eight-year housing plan, with the council set to review a third draft of the document next month. Meanwhile, construction of the approved 40-unit Mallard Pointe redevelopment project across from City Hall is set to occur during the candidates’ terms, and the city is exploring whether it should formally join the Tiburon Fire Protection District rather than continue to contract for its services, as costs have continued to increase, while goals for seismic and sea-rise fortification of Beach Road and San Rafael Avenue remain up in the air.

Carapiet and Burke, who both have business backgrounds, said they hope to bring their communication skills to the council to improve the flow of information between community members and city staff.

Burke said his priorities as a councilmember will include mitigating traffic issues on Tiburon Boulevard, continuing to work to develop better planning and construction policies, establishing a more sustainable way to fund fire and emergency services and exploring ways to address residents’ concerns about coyotes.

“I so love the city, and I’m very committed to it,” he said.

Carapiet said she does not have an agenda on what she would like to accomplish on the board but wants to make sure Belvedere residents are kept in the loop with civic life and how local government operates. She said, for example, many residents do not know how the planning and building process works and may not understand why it takes a long time.

“Being open and transparent is important so people understand how things work,” she said.

Carapiet says improving communication is key

Carapiet, 73, moved from San Francisco to the Belvedere Lagoon 29 years ago. She was born in Chicago but moved every three to five years in her childhood for her father’s corporate job, growing up in Wisconsin, Texas, Georgia and California. She lives with her husband, John — who will win reelection to his seat on the Sanitary District of Marin No. 5 board unchallenged — and the couple has two adult children, Joseph and Molly.

Carapiet received her bachelor’s in business from Arizona State University and soon began her career in real estate. She serves clients in San Francisco and southern Marin.

She has been actively involved in the community over the past three decades, including her 10-year stint on the Planning Commission, during which time she served as chair for 2½ years. She’s been a member of the Belvedere Sailing Society since 1995, currently serving as its communication officer, and she founded the high-school sailing program at the San Francisco Yacht Club in 1997, when her kids were in high school.

She’s also the president of the Belvedere Community Foundation and was a member of the Belvedere Lagoon Property Owners’ Association for years.

Carapiet said her past decade on the Planning Commission taught her how to participate in city government, and she’s now ready to transfer her knowledge and background to the City Council.

She said she is interested in improving the city’s communication process by bringing it “into the 21st century,” utilizing digital communication like e-mail more frequently than physical mail. The city currently sends out a digital newsletter, the Belvedere Breeze, and e-news alerts via the Belvedere Blast, but Carapiet noted, for instance, that while the city collects emails from applicants seeking to remodel their homes or build new ones, she has received many complaints from residents that notices about their projects only come by physical mail. She said the city needs to switch to delivering notices by email so that people can obtain information regardless of where they are at the time.

She suggested strategies to get new residents informed about how the city operates. For instance, she said, Belvedere provides a resale inspection to people seeking to buy property in the city before they close a deal, which is also the first document a potential buyer receives from the city. Carapiet proposed that when the inspection report goes out to a potential buyer, it also includes information on how to sign up for the Belvedere Breeze and the city’s news alerts.

Carapiet also said she thinks applicants seeking to build or remodel homes on the island should receive more information earlier in the process. She suggested that the city should provide applicants with an information sheet outlining the building and planning process with estimated time frames for how long each step takes.

Carapiet said she’s also interested in creating greater opportunities for dialogue between residents and city officials. She said she supports continuing the meet-and-greet and coffee chat events hosted by councilmembers and city staff, informal gatherings in which residents can ask questions and discuss pressing issues. She said she would like to have those events more frequently, noting holding more events means more chances for residents to be heard.

“People in Belvedere are very friendly and open,” Carapiet said, adding that as a planning commissioner, she would hear feedback from residents she ran into on the street or by email. However, she said, a group setting to discuss issues allows for more back and forth and a range of perspectives.

Both Carapiet and Burke served on a Planning Commission subcommittee tasked with reviewing the third draft of the city’s state-mandated housing plan, which calls for Belvedere to identify sites for 160 new housing units, of which 77 must be affordable, over the next eight years. The state rejected Belvedere’s second draft in March, with the accompanying letter from the housing agency focusing on 18 compliance issues, including the city’s efforts to overcome systemic fair-housing challenges, evaluate the effectiveness of the previous housing element, eliminate land-use and policy constraints and create programs to encourage development.

The subcommittee was set to hold a public meeting on the third draft at 4 today, Oct. 30, to gather public feedback before the draft heads to the City Council Nov. 12.

Carapiet said it’s important for the city to abide by state law and find the required 160 units of housing.

She said having the subcommittee hold a public meeting allows residents to have their voices heard before the council approves the draft, and it’s a more efficient way of gathering feedback than one-on-one encounters.

Carapiet said one of her communications goals is to increase residents’ understanding of complicated or controversial projects or initiatives, such as the approved plans for Mallard Pointe, where the 22 existing units will be replaced with 40.

The controversial project faced a contentious road to approval, with the grassroots group Belvedere Residents for Intelligent Growth forming for the sole purpose of fighting the plans.

Both Carapiet and Burke were part of a unanimous vote by the Planning Commission last year to require environmental review on the project, a decision that bucked recommendations from city staff, engineers, legal reviewers and other consultants who said the project legally qualified for a California Environmental Quality Act exemption as infill development.

The developer successfully appealed that decision to the City Council, which voted 3-1 to overturn the commission’s decision. Councilmember Jane Cooper agreed with the commission and dissented, while Kemnitzer was recused. The council ultimately approved the project last May in another 3-1 vote.

Carapiet said she has accepted that the project is happening, but said there were a couple changes she wished were addressed earlier on in the planning process, such as sidewalks. The council’s approval of the project’s tentative subdivision map included a requirement that the developer preserve rather than eliminate the sidewalks on Mallard Road; however, consulting attorneys warned the council likely won’t get its sidewalks in a three-way standoff with the developer and Tiburon Fire Protection District. The road as proposed would have two lanes but meet only the 20-foot width requirement of the state fire code to accommodate emergency vehicles, leaving no room for sidewalks and street parking. Carapiet said she wished officials required the applicant to widen the road to accommodate sidewalks by pushing into lot sizes.

She said that now that the project has been approved, residents should be kept informed about major steps in the construction process through things like the Belvedere Breeze. She added it would be helpful to include the proposed Mallard Pointe project manager’s e-mail on the city’s website for the public to share feedback. When construction begins, Carapiet suggested there be more individual-based or smaller group communication for immediate neighbors who will be the most impacted.

Another issue the city will continue to work on over the next several years is fortifying its infrastructure.

Belvedere came up with a $20-million plan to drive sheet piles into 80-year-old arterial roads San Rafael Avenue and Beach Road to protect underlying utility lines and to ensure they remain passable to residents and first responders in a major disaster, such as an earthquake.

However, the project stalled after voters in November 2022 rejected the 0.8% real-estate transfer tax to fund it, along with the charter-city transition required to levy the tax.

Saying the ballot defeat didn’t eliminate the risk, the council last year voted to press forward with the final impact report. Neither it nor the ballot initiative addressed a proposed second phase to upgrade seawalls to defend against a 100-year storm and predicted sea rise.

The city has a pending $15.6-million grant application that’s been selected for review by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

In the meantime, the city plans to spend some $2.2 million to fortify a long-troubled section of Beach Road threatened by erosion. Sheet piles will be installed about 40 feet below the southern sidewalk along the Belvedere Cove side of the street near 20 and 26 Beach Road, across from Cove Road, and near the China Cabin, across from Peninsula Road, where there’s a visible separation at the sidewalk at all three sites.

Construction is planned for fiscal year 2026-2027.

Carapiet said she wants to wait until the city finds out if it will get the grant funding before considering the options to fund the larger infrastructure project. However, she noted, “nobody wants more taxes, but unfortunately the system is structured that that is where we get our money, from taxes.”

Notably, some 75% of Belvedere voters supported the separate Measure M tax on the same 2022 ballot that preserved the Martha property on Tiburon Ridge as open space. The most vocal opponents of Belvedere’s seismic infrastructure measure specifically objected that transfer taxes create a “blank check” for City Hall by going into the general fund — meaning they could be used for any purpose without voter approval, such as the more-controversial seawall phase or closing the gap in the fire-district contract. Belvedere’s city finance and council officials argued that other taxing options were less equitable as they pledged to use the funds only for the seismic fortification; all three councilmembers who supported the measure were reelected over opponents who opposed it.

Carapiet said that communicating the necessity of the repairs is important to get more residents on board with the project.

“I think there’s a conclusion by some people that the infrastructure project is to protect the lagoon homes,” she said.

She said the project would benefit all residents, noting that if there was a breach in the city’s underground electricity wires, it would affect the entirety of the island.

Carapiet said she’d like the city to keep residents better informed and prepared for potential emergencies. The city is divided into different zones, and she said it would be beneficial for residents to know what zone they live in and what route or routes they should take if they need to evacuate. She said the different evacuation routes could be communicated through public meetings, The Ark or a postcard, letter or email to individual households.

Carapiet said the city needs to establish and evaluate the safety of all the routes off the island and should also collaborate with Tiburon to coordinate evacuation routes off the peninsula. Burke added that utilizing the bay, which she called the “open highway,” also needs to be looked at as an evacuation option.

Burke identifies traffic as a priority issue

Burke, 63, moved from San Francisco to his Golden Gate Avenue home in Belvedere with his husband, Jeff Ferguson, in 2018. Burke grew up in Bellingham, Massachusetts, and received his bachelor’s degree in marketing and finance from Babson College. He is semi-retired from a career in marketing and communications that included stints at Square and Visa. He also coaches chief marketing officers and advises early-stage companies.

In addition, he’s the vice chair and head of governance on the board of directors for the nonprofit LGBTQ+ advocacy organization GLAAD and also serves on the boards of software development companies Kyriba and LumApps.

Burke has served on the Belvedere Planning Commission for two years. He’s also volunteered for many other civic groups, including the city’s communications task force and for the campaign to pass Measure C in March; the initiative, which passed, allows the city to continue spending property taxes that fund about half of its contract for fire and emergency services through the Tiburon fire district. Burke, who was treasurer of Wilkinson’s election campaign in 2022, also helped out with the city’s unsuccessful campaign to pass the proposed infrastructure tax and assisted Belvedere resident Adam Gavzer with producing his community talent show, “Love Letters to Belvedere,” in 2022.

Like Carapiet, Burke said he sees his new role on the council as a progression from his position on the Planning Commission, adding that serving on the council was a great way to give back to the community.

“I feel like my role is to be the voice of the community,” he said. “It’s certainly our job as City Council people to make decisions on behalf of the community, but I very strongly believe that those directions should be informed by the community.”

Burke said the role will require finding ways to reach consensus on sometimes controversial issues, such as the infrastructure project. He noted the success of that project will require the community to have a shared understanding of the environmental risks at hand, the potential solutions and what is needed to pursue those solutions. He said it is important to educate the community and get them to a place where they are ready to commit to a solution.

Burke also said the community should have a say in identifying different approaches for the noise and parking issues that come with construction, a common complaint from residents. Currently the city has a rule that one construction project is allowed three trucks marked by orange tags on site, but enforcement has been a problem. The city has discussed solutions including issuing residential parking permits, though Burke said that could have consequences such as removing parking spots for out-of-town visitors.

Burke also said he would like to ensure that community voices are heard by the state when it comes to the housing plan. He said he believes 160 units is a large undertaking for a small community, adding that there is not a lot of open space in Belvedere, which makes it difficult to accommodate that quantity of new units. He said the city is required to comply by law and should be prepared to meet the housing requirement by the state. However, at the same time, he said, council and grassroots community groups should push back against the housing requirements. He said the way government can be swayed is by hearing multiple voices.

Burke agreed with Carapiet that more can be done to increase communication between city officials and residents. He said from a community poll last year, the city found most people preferred e-mail communication over other methods. However, he said, he’d like to conduct another poll to assess if new communication put in place over the last year or so, like the Belvedere Breeze, is sufficient or if there are other options the city should try.

One of the key issues that Burke wants to address as a city councilmember is traffic congestion on Tiburon Boulevard. Tiburon is conducting a traffic study focusing on three major roads in town: Tiburon Boulevard from Blackfield Drive to Beach Road; Trestle Glen Boulevard between Tiburon Boulevard and Paradise Drive; and Paradise Drive between Main Street and Trestle Glen Boulevard.

Burke said he will have to wait until the data comes out to brainstorm solutions to the traffic issues.

“You are not going to eliminate the traffic issue,” he said. “But you can certainly identify ways to make it better or give people tools to better manage how they experience it or interact with it.”

He said traffic-mitigating artificial-intelligence technology will come out in the next few years that will be able to adjust traffic signals based on traffic patterns. Burke said he is also interested in looking at solutions such as adding a roundabout at the intersection of Trestle Glen and Tiburon boulevards and building a second lane by that same intersection.

Caltrans is planning on a 4½-mile preventive maintenance project on Tiburon Boulevard that’s scheduled to begin in spring 2026. Included in the plan is the addition of bike lanes in both directions from the start of the project, at the end of East Blithedale Avenue near Tower Drive, all the way down to Blackie’s Pasture. Most of the proposed bike lanes are Class 4, which are lanes on the roadway separated from vehicle traffic, but a span of Class 1, or offstreet pedestrian-bike paths, along Tiburon Boulevard would begin just past the East Strawberry Drive intersection heading into Tiburon and finish right before the Greenwood Cove Drive intersection.

The Belvedere council earlier this year expressed concerns the bike lanes would increase congestion and pose a safety risk for vehicles and cyclists alike; board members have said they want Caltrans to do a focused traffic study ahead of the project.

Burke said the plan needs to be studied to see if the proposed bike lanes on the road are necessary and if they will create traffic issues. Carapiet said similarly that she would not like to see traffic exacerbated due to new bike lanes when there is already a detour that connects cyclists to the San Francisco Bay Trail.

Among the other issues the council is set to consider in the near term is whether it should officially join the Tiburon Fire Protection District rather than continue to contract for its services, which have grown increasingly more expensive.

Belvedere scrapped its all-volunteer fire department and began contracting fire services with the Tiburon fire district in 1981, backed by a voter-approved parcel tax with no sunset date. With annual increases tied to inflation — and a one-time voter-approved bump in 2000 — the tax is now $1,028 per residential parcel and raises about $1.13 million a year.

However, the cost of providing fire services continues to rise, consistently outpacing revenues. The original tax paid for more than the entire contract, but that share dropped to 86% by 2000 and is about 51% today, forcing Belvedere officials to dip into the general fund of the annual budget each year to make up the difference.

This year’s total contract is about $2.4 million, meaning the city had to pull about $1.27 million from its general fund to bridge the gap.

The City Council earlier this month voted in favor of launching a feasibility study that will focus on the pros and cons of annexation. It will also examine other alternatives, such as building a firehouse in Belvedere to be staffed either in-house or through a different fire agency.

Carapiet said she thinks that the city has to be aware of all of the pitfalls in whatever contract they make for fire services and should try to negotiate the best deal for sustainability.

Burke said he needed to become better informed on the issue but agreed that the city needs to find sustainable solution. He noted 22% of the city’s operating budget is dedicated to fire services, and that will increase to 26% by 2029.

“It will continue to eat away at the overall budget,” he said, adding that may mean the city doesn’t have money left to fund other necessary programs.

Reach Belvedere, Strawberry and public-safety reporter Naomi Friedland at 415-944-4627. DONATE to support local journalism, or SUBSCRIBE NOW for home delivery and access to the digital replica.

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