Tiburon says Sam’s docks must be closed amid repair work, disputes 'shut down' and mayor involvement
Note: This article was recast with comment from the town manager. Tiburon has temporarily closed the docks at Sam’s Anchor Cafe as a condition of a construction permit requested by the restaurant and issued Jan. 30 to address California Building Code and Americans with Disabilities Act repairs.
The pending work comes more than four years after gates to the docks were first ordered locked amid ongoing compliance concerns related to the restaurant’s 2019 remodel. It’s also central to an ongoing lawsuit against the town.
In posting about the closure on its Instagram page, Sam’s described it as a “shut down” and referred commenters inquiring about the reason to Mayor Holli Thier. However, Town Manager Greg Chanis said Jan. 31 that Sam’s and its representative, the project architect, were aware the docks would need to be closed once the permit was issued and until construction was complete, which would allow the docks to legally reopen for the first time since the remodel. He said no councilmembers were involved in the permitting process or its requirements. Tiburon initially ordered the docks closed for not being level on Nov. 23, 2020, requiring locked barriers — first chains and then a metal gate — between the deck and gangways, plus the posting of “No Public Access” signs. But the docks have remained open in violation of the occupancy permit ever since; the restaurant was recently cited for the unlocked gates and for illegally performing related repair work without a permit, according to Building Official Doug Haight.
Haight confirmed he conducted a compliance inspection Nov. 7. He didn't respond to a followup for additional details, and Chanis declined to comment on the matter. However, Tiburon historically does not check for continued compliance after a permit has been finaled unless there's a citizen complaint; The Ark filed a public-records request with the town Jan. 31 for any records of a possible complaint ahead of Haight's inspection.
Haight said the inspection also confirmed that gaps of at least a half inch were present in the decking — another lingering compliance concern from the 2019 remodel — which poses a hazard for tripping and wheelchair casters. He said he advised Sam’s to hire a certified access specialist for a full inspection and recommendations for corrections but that a permit to repair the deck wouldn't be required if no materials were replaced. Sam's filed the construction application for dock repairs a month later, on Dec. 12, and it was approved the next day.
Community Development Director Dina Tasini said she's working with Haight and the project architect and is "hoping to complete this work within the next month.”
Tiburon is being sued by its former building official for wrongful termination related to this issue.
Among other requirements, then-Building Official Clay Salzman informed Sam’s owner Conor Flaherty of Tiburon in July 2019 that, after installation of new gangways, the restaurant would have to level out the docks side to side, to within 2% cross slope, to comply with safe grade requirements under state and federal laws and to close any gaps in the new decking to less than one-half inch as a hazard for tripping and for wheelchair casters. He reminded the contractor ahead of a Nov. 20, 2020, inspection, but he found that neither repairs were made. Salzman was then placed on COVID leave, during which time the town reinspected the dock on Nov. 23 and found the deck gaps filled with wooden shims but the dock not compliant. As a solution, the town reportedly ordered the docks chained off with signs to create a nonpublic area not subject to ADA requirements, according to court documents.
Once off COVID leave, Salzman was reportedly directed to reinspect the restaurant and certify the fixes as ADA compliant. He returned twice in unscheduled inspections — the second time with an ADA lawyer — and says he found the gap shims removed and the chains unlocked, with boaters actively using the docks to access the deck. He then notified Tasini that he refused to approve the occupancy permit unless repairs were made as he originally requested. At the same time, Flaherty complained to the town about the unscheduled inspections.
The town suspended Salzman, reportedly in part for hiring the ADA lawyer without authorization and for not scheduling the inspections, though Salzman asserts both the COVID leave and the suspension were to sideline him and push through easily defeated fixes.
While Salzman was suspended, the town contracted an access specialist to examine the deck gaps and chains — but not the docks — for compliance. On Dec. 16, 2020, she ordered the gaps be closed once again and for the chains be replaced with locked metal gates and “No Access” signs. Another contract building official then signed off on the occupancy permit in January 2021, the day before Salzman returned from suspension.
Salzman was later terminated in December 2021, filed an administrative claim in June 2022 and the wrongful-termination lawsuit in November 2023. It originally named Sam’s and Flaherty as part of a conspiracy claim, but Sam’s was dropped from the suit in October 2024 ahead of a Dec. 20 amended suit that also drops the conspiracy allegations. Flaherty did not respond to several requests for an interview.