San Anselmo council votes to keep Live on the Avenue as two-night street-closure series

San Anselmo’s Town Council voted to keep the popular Live on the Avenue summer music series on the downtown thoroughfare as a two-night event, approving the Parks & Recreation Commission and staff recommendation known as Option B.

The council’s decision came after a staff presentation summarizing outreach — including a community survey with 455 responses and a business survey with 36 responses — and a public-safety briefing by Captain Hamid Khalili of Central Marin Police. Kat Austin Alexander, chair of the Parks and Recreation Commission, told the council the commission voted overwhelmingly in favor of keeping both Friday and Saturday street closures and highlighted that 83 percent of survey respondents preferred the two-night format.

Staff and the commission had offered two principal paths: Option A, a hybrid model with a single-night full street closure and a second night with programming centralized in the plaza; and Option B, continuation of full street closures both Friday and Saturday. Recreation staff said written public comment included 219 submissions as of the prior week, and staff noted strong community support for the two-night format.

Captain Khalili emphasized public safety from the 2025 season’s experience, saying one hour was not long enough to clear parked vehicles and explaining the practical constraints of towing and vehicle-removal operations. He recommended a two-hour pre-closure window and urged the town to consider mobile barriers as an added protective measure. Khalili also explained legal limits on immobilization devices: under the vehicle code, boots may be applied only to habitual offenders meeting specific criteria, not to temporary event violators.

Recreation staff proposed a compromise operational timing — a 1.5-hour street closure with a clearance window leading into a 6 p.m. programming start — and said the department is investigating mobile, wheeled barriers and other low-impact physical buffers for the plaza edge. Staff estimated the town would likely need 12–15 mobile barrier units and reported a procurement estimate of roughly $78,000–$97,000 for the set (staff also acknowledged the transcript included a garbled per-unit figure that staff said was not accurate).

During public comment dozens of residents, parents and business owners voiced support for keeping Live on the Avenue in its current two-night form, citing community-building, safety for children when the street is closed, and economic benefits for downtown merchants. Some business owners asked for later street closure times or other mitigations to ease deliveries and rush-hour traffic, and several speakers suggested low-cost physical measures (for example, parking town trucks at block ends) as alternatives to higher-priced barriers.

Council discussion weighed safety recommendations from Central Marin, business concerns about earlier closures and the possibility of paying overtime to Community Safety Officers. Several councilmembers said the program is a defining community amenity and endorsed preserving the two-night format while pursuing tactical improvements. Vice Mayor Walker moved to accept the Parks & Recreation Commission and staff recommendation for Option B as written; the motion was seconded and carried.

The council’s approval directs staff to proceed with planning for the 2026 Live on the Avenue series under the two-night, full-street closure model and to continue work with Central Marin and vendors on vehicle-immobilization options, mobile barriers and neighborhood parking mitigation. Staff also flagged potential cost-saving steps — cutting the season from 29 to 24 evenings, piloting a music-apprentice program, and reassessing parade expenses — and will return with more detailed procurement and budget information.

The council concluded the session by asking staff and Central Marin to follow up on immobilization options and other operational details before final production decisions.