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Belvedere panel explains demolition permit, ties it to bulkhead work and an Oct. 15 regulatory window
Summary
City staff told a packed community meeting the Mallard Point demolition permit is tied to a bulkhead permit and an October 15 regulatory window; the mayor said the city will not issue the permit today unless outstanding conditions are met.
Belvedere Mayor Sally Wilkinson and planning staff laid out the city's approach to the Mallard Point demolition permit at a public meeting, explaining that the demolition and bulkhead permits are linked and that an October 15 regulatory deadline set by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife is shaping the schedule.
"We are working against that October 15 deadline, and we, as a city, are moving so quickly towards that October 15 deadline, because it's a finite window," Rebecca Markwick, the city's director of planning, told attendees. Staff said the applicant showed a schedule in which bulkhead replacement would begin within 14 days of demolition commencement and be complete by Oct. 15, and the city has conditioned the demolition permit so demolition cannot begin until the bulkhead permit is issued.
City counsel and the housing attorney described the legal constraints: once the demolition conditions in the demolition resolution are met, state housing and building laws give the developer a right to the demolition permit. That sequence matters because a demolition permit triggers the developer's ability to issue a 60‑day notice to tenants. "The city is limited to the conditions that were applied to the demolition permit," housing attorney Barbara Coutts said, adding staff have tried to ensure those conditions are met.
At the meeting's close, Mayor Wilkinson reiterated the city will not issue the demolition permit until outstanding items are satisfied. "We will not be issuing the demolition permit today if they haven't satisfied the outstanding conditions," she said. Council members asked staff and legal counsel to review the issues that residents raised during the meeting and promised to post supporting documents on the project page.
The meeting recorded no formal council vote; staff said that if and when the remaining conditions are satisfied the city would be legally obligated to issue the demolition permit, but that demolition cannot begin without the bulkhead permit in hand.
