Improving Belvedere’s Financial Stability: The City Council adopted revised user and regulatory fees for services provided by the Planning, Building, and Public Works departments. The fee increases reflected in the new schedule are based on a study conducted by ClearSource Financial Consulting, which analyzed fee revenues and related city costs over a 5-year period. The study found that … Continued
Working to Improve Communication to Residents: Communications is a top priority for the City Council. Prior to developing a communication plan, which included revamping the city website and creating the Belvedere Breeze e-newsletter, we conducted a survey of residents in fall 2023. This year, to evaluate the impact of our various efforts to improvecommunication, we … Continued
The annual City Council and Management Retreat provides an opportunity for councilmembers, senior management and Belvedere residents to gather in an informal setting and discuss priorities for the city during the coming year. This year’s retreat on February 13 included: a discussion of the city’s short-term capital improvement priorities a presentation about long-range capital planning … Continued
With an eye to improving efficiency and effectiveness, the City Council voted to reduce the number of Planning Commissioners from the current seven to five. The rationale for the change includes a reduction in staff time per project, easing the home visit requirement for applicants, and shortening meeting duration. Because a five-person commission requires at … Continued
At its November 12 meeting, the City Council approved the submittal of the second revision of the Belvedere Housing Element Update to the California Department of Housing and Urban Development (HCD). This revision responds to HCD’s latest comments and includes edits from the Planning Commission and City Council. The update lays out prospective areas of … Continued
At their September 9 meeting, the City Council adopted an Emergency Operation Plan. This plan, along with the recently adopted Belvedere Hazardous Mitigation Plan, form the framework for preparing the community for potential emergency situations. The Council also directed City staff to put together a working group to continue to update and further develop the … Continued
At their July 8 meeting, the City Council appointed two new members to the Parks, Open Space and Lanes Committee: Marika Bergsund and John Schirm. They will join members Nicholas Markman, Charlie Harrington and Wayne Stacy. Also at the meeting, Public Works Director Tony Boyd reported that a recent assessment of our city streets found … Continued
On June 10, the City Council adopted a $11.8 million budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year. Despite generally healthy finances, the staff report and the Council discussion highlight concerns related to the growing fire funding deficit, rising pension costs, and essential capital improvements. This budget prioritizes repairing three sections of Beach Road via the $2.2 … Continued
