Sausalito’s Spencer Avenue fire station to reopen

Sausalito is on track with restoring the Spencer Avenue Fire Station as a wildfire-fighting hub.

The City Council on Tuesday approved a 15-year lease with the Southern Marin Fire Protection District that includes restoring and reopening the facility by July.

The fire station is near Highway 101 and overlooks hundreds of homes. It has been used for city records storage for a decade and become rundown.

“That is a win, win, win,” said City Manager Chris Zapata, who listed the station’s revival as one of Sausalito’s crowning achievements in 2025.

“It’s a win for the community in terms of preparedness. It’s a win for the (fire) district in terms of ramping up services that are necessary. And it is a win for the city in terms of we have a tenant and a lease in a fallow property, which is just deteriorating.”

Mayor Steven Woodside appointed ex-mayor Joan Cox to be the council’s liaison to the project, which includes digitizing city records and renovating the structure. The upgrades include the city spending $700,000 to replace the wood-shingle exterior with metal siding and installing a new kitchen.

Approximately 40% of Sausalito’s tax revenues are committed to fire protection, Cox said after the council meeting. Her appointment was part of an effort to ensure that sizeable subsidy was maximizing emergency preparedness for taxpayers, she said.

The council unanimously approved the long-term lease and related documents as part of the consent calendar.

The fire station’s importance “for proactive preparation” has increased since state officials issued updated regional fire risk maps, a staff report said.

“The SMFD has explored the implementation of stationing personnel beyond the current building footprint to assist in this effort as a first step,” the report said. “The SMFD agrees with the City that the former Fire Station would be a strategic and likely staging area for this resource.”

“The City understands this (rehabilitated station) to be a first step and not a reactivated fire station with 24/7 personnel and necessary fire engines,” it said. “A full on Fire Station would require further review by the SMFD as well as currently budgeted resources.”

The fire district will pay $85,860 in annual rent.

During public comments, a handful of speakers asked if the city was being too generous to the fire district.

Peter Van Meter, a former council member and past fire district director, said the $700,000 in remodeling costs should be borne by the district.

Babette McDougal said the city should charge telecom companies more for installing towers at the facility and use that income for needed repairs.

Cox asked Zapata if he wanted to comment on any of the concerns raised.

“We have been in negotiations regarding the cell tower leases to be a little more aggressive in our ask,” he said. “We are working in that vein. The other thing is that place was fallow for how many years? You tell me, 10? 11? It’s an absolute mess.”

“As a landlord, there has been analysis done of that work to bring it up to snuff so it could be used,” Zapata said. “We negotiated this in what I call a comprehensive and fair manner. … We worked long and hard with the fire district to make this happen and the way that the council wants to see it.”