Guest Editorial by Mike Son, Bank of Marin and MV Chamber Board Chair

As we approach the two-year anniversary of the completion of the City of Mill Valley's 18-month, $18 million Miller Avenue Streetscape Project, a massive re-imagining of one of the town’s two main arteries, it’s easy – and appropriate – to focus our attention on just how user-friendly, forward-thinking and downright gorgeous the street is.

But for business owners and residents on and around Miller Avenue, the project was a long haul of headaches, from parking and access disruptions to road closures and the need to remind customers they were open for business and appreciative of the support.
Business owners up and down Miller did what they could to mitigate the challenges. Three Mill Valley residents in particular stepped up to lead the way, thinking creatovely about the challenges they faced.

Jim Iavarone, a longtime and significant Miller Avenue property owner and managing partner of Mill Valley Refuse Service, went the extra mile to provide his tenants a much-appreciated break on monthly rent to account for the project’s impact on their business. He also served as a liaison with the City in terms of the project’s impact on regular garbage and recycling pickups. At a broader level, Iavarone continues to champion “Zero Waste” initiatives at a wide range of Mill Valley events, including the annual Winterfest in December and the Chamber’s Wine, Beer & Gourmet Food Tasting in June.
 
Jim Revoir, owner of Grilly’s restaurant and one of the most respected and influential business leaders in Mill Valley, saw the project as one of the biggest challenges his business faced since he founded it 25 years ago. He provided a laser-like analysis of the impact on Miller businesses to both City officials and Chamber staff, and he successfully lobbied for local business tax adjustments and fought to preserve strategic parking for employees and customers. 
 
Jim Welte, the third Jim, serves as the Director of Membership and Community Engagement for the Mill Valley Chamber, and also was the communications specialist for the City of Mill Valley, a pair of roles that placed him in a unique position to communicate “the road ahead,” so to speak, to business owners about what project-related challenges were on the horizon. He relentlessly encouraged residents to shop, dine and support Miller Avenue businesses, kept the community informed and ensured business voices were heard in City Hall.

Welte also gave early feedback to project managers about unintended consequences of their upcoming construction plan, and spearheaded the Chamber’s “Snack, Sip & Shop” event series designed to get residents to support Miller businesses. He also was among the organizers the Millerfest celebration in November 2017 to mark the completion of the project.

MORE INFO ON THE 2019 SPIRIT OF MARIN AWARDS.

Whether it's a state law requiring food-serving businesses to compost, the ever-growing list of municipalities banning the use of plastics as to-go food containers – or the overwhelming desire to do everything we can to mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis – food business owners and managers are increasingly interested in best practices on packaging and food waste disposal.

In the interests of educating its members on existing laws and in advance of any new regulations, the Mill Valley Chamber is hosting, with support from Sustainable Mill Valley, City of Mill Valley and Ambatalia's Molly de Vries, a Food Business Forum on Monday, Sept. 16, 2-3:30pm, in the Forest Room of the Mill Valley Community Center (180 Camino Alto).

The event, which builds on de Vries' successful Mt. Tam EcoFest in June, features a panel of experts across the spectrum of waste disposal, composting, recycling and reuse. They include:

• Upstream's Miriam Gordon, who will serve as moderator of the event.
• Mill Valley Refuse Service Managing Partner Jim Iavarone
• Waste Management of Northern California Director of Communications (and Marin native) Karen Stern
• City of Mill Valley Senior Planner & Sustainability Coordinator Danielle Staude
• ReThink Disposable's Grace Lee

Don’t miss this second forum especially crafted for food businesses. Bring your questions, comments and concerns. It will be a fantastic opportunity to learn, not just from the experts, but from your peers. 

The event will feature plenty of time for food business owners to express their concerns with the ability to get answers from the people most informed on the subject and who are immersed in the details of these issues every day.

​Good Earth Natural Foods is graciously providing light snacks. BYOB(ottle) to fill up at the event.

The 411: The Mill Valley Chamber is hosting, with support from Sustainable Mill Valley, City of Mill Valley and Ambatalia's Molly de Vries, a food business forum on Monday, Sept. 16, 2-3:30pm, in the Forest Room of the Mill Valley Community Center (180 Camino Alto). RSVP attn: Susan Lopes at info@millvalley.com.​

In March, the Mill Valley City Council sought to make a decision about how best to configure the section of Miller Avenue between Millwood and Willow streets, the area between the Mill Valley Lumber Yard and Mill Valley Music and Critterland Pets. It had plenty to consider: parking, safety, emergency access and a quintet of possible choices about a stretch of road that was the subject of a pilot project at the conclusion of the 18-month Miller Avenue Streetscape Project in 2017.

In the end, the Council decided to keep this segment of Miller striped as a one lane roadway with a single vehicle travel lane, a bike buffer, bicycle lane and parallel parking aisle along the curb, and directed its staff to develop parking restrictions to manage parking in this segment of Miller to enhance its ability to  function well during emergency conditions. 

On Aug. 5, the Council unanimously approved a recommendation from Fire Chief Tom Welch, Police Chief Alan Piombo and Public Works Director Andrew Poster that will create employee parking only in the southbound (outbound) direction for approximately 37 vehicles, residential parking only in the northbound (inbound) direction for approximately 32 vehicles, and no parking on Red Flag days or other hazardous weather conditions.

The Mill Valley Chamber intends to include the availability of those additional 37 spaces as part of its Employee Parking Permit Program (EPPP), with specific conditions and requirements to receive emergency notifications like Alert Marin and Nixle. 

FULL STAFF REPORT HERE.

Do you have a business project that has been "on the back burner" due to lack of resources?

Need market research, competitive analysis, focus group data collection, etc? 

Would you enjoy working with a team of college students? 

Dominican University has a pair of opportunities to receive free help via its Barowsky School of Business and Institute for Leadership Studies.

Opportunity #1 - MBA Boot Camp

Dominican University's Barowsky School of Business is offering 3-4 small businesses the opportunity to consult with MBA students.

What: A graduate student consulting team will work on your project and assist you at no cost during the August MBA Boot Camp.
 
Why: This will give your business the much needed attention and professional support to accomplish your goals while allowing your consulting team, and our incoming MBA cohort, to learn and apply their leadership and business acumen.
 
When: August 23 - 25
 
Time requirements: Be available to work with your team from 3:30-5pm on August 23, be available "remotely" in the afternoon on August 24, and from 11am - 3pm on August 25 (this includes a lunch and the consulting presentations).  
 
How to apply: 
1. Fill out this short questionnaire by July 26
2. We will accept 3-4 projects based on their project scope, problem statement, and availability.
3. Make sure someone from your business is available during the Boot Camp hours.
 
Questions? Email Daniel Cassidy at daniel.cassidy@dominican.edu or call (415) 482-3501.
 
Opportunity #2 - Longer Project Assistance

Two Leadership & Organizational Behavior Classes are giving the opportunity for 6-8 businesses to receive free project assistance. 

What: A small student team (3 to 5 students) will work on your project and assist you at no cost during the class time frame.

Why: Through these projects, students help you accomplish your goals while applying leadership and teamwork skills

When: Fall Semester 2019 - early September to mid-November

Time requirements: Be available to work with students on campus two times in the semester for 1-2 hours plus guidance and mentorship throughout the project

DEADLINE to APPLY: Friday, August 2, 2019
 
Click here for examples of past successful projects.

If your organization would like to host a team project, please complete the Leadership Practicum Application.
 
Questions? Email ils@dominican.edu.

With more than 50 business owners and managers seated before him in the Mill Valley Community Center on June 17, and with an array of media outlets ready to report on the impact of Pacific Gas and Electric’s so-called public safety power shutoffs on those businesses, Dave Jeffries, a public safety consultant and retired Novato Police captain, looked to lighten the tension in the room with a light-hearted quip.

“This presentation is such a downer, I’ll never be welcomed back,” he joked.

The workshop, organized by the Mill Valley Fire Department and the Mill Valley Chamber, focused on PG&E’s plan to dramatically increase the use of one of its major wildfire prevention plans during the upcoming fire season: so-called Public Safety Power Shutoffs, when the utility giant will turn off power lines during weather deemed dangerously dry and windy in order to reduce the risk of wildfire, specifically in neighborhoods identified as at risk.

"(PG&E's) goal is to not be blamed for another fire," Jeffries said. "They do not want to take the blame for another fire."

PG&E's strategy will require significant planning by Mill Valley’s business owners, Jeffries and MVFD Chief Tom Welch told those in attendance. A subsequent workshop is set for June 24 at Del Mar School in Tiburon at 10am.

“We’re all used to these short one-, two- or three-hour power shutoffs, but this is a different thing that we’re going to be dealing with,” Jeffries said, noting that while he consults with public safety agencies, he does not work for or have any professional relationship with PG&E.

“The idea is that, based on certain conditions, they’re going to proactively de-energize their system – turn off the power. You’ll be without electricity, but those lines won’t be starting fires. If we shut down power, we can minimize the number of fires and save lives. But there are clearly complications in this for all of us.”

Factors Dictating Power Shutoffs
Jeffries said no single factor will dictate those decisions. National Weather Service alerts on red flag warnings, low humidity levels, sustained winds and gusts, the moisture content of the vegetation nearby and “real-time observations by PG&E’s wildfire operations center and field observations of PG&E crews” will all come into play in deciding to shut down power.

Those decisions will be made specific to different tiers of fire danger based on location. As you can see on the map above (click here or on the map itself for an interactive version of it), most of Mill Valley’s commercial districts, particularly Miller and East Blithedale avenues, as well as Tam Junction and Strawberry, are not within Tier 2 or Tier 3, which are designated as elevated and extreme, respectively.

“We’re hoping they’re small areas,” Jeffries said. “But there is potential that some very large areas maybe entire counties will be de-energized.”

PG&E has committed to issuing alerts at least 48 hours prior to a power shutoff, with subsequent alerts following 24 hours out, just prior to shutoff, during the outage and upon restoration of power. Those alerts will go to all customers within the affected areas via phone, text and email and via partners like City of Mill Valley and the Mill Valley Chamber via social media, website and emails. There are also a number of free emergency notification systems like Alert Marin and Nixle that anyone can sign up for to be updated about shutoffs and related emergency conditions.

Jeffries made a major point toward the end of the workshop: that before PG&E restores power to an affected area, PG&E crews will need to visually inspect all affected infrastructure within that affected area.

“A lot of us could handle 12-24 hours but none of us have probably planned for four, five or six days without power," he said.

Jeffries also made an important distinction for those within Tier 1: if your electricity comes to your business via a Tier 2 or 3 area, you may still have your power shut off. “If that spigot of electricity gets turned off, the power lines coming to your area could get shut off as well," he said. "PG&E has told some people that entire counties could be de-energized – they have to watch their whole system.”

Plan Ahead
Jeffries recommended answering a multi-tiered question about your business as soon as possible: How does electricity support your business/operations, specifically on lighting, cooling, computers, point of sale, telephones, refrigeration, security systems, gas pumps, ATMs and more. Secondly, how will community impacts on resources like traffic lights, cell towers, street lights impact your business?

“I suggest you walk through your business and see how much of these systems will be affected,” he said. “Walk through your day-to-day processes. Push data backups regularly and especially in advance of a shutoff. If you’re emergency plan is two steps: one, pick up the phone and two, call 911 – that is not a plan.”

Mitigation
“What can you do to prevent or minimize impacts – generators, batteries, solar, wind/water turbine – moving or adjusting operations,” Jeffries said. “Once you have a plan in place, test it and your equipment. Train your staff. Coordinate with partners and vendors. And once you have that plan in place, don’t trust it – test it. And have your staff walk through that plan – they may understand pieces of your plan better than you do.”

“We want you to think about what no power for seven days means for your business and, most importantly, what can you do now to mitigate those issues you anticipate happening,” Welch added.

Former Mill Valley Mayor Garry Lion, who sits on the board of the Marin Economic Forum and the Marin Disaster & Citizens Corps Council, told attendees that the City had obtained grant funding to revive the M'BER program, which in 2012 helped 22 local businesses deemed essential for post-disaster recovery efforts come up with a customized emergency plan template.

Lion said the updated version of the program will help select businesses – likely those spanning food service, medical supplies, pet supplies, lodging and building services – go through that process. 

The 411: Mill Valley Fire Department & Mill Valley Chamber hosted a workshop for Mill Valley businesses on PG&E’s so-called Public Safety Power Shutoffs at the Mill Valley Community Center. An additional workshop is set for June 24 at Del Mar School in Tiburon at 10am.

For additional resources about public safety power shut-offs, check out this fact sheet on prepareforpower.com.

Regulators have signed off on one of Pacific Gas and Electric’s state-mandated plans to dramatically increase the use of one of its major wildfire prevention plans during the upcoming fire season: so-called Public Safety Power Shutoffs, when the utility giant will turn off power lines during weather deemed dangerously dry and windy in order to reduce the risk of wildfire, specifically in neighborhoods identified as at risk.

PG&E says its goal is to provide customers with 48-hour notice of a planned shutoff and follow up that notice with updates. But its strategy will require significant planning by Mill Valley’s business owners, says Mill Valley Fire Department Chief Tom Welch. To that end, MVFD is hosting a workshop for business owners on Monday, June 17 at 10am at the Mill Valley Community Center.

“Bad weather could be a 12 to 24-hour window, and it would take us 3-5 days to get the power back on in many cases,” Welch says. “This workshop will focus on what that means to you and your business and do you have a good continuity of operations plan. We want to make sure that everyone understand what this means to you and your business.”

“We want you to think about what no power for seven days means for your business and, most importantly, what can you do now to mitigate those issues you anticipate happening,” Welch adds.

PG&E has posted tips for residents here, offering suggestions to plan for emergencies such as the need to keep medications cold, knowing how to manually open your electric garage door or having flashlights or lanterns and fresh batteries readily available.

Business owners in Mill Valley and throughout Marin know this better than anyone: one of the biggest challenges you face is hiring, driven largely by the lack of affordable housing and the long commutes for prospective employees.

In an exciting partnership with the City of Mill Valley, we're co-hosting a Mill Valley Job Fair, the first MV-centric job fair in ages, at the MV Community Center (180 Camino Alto), with easy access and plenty of free parking. The event is Tuesday, April 23, 3:30-6:30pm. 

To date, more than 20 local businesses have signed up to be at the Job Fair, including Whole Foods Market, Good Earth Natural Foods, Tutor Corps, Body Kinetics Health Club, Dave Fromer Soccer, Viva El Espanol, The Redwoods, BrightStar Care of Marin, Sol Food, The Cantina, Equator Coffees, Urban Remedy, Bank of Marin, Homestead Valley Community Center, Redwood Credit Union, Piazza D'Angelo, Peet's Coffee, Grilly's, Orange Theory Fitness, Wells Fargo Bank and more. ​

The 411: The Mill Valley Job Fair is Tuesday, April 23, 3:30-6:30pm, at the MV Community Center, 180 Camino Alto. 

Two of the most gorgeous retail spaces in Mill Valley hosted an EMV After Hours event on March 20, serving up delicious Mediterranean food and tasty wine and drinks to dozens of members and friends on a delighting spring evening. Thanks to all who came out, to everyone who helped make it happen and to Julia and Floyd Albee of Prevalent Projects and Sahap Borak and his entire team at Roja Rugs for having us into their spaces and for being such gracious hosts! 

GO HERE FOR GARY FERBER'S PHOTOS OF THE EVENING!!

Citing the need to upgrade aging pipes and equipment and keep up with inflation, the Marin Municipal Water District is proposing a four-year rate increase starting in July as well as a new fee that would add another $163.50 or more to the average customer’s property tax bill each year.

MMWD's board is set to vote on the rate and fee increases at its May 14 meeting, preceded by a public workshop on Thursday, April 25 at the Mill Valley Community Center (6-8pm). The board is expected to discuss the rate and fee hikes at its next meeting, set for March 19 at 7:30pm at its offices at 220 Nellen Ave., Corte Madera, CA 94925.

Customers' additional annual fees, which will be levied on their property tax bill, will be determined by the size of their water meter, as district officials say a larger meter has the capacity for significantly higher water demand than a smaller meter. Most customers in Mill Valley a 5/8-inch meter and and thus will incur a first-year fee of $163.50 (which can be increased by the MMWD board by up to 4 percent each year after that).

Fifty-two percent of non-residential (mostly businesses) in Mill Valley have a 5/8-inch meter, according to MMWD data, and another 23 percent have a 1-inch meter, for which those customers would pay a $409 fee in the first year.

The district is planning at least $208 million in capital improvements in the next decade that would be paid for with the new fee revenue, according to the Marin IJ. The projects funded by the additional revenue include $18 million in seismic upgrades to its three water treatment plants, $27 million in maintaining and replacing storage tanks and $103 million to replace aging pipelines and pump stations, among other investments, according to district officials. About $1 million of fee revenue is proposed to go to fire fuel management and firefighting equipment.

District officials told the Marin IJ that the fees are meant to "shift the district away from borrowing money to pay for infrastructure to a cash-based system instead," resulting "in lower interest payments being passed on to customers, ultimately saving each customer an estimated $90 per year."

In addition to the new fees, the proposed water rate increases are meant to increase by about 4 percent annually to address costs of inflation.

An 2017 IJ editorial pointed out the turbulence of water policy in recent years: "Ratepayers have been whipsawed by the (MMWD)’s mixed messages. While following the district’s push for conservation, by cutting back on their water use ratepayers have reduced the district’s income. That led to last year’s approval of a two-pronged increase that boosted rates 27 percent, including fees for water, service and managing the district’s watershed. Then complying with the state’s emergency order to reduce water use during the drought, the district came back with another round of increases. Ratepayers have been using less water, but paying more for each drop."

The Mill Valley City Council is set to make a final decision on March 4 on how best to configure a section of Miller Avenue, and it's got plenty to consider: parking, safety, emergency access and a quintet of possible choices.

At the conclusion of the 18-month Miller Avenue Streetscape Project in 2017, the City Council decided to create a pilot project around how best to configure the roadway's Parkway section between Millwood and Willow streets, the area between the Mill Valley Lumber Yard and Mill Valley Music and Critterland Pets.

While the Miller Avenue Streetscape Plan, which the Council adopted in 2011, called for two car lanes in each direction through the Parkway, the segment was re-striped to one lane on each side during construction to allow for additional parking in the area. That decision was driven by the significant impact on available parking during construction, and the extra space on the road for bicyclists with one less lane for cars. The one lane pilot project provided 65 parking spaces in the Parkway, counterbalancing the overall loss of 65 parking spaces on Miller as part of the Streetscape project.

In weighing all of the options, City staff is giving the Council five choices for the Parkway configuration, ranging from turning the road back to two lanes in each direction and completely eliminating parking on both sides to keep it exactly as is. Staff's recommendation seeks to split the difference, maintaining one lane of travel on each side but eliminating all of the outbound parking – 37 spaces – gained in the pilot setup.

The City's environmental analysis has determined that there are no significant impacts associated with the one lane configuration, and its transportation study concluded that, for daily use of Miller Avenue, the one lane configuration has not negatively impacted traffic congestion, safety, travel speeds or cut-through traffic. The City public safety officials have advised that the one lane roadway configuration accommodates emergency and potential evacuation operations, and that the one lane configuration is wide enough to accommodate two streams of traffic in the same direction.

The city's study of parking within the Parkway section concluded that parking in that section is occupied 82 percent during the day and the outbound curbside spaces that would be removed by the recommended option are occupied 73 percent during that time.   

The Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors weighed in on the issue, encouraging the Council to maintain the existing configuration for a variety of reasons, including the potential unintended consequence of driving employee parking into the local neighborhoods and discouraging consumers from coming to lower Miller Avenue and downtown.

"Additionally, we encourage you to consider restricting most of the 37 outbound spots to those with Employee Parking stickers, whose owners we can track if necessary," The Chamber noted in its letter to the Council. "We note that at this time neither the former funeral home/childcare center on Miller nor the restaurant at the Mill Valley Lumber Yard are open.

The 411: For more info on this issue, read the staff report here. Send your comments to cityclerk@cityofmillvalley.org.