In Your Town for Sept. 6, 2024

NOVATO

School district hires
head of maintenance

Jean Claude Van Rooyen, a former administrator at the Miller Creek School District, has been named maintenance and operation director for the Novato Unified School District.

Van Rooyen’s appointment is pending approval by the district’s board of trustees on Sept. 10. Van Rooyen’s starting annual salary would be $155,292.

Van Rooyen’s previous position at the Miller Creek district was assistant to the chief business officer. Prior to his work in education, Van Rooyen was a director of product operations and digital tools at Levi Strauss & Co.

Van Rooten holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing management from Cape Peninsula University of Technology in South Africa. He also holds certifications in product management and product leadership from Product School in San Francisco.

BELVEDERE

Building penalties
appealed to council

The owners of a home on the lagoon are appealing $83,700 in penalties for exceeding construction time limits.

Starting in July 2022, the city issued four permits and reviewed various plan revisions for improvements at 54 Peninsula Road, according to a staff report by Brian Van Son, the city building official. By the time the city conducted its final project inspection, on June 13 of this year, the project was 113 days past deadline, even counting a 30-day “grace period,” Van Son said.

The property owners filed an appeal. One of the owners, Jon Doyle, wrote a letter saying the permit deadline was missed “for reasons beyond our control, including, but not limited to, unexpected issues discovered with the structure that necessitated a revision which was not timely approved by the City.”

The City Council has scheduled a hearing on the appeal for its meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday.

Van Son, in his report, recommends the council reduce the penalties to $58,500, enough to cover a four-week violation of the permit deadline.

“While staff understand and empathize with the reasoning behind the appeal, they could determine that only a portion of the project was penalized due to factors beyond the applicant’s control,” he wrote. “As explained above, staff contends that some of the project delays could have been avoided had the owner conducted the necessary steps and due diligence before pulling the multiple building permits and commencing the project.”

WEST MARIN

Housing plan clears
key approval hurdle

A county zoning administrator has approved permits for a housing project at the former U.S. Coast Guard site in Point Reyes Station.

The developer, the Community Land Trust Association of West Marin, wants to build 54 dwellings at the site at 1 Commodore Webster Drive. The association also plans a wastewater system, a resident services building, a new playground and other features.

The zoning official held a hearing on Aug. 29 and approved a coastal permit and a conditional use permit, said Michelle Levenson, a county planner.

“Next steps for the project applicants will be to obtain permits from other regulatory agencies, including the State Regional Water Quality Control Board,” Levenson said. “Once all necessary regulatory permits have been issued and provided that the building permit application and plans demonstrate that the project meets all relevant building code requirements, a building permit can be issued for the project and the project can be constructed.”

WEATHER

Forecasters extend
area heat advisory

The latest Bay Area heat wave is expected to roast the region for a few extra hours before some cooler air arrives, according to the National Weather Service.

The elevated heat, which settled over the region on Monday, was expected to ease by Friday. However, the weather service extended a heat advisory through Friday at 8 p.m. The advisory originally was slated to expire Thursday at 11 p.m.

The East Bay valleys and hills, Santa Clara Valley, the eastern Santa Clara hills, the Santa Cruz Mountains, the Marin coastal range and the North Bay interior valleys and interior all fall under the advisory, as do the San Benito Mountains and interior Monterey County. The advisory does not apply to San Francisco.