Monday morning, city staff and council got together for a mid-year retreat, open to the public for the most part, to cover $2.8 million in library planning money, a $5 million clubhouse renovation, a $6 million public works building, and a $100,000 Hauke Park softball field renovation, all part of the $24.2 million capital program the city committed to this year, the most ambitious in Mill Valley's recent history (see our June 28 report on how the city got here).
Todd Cusimano and department heads walked council through where each project stands, along with a stack of infrastructure work moving in parallel.
Why it matters: These are the projects that will define the next several years of city services and city debt. The $24.2 million program is funded by a 1% Measure L sales tax generating roughly $5 million a year, combined with a $15 million bond priced at 2.75% and the city's General Fund capital allocation.
Money committed in one fiscal year doesn't mean the project breaks ground that year: funds get encumbered when contracts are signed, but construction often trails a year or more behind. As Cusimano put it in June, referring to the city's Capital Improvement Program, or CIP, "This really isn't a two-year CIP or three. It's a three- or four-year CIP." Here's where each piece stands now.
The library
The Mill Valley Library pictured from Old Mill Park. The city engaged an architectural firm in May to develop a master plan for potential improvements, with a phased implementation strategy to follow, according to the May staff report.
Cusimano said the strategic planning process begins this month, with four to five subcommittee meetings running into early next year and recommendations expected back to council in about five months. He described the plan as identifying "priority projects for this building over the next 50 years."
We'll update readers on subcommittee meetings and how to get involved as those details are confirmed.
Boyle Park
Tennis court reconstruction and resurfacing is targeted for May 2027, one of three projects submitted for the 2026/27 capital budget together with the pro shop and picnic area upgrades, totaling about $580,000 combined (see our May 17 report on the park's first master plan since 1991).
Tennis was the community's top update priority in resident surveys at 28%. Councilmember Stephen Burke has said the upper two courts are currently unplayable and unsafe, an assessment staff confirmed at the time.
The full master plan runs $8.6 million to $10.7 million across 43 improvements. Most items remain unfunded, and some, including a $1.95 million restroom replacement and a $600,000 bridge widening, drew council pushback in May over cost (see our May 20 report on that debate).
👩🏻💻You can look at each item’s cost and try to design your version of Boyle Park in this Briefing interactive.
The golf course clubhouse
The renovation carries a confirmed $5 million estimate. So far, the city has started a study to determine what work the building actually needs, and Councilmember Urban Carmel has begun outreach to community stakeholders, but the scope hasn't been decided and no public meetings have been held.
Carmel compared the project to the Depot building renovation, another project with a roof, kitchen and restroom in need of repair, rather than a major redesign: "It's mostly interior. It's very engineering-oriented," he said. Next step is value engineering, which Carmel described as checking "whether we can accomplish what we think we can accomplish with the budget" before the project advances, then Planning Commission review, which he called "a great forum for the community to come and engage."
The debate: Mayor Max Perrey relayed frustration from residents and former mayors that the city is running too many major processes at once, quoting one directly: "We had 50 meetings about the general plan over a year. Where are the meetings on the golf course clubhouse? Where are the meetings on the library?" On the clubhouse specifically, Joachim pushed back on the idea that residents had missed anything, saying the process itself hasn't reached that point yet: "We started to do the study to decide what was possible, but we haven't had any community meetings."
Council asked staff for a clearer public timeline, something closer to an infographic than a project list, so residents can see where each effort actually stands.
What's next: Library subcommittee meetings expected to start this month. The Hauke Park softball field goes to council September 21. The clubhouse moves into value engineering and a Planning Commission discussion later this year.
📝 The retreat also covered updates on the public works building, the Sycamore pump station, softball field, sea level rise adaptation, pool resurfacing, Ethel Avenue, Blithedale barrier, PG&E undergrounding, and the police chief search. Those updates are in the inbox of paid subscribers on Monday.
🌱 If you think Mill Valley deserves this kind of coverage, sharing it with one person today is the most direct way to help it grow.
📣 The next Mill Valley Briefing community conversation and podcast recording is less than two weeks away! Titled ‘Where Mill Valley stands on wildfire, and what comes next’ and coming to Sweetwater Music Hall on Wednesday, September 16. Panelists from SMFD, Marin Wildfire, Marin Water and a Stanford policy expert will discuss. Free entry with RSVP, and only a limited number of spots remain.
sponsored by
MILL VALLEY HISTORICAL SOCIETYThis week in Mill Valley history: The inn on the mountain
On September 3, 1904, a small inn opened at the westernmost point of the Mount Tamalpais railroad — the farthest west the tracks went before turning east toward the summit. Sidney Cushing, who had built the railroad eight years earlier, ordered it built for $2,500. It was named for where it stood: West Point.
West Point Inn from above, with San Francisco Bay in the distance, early 1900s. Published by Edward H. Mitchell of San Francisco. (Courtesy of the Lucretia Little History Room, Mill Valley Public Library)
The inn served two kinds of traveler. For those continuing to the summit, it was a brief stop where the train met a horse-drawn stagecoach running down to Willow Camp — what is now Stinson Beach. For hikers who couldn't afford the Tavern of Tamalpais at the top, it was the destination. "West Point Inn was a favorite excursion for people of moderate means," recalled Irene Coffin, who grew up in Mill Valley. "Three dollars a night for a room seemed expensive for us." The inn, she said, was "quite like the Swiss inns — built in that style, even to the rocks on the roof. It had no electric lighting; you had just candles."
Twelve days after it opened, the Marin Journal noted in its Mill Valley social column that "Mrs. Matsen is the guest of Miss Canepa at West Point Inn for a week." The inn's first known managers were Mr. and Mrs. John Roth, who ran it for nearly five years before departing for Switzerland in May 1909, according to the Mill Valley Record.
By 1918 it had become, as the Mill Valley Record put it, "a time-honored hikers' objective." Residents of Mill Valley would hike up the mountain, take dinner at the inn, "and return home in the starlight or moonlight." In 1920 an assembly room was added — "an old-fashioned family hall," the Record reported, with a fireplace, generous windows and a floor finished for dancing.
The railroad closed in 1930. By 1932 the inn had passed to the Marin Municipal Water District. During World War II it was abandoned as unprofitable. In September 1943, volunteers began running it. Their model is still how it operates today — no electricity, gas lamps, a porch with a view that takes in the East Bay, San Francisco, the Marin Headlands and a corner of the Pacific.
Irene Coffin never forgot one night there as a child. She and her family had reserved a room facing east, hoping for fog. It came. Around four in the morning they went to the window. "Below us was a sea of fog. That's all we could see. It was like being in an airplane, looking down on the fog. We watched and watched until pretty soon there was a little glow, just around the edges, like a trimming. That glow got warmer and rosier, little by little. Within half an hour that sea of fog was crimson, just like a fairyland."
"I'm pretty sure people must still do that," she said. "West Point Inn is still there, the fog still comes in, and the dawn is like something you have never dreamed before. You can carry that picture with you your whole life."
Pat Williams, who volunteered as innkeeper at West Point Inn for years, described the same experience decades later. "When you come up here at night and there's no electricity," he said, "the stars are incredible."
Sources: Online Archive of California, West Point Inn Collection finding aid; West Point Inn, Our History; Marin Journal, Sep 15, 1904; Mill Valley Record, May 14, 1909, Nov 16, 1918, Feb 21, 1920; Irene Coffin oral history, William A. Hamilton interviewer; Pat Williams oral history, Mill Valley Public Library Oral History Collection, Lucretia Little History Room.
This story was sponsored by the Mill Valley Historical Society. Visit their new website at mvhistory.org.
Sponsors pay for placement, not coverage. Our reporting is always produced independently, without sponsor review or editorial input.
City to remove temporary fence around plaza redwoods, replace it with natural barrier
The temporary fence around the Depot Plaza redwoods will come down within about three weeks, once new native landscaping is established to serve as a natural barrier around the trees, Arts and Recreation Director Ashley Howe told the Briefing. In the meantime, the city is asking residents to help by modeling appropriate ways to interact with the trees and the new landscaping.
The temporary fence around the redwood groves at Depot Plaza. (MVB, Aug 31)
The move follows a Wednesday discussion at the Parks and Recreation Commission, where the city’s Operations Superintendent Chuy Vetrano said the city put up the fence in May after residents reported children stripping bark from the trees, then fielded a second complaint that kids were getting inside the fence line anyway.
He offered the commission two paths forward: a permanent 100-foot fence around two groves, estimated at $23,450, or landscaping paired with educational signage. Commissioners Emmet Austin and Andrew Smith both favored landscaping, questioning whether foot traffic, not bark removal, is the real threat to the trees.
Commissioners took no vote, asking Vetrano for an arborist's assessment before any long-term decision. Howe told the Briefing the city now considers landscaping and education its preferred approach, though staff are still gathering information to bring back to the commission.
What we covered this week
🌲 We reported Monday, two days before Wednesday's Parks and Recreation Commission meeting, that the city was considering a permanent fence around Depot Plaza's redwood grove after children were caught stripping bark from the trees. That reporting covered the two options staff proposed, all before commissioners ever took it up.
🚗 Mill Valley's commute time dropped to a four-decade low in 2024, even as the city's own traffic numbers show no real improvement on the ground. We reported on what's actually driving the shift, why East Blithedale tells a different story and who the residents-only data leaves out.
⚪ The Parks and Recreation Commission wants bocce courts in Mill Valley, but isn't choosing a site yet. We reported on what two courts would cost, how much demand exists at courts in San Rafael and Sausalito and what the city is asking bocce fans to do first.
📋 Two resident surveys are shaping city and county decisions this fall. Marin County Parks wanted feedback on letting Class 1 e-bikes onto trails already open to regular bikes. The Mill Valley Arts Commission wants input on its next 5-year strategy, from its mission statement to where residents want more public art. We reported on what's at stake in each and where to weigh in.
🚲 Repair work started this week on two bridges on the Mill Valley/Sausalito Path near the McGlashan Path intersection. The path stays open but bridge crossings narrow to one lane through November. We reported on the funding, the timeline and what the county's larger "Ring the Marsh" redesign means for these bridges long-term.
If you want to read about any of these stories as they develop, the weekday Briefing lands in your inbox Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 6am. A paid subscription makes this reader-funded, local news operation possible. It’s $12 per month, which you can cancel anytime, and the annual subscription comes out to less than $2.50 a week. Upgrading is only two clicks if you use Apple Pay.
📅 Next week in Mill Valley
Monday, September 7 (Labor Day)
🎭 William Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost (Closing Performance), Old Mill Park Amphitheatre, 2–4:30pm. Curtain Theatre concludes its summer run amidst the redwoods behind the library at 64 Cascade Dr. Free admission; bring a low chair or blanket.
🎸 Swifty: An Ultimate Tribute to Taylor Swift, The Junction Beer Garden, 6pm. Outdoor Labor Day concert featuring Bay Area tribute act Swifty with frontwoman Gillian Eichenberger at 226 Shoreline Hwy. Dance party, costume contest, and drink specials ($30 advance/door; all ages).
Tuesday, September 8
🎸 Scott Law & Friends, The Junction Beer Garden, 6pm. Outdoor roots, rock, jazz, and blues featuring guitarist Scott Law alongside Alex Koford, Brian Rashap, and Mookie Siegel at 226 Shoreline Hwy. Free admission; all ages.
🎤 Open Mic Night, Sweetwater Music Hall, 7pm. Local singers, songwriters, and musicians take the stage at 19 Corte Madera Ave. Free admission; all ages.
🎭 Tuesday Night Comedy, Throckmorton Theatre, 8–10pm. Curated stand-up showcase featuring headliner Tommy Savitt alongside Maggie Newcomb, Ed Ruben, Kristi McHugh, and host Kirk McHenry at 142 Throckmorton Ave. Doors open at 7:30pm.
Wednesday, September 9
📚 Author Talk: Vanessa Hua with Jasmin Darznik, Mill Valley Public Library, 6:30–7:30pm. Bay Area novelist Vanessa Hua discusses her latest novel, Coyoteland, in conversation with author Jasmin Darznik in the Creekside Room at 375 Throckmorton Ave. Free entry; registration required.
🎻 San Miguel Fraser, Sweetwater Music Hall, 8pm. Global folk string duo Maria San Miguel and Galen Fraser bring traditional Castilian and Scottish fiddle traditions to 19 Corte Madera Ave. All ages; doors open at 7pm.
ℹ️ See the full event calendar and bookmark it as we’ll update that same link each week.
🔍 Businesses and venues mentioned in this section are covered on editorial merit only. No business has paid for coverage. Promotional content is always labeled.
