Recap of the Sebastopol City Council Meeting on Jan. 20, Part 2
Narcan distribution boxes and another look at turning ADUs into condominiums
This is Part 2 of a two-part article. (Read Part 1.)
The second half of Tuesday’s city council meeting included a discussion of Narcan distribution boxes and another discussion and vote on AB1033, which allows residents to sell their ADUs as condominiums.
Mayor Jill McLewis, Vice Mayor Sandra Maurer, Councilmember Phill Carter, Councilmember Neysa Hinton, and Councilmember Stephen Zollman were present in chambers for the Jan. 20 Sebastopol City Council meeting.
Narcan for all?
On Sept. 16, 2025, Micah Sawyer, the founder of Micah’s Hugs, told the Sebastopol City Council about a new program the nonprofit was about to launch: repurposing old newsstands to act as Narcan distribution spots. Micah’s Hugs is a nonprofit dedicated to preventing substance abuse and fentanyl poisoning. Sawyer and his wife lost their son Micah to fentanyl poisoning six years ago. At that September council meeting, businesswoman Breanna Christenson, of BC Therapeutics, offered to host one of the Narcan newsstands in front of her business at 207 N. Main St., which is across the street from the old Rite Aid building.
On Tuesday this week, the council had to decide whether it wanted to co-sponsor the installation of the Narcan distribution box in front of Christenson’s business. As a part of that sponsorship, the city offered to negotiate with Caltrans if an encroachment permit was needed. According to the staff report, the City’s partnership would also make the City partially responsible for the Narcan distribution box, although City Attorney Alex Mog assured the council that this partnership would not create significant liability risk.
The discussion quickly turned to the council’s concern that children and young teenagers could easily access the Narcan since the box was unlocked and the medication free for everyone.
“There’s just no way I can support just putting this out on the street like that. I mean, there’s just too many concerns. I have a son, and I know all the different exploratory things kids do when they get together and they’re not in their parents’ eyes.”
Indeed, all the councilmembers who had or have children, ultimately backed away from co-sponsoring the Narcan-dispensing newsstand.
“Having a 10-year-old, I’m nervous about just random kids monkeying with this,” Councilmember Carter said.
Neysa Hinton said she came into the meeting that night expecting to support this item but had changed her mind. “I carry Narcan in my glove box, and I do think it’s a good thing to have it in the hands of teenagers, but I am highly concerned for that younger group and it not having some sort of child-proof lock. Because I also remember that when my kids were little, they always liked to try things out and experiment and do crazy things when they were out of my sight.”
Councilmember Zollman ended up as the sole supporter of the co-sponsorship. “This came up at the Sebastopol Nonprofit Collaborative meeting where Micah’s Hugs filled us all in about the benefits that the city of Petaluma has received from having this be a method of delivery.”
Vice Mayor Maurer suggested putting the Narcan dispenser in a place where it could be available 24 hours-a-day but also child-safe. “I’m wondering if a store that was open 24/7, like 7-11 or Safeway, had been asked if they could stock that? It could be inside the store where it would be free, and that way it wouldn’t necessarily be on a street where kids could access it.”
Given that that would be an agreement between Micah’s Hugs and a private business, Interim City Manager Mary Gourley said that was beyond the purview of the city.
Ultimately, the council decided to deny the co-sponsorship in a 4 to 1 vote (Zollman dissenting).
Revisiting AB 1033 ADU condos
At the last council meeting on Jan. 6, the city council voted 4 to 1 to opt in to a new law, AB 1033, that would allow property owners to build an ADU and sell it as a condominium. This change was just part of a broader update to the Sebastopol Zoning Code. Mayor McLewis voted against this at the Jan. 6 council meeting, and at Tuesday’s meeting she pulled this item from the consent calendar and put it on the regular agenda for more discussion.
She kicked things off with a proposal to add an amendment to the ordinance.
“I just wondered if anyone would consider a statement that said, “An accessory dwelling unit may not be sold separately or otherwise conveyed separately from the primary residence pursuant to this section if the accessory dwelling unit is a manufactured home or mobile home.”
McLewis said she had seen photos of a home in Sebastopol that just installed a mobile home as an ADU.
“It runs the entire length of a property, and it’s huge,” she said. “It’s jutting out to the sidewalk. It stands out in the neighborhood…I know that a lot of times when people think of ADUs, they think about them in the backyard or they’re nice little cottages or they look nice and are part of the property. But now what we have in the city is someone who just slotted in a mobile home right in the middle of all these single-family homes, and it’s just a monstrosity.”
She admitted that such judgements are subjective, but said she wanted people to know that this was a real possibility.
Both Attorney Alex Mog and Interim Planning Director noted that doing this is legal under current California law already. They said that opting in to AB1033 gives you the ability to at least regulate the type of ADUs that would be allowed to be sold as condominiums.
McLewis did not show photos of the ADU in question at the council meeting, but another concerned citizen sent photos to the Sebastopol Times last week.
McLewis pressed her point. “What if they all decide they want to slot in a mobile home between all these homes and then sell those? Now we have effectively created a mobile home park in a neighborhood,” she said.
Some people in public comment agreed with her.
“This is a really, really big issue, and I’d like to know if any council member has read the entire bill before you’re going to vote on this?” asked Mary Cone. “This is going to affect every single property owner in this town, and there are tons of unintended consequences.”
Oliver Dick agreed. He said he didn’t see a problem with putting an ADU on a large property with lots of acreage, but thought they wouldn’t suit in a smaller, more suburban neighborhood. “Slotting endless ADUs into those 1950s/1960s street designs will be an absolute disaster,” he said.
Representatives from Generation Housing and a few other affordable housing organizations spoke during public comment to make the case for opting in to AB1033, for all the reasons mentioned in our previous article on this topic.
Sebastopol resident Lewis Buchner, who is also on the high school board, struck a political note, as did some other speakers. “I’m a little concerned about the kind of bigger political issue here,” Buchner said. “We think of ourselves as a very progressive community, but this issue is just fraught with NIMBYism (“Not in my backyard”)… I think we have to be careful about that. I think we need to walk our talk. This is an opportunity to create intergenerational wealth for people that otherwise maybe couldn’t have it. This is a way that more of the people that work in our town can actually live in our town, like our teachers and our policemen.”
Several speakers in public comment accused Councilmembers Neysa Hinton and Stephen Zollman of conflict of interest because both of them are currently building ADUs on their properties.
City Attorney Alex Mog said that wasn’t the case. “Under the Political Reform Act, council members do not have a conflict of interest if a proposed ordinance affects a significant segment of the population and the council member is not uniquely affected.” In short, AB1033 affects all residential homeowners who all are free to build ADUs on their property—and now sell them as condos.
Somehow, some of the things that people said during public comment really got under the mayor’s skin. Her comments, delivered in a blistering, five-minute reprimand to the public commenters, are too long to quote in full but you can find them here at the 04:09:50 mark.
In the end, the majority of the council voted to approve the zoning changes, including ADU condo conversions. The vote was 4 to 1 in favor, with Mayor McLewis dissenting.
Watch the video of the Jan. 20 council meeting. The next Sebastopol City Council meeting happens Tuesday, Feb. 3, at 6 pm, at the Sebastopol Youth Annex, 425 Morris St., Sebastopol.
Where we stand all depends upon where we sit.
Everyone should read the entire staff report and attached documentation. Included with the vote to approve AB1033 was approval to permit "Low Barrier Navigation Centers" in the downtown area, the Barlow and the single-family neighborhood immediately adjacent to Analy High School. Imagine a homeless shelter on the vacant "hotel property" between the Barlow and the city center.
The “Navigation Center” is described by the state to include individual units (e.g. tiny homes, pods, cabins, shipping container rooms, a tent village (with services), temporary modular structures or relocatable facilities (trailers). Low barrier references removal of eligibility and behavior requirements. Pets must be allowed. Storage for personal items must be provided, no sobriety requirement and no exclusion for active substance abuse, mental health conditions or criminal background.
Councilmembers Hinton, Mauer, Zollman and Carter voted for this...no discussion, not mentioned by anyone at two meetings. Just quietly approved.