A Waterfront Way of Life: Galilee Harbor

By Steefenie Wicks

The history of Galilee Harbor is rich in fact that sometimes sounds like fiction.  This small waterfront community has spent the last 31 years trying to educate the public about life on the water and what that means to them and their community.   The community has always been involved in the argument that living on the water is the most traditional way of keeping the waterfront alive.  This idea however is not one that was favored by the Bay Conservation and Development Commission  in 1991.  An article written by historian Carl Nolte and printed in the San Francisco Chronicle in June of 1991 takes on the plight of the Galilee Harbor community as they sought permits to become the first all live aboard harbor in California.

The following is an excerpt from the beginning of that article, “Way of Life In Peril on Galilee Harbor”:

The law and a lifestyle are engaged in one of those guerrilla wars that no one wins on a muddy corner of the Sausalito waterfront.

This one is over Galilee Harbor, a collection of 50-some small boats in various stages of genteel retirement that serve as floating homes.  About 65 or so people live there, the kind of people they used to call artists, or Bohemians, or maybe just colorful types.

Choice Waterfront Land

The Galilee people, who pay an average rent of $250 a month for their berth space, are living on some of the choicest waterfront land in the world: rich habitat for animals and birds and shore life, and, by the way, worth a fortune.

 So naturally, there is a problem.  In the old days, the Sausalito waterfront was administered by a policy of what Galilee resident Joe Troise calls ”benign neglect.”

But now it’s neither benign nor neglect.

The Galilee Harbor people, who have been organized since 1978 into a nonprofit community association, are no fools.  They and their allies used federal funds, private foundation money and their own initiation to draw up a big, new plan for an all-new Galilee Harbor.  The plan would replace the funky piers and rickety walkways that are both charming and a bit unsafe.”

 The “Peril” that Nolte refers to in his article is the Bay Conservation and Development Commission or BCDC, as they are known. This organization considered the Galilee community to be illegal.   At that time the current members of the community were being fined by the state for occupying the space. This was also a time when the community was being told to leave or they would be removed. It was only through political changes in Sausalito that would allow the Galilee Harbor Community to obtain their Conditional Use Permit  (CUP), from the Sausalito City Council.  Although, this was a major victory for the Harbor, the looming fear of BCDC hung heavy in the air. The next hurdle would be to submit the form for a BCDC permit to remain at this location .

Nolte’s 1991 article continued:

“The next, and the hardest, trick was to get a permit from the BCDC, the guardians of San Francisco Bay.  A flinty-eyed organization that takes its work seriously, BCDC decides what can or cannot be built on the Bay Shore.  Last month, the BCDC staff, which has wide discretionary power, filed a suit against the Galilee Harbor and its members.  The thrust of the suit is that the Galilee community is living on the waterfront illegally.

“’From our point of view, what they are doing now is illegal until the commission issues a permit, if it ever does,’ said Alan Pendleton, BCDC’s executive director.

“Just you wait, say the Galilee people.  Even now, they are getting ready to submit an application to the commission for Sausalito’s first ‘officially sanctioned live-aboard marina.’

“But Pendleton and the BCDC staff are standing by to blow the plan out of the water.  ‘The rules say that new houseboat marinas should not be established in the bay and that is what this is,’ he said.  ‘The issuance of a permit does not seem very likely.’

“In the romantic view of the Galilee people, the existence of the harbor is in the best traditions of Sausalito. If it is driven away, Troise says, it will be another waterfront victory for ‘fake plastic boats that just sit there. People will wonder where did all the real life go?’

“In the realistic view of BCDC, Galilee should get a permit or get out.  The chance of getting a permit? ‘Not very good,” said Pendleton’.”

In closing, it is interesting to note that the Galilee Harbor Community, signed its settlement agreement with BCDC in 1996 and is the only legal all live aboard harbor in California.

On January 26 Steefenie Wicks, founding member and resident photographer, will share images and stories of Galilee Harbor’s Community Association.  She will be joined by waterfront historian Susan Frank, as well as Galilee Harbor Manager Doreen Gounard and Project Manager Donna  Bragg-Tate.  This event, starting at 5 PM in Council Chambers at Sausalito City Hall, includes refreshments and is free for Historical Society members. It’s $10 for non-members. For information on this program and the Historical Society, check www.sausalitohistoricalsociety.org or call 415-289-4117.

Galilee Harbor’s world-famous painted mailboxes.

Photo courtesy of Steefenie Wicks