Sharon Rushton, Marin activist on development issues, dies at 67

The Mill Valley resident, a prominent advocate for local control, was the founder of Sustainable TamAlmonte.

Sharon Rushton, a prominent voice on development and transportation issues in Marin County, has died at age 67.

Ms. Rushton was known as a highly engaged community activist with the ability to distill sprawling bureaucratic documents into an understandable vernacular, said Amy Kalish, a housing advocate from Mill Valley.

The advocacy organization she founded about 20 years ago, Sustainable TamAlmonte, was a formidable institution in the roiling county politics surrounding housing policy and state mandates, Kalish said.

Ms. Rushton was among the early advocates of local control when housing affordability rose to political and social prominence in the last decade, Kalish said.

Kalish said that in recent years, Ms. Rushton was a tireless challenger to county policy, calling for transparency and a return to community control. She chiefly believed in environmental protection and conscious development, taking state mandates head-on.

“She was really unparalleled in her ability to distill information and create documentation. I still use her documents today,” Kalish said. “She was the kind of person who went to or watched every meeting that was important. She was always ready to get involved.”

Supervisor Stephanie Moulton-Peters said Ms. Rushton would be missed for her committed engagement on the issues.

“She was passionate about her community and willing to roll up her sleeves and engage in the issues she cared about. Though we didn’t always agree on the issues, I respected the time and effort she spent researching them and preparing the comments she sent to us, and I liked her as a person,” Moulton-Peters said.

Ms. Rushton wrote in public forums often to direct public opinion to local control – the idea that communities, rather than state mandates, should direct housing policy.

In a 2023 opinion column in the Independent Journal, she wrote: “Community plans are vital to guide the Marin County Planning Division because each community has different physical aspects, goals and desires.

“These plans were meticulously studied and drafted by local residents over many years. They are extremely valued documents that state community goals, objectives, policies and implementation programs relative to the current and foreseeable future conservation and development issues facing each community.”

Susan Kirsch, a Mill Valley advocate for local control, said Ms. Rushton was not afraid to delve into complex issues for the benefit of the public.

“She was an amazing woman for her dedication to public transparency and public truthfulness and what was happening around city and county planning for housing,” Kirsch said. “One of the things she was so skilled at was to be able to do that deep dive in analyzing bills and ordinances for the county and being able to make sense of them and bring to the public, simple directions about what they could do.”

Nels Johnson, a former Independent Journal reporter and editor, said Ms. Rushton was a regular attendee at Board of Supervisors meetings.

“She was just a champion for the public’s right to know what was going on,” he said. “She was always advocating her perspective for the good of southern Marin.”

Her husband, Veit Irtenkauf, agreed.

“For decades, Sharon regularly researched and then informed many Marin and state residents about local and state issues of special importance, trying to focus all of us on taking action that helped making a difference,” he said.

“She was a master researcher, sifting through detailed documents to find and disseminate relevant information,” he said. “The large body of work she left to the community will serve as both record and reference for years to come.”

Ms. Rushton died on Feb. 9 from colon cancer, according to Irtenkauf. The family plans a private service, he said.