Faced with fierce resistance, the Mill Valley City Council this week withdrew a fire prevention plan that would have required a majority of residents to remove plants immediately around their homes.

The Thursday meeting was delayed as an overflow crowd spilled out of the council chambers on the second floor of City Hall and into the hallway and down the stairs. Residents who were forced outside of the meeting room chanted “we can’t hear” and “reschedule the meeting.” Chamber doors were closed due to the overcapacity crowd.

The ordinance — which would have required roughly 75% of residents to create a 3-foot “hardscape” with gravel, concrete, brick, pavers or bare ground around their homes — was set for a final approval Thursday after winning council support last month. Instead, the council voted unanimously to amend the municipal law so that the hardscape would be voluntary, rather than mandatory as originally proposed.

“After we started getting a lot of feedback, we recognized that in order to sell the ordinance we needed community support,” Mayor Jim Wickham said Friday. “We were losing ground on that support that we needed. … We made the decision to amend the ordinance.”

Wickham said he and Mill Valley fire Chief Tom Welch, who helped author the ordinance, spoke prior to the Thursday meeting and made the decision to propose the amendment.

Wickham announced the amendment at the start of the meeting, requesting that residents, who were satisfied with the change, leave to make room for others. A few dozen people left and others, who were locked out, came in.

The ordinance applies to homes in the “wildland-urban interface,” which are areas that fire officials say are at the highest risk in the event of wildfire. Approximately 75% of Mill Valley homes — most outside of the city center — are in that area, Welch said.

The ordinance also imposes a ban on certain fire-prone plants, including acacia, bamboo, cypress, junipers and others. To soften the impact on residents, the law takes effect in May 2021.

Ahead of the meeting, more than 300 letters were sent to the city in opposition of the ordinance — with the main sticking point being the hardscape plan.

Resident Dorian Polite rallied residents to circulate a Change.org petition and collected more than 1,200 signatures.

“The council, they got earfuls from all of us on their phone lines, emails and the community who showed up,” she said Friday.

Polite said she understands the fire threat is real, but to require residents to spend thousands of dollars to re-landscape the homes that they’ve already invested in was too big of an ask.

“If you’re really thinking about fire safety, let’s talk about evacuation routes before we start talking about our hydrangeas, because we’re not getting out of here on Mill Valley streets, certainly not by car,” she said.

Resident Dave Chapman, who submitted a letter in protest, welcomed news of the amendment.

“I’m really pleased to hear that it’s now voluntary,” he said Friday.

He said about three-quarters of his property is hardscaped already, but changing the rest “would change the tenor of the landscaping and feel of the house.”

“I think people should do everything they can do be as fire safe as possible,” he said. “But the mandatory hardscape was too far.”

Wickham said the council also approved the formation of a blue-ribbon committee that will advise the council on future rules and work with city officials to educate the community about fire safety laws.

“It’s a big step for Mill Valley as we continue to monitor the changing fire conditions,” he said. “Like any law, people need to understand what is happening better, and we’re going to be doing a better job educating the community.”