Friday, July 27, 2007

August 1st Council Meeting

Our next regular Council meeting will be held on August 1st at 7:30 p.m. in the Women's Club. Click here to access the agenda packet:

http://www.townoffairfax.org/TownCouncil/TownCouncilPacket/

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Community Workshop on Flooding - tonight

Tonight, Thursday July 26th at 7 p.m., in the Fairfax Women's Club, the Town will be holding a Community Workshop on flood hazard mitigation and flood prevention planning. The Town is updating its Flood Mitigation Plan in accordance with FEMA guidelines and is seeking input from community members affected by flooding.

Friday, July 20, 2007

Traffic tie-ups in San Anselmo


If you have ventured East at all, you experienced the challenge of traversing Sir Francis Drake this week. The MMWD is placing this ad in the IJ this weekend. Click to enlarge.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Road Work

We have some Measure K-funded road work taking place to repair our streets. Here is the notice that came from the contractor, Ghillotti Brothers. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we repair our roads so that they will be smoother and in better shape for you. We have to do this work during the sunny, dry season while school is out.
We are the general construction contractor for the Measure “K” Street Overlay Project for the City of Fairfax. The streets scheduled to be paved are Tamalpais and Scenic Drives and the intersections of Broadway to 200 Merwin Ave and Broadway and Bank St.

The general scope of the construction work includes:

  • Asphalt Grinding

  • Asphalt Paving

Our overall schedule for the construction work is as follows:

  • The Broadway intersections will be under construction on 7/19/07 and 7/20/07.

  • Tamalpais and Scenic Drives will be under construction on 7/19/07, 7/25/07 and 7/26/07.

Work will take place from 8:00 am until 5:00 pm with no parking being allowed during those hours. We will do our best to minimize your inconvenience during construction, but delays should be expected. Those residents living on Tamalpais and Scenic Drives should expect delays of up to 2 hours on the above dates.

Should you wish to speak to a Ghilotti Bros., Inc. representative concerning private work you would like GBI to complete, please contact Al Dalecio at (415) 454-7011 X 373.

We appreciate your cooperation on this project.

Draft budget posted

The Draft Town budget for Fiscal Year 2007-08 is now posted on the Town's website at http://www.town-of-fairfax.org/TownDepartments/Finance/Draft_FY07-08_Budget_WEB.pdf

The budget will be publicly discussed this Saturday the 21st from 10-Noon in the Women's Club.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Town Council action from July 11th

Town Council Action from July 11th Council Meeting:

  • Council reviewed and approved the traffic study methodology as proposed for a new development in the DeLano’s IGA Market parking lot. The project is for a mixed use development of apartments and retail spaces. The actual project will be coming before the Planning Commission and Council for further input; the traffic study is the first step in the approval process.
  • Council adopted the Second Dwelling Unit Amnesty Ordinance, which provides incentives for property owners to legalize second units. The intent of the legislation is to get illegal units on the books, and eliminate health, fire, and safety code violations, to make progress in upgrading our housing stock and increase affordable housing units.
  • Council held a revised first reading of the Plastic Bag Ordinance. The ordinance was amended to provide for an exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The ordinance would take effect in March 2008 and would require all retail and food establishments in Town to discontinue the use of non-recyclable plastic bags, and provide recycled paper bags instead. Ideally, shoppers are encouraged to bring their own reusable bags in order to save our precious natural resources and eliminate one more source of toxic plastic from contaminating our environment.
  • Bids for Measure K street overlay projects were awarded to repair the following streets: Tamalpais to Scenic; Azalea, Broadway to Merwin; and Broadway, Bank to Claus.
  • Received a storm damage recovery update showing that our disaster fund is currently in the black thanks to recent FEMA reimbursements.
  • Authorized the annual charity fundraising Car Show to take place on September 9th. The show organizers are taking steps to prevent parking encroachment in local merchants’ lots.
  • Received a report on the idea of using a portion of Mono Avenue from Bolinas to Bank for a public use seating area. Council decided to further consider the issue of creating public open community gathering space in the downtown, and take no action to implement a specific proposal at this time.
  • Received a report from Council Member Brandborg on the Fairfax Shared Services Subcommittee, and appointed an alternate to the committee, Mayor Bragman. The next meeting of the Subcommittee is on Thursday, July 19th at 6 p.m. in the San Anselmo Town Hall Conference Room. The Subcommittee will hear from the Police Chiefs on cost savings ideas and from the Town Managers on potential financial consultants.
  • Received a report from Mayor Bragman and Council Member Weinsoff on the very positive outcome of their facilitation of the Canyon Road Sewer District problems. The District has agreed to refund a $500 fee that had been inconsistently charged to the residents in the District. Further, the Ross Valley Sanitary Board agreed that it would pay the cost of reasonable repair to the properties that did not end up with a gravity flow sewer system as a result of the problems with the new sewer installation. This was a win-win outcome for both the residents and the District, as each were spared costly litigation and delay.
  • Adopted a resolution expressing opposition to the use of depleted uranium weaponry and expressing support for medical treatment and monitoring of veterans affected by this toxin.

November Town Election

The Town will hold its regular election on November 6, 2007. The election will take place for two seats on the Town Council, plus for the offices of Town Clerk and Town Treasurer. The nomination period runs from July 16 through August 10, during which time nomination papers may be taken out in person with the Fairfax Town Clerk at Town Hall. Any registered voter seeking to take out nomination papers should make an appointment with Judy Anderson, Town Clerk, at 458-2343.

Budget Workshop coming up

The Town Council will hold a Budget Workshop on Saturday, July 21st from 10 a.m. to Noon in the Fairfax Women's Club. Town staff will present the first draft of the Fiscal Year 07-08 Town budget to the Council and the public. When the draft is ready, we will post it on line and announce it here.

Monday, July 09, 2007

Suggestion from the Suggestion Box

The following anonymous suggestion came in:
"Would it be possible to set up a gift card that works at all or a group of the town's businesses. I get gift certificates for people all the time, and I have to pick the place to get it from. It would be great to buy a Fairfax gift certificate good for a bunch of stores."

This is a nice idea. I have forwarded this suggestion to the Fairfax Chamber of Commerce since this would need to be a joint endeavor between the merchants.

Flood Mitigation Plan Community Workshop


We will be holding a community workshop on flood prevention planning on July 26th. See the flyer for details.

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Council Meeting July 11th

Our next regular Council meeting will be held on Wed., July 11th at 7:30 p.m. in the Women's Club. The meeting was postponed one week due to the Independence Day holiday.

The agenda packet the meeting may be viewed here:
http://www.townoffairfax.org/TownCouncil/TownCouncilPacket/