Blog #8 - Ross Valley School District Sets Town Hall Meeting Dates

The Ross Valley School District has set dates for another round of Town Hall meetings with the community. See below for all the information on exact times and locations. There are five different Town Hall meetings scheduled.

The purpose of the meetings is to gather public input on the proposed sites for a K-5 school. Deer Park and Red Hill school sites and an expansion of Manor are three of the four possibilities. The fourth is to put portables on all K-5 sites and increase each class size. The fourth option does not require a bond measure. The other three options would require a bond measure.

Blog #7 - Fire Forum Workshop Saturday January 30, 2010

The Town of Fairfax is hosting a Fire Forum tomorrow, Saturday, January 30 at the Women's Club from 9:30 AM -12:30 PM. The Forum will discuss how to defend your home or business from a fire, a discussion on when fire sprinklers are needed, how fire hydrants are funded, and other fire related issues such as upgrading fire flow. This is a great opportunity for residents and businesses to hear from fire professionals and express their thoughts about fire issues. See attached flyer below.

Blog #6 Ross Valley School District Information

The following email was sent by the Interim Superintendent of the Ross Valley School District to the Community:


To the Ross Valley School District Parents, Staff, and Community Members,

At a regular Board meeting on January 14th, the RVSD Board voted to discontinue negotiations with the owner of the Marin Town and Country Club to purchase a portion of the property. The District had hoped to offer the property's potential purchase to the communities of Fairfax and San Anselmo as one solution to the District's growing enrollment and need for additional classroom space. However, an offer for the property's appraised fair market value was rejected by the landowner and the District has removed the location from its list of potential sites for a K-5 school.

The District is now exploring a revised list of options, including building a new K-5 school on its Deer Park property or its Red Hill property, or adding additional classrooms to current K-5 campuses. A fourth option, to take no action, would result in higher student/teacher ratios and increased crowding on current K-5 campuses and, in a few years, the White Hill Middle School Campus as well.

The Board is planning several public forums during the next 2 to 4 weeks to discuss these options with the San Anselmo and Fairfax communities at large. For more information about these meetings and the District's focused efforts to meet the needs of its growing student population, please visit www.rossvalleyschools.org.

Catalina Nocon
Interim Superintendent
Ross Valley School District
(415) 451-4060

Blog #5 - Town Web Site New and Improved

The Town of Fairfax Web Site is new and improved. Last night we launched the new site!!

It has many new features and added information and tons of public documents for your viewing. The Town Council and each Town department has a page with an explanation of what they do and a contact name. I have also written a Town Manager message. Critical public documents are now available on line including the Town Budget, building permit applications, business license renewal forms and the application for renting Town facilities, job applications, and many more. Please take a look and let us know if there is anything not working. All links and drop downs should now be working.

Thanks for your patience as we have spent the last several months adding information and reformatting the look of the web page to make it more user friendly.

Blog #4 - Plans for a New K-5 School Discussed

On January 13th the Fairfax Town Council heard a presentation from Sharon Sagar, President of the Ross Valley School District (RVSD) Board of Trustees on the need for a new K-5 school in the Ross Valley. One site under consideration in Fairfax is the existing Deer Park school site. The Marin Town and Country Club (MTCC) site was removed from consideration on January 14th at the RVSD Board meeting. After the presentation the Town Council had questions for Sharon and the Council heard comments from the public.

Wih MTCC off the list Red Hill and Deer Park remain as potential sites for a new K-5 school. There will be more community meetings sponsored by the RVSD to discuss possible sites in the near future.

Other actions taken at the January 13, 2010 Regular Town Council Meeting:

1. Heard a presentation from Steve Larson, the Town’s auditing firm and accepted the Town’s fiscal year 2007/08 audit.

2. Heard a presentation from Bob Brown, Community Development Director of San Rafael regarding the draft Green Building Ordinance being developed for cities and the County of Marin.

3. Set a Special Town Council Meeting date of February 27, 2010 to discuss updating the Five-Year Strategic Plan and Town Goals. The meeting will be on Saturday morning from 9-12 Noon at the Women’s Club. The public is encouraged to assist the Town Council in setting priorities for the next five year plan.

4. Heard a presentation from Karen Arnold of the Pavilion Restoration Committee regarding efforts to secure grant funding from the Marin Community Foundation to begin the process of a grassroots fundraising effort to restore the Pavilion.

5. Heard an update on the Hazardous Fuels Reduction Grant received by the Town in the amount of $168,831 to clear roadside vegetation, to create defensible space around residential homes and removal of fire prone trees. There will be a public meeting dubbed the “Fire Forum” on Saturday, January 30th in the Women’s Club from 9:30-12:30 to discuss defensible space, home sprinkler systems, fire hydrants and other related fire safety issues. The public is strongly encouraged to attend to learn more about the risks and safety procedures. More information in the coming days and the agenda for this meeting will be posted on the Town website and in public places.

The next Town Council meeting will be Wednesday, February 3rd at 7:30 PM in the Women's Club.

Blog #3 - Flood Mitigation League Meeting this Thursday, January 21, 2010

The Flood Mitigation League of the Ross Valley has asked the Town to forward the following meeting agenda information:

Where: Molinari Room, San Anselm's School, 40 Belle Avenue, San Anselmo
When: 7.30pm SHARP

Agenda:

1. Jack Curley presentation on the Ross Valley Watershed Mitigation Planning - Progress and Timeline. Jack is bringing a slide show.

2. Questions and Answers on Ross Valley Watershed Mitigation Planning - Progress and Timeline

3. Presentations from members of the Board on flood issues in their areas:

- Ross fish ladder, environment and bridge considerations

- San Anselmo

- Fairfax

- Other: Larkspur, Kentfield, County, creekside homeowners -Sandra Guldman Friends of Corte Madera Creek

4. Discussion of actions to be taken

5. Set a date for a next board meeting, discussion of items for agenda

6. Adjourn

Blog #2 - Major Storms Coming

The national weather service is predicting about ten days of rain beginning tomorrow. The Town staff has sand bags and sand available at the Pavilion parking lot and is cleaning storm drains all over Town today. We expect a very heavy downpour (3-5 inches of rain) on Wednesday with gusts at 70 MPH. Please be sure your rain gutters are clear and any loose limbs are removed before they fall. Please see a detailed advisory from the County Office of Emergency Services and locations where sand bags are available throughout Marin County:

Blog #1 - Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all residents and businesses in Fairfax!!

The new year has been a busy one at Town Hall. There is a Town Council meeting this Wednesday, January 13, 2010 at the Women's Club at 7:30 PM. Please see agenda below and you may view each agenda item at the Town's website at: http://www.townoffairfax.org/