Mill Creek Residential has collided with NIMBYism in Marin County, with Fairfax officials unwilling to consider the town’s largest proposed apartment project, a major part of its state housing plan.
The Town of Fairfax rejected a preliminary application by the Florida-based developer to build a 243-unit, six-story building at 95 Broadway, in Downtown, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. It would replace a partially vacant office park.
Town Manager Heather Abrams said the Mill Creek application was “incomplete,” rendering it invalid, but declined to comment further.
A land use attorney for the developer said its early application was more than complete — and that the town had thrown up a roadblock against half the homes outlined in its state-mandated housing plan.
The 2-acre School Street Plaza office park is identified as a key building site in the town’s Housing Element, which requires the town plan for 490 units by 2031. It’s the largest project ever proposed in the municipality of 7,600 people.
Plans call for a 257,00-square-foot building with 243 units above 5,800-square feet of shops and restaurants and parking for 322 cars. Some 41 apartments would be set aside as affordable for low-income households.
Riley Hurd, the Marin County land use attorney who represents Mill Creek, called the town’s response to the application “an immediate attempt to frustrate this critically needed housing project,” according to a letter to Fairfax Planning Director Jeffrey Beiswenger.
He said the town’s unwillingness to process the application, as is, “runs completely counter to the commitments the town made to the state” in its Housing Element.
“It is disappointing that the town is already actively trying to obstruct this project through inaccurate and misplaced nitpicking of a preliminary application that required no response from the town at all,” he said in the letter.
Hurd said Fairfax has requested aerial photos, details about square footage, proximity to a nearby stream and colors and materials to be used in construction in order to complete the project application — which either was submitted or wasn’t required under state law.
The Mill Creek applicant team has filed 25 preliminary applications throughout the Bay Area on projects similar to the School Street Plaza proposal, Hurd said.
And the developer “has never once received a response letter like the one from Fairfax” which he said was “inaccurate” and misstated the referenced sections of the Government Code.
Marin County is among the priciest counties in the state, with a typical home selling upwards of $1.4 million. It has a history of Not In My Back Yard behavior, with affluent Marin County cities regularly delaying or trying to kill multifamily housing, according to the Chronicle.
YIMBY Law is suing Sausalito over its alleged lack of compliance with state housing law — the same mandated rezoning that has generated a backlash in Fairfax. Other fights are playing out in Bolinas and an incorporated area next to Mill Valley.
If state housing regulators determine Fairfax is blocking or delaying the development, they could rule the town no longer complies with state law. The state could fine Fairfax as much as $600,000 a month, while blocking access to state transportation and other grants.
“Our pre-application marks the first step in revitalizing School Street Plaza — the key site identified in the town’s Housing Element,” Mike Kim, senior managing director of Mill Creek’s Northern California office, said in a statement.
“This is a rare opportunity to breathe new life into this important site within downtown Fairfax and create much-needed housing where new supply has been scarce.”
— Dana Bartholomew