Fairfax Recall of Mayor, Vice-Mayor Appears Poised to Fail, Early Returns Show

An attempt to recall two North Bay officials over housing density appears headed for failure, early ballot returns showed Wednesday.

A petition to recall Fairfax Mayor Lisel Blash and Vice Mayor Stephanie Hellman accused the leaders of mismanaging money and ignoring infrastructure repairs in the small Marin County town, but at the center of the campaign was a referendum on their perceived support for a new six-story apartment complex proposed near the small town’s center.

Despite widespread anger over the development, the pair looked poised to hold onto their seats by wide margins on Wednesday morning.

“The results look very encouraging and we are so thankful for our volunteers, community members, elected officials, and organizations who showed up and supported us,” they said in a joint statement. “We remain committed to a safe, affordable, fair Fairfax and look forward to all ballots being counted.”

Recall supporters, who launched their campaign last March, have blamed Blash and Hellman for backing a rezoning plan that allowed developers to move forward with plans for the large apartment complex.

Two other former council members who supported the zoning changes lost their seats on town council last November.

That month, development firm Mill Creek Residential submitted an application to build a 243-unit apartment building, plus two floors for parking and ground-floor commercial space, on a two-acre plot in downtown Fairfax, known as School Street Plaza. The plan has been unpopular with many of the 7,500 residents of the town, and Hellman herself told KQED last month that the “cookie-cutter” design looked out of place and was too tall for the area.

But, she and Blash both said, the town needs to build more housing as the state’s deadline to meet certain housing requirements approaches. Fairfax is required to add more than 490 new homes by 2031.

The redevelopment is very much still in limbo — Fairfax’s planning director sent a letter to Mill Creek Residential last month threatening to deny the project if developers didn’t address a number of issues in their proposal, which make it inconsistent with the town’s objective design standards, by Nov. 17. According to a follow up letter, the company’s attorney shot back with an email saying the town had blown past its 60-day window to vote on the project, and was therefore “deemed approved.”

Recall organizers on Wednesday morning had not admitted defeat, saying in a statement that there were still hundreds of votes left to be counted.

“We are committed to ensuring every last voice is heard before the outcome is determined,” they said via email. “Regardless of the final result, we are not going anywhere. Our movement will remain fully engaged in local government and ensure that the interests of our residents are represented by the Town Council. We can do better in Fairfax, and we are confident that, in time, we will see a return to common sense leadership in our community.”

Either way, the recall results won’t have any direct impact on whether the School Street Plaza project ultimately goes forward. And, according to anti-recall advocate Chris Kent, the town will still have to face its housing crisis. If the town fails to add the units it’s required to by 2031, the state will step in to do so.

“There are people who want to stop time in its tracks,” Kent said. “They’d like there to be no growth ever, but history shows us the growth happens anyway. We either do that intelligently and plan for how we’re going to manage growth or we try to fight the state when we don’t have the power to do that, or the sovereignty.”

KQED’s Izzy Bloom and Alex Emslie contributed to this report.