A contentious, 243-unit apartment building proposed for the outskirts of downtown Fairfax is poised to become reality after the California Department of Housing and Community Development rejected the Marin County town’s argument that the project requires an environmental study and planning commission approval.
In a Sept. 8, letter to developer Mill Creek and its land use attorney Riley Hurd, Fairfax Planning and Building Services Director Jeffrey Beiswenger said the state agency, known as HCD, had rejected the city’s assertion that the project at 95 Broadway was ineligible for “ministerial,” or over the counter, approvals.
In the letter, Beiswenger said the project will be approved if consistent with town design standards. It will be presented to the Planning Commission as an “informational item,” but would not require approvals. That means the project’s opponents will be unable to appeal the its approval or file a lawsuit to stop it under the California Environmental Quality Act, known as CEQA and commonly used to slow down or kill housing development…