Blog Post < Previous
Kirk Draheim
Recalling Fairfax Mayor & Vice Mayor - Part 2: The Unreported Story
In Recalling Fairfax Mayor & Vice Mayor - Part 1: The Unreported Story, the back-channel manipulation of voters by council member Barbara Coler was covered.
Healthy democracies view their citizens and local businesses as foundational to the community. Sadly, local businesses report they are being boycotted due to their support of the recall. For more reasons to sign the recall petition, please read on.
Housing Manipulation
In April, plans for a six-story, mixed-use structure proposed for a property locally known as School St. Plazawere presented to the Town of Fairfax. The 64-foot structure, consisting of 243 residential units and 5750 square feet of commercial space, is grossly out of place in a residential neighborhood consisting of one and two-story buildings. The builder’s presentation boards stated, “The project will be evaluated against the town's objective standards, without public hearings, design, or CEQA review.”
Objective Design and Development Standards (ODDS) follow Form-Based Codes (FBC) with no subjective overlay. Form-Based Code (FBC) is basically a package of designs that are considered objective — facades, breaking up mass, etc. Ministerial approval is completed by town staff without public hearings, design, or CEQA review.
Lisel Blash and Vice Mayor Stephanie Hellman, currently the subjects of a popular recall campaign initiated by Fairfax residents, claim that state laws (and not them) are responsible for this massive housing project proposal.
But is this true? Have local governments completely lost control over what is built on the lands they govern? Well, yes and no.
The state Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) requires Fairfax to create a “housing opportunity site list” that designates properties where they want to see high density, multifamily housing projects built. But HCD doesn’t tell Fairfax what sites to put on that list. That decision is entirely up to the town council so they can’t blame the state for the significant consequences of doing that.
The Facts
On February 7, 2024, The Council approved sweeping zoning amendments for seven new Workforce Housing Overlay-A (WHO-A), sites which included School St. Plaza.
The former Town Council, consisting of current Council members Mayor Lisel Blash, Vice Mayor Stephanie Hellman and Barbara Coler, knowingly agreed to no Public Hearings if WHO-A's seven sites for high-rise housing towers met hired consultants, Dyett & Bhatia's recommended “objective design standards.” They also included six additional WHO-B sites, up to four stories, along Sir Francis Drake Blvd. All approvals would be ministerial—decided by staff with no public input.
Though this landmark decision would impact all current and future generations of Fairfax residents and had the potential to permanently transform the town, it was passed through the “Consent Calendar”—with no substantive debate, public discussion, or community input. The Council assured the public that what was eventually built on the School Street site would have to conform to the town’s new WHO-A requirements, including those new objective design standards.
The problem is that neither the Town Council nor Dyett & Bhatia appear to have understood that under state housing law that is not true.
Regardless of what local codes and regulations require, if a developer proposes a high-density, housing project that has a high percentage of “affordable” units and therefore “qualifies” under the myriad of state housing laws, including the State Density Bonus law , then all local planning and zoning laws can be overridden (unless there is a finding of a specific threat to the health and welfare of residents - i.e., toxic emissions, not traffic impacts).
And, worse than that, developers of “qualified projects” can request an unlimited number of waivers and concessions that override a city’s objective design standards, if those standards would make the project financially infeasible (in the opinion of the developer).
The bottom line is that the buck stops with the Town Council because they made the decision to put the School Street site on the Housing Element opportunity site list.
How can Mayor Blash and Vice Mayor Hellman claim that they are not responsible?
They were leaders in the effort to enable rapid, large-scale development in Fairfax. They are the ones who hired the consultants, submitted a late Housing Element plan (potentially resulting in severe penalties) and voted with the Council when the decisions on housing were being made.
The moral high ground claimed by council members poised for recall, is bogus. Their recorded votes created the legal pathways for projects like School Street Plaza to move forward with minimal review. The votes and actions of council members Blash, Hellman and Coler along with defeated council members Chance Cutrano and Bruce Ackerman, tell the true story, regardless of their public comments.
In addition, Mayor Blash’s affiliation with her former employer, Marin Economic Housing Collaborative (MEHC), is also being questioned. On their website, MEHC indicates full support of the complex proposed for School St. Plaza in Fairfax.
A surprising turn of events
By early June, the Fairfax Town Council appeared to be moving forward without resistance on their approvals for the School Street Plaza project.
In a surprising turn of events, former Fairfax Mayor, Lew Tremaine, filed an appeal opposing the town’s approval. His appeal and subsequent filing of a lawsuit, forced the town council to act.
As a result, the Fairfax Planning and Building Services Director, supported by the Fairfax Town Council, sent two separate letters to the proposed developers of School Street Plaza. The first letter, sent Wednesday, June 4, advised Mill Creek Properties and School Street LLC that their application was incomplete, lacking a number of necessary items. The second letter, sent Thursday, June 5, advised the developer that the project did not meet the criteria under State Statute for ministerial review and exemption from the normal planning and design review process. In short, the public hearing process for development proposals should be adhered to.
The June 5 letter advises the developers that the project fails to meet the criteria because the project is in a high fire danger area, as identified by Cal Fire. The project, according to the letter, also is exempt from ministerial review because it is in a flood zone and includes construction in “wet lands”. Furthermore, the project does not qualify for ministerial review because it displaces several existing low-income live-work units which had been occupied within the past 10 years.
The June 5 letter mirrors many points made in the appeal filed on May 28 by Lew Tremaine, a dedicated citizen who served as Fairfax mayor three times and was a Town Council member for 12 years.
Here are links to the letters submitted by Fairfax staff:
With massive housing developments being proposed all over Marin County and California, there is broad public interest in Fairfax. Our success will encourage others to question new laws that have steadily removed zoning and planning powers from locally elected government.
Our message is clear: We don't pre-obey. We don't make deals that upend our legal rights.
Citizen Loathing
One can only hope that those being elected into public office would actually like or care about their constituents. This does not seem to be the case.
On 4/17/25 the front-page headlines in the Marin IJ reported: “Fairfax vice mayor, recall petitioners quarrel in street”. According to recall leader, Candace Neal-Ricker and other eye-witnesses, this under-reported encounter is still being investigated.
Witnesses report that a volunteer resident was peacefully and legally gathering signatures on petitions to recall Vice Mayor Stephanie Hellman and Mayor Lisel Blash when Vice Mayor Hellman walked up to the signing location, camera in hand, and began an unprovoked confrontation verbally attacking the volunteer. Without permission, Hellman rifled through signature forms, filming the collected signatures and volunteer in an apparent attempt to intimidate them. The volunteer felt so threatened by Hellman’s aggressive harassment, the police were called.
When police arrived, Hellman claimed she was verifying that her legal statement, approved by the town attorney, appeared on the petitions. Everything was in order. The police separated the involved parties and Hellman returned to her car.
After police left, Vice Mayor Hellman stopped her car in front of the signature gatherers, rolled down the window and with a big grin yelled, “This is the best video ever!” and “flipped the bird” at her constituents as she drove away.
I worry that Fairfax Vice Mayor Hellman has lost control of more than her middle finger. In the Marin IJ article Hellman states, “I regret engaging in a verbal exchange with people who I know to be actively spreading disinformation and defaming me personally.”
The California Elections Code Sections 18560-18578 Article 4. Corruption of Voting https://law.justia.com/codes/california/2005/elec/18560-18578.html, strictly forbids voter intimidation and voter suppression and is very clear about resulting consequences. Vice Mayor Hellman’s aggressive comments and actions against the people she represents were filmed and witnessed by many Fairfax residents. Her bullying was uncalled for. Hellman has a history of using the power of her position to intimidate residents and those who disagree with her.
The right to recall
The public right to recall elected officials, for any stated reason of voter dissatisfaction, is enshrined in the California Constitution.
Those opposing the recall say they are endorsed by outside groups which include the Marin Democratic Party, the North Bay AFL–CIO and 350 Marin. But these organizations do not live in Fairfax, nor are they subject to the decisions made by the council. They represent outsider opinions bought with political capital.
For more information on the recall visit: www.recallfairfax.com
Petitions can be signed at: Nave's Bar, 20 Bolinas Rd., Fairfax Monday-Friday 10AM-6PM and The Coffee Roastery parklet in Fairfax, most days 8-10AM.