Town Of Fairfax: Work Continues On The Fairfax Housing Element Update

Press release from the Town of Fairfax:

August 16, 2021

Work continues on the Fairfax Housing Element Update, which also includes updating the Safety and Land Use Elements of the Town’s General Plan.  Work is in the site analysis stage.  This is an important time to provide your thoughts and feedback.  We encourage all those who live and work in Fairfax to visit the website fairfaxspeaks.com , which is devoted specifically to informing you and engaging your participation in the Town’s Housing Update process. You can register on the website and participate in many ways, including taking surveys, asking questions, letting us know what you love in Fairfax, and submitting a photo for our Photo Contest! Additional features will be added to the site as we proceed, including site specific questions.

The Planning Commission met last week, on August 12th, to discuss maps and data to be used to determine constraints affecting potential site considerations in meeting the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) housing numbers for the Town of Fairfax. Several maps were discussed, including the Association of Bay Area Governments’ HESS (Housing Element Site Selection) tool, which combines multiple constraint layers. A preliminary One Way Out map showed streets and structures in Fairfax where evacuation is limited to one access point, and where it may be desirable to avoid adding housing. Adding in key fire evacuation and other environmental constraints will be an important future step and will further affect the availability of potential sites. The Planning Commission also discussed the importance of and possibilities around providing workforce housing and affordable housing, as well as potential zoning changes to help meet the Town’s RHNA requirements. The Commission also noted that when adopted the Objective Design and Development Standards (ODDS) toolkit will help ensure that the character of the Town is preserved as potential new units are added.  Video of the 8/12 Planning Commission meeting will be posted on the Town PC meeting webpage and on fairfaxspeaks.com.

Looking ahead, future meetings include a joint Affordable Housing Committee meeting on September 8th, and a joint Town Council/ Planning Commission meeting on September 22nd.  The notices for those meetings will be posted on the Town’s Public Meetings webpage.  We encourage all of you to attend.

This press release was produced by the Town of Fairfax. The views expressed here are the author’s own.