Sierra Club Marin Group / Endorsement Questionnaire

By David Weinsoff

Endorsement Given: Questions and Answers provided to the Sierra Club for their endorsement.

The Sierra Club's endorsement of a candidate for our Town Council provides the Fairfax community with an important and recognized benchmark for evaluating that candidate's individual environmental achievements and on-going environmental work for the community. I was honored to receive your endorsement in 2005 and believe my votes as a councilmember during these past four years have been consistent with the ideals and environmental positions of the Club. The Council has spearheaded a number of innovative environmental projects and programs during my term, some of which have garnered us front page press such as the banning of plastic bags from grocery stores (first by ordinance and then by citizen initiative) and being the first municipality in the County to join the Marin Clean Energy program. But of equal environmental importance, if a bit under the radar, was our financing the placement of a solar array on the roof of our Pavilion, providing the lion's share of electricity for our municipal buildings; strongly promoting the Safe Routes to Schools Program (I am the Council liaison) which is getting our K-8 students on bikes and walking to school in significant numbers; siting the Organic Farmers' Market in our beautiful downtown Bolinas Park; and on the singular issue of greatest concern to all Fairfaxians, we have maintained our grip on the ever-present threat of over-development, continuing to maintain our small-town character.

In addition to my work on the Council, my professional work as an environmental attorney reflects the public interest ideals of the Club. I have practiced environmental law for more than 24 years + first as a member of the legal staff of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and after I moved to California, with the California Coastal Conservancy and as a deputy city attorney with the City of San Jose assigned to environmental issues. I opened my environmental law office in Town 13½ years ago, representing environmental public interest groups in clean water and coastal protection litigation. In my work I collaborate frequently with the Director of the Club's Coastal Program, Mark Massara, who regularly notifies us of alleged violations, a number of which we have prosecuted successfully. In addition to my formal legal work, I continue to teach the environmental law course at Dominican University, helping to inform the next generation of environmental activists about environmental protection under our federal, state, and local laws.

Question 2: What are your ideas regarding meeting the challenge of your Town's ability to meet its ABAG numbers for affordable housing? Do you support raising densities, height & story limits to meet ABAG goals?

Providing affordable housing (in particular workforce and senior housing) is a moral and social issue that poses significant transportation and environmental challenges. How do we as a community offer the dignity of a safe home and ensure that Fairfax remains a community of economic diversity, while being careful that any new construction of affordable housing as well as the legalizing or construction of modest second units on existing lots, do not add to the transportation problems on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard and the already congested feeder streets in our neighborhoods. Two projects are now in the earliest planning stages, both of which will not require any increase in density, height or story limits. Both projects, if successfully completed - a senior housing project behind Fairfax's Lutheran Church and a public/private housing project on the property of the old "Mandarin Garden Restaurant" + are located along the Sir Francis Drake public transportation corridor and close to our downtown. The siting of these affordable housing projects appropriately promotes the use of the available bus service and pedestrian access to close-by food and other shopping opportunities without reliance on the use of a car. Upon completion they would in large measure satisfy the arbitrary ABAG/state requirements.

Question 3: Do you believe your Town should participate in BERST (Green Building, Energy, Retrofit and Solar Transportation) multi-jurisdictional effort to study and pursue policy and model program options for green building, energy, retrofit and solar transformation. Might a program like this benefit your Town?

Fairfax is participating fully in BERST. I co-chair the program along with San Rafael Councilmember Brockbank, and a Fairfax staff-member attends all meetings. BERST is an extremely innovative cross-county project ensuring not only that the cities/towns/county get on the same page with baseline requirements for "green building," but more importantly promoting opportunities for innovation and the cross-jurisdiction pollinating of green building ideas. Through BERST I believe Fairfax is going to have a unique opportunity to export its successful public and private sector experiences + ranging from Town projects (e.g. use of the CREBS loan program to install a solar array that provides the electricity for our Town buildings), as well as the ever-expanding set of progressive building ideas we see our architects and builders employing in commercial and private home remodels.

Question 4: Based on the publicly available information that several responses to the Marin Clean Energy RFP are financially solid and meet the dual criteria of doubling to 25% (compared to PG&E) the percentage of clean energy at no additional cost (compared to PG&E) to Marin electricity ratepayers and also providing an option to ratepayers for 100% green energy at no more than 10% premium over PG&E rates, then would you support Marin Clean Energy moving ahead? What is your position on the PG&E ballot measure?

Fairfax was the first municipality to join the Marin Clean Energy project. The Council's unanimous vote supporting the program is not only consistent with Fairfax's environmental values, it also reflects what I believe will in short-order be a sea-change in the paradigm of how we produce and use energy in our County. The PG&E ballot measure ("The Taxpayers Right to Vote Act"), a short-sighted ploy to derail the program, would serve only to solidify the status quo and is clearly on the wrong side of where the majority of Marin County residents, and certainly the Fairfax community is on this issue. The Council voted unanimously in favor of a Resolution at its August board meeting asserting that the ballot measure is "against the interests of California ratepayers, against the public interest, and a potential setback for renewable energy production."

Question 5: How can your Town participate in assisting its residents to reduce its use of water? Do you believe desalination is an appropriate way to obtain additional water for future consumption?

The MMWD is collaborating with the Town and Sustainable Fairfax on a project to comprehensively retrofit house and irrigation fixtures throughout our community as part of its water conservation program. The District anticipates significant reductions in water waste (in particular from older toilets, leaking faucets, shower-heads that are not "low-flow," and non-drip irrigation systems and systems improperly operated) and will be using Fairfax as a model they anticipate expanding throughout their service area. The Town itself has joined with our Chamber of Commerce to encourage our restaurants to serve water only upon request + both as conservation measure as well as an opportunity to educate the community about the current drought conditions. In the next few years I would like to see the Town collaborate with MMWD, Sustainable Fairfax, and the Chamber to promote and fund a greater range of innovative water saving projects, including, but certainly not limited to, the use of grey-water for irrigation (specifically irrigation of native drought tolerant plants), capturing and storing water from our rooftops during the winter rains, and the siting of "rain gardens" to lessen the nonpoint source flow of stormwater into our creeks and streams.

The Sierra Club "Guidelines for Desalination Projects" (http://www.sierraclub.org/policy/conservation/desalination-guidelines.pdf) establish a policy that restricts the use of desalination "for water supply needs that can be met by water conservation, water recycling, and other water use efficiency practices," require that desalination projects should only be approved following evaluation using an "ecosystems approach," and that desalinated water quality must comply with rigorous federal, state, and local environmental health and safety standards. I agree with and fully support the Sierra Club's comprehensive Guidelines.

Question 6: What are your thoughts on a Redevelopment Agency for Fairfax?

The "Specific Plan" process discussed more fully in Question 7 will certainly include a community discussion of whether the Town should establish a Redevelopment Agency and its geographical boundaries. At the current time, however, the State is using local Redevelopment Funds to offset a portion of its budget shortfall. Until the State is able to put its budgeting on a more sound footing and indicates that it will halt this practice, there is little benefit of any kind to establishing a Redevelopment Agency in Fairfax.

Question 7: What is your vision for the Marin Town & Country Club? Should the commercial recreation zoning be retained?

In response to the decision by the property owner to put the Marin Town & Country Club (MT&CC) property up for sale, and my belief that the Fairfax community must have the opportunity to express our collective opinion on the future of the site, I initiated the start of a "specific plan" planning process earlier this year. Through this inclusive planning program, the community will have a prominent voice on whether and how any new development both at MT&CC and the adjoining Fair-Anselm property proceeds. My vision for both sites will be guided by the decisions made by the community through this comprehensive planning exercise. Although we are at the very start of the specific planning process, I have received no indication from the community that there is any interest in changing the current zoning on the MT&CC property.