Marinda Heights Builder's Remedy Subdivision (Wall Property)

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The State Clearinghouse receives the notice of preparation for Marinda Heights: ten lots of 10 acres or more, with one house on each.

Days before the housing element deadline, Rothman says he has submitted plans for 25 units. The interim planning director says the town will process the application quickly once the submission is finished.

Town Attorney Janet Coleson writes that the application "will be deemed submitted on the date the town receives the required fees and executed reimbursement and indemnity agreement."

Mayor Chance Cutrano says the fees include a legal review. YIMBY Law founder Sonja Trauss is helping Rothman develop a lawsuit.

Ellis Raskin of Hanson Bridgett writes that "we intend to file an action in the Superior Court to recover damages" if the town does not process the application.

Timberstone has filed for bankruptcy to stay a foreclosure sale of the land. Town Manager Heather Abrams: "To date, no application has been submitted."

A council subcommittee of Chance Cutrano and Barbara Coler is assigned to work with the Marin Open Space Trust on a possible purchase. The trust signs an agreement with the owners in November 2023.

HCD finds the element adopted Dec. 13, 2023 in substantial compliance.

A notice of exemption records $500,000 from the Coastal Conservancy for the town to acquire the property.

The town closes escrow and becomes owner of the 100-acre property, which it is preserving as open space.

"So basically I was paying their attorney to figure out how to stop me." (May 2023.) Sought approval for ten homes for nearly a decade, then invoked the builder's remedy for 25 units in 2023.

"It's not hard to read between the lines that the only reason you need a special [legal] consultant for a builder's remedy project is if you are hiring a lawyer to stop it." (April 2023)

"The $50,000 fee is not something that passes legal muster." His May 19, 2023 letter to the town attorney said, "we intend to file an action in the Superior Court to recover damages."

Defended the $50,000 in fees, saying they include a legal review of the application, and said the application would be incomplete until Rothman paid.

"For 20 years, the Town of Fairfax has designated this property as proposed open space in its General Plan." The council made the land an open space priority in 2007, and the town closed escrow on Sept. 30, 2024.

Wrote on March 13, 2023 that the SB 330 preliminary application "will be deemed submitted on the date the town receives the required fees and executed reimbursement and indemnity agreement."

Provided $500,000 to the town to acquire the Wall property for natural resources, wildlife habitat, open space, tribal cultural resources and public access.

Said the town had offered to meet with Rothman and planned to process his application quickly once he finished his submission.

"To date, no application has been submitted." (May 2023)

Agreed to buy the property for $2.3 million; extra costs for studies, appraisals, legal counsel, remediation and maintenance raised the total needed to $2.9 million. The town council agreed in May 2024 to accept the property from the trust.

The town said the builder's remedy preliminary application would be deemed submitted only after it received a $50,000 deposit and a signed reimbursement and indemnity agreement; the mayor said the fees covered legal review. Rothman's attorney called the fee unlawful and threatened to sue, but no lawsuit was reported. In May 2023 the town said no application had been submitted, and the land is now town open space.

The town began an EIR for the ten-lot subdivision. Rothman says the review was too broad and too costly, that the town deemed his permit expired after he refused to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars more, and that $53,000 of his $100,000 deposit went to legal fees.