Tree ordinance overhaul remains stalled after a year of talk

Since at least March 2025, Fairfax's Tree Advisory Committee has been weighing a rewrite of the town's tree-removal ordinance modeled on San Anselmo's revised rules — but a year later, the item is still listed as a discussion topic rather than a vote.

By its November 17, 2025 meeting, the committee had fleshed out what a rewrite might actually cover: heritage and desirable tree status, arborist report requirements, dead or diseased tree certification, nesting-season rules, a ban on affixing items to trees, root protection zones, replacement standards, and fee structures for owners and contractors. No draft ordinance has come back for adoption since.

A related question has been stuck even longer: what is a homeowner's legal obligation when Ross Valley Fire or the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority orders a tree removed for fire safety? That discussion has been carried forward, meeting after meeting, pending committee member Tom Childers' promised meeting with the Town Manager — a meeting that, as of the March 2026 agenda, still had not happened.

Both items are scheduled for discussion again at the committee's April 27, 2026 meeting, roughly where they stood a year earlier.