The 100-acre hillside long known as the "Wall property" has an official name, the Fairfax Open Space Preserve. The Fairfax Town Council approved it unanimously on July 22, along with names for the preserve's main trails and lookouts. Four of those names honor people and groups who raised money to keep Fairfax's hills from being built on. Three recognize the people and the trust behind this purchase. The fourth, Redford Ridge, recognizes fundraising for Sky Ranch across the valley. A month after the vote, the last open parcel next to Sky Ranch was paid for the same way.
A hillside that was almost ten houses
In 2013 the property sold for $1.75 million to a group of investors. They could not get approval to build 10 homes on it, according to the Marin Independent Journal. The town bought it in 2024 after a fundraising campaign led by the council, the Marin Open Space Trust and the Fairfax Open Space Committee, which raised $2.9 million for the purchase. The Marin Open Space Trust lists the partners: the County of Marin, the California Coastal Conservancy, the towns of Fairfax and San Anselmo, both towns' open space committees, and 270 individual donors.
Michael Ardito of the Fairfax Open Space Committee told the Independent Journal the committee had wanted to buy and protect the land since the early 2000s. He called the naming "a multidecade process that almost got derailed, but came back to us."
The committee started by collecting about 100 name suggestions from residents. Some came in person at the Fairfax Festival/Ecofest and the Town Picnic, and others came online. It then ran a community survey before the council subcommittee reviewed the list in early 2026. Three of the names that came out of that process honor the people and the trust who made the 2024 purchase happen.
Where each name sits, and who it honors
The locations below come from the town's July 22 staff report and its naming presentation.
| Name | Where it is | What it recognizes |
|---|---|---|
| Liile Yomi Way | The main fire road, entering from upper Marinda Drive | A name recommended by the Tribal Council of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria |
| The Bright Side Overlook | The bench area on the lower slope | Diane Bright; the bench was given in her memory by her husband, Ted Bright, who donated $1 million toward the property |
| Jessica's Spiral | The spiral level near the center of the preserve, where the Wall Family bench sits | Jessica Green, who loved the spiral and gave $40,000 toward the purchase |
| Redford Ridge | The ridge at the top of the property, above the housing | Robert Redford and his son James "Jamie" Redford, a Fairfax resident |
| Marinda Perch | One of the upper levels; exact spot still to be set | No honoree listed |
| MOST Trail | The other major maintained trail, along the southeastern edge | The Marin Open Space Trust and those who helped acquire the property |
Three of the six names point to this acquisition, and a fourth points to an earlier one. The Brights' gift alone covered roughly a third of the $2.9 million. Jessica's Spiral marks a smaller bequest, and the MOST Trail credits the land trust that put the purchase together. Redford Ridge reaches further back. The staff report says Jamie Redford "was instrumental in helping the community raise funds for the acquisition of Sky Ranch," an earlier open space purchase on the other side of the valley. That link becomes relevant below.
Liile Yomi Way came from outside the fundraising
The property's main fire road carries a name that has nothing to do with fundraising. The town asked the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria about Indigenous place names, and consultation ran from January through April 2026. On April 28, the Tribal Council recommended Liile Yomi, which translates as "the high place" or "the high up place." The Tribe says it is pronounced "lee-lay yo-me."
The open space committee voted unanimously on April 30 to give that name to the upper Marinda Drive fire road. It replaced "Miwok Way," a placeholder in the committee's December 2025 recommendations that had always been subject to tribal approval. The Tribe has offered to help with signage. Town staff recommended consulting the Tribe on the design, spelling and pronunciation guidance for any sign that carries the name.
Walking the names from the top of Marinda Drive
The town's volunteer events use the top of Marinda Drive as the meeting point. To get there from Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, turn at St. Rita's Church, 100 Marinda Drive. Parking is along Marinda Drive near the top of the road. From the entrance, the names line up roughly as you climb:
- Liile Yomi Way starts at the Marinda Drive entrance. This is where the town plans its main entrance sign.
- The Bright Side Overlook is the bench on the lower slope.
- Jessica's Spiral is near the middle of the preserve, at the Wall Family bench.
- Redford Ridge runs across the top of the property, above the housing, with Marinda Perch somewhere on the upper levels.
- The MOST Trail is the second maintained route, along the southeastern edge.
The Marin Open Space Trust describes three prominent ridgelines and a high point of 720 feet, the highest northern ridgeline above Fairfax. Most of the property looks out over the Ross Valley, Mount Tamalpais and White Hill. Higher up, the views open to Loma Alta and the San Francisco skyline. The slopes mix coast live oak woodland, grassland and chaparral, with California bay laurel, Pacific madrone, California buckeye and big-leaf maple in the woods.
The preserve also connects to longer routes. It borders a trail on the Upper Hawthorne Canyon property in San Anselmo, and the Marinda fire road joins the county's Wilder Trail toward Loma Alta Open Space Preserve.
The signs are the last piece
Adopting the names cost nothing. Posting them is the next step. The staff report calls for a coordinated set of signs:
- Identification signs for the preserve, its features and its trails
- Town park and open space rules signage
- An entrance sign at the Marinda Drive fire road
- Recognition that Measure A funds paid for the land
- Acknowledgement of the California Coastal Conservancy's contribution
- A sign for Kite Hill, which is next to the property and appears on maps but has never had a sign
Staff estimated the full set at about $1,500 for durable metal signs from the Marin County Sign Shop, funded from the FY 2026–27 budget. Staff and the committee still have to choose exact sign locations for Redford Ridge and Marinda Perch. Posting signage, open space monitoring and stewardship were all on the committee's October 27 agenda.
The signs also follow the donor pattern. Besides naming trails, the planned set credits the public money that bought the hill, including Measure A and the Coastal Conservancy.
Across the valley, a bequest paid for the next ridge
On August 25, Marin County supervisors accepted the Marin Open Space Trust's donation of the roughly 7-acre Sky Ranch Knoll. In its report on the vote, the Independent Journal described the knoll as a stretch of ridgeline on the Fairfax–San Anselmo border, with views of San Pablo Bay, Mount Tamalpais, Bald Hill and San Anselmo. The Marin County Open Space District will manage it as part of the 107-acre Bald Hill Preserve. Sky Ranch and Bald Hill are linked by trails that cross neighboring Marin Municipal Water District land.
The money came from the same kinds of sources. Longtime San Anselmo resident Maureen Groper left $1 million to the San Anselmo Open Space Committee, and co-chair Jonathan Braun told the Independent Journal that "We are committing $800,000 of that bequest to this purchase." Fairfax added $75,000: $50,000 from Measure A and $25,000 from its Open Space Fund. The trust is also giving the district $100,000 to make Sky Ranch safer.
The knoll fills a gap the trust had wanted to close for more than a decade. The trust bought the 16-acre Sky Ranch for $1.2 million in 2015 and sold it to Marin County Parks below market value. That is the purchase Jamie Redford helped raise money for. Trust chair Bill Long told the Independent Journal that the trust wanted the knoll at the same time but could not reach its owner. Later it learned the property had a new owner who was willing to sell. "If it had been built on with one or more houses," Long said, "it would've totally changed the environment there." Braun traced the effort to 1981, when San Anselmo created its Open Space Committee, and called the knoll the sixth purchase. Supervisor Brian Colbert called Sky Ranch Knoll "the final piece of a conservation vision that has been decades in the making."
So the hills on both sides of Fairfax were protected the same way: committees, a land trust, Measure A money and private gifts. Above Marinda Drive, four of the new names credit people and groups who paid to protect those hills.
Hillside homes in the upper Ross Valley sit next to land that was bought and named this way, and that history belongs in any description of the property. If you own a home near Marinda Drive or Bald Hill and want to know how its setting shows up in today's value, Now Homes can walk you through it. Request a free home valuation, and our family team will prepare a careful, local read on your property.
