San Rafael nears pivotal votes on mall housing plan

San Rafael planners got another earful of complaints, along with some praise, over a massive housing development heading toward its last approval hurdles.

The final version of the project — which proposes 1,422 homes mixed in with shops and restaurants at the 45-acre Northgate mall site in Terra Linda — was presented during a two-and-a-half-hour Planning Commission study session Tuesday.

Developers say they revised the plans in response to community comments over the past three years. Critics, mostly neighbors near the project site, offered some thanks for the improvements, but say several concerns remain unaddressed.

“We are not a downtown community, we are a suburban community. This is going to be a huge change,” resident Susan Coleman said.

Specifically, the opposition says the project would create more severe disturbances in traffic, noise, emissions, emergency access and evacuations than a draft environmental report suggests.

“All the conversations of the developer revolve around what is happening in that 45 acres,” said Patricia Warnock, who identified herself as a Terra Linda resident since 1971. “I heard not one word about traffic, and traffic is the No. 1 concern on people’s minds.”

The project comes amid state mandates to build dense housing with a focus on low-income options. Under the directive, San Rafael must facilitate the creation of 3,220 homes by 2031. For this housing cycle, the city has to plan for 857 new homes for very-low-income households and 492 for low-income households.

Merlone Geier Partners bought the mall in 2017. The company is proposing to begin phase one construction in 2025, followed by phase two in 2040. The project would include six residential parcels.

In response to community comments, developers made several changes to plans. The latest iteration, which the company calls the final version, was submitted in June.

The centerpiece “town square” feature, which is part of phase one construction, would be expanded nearly 20%, from 48,075 square feet to 56,975 square feet. The area will include natural turf, rather than the originally planned artificial turf. The dog park has been relocated away from the town square area.

Developers are also planning to spread 143 designated affordable apartments and homes throughout the site rather than group a majority of the lower-income dwellings in one complex. Some of those homes will be for sale, while others would be rentals.

Phase one of the project includes construction of 138 for-sale townhomes on two residential parcels. Of those, 14 would be designated affordable up to 60% of the area median income.

Phase one also includes a 280-apartment complex with for-sale homes on residential parcel three, and a 446-apartment complex with rentals on residential parcel four. Twenty-eight of the for-sale apartments and 45 of the rentals would be designated for low-income residents.

In total, phase one would involve 864 homes, down from the 922 that had been planned.

In order to maintain the desired number of homes over the two phases, the developer wants to increase the number of apartments from 251 to 309 at its complex on parcel five.

That structure is proposed as part of phase two construction and would be situated at the entrance from Merrydale Road at Las Gallinas Avenue. To accommodate the addition, the structure would need to be six stories instead of five stories. The complex would have 31 low-income apartments.

Parcel six would include a 249-apartment complex with 25 low-income homes.

Some speakers at the meeting Tuesday said they feared schools, as well as the police and fire departments, will be overburdened with the influx of new residents.

Caitlin McShane, a parent and school board member for the Miller Creek School District, asked the Planning Commission to keep in mind that the district might need to absorb some 300 new students. That would exceed the district capacity.

McShane suggested imposing developer fees to help cover the cost of infrastructure upgrades.

“Let’s please work together to be ready to welcome new students to our community while maintaining a high quality of education,” McShane said.

The project had some cheerleaders turn out Tuesday, including Judith Bloomberg, a 36-year resident and leader of the Marin Organizing Committee advocacy group. Bloomberg commended the developers for their engagement and responsiveness over the planning process.

Bloomberg said her two adult children cannot afford to live in Marin. She said Marin workers are commuting from out of county because they cannot afford it.

“We need affordable housing,” Bloomberg said. “It’s going to take years and years to see a completed project and we need a diverse community here — families to live here, people of color to live here, our workforce to live here.”

Project planners said the final environmental impact report on the project is expected to be published for review on Oct. 14.

The environmental document and project entitlements are expected to be presented to the Planning Commission at its Oct. 29 meeting for recommendation to the City Council. A public hearing has been preliminarily scheduled for the City Council meeting on Nov. 16.

Plan documents, staff reports and the draft environmental analysis are at cityofsanrafael.org.