Marin Transit adopts bus yard environmental assessment

Marin Transit’s plan to construct an electric bus yard in San Rafael has taken a major step forward.

The board governing the agency voted Monday to adopt a study that satisfies requirements set by the California Environmental Quality Act. The adoption was needed for Marin Transit to advance the plan at 1075 Francisco Blvd. East, a 3.5-acre property in the Canal neighborhood.

Board member Maribeth Bushey, who sits on the San Rafael City Council, said city officials still have reservations.

“The city of San Rafael remains concerned and impacted by the decision to remove this site, this freeway frontage site, from its potential to be a high tax-generating site for the city of San Rafael,” Bushey said. “This has implications for our general plan as well as, most pointedly, for our general fund.”

San Rafael officials sent letters to Marin Transit in December stressing their position that a bus yard does not conform with the property’s designation for commercial use.

City officials were concerned because the lot was slated to become a 184-room hotel that would have been a major tax revenue generator for the city, but those plans fell through. The zoning also allows for up to 43 dwellings, so the prospect of housing was another consideration.

In addition to the land-use inconsistencies, officials said, the Canal neighborhood includes some of the most historically underserved residents in San Rafael. The city’s general plan calls for advancing community needs, enhancing neighborhood character and strengthening pedestrian and transit connections, San Rafael Mayor Kate Colin said in one letter.

Bushey also noted that the Golden Gate Transit bus yard is on Andersen Drive directly across Interstate 580. She questioned the prudence of another bus yard in the area.

However, Bushey said she supported adopting the environmental report, which is called an “initial study/mitigated negative declaration.”

“On that narrow topic, as presented by staff, there are no material defects that I have seen that would in any way undermine the ability of this board to approve the mitigated negative declaration,” Bushey said.

The project is part of a plan to electrify the bus fleet by 2040 to meet a state mandate. Supported by a $31.5 million federal grant, Marin Transit purchased the lot for $14 million last year, hoping it would become the new electric bus hub.

The plan calls for an operations center that includes five bus maintenance bays, a bus wash, 49 bus parking and charging stalls and 57 employee parking spaces. It also includes office space, break rooms and storage.

The environmental assessment included technical studies on air quality, traffic, cultural and tribal resources, noise and vibration and geology and soils. The assessment included several mitigation measures to reduce the potential impacts of the project to less than significant for all categories except traffic. The report determined that the traffic impacts were negligible.

“Naturally, you would think there’s going to be traffic impacts, but maybe you can walk us through that, how you came to that conclusion that there was no negative impacts,” said Marin County Supervisor Dennis Rodoni, a Marin Transit board member.

Nancy Whelan, the agency’s general manager, said the studies focus on impacts to traffic during peak commute times.

“Peak traffic usually starts after we start because we’re out there trying to get people to work, so typically, we start earlier, and then also our buses tend to come in later,” Whelan said.

Last year, Marin Transit developed a community outreach plan in response to the city’s concerns around getting public comments. Whelan said staff participated in 25 events in the Canal neighborhood to inform the public and solicit input.

Rodoni encouraged staff to expand its outreach beyond the Canal neighborhood because the agency serves a wider population. With that, he supported the plan.

“I think it’s the next step in the process,” he said.

Paul Haifley, the project manager, said Marin Transit has begun soliciting contractors to prepare the site and design the bus yard. The agency expects to award contracts in the coming months.

Next month, the agency expects to get federal approval of its environmental report, required under the National Environmental Policy Act, Haifley said. If all goes accordingly, preliminary site construction called surcharging will begin in the spring along with design of the hub.

The construction is expected to begin 2027. The site is expected to be operational by June 30, 2030.