The San Rafael City Planning Commission has tentatively scheduled its hearing on the merits of the (Smith Ranch) Airport Soccer Complex Project  for Tuesday evening, March 13th before the San Rafael City Planning Commission.

The proposed 85,700 square-foot sports complex at San Rafael Airport advanced one more step in the review process as the San Rafael Planning Commission voted unanimously on January 24 to recommend certification of the Final Environmental Impact Report

The hearing had been carried over from November 15, 2011, when the commission heard testimony on the adequacy of the FEIR.  Numerous “new” issues were raised at that meeting that required response by the staff and consultants, hence the FEIR discussion was continued to the January 24 meeting for action  (see also MCL Newsletter for November-December 2011).  The basic project hasn’t changed: two indoor soccer fields/courts and an area for dance and gymnastics, a lighted outdoor soccer field for night games, an unlighted soccer warm-up area, and 7-day-a-week operation.  Overall, it is a massive project that, according to one speaker’s analysis, “would be big enough to accommodate a 747 jet plane”!

New issues involving safety hazards due to close proximity of the airport runway to open soccer fields with kids playing, potential flooding with future sea level rise, and continuing concern about the impacts on the endangered California clapper rail and California black rail populations in Gallinas Creek have continued to surface.  Although a covenant dating from 1983 restricts uses of the airport, “public and private recreation” is included among those uses, city staff have argued that the complex complies with the covenant.  MCL and many others view this response as unsatisfactory, citing the intent of the covenant, which was to limit development and human activities, not to intensify development.  At the recent hearing of the commission, MCL and many residents of Santa Venetia enumerated defects in the FEIR.

In the end, however, the Commission determined that the FEIR was “adequate” as a disclosure document and that it was time to get on with considering the merits of the project itself.  City staff has tentatively scheduled that hearing for March 13.

Background:

The project site is a 9.1 acre portion of the overall 119.5-acre airport site, which lies between the north and south forks of Gallinas Creek.  Environmentalists have monitored wildlife in the marshes of Gallinas Creek, especially the endangered California Clapper Rail, and appreciate the habitat value of this diked, former tidal marsh.  Its sensitivity was recognized in 1983, when the City and County agreed to allow higher-than-usual density near the freeway in order to keep the more sensitive wetlands to the east free from development.  Both parcels were sold to developer Joe Shekou. Since then, his attempts to develop the eastern (airport) portion have never ceased.

• November 14, 2011 - MCL's comments on the FEIR
• September 9, 2011 - San Rafael Airpport Sports Complex Final Environmental Impact Report

2010 Documents and Correspondence

• March 29, 2010 - MCL letter to the California State Lands Commission

• May 7, 2009 - MCL comments to the city of San Rafael on the Draft EIR