Dear RGM Supporters,

NORTHGATE UPDATE

On December 2nd, 2024, the San Rafael City Council meeting on the Northgate Town Square Redevelopment Project was well attended with standing room only!

RGM as well as many community members shared their comments on the project. We applaud all those who participated in helping to shape the future of Northgate for years to come.

The City Council voted unanimously to approve the proposed Northgate Town Square Project’s Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and various other related project entitlements.

RGM was very pleased that the following big asks that we’ve been supporting were approved:

ONSITE CONSTRUCTION MANAGER:

• A “construction liaison” will be onsite all the time during construction; the General Contractor will be responsible for this position. In addition, a town square manager and security will be onsite all the time and available to anyone. A phone number and name will be posted onsite for reporting concerns and questions.

TRAFFIC STUDY:

• Of great importance, a traffic study will be conducted after the completion of Phase 1 of the project and that requirement was written into the conditions.

• Merlone Geier, the developer, agreed to pay for the study.

• RGM sees this as a big win as at the completion of Phase 1, neither the developer nor the City will rely on what we argued was a badly flawed original traffic study. We (and many others) had requested that a new traffic study should have been conducted before construction started, but unfortunately that plea fell on deaf ears.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 16th ATTEND THE FINAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING ON NORTHGATE

TIME & PLACE: 6:00PM at the San Rafael City Hall, 1400 Fifth Ave

At this meeting, the City Council will be asked to approve the overall project. This reading is technically listed as a “Consent Calendar” item, meaning that it could be approved without any further discussion by the Council members. However, public comments are still allowed, so members of the public can voice their opinion prior to a vote. Also, it is possible that a Council member will want to have further discussion on the details of the project.

At the December 2nd meeting, there was discussion about using toxic artificial turf for the town square instead of natural grass that had been agreed to at a prior meeting.

RGM encourages you to be prepared to comment and support natural grass vs artificial turf. View more detailed information here from Marin Water (MMWD).

MARIN WATER STATES THE FOLLOWING ON ARTIFICAL TURF

Artificial turf is not a living landscape and does not:

• Increase biodiversity of plant, animal and insect populations;

• Provide habitat for local fauna

• Foster healthy soils (healthy soils increase moisture holding capacity, support healthy microbes and insects, filter pollutants and improve water quality)

• Cool surrounding air temperatures (artificial turf can get significantly hotter than surrounding air temperatures, contributing to the heat island effect by increasing air temperatures in urban settings)

• Sequester carbon or produce oxygen like living plant material can

You can also view here RGM’s letter to the City supporting natural grass vs artificial turf.

We’re looking forward to a strong turnout on Monday, December 16th, at this final stage of the process, which has been a big win for the community.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Look for RGMs December Newsletter that will recap all of the many accomplishments that we have achieved since RGM’s inception in 2019, to make the Northgate Project the best it can be for our community.

A big thanks to all who worked so hard and with such dedication throughout this process.

WITH THE COMMUNITY’S SUPPORT, WE’VE OVERCOME HUGE CHALLENGES AND HAD HUGE SUCCESSES!!!

With gratitude,

RGM