Marin IJ: North San Rafael path project gains momentum

A bicyclist rides south on the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit path at the Civic Center Station in San Rafael, Calif., on Saturday, April 24, 2021. City planners are working on a project to connect a multiuse path from the station to Terra Linda. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)

By ADRIAN RODRIGUEZ | arodriguez@marinij.com | Marin Independent Journal PUBLISHED: April 24, 2022 at 2:47 p.m. | UPDATED: April 26, 2022 at 4:52 a.m.

Plans are in motion for a long-sought multiuse path connecting Terra Linda to the Marin County Civic Center area through a Highway 101 underpass.

After a presentation outlining four preliminary design options for a path on Merrydale Road, the San Rafael City Council was divided on whether to include parking on the west side of the road or no parking at all.

“We’ve at least narrowed it down to two options now, and I think that’s huge progress,” Bill Guerin, director of public works, said at the council’s meeting on Monday.

“The bike path itself is generally the same in either of the options,” and therefore planners could move forward with the design, Guerin said. City staffers will leave room in the design for the parking spaces and present both options to the council for approval later.

The proposed path will be an extension of the Northgate promenade, which snakes through the Northgate shopping centers. It will connect from Las Gallinas Avenue east to Merrydale Road and then south along the freeway to where the Civic Center SMART station is situated.

The path would be 12 feet wide with a bikeway and walkway elevated from the street level and tucked between the road and Highway 101. The project is expected to cost about $3 million, including design, environmental analysis, construction and management.

The plan was identified in the city’s 2018 bicycle and pedestrian master plan, but community volunteers have been advocating for the project, which they dubbed the San Rafael promenade, since the 1990s.

The idea is to provide bicyclists and pedestrians a safe route from the west side of the freeway to the east.

Guerin presented preliminary plans for a no-parking option; partial parking on the east side of the road against the path; partial parking on the west side, opposite the path, and full parking with 15 spaces and one accessible stall.

“We’re trying to get it shovel-ready so that we will be in a position where we can apply for grant funding,” Guerin told the council.

The project had a strong showing of community support, with every speaker at the meeting asking for the council to proceed with the no-parking option.

Shirley Fischer said the North San Rafael Vision plan, which is where the impetus for the project started, began with 200 people seeking a center for the community at the Northgate mall and a promenade through Terra Linda.

“The promenade was supposed to be a pleasant and welcoming place for people, kids, strollers, kids on small bikes with little gathering spaces along the way,” she said. “We see this segment as a really key portion.”

Fischer said she wants the council to add more trees and make it a green space and that parking for SMART should be on the east side of the freeway.

Matthew Hartzell, director of planning and research of WTB-TAM, said the path would connect future residents of the proposed Northgate mall redevelopment to SMART and Civic Center events like the farmers market.

It would also connect to the North-South Greenway, providing better access to the Larkspur Ferry Terminal and more, he said.

“It’s really an incredibly important piece of the puzzle,” he said.

After the meeting, a spokesman for Merlone Geier, the developers proposing to overhaul Northgate with 1,320 new residences, said the company is “committed to working with the city on an appropriate contribution toward the Merrydale multiuse path.”

Mayor Kate Colin and Vice Mayor Rachel Kertz advocated for parking.

“I can’t imagine not having parking there,” said Colin, who said that part of providing better access to SMART is to offer parking.

Councilmembers Maribeth Bushey and Maika Llorens Gulati said they could do without.

“My recommendation is that we fully embrace the idea of making it as lush as possible and making it as pleasant as possible,” Bushey said. “There doesn’t seem to be anyone interested in parking there.”

Councilmember Eli Hill was absent from the meeting.