Resident urges San Rafael council to meet neighborhoods before plans for 350 Meridale; council moves to closed session

SAN RAFAEL — At the council's Dec. 15 meeting, a resident urged the council to meet with nearby neighborhoods before concepts are finalized for what he called the "350 Meridale" housing site, saying the city's housing webpage now lists a long-term plan of "a minimum of 80 units." The council then recessed into closed session to confer with real property negotiators about a property at 519 4th Street.

Ken Dickinson, who identified himself during the public-comment period, told council members he wanted to "look ahead regarding 350 Meridale" and framed his remarks as related to the meeting's real-estate business. "The city's own homeless housing website now describes the long term plan as a minimum of 80 units of much needed affordable housing," Dickinson said, adding that the word "minimum" had been added "just a few days ago," which he said "signals a significant and possibly larger entitlement decision than we had anticipated was coming."

Dickinson named multiple neighborhoods he said would be affected — "Residents of Rafael Meadows, the Murielle communities, Redwood Village, and Pilgrim Park" — and asked that Mayor Kaye and interested council members "meet with the impacted neighborhoods before concepts are finalized, to share your thinking about what this housing project could look like, how density and scale are being considered, and how the community can be involved earlier and often in shaping it." He said the goal was to "avoid a repeat of the trust breakdown many residents experienced earlier in this process."

The transcript contains inconsistent references to the project name (the speaker also used the term "350 Bridal" earlier), and the council's closed session announcement referred to negotiations over a property at 519 4th Street; the record does not show any vote or formal decision on the 350 Meridale project during the public meeting. After public comment, the presiding official thanked the speaker and stated the body would proceed to the previously announced closed session.

No council response to Dickinson's request is recorded in the public portion of the transcript. The closed session, as announced by the presiding official, was described only as "a conference with real property negotiators" about the 519 4th Street parcel; any negotiations or decisions from that closed session are not part of the public record in this transcript.

The meeting was the council's final session of the year; the presiding official opened the meeting, read the closed-session item, invited public commenters to speak for up to two minutes, and then recessed to closed session when public comment concluded.