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The San Rafael Airport is seen from the air next to McInnis Park in San Rafael, Calif. on...
San
Rafael Mayor Gary Phillips may vote on a proposed sports complex at the
San Rafael Airport and has no conflict of interest over a hangar he
leases there, state officials said this week.
"I'm not surprised, but I'm pleased that it gives me the opportunity to participate in the decision," Phillips said Friday.
The
San Rafael City Council was set consider a proposed $6 million to $8
million sports complex last month, but the hearing was delayed after the
mayor requested an opinion on an alleged conflict of interest.
Critics
had alleged there was a conflict because of a hangar Phillips leases at
the airport. City Attorney Rob Epstein and the mayor's personal
attorney, Vigo "Chip" Nielsen, have said there is no conflict, but
Phillips requested an opinion from the state Fair Political Practices
Commission.
In a seven-page letter issued Tuesday, commission
lawyers said there is no conflict because it appears the City Council's
decision will not affect the mayor's hangar lease.
"So long as
Mayor Phillips continues to pay the full market value for the lease of
the airport hangar, there is no indication that a decision regarding the
proposed complex will have a reasonably foreseeable material financial
effect on either Mayor Phillips' economic interest in the lease of the
airport hangar or his personal finances," commission lawyers Zackery
Morazzini and Brian Lau said in a letter.
The proposed project includes two indoor soccer fields,
a dance and gymnastics training center and a cafe with beer and wine.
It also includes two outdoor turf fields, one with lights, and nearly
300 parking spaces.
With Phillips cleared to vote on the sports complex, the council hearing will likely be rescheduled for November or December.
"Getting
the Fair Political Practices Commission to make the ruling was the easy
part," said Robert Dobrin, president of the Santa Venetia Neighborhood
Association, who has been critical of the project. "But now the council
and the mayor actually have to be objective in their decisions and
that's always hard."
