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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."

Contact Will Jason via email at wjason@marinij.com or via Twitter at http://twitter.com/willjason