Frequent Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Is this a private members only club?
A. No, our facility is always open to the general public. We will have membership to play in certain leagues and programs but many of our programs do not require any membership like drop in play, field and meeting room rentals, birthday parties, etc.

Q. Who will use the facility?
A. This is a FAMILY FACILITY. Our facility is open for the entire family to recreate and socialize. Our motto is “Sports, Fitness & Fun for Everyone” and we are committed to providing an active, safe and social place for the entire family. We will offer many leagues and programs for both youth and adults. Click here to see everything we offer.

Q. Why did you choose this location?
A. The reasons we chose the San Rafael airport location are simple. People have been looking to build such a facility in Marin for over 30 years! We have looked at many potential sites, including Hamilton, Silveira, existing buildings and other land.

The scarcity of land and buildings, high real estate prices, environmental issues, neighborhood concerns and other barriers and challenges like what we are still going through is why it has not been done privately and is also why the city and county are so short of fields.

It has not been economically possible to build enough affordable recreation in Marin or it would have been done. Nobody has come up with a more viable location by now and the only reason it works at the Airport site is that it is properly zoned for recreational uses and we have been generously given the land for free, which makes this project economically feasible.

Q. Why have you proposed to close the facility late in the evening?
A. Our proposed hours are not unreasonable and reflect the industry standard of other sports, health and fitness clubs in Marin and across the nation.

The hours of operation directly affect our ability to make this facility work financially as well as to keep the costs reasonable and affordable for the citizens of San Rafael. The soccer operation is not economically sustainable as a youth only facility. Eliminating the later night time playing hours would severely reduce our ability to operate the facility financially because adults would not be able to use this facility in the evening. This in effect would force to start the adults as early as possible (5pm-6pm) which are now youth time slots and reduce the overall availability of youth games we could provide the community.

We previously agreed to modify the hours of operations to accommodate some neighbor concerns. We only use our later hours if there is demand for it as we always schedule bottom up; from early to late. Any further reduced hours will either make the project too expensive to operate or will require us to raise the fees beyond what we feel is appropriate and affordable to the majority of athletes and families in Marin.

Q. Why the need for an all-weather outdoor field with lights?
A. Utilizing natural grass fields makes no sense these days. Almost every new field project from cities and schools these days is done with synthetic grass. Because they suffer less downtime than grass fields, more players can use the synthetic grass fields in a typical week. This equates to more play time for both youth and adults and increases fitness, reduces childhood obesity and overall makes our community healthier and happier.

Synthetic Grass remains playable year round, whereas natural grass gets overused and shut down in the winter when it is dark before 5pm and the spring months from rain and mud. Soccer, lacrosse, rugby and other sports are now year round and both youth and adult teams need to train and play all year. Many of the leagues, tournaments and competitions are now played in the winter and spring months when many of the grass fields are shut down or are unplayable, therefore natural grass fields do not serve the community, our business model or the goal of the project, which is to provide year round all weather fields. Synthetic grass also reduces the use of water, fertilizers and chemicals. Installing synthetic grass is an environmentally sound decision.

The maintenance costs of natural grass are very expensive – up to $60,000 per field, per year and the fields must still be shut down for 4-6 months. The challenge with synthetic grass is that it is extremely expensive to install (up to $1 million per field). In order to afford it you have to have lights on the field. The facility operation is not economically sustainable as youth only facility. Reducing the outdoor night time hours of play would also eliminate the synthetic turf because it is not economically feasible to install synthetic turf without lights or enough lit hours of play.

We have chosen the most state-of-the-art environmentally friendly lighting system available. It is the Structured Green Generation Lighting System designed by Musco Lighting.  It uses 50% less electricity and produces 50% less spill and glare than traditional fixtures.  This superior new technology also enables us to make the poles shorter and still achieve adequate lighting.  The average pole height is only 31.5 feet, which is half as tall as the light poles other city park and recreation or high school facilities, including the lights at McInnis Park right next door.

Q.  Why are beer and wine sales proposed for a recreational facility that also serves youth?
A. We plan to offer a family friendly environment where both youth and adults can recreate and spend quality time together.  To this end the facility will include a family style café that serves a variety of healthy food and beverage options, including beer and wine for adult enjoyment with a meal.  It will be similar to a Round Table pizza type environment in this respect.  Beer and wine will be limited to the 2nd floor viewing area, located above the sports fields.  No beer and wine will be allowed in any of the field areas, including on the outdoor soccer field.

There are hundreds of other public and private facilities, cafés, restaurants and businesses in Marin County that serve alcoholic beverages and where children and teenagers go with their families to recreate or socialize. The County of Marin already allows alcoholic sales and consumption at “family sports and recreation and entertainment venues” including McInnis Park, (right next to youth soccer and softball fields, batting cages, driving range and mini-golf). Many other similar family venues in Marin, including Mulberry Pizza, the Smith Ranch Deli (both on Smith Ranch Road), Pinky’s Pizza (across from San Rafael High School), Mt. Tam Racquet Club, Scott Valley Swim and Tennis Club, Tiburon Peninsula Club, Harbor Point and the Marin County Club; all serve alcohol in their sport clubs, and several have alcohol service at the outdoor pool areas that are designed for youth use

As with our family soccer facilities in the North Bay, we are committed to responsible alcohol use.  To that end we do not allow alcohol advertising anywhere in the facility, except the café menu areas.  To address community concerns regarding alcohol sales, we have developed “Responsible Provider Policies” that will govern beer and wine sales at our facility.

Click Here to Read Our Responsible Provider Policies

Q. Is it safe to build playing fields and a sports building next to an airport runway? 
A.Yes. Most aircraft accidents around airports occur on the runway or at the end of the runway such as a plane running out of room to land. Because aircraft accidents are rare and rarely occur off the runway, development is allowed by the FAA adjacent to airport runways throughout the United States in big and small airports. Ground fatalities are incredibly rare.

San Rafael Airport is a very safe airport. It has only 10-15 flights per day, and primarily serves small single engine piston aircraft that weigh less than an average SUV. These are highly maneuverable aircraft that can avoid obstacles even while under duress. In October 2011 a pilot lost his engine on take-off and was still able to fly underneath some offsite PG&E power lines and land safely in the marsh about a half-mile from the airport. Aircraft incidents at San Rafael Airport are rare; in most cases the pilot has walked away from the aircraft uninjured. There has never been a fatality. Contrary to erroneous claims by project opponents, no aircraft incident has EVER occurred in the area of the proposed Sports Complex.

Did Airport Safety Experts review the project?
Yes. The CalTrans Department of Aeronautics reviewed the project. They found that the project

•     Complies with all clear zones and setbacks required for aircraft safety.
•     Recreational Use complies with Airport Land Use Planning Handbook guidelines for land uses within 2 miles of  airports.

Q. Are recreational uses built next to other airports?
A. Yes, recreation is a land use often near airports. Locally, Petaluma Airport has a 2 youth parks (Weisman & Prince Parks) next to the runway with outdoor soccer, baseball fields and a golf course. Petaluma’s Airport is much busier with approximately 146 flights per day vs. the 10 – 15 flights a day at San Rafael Airport.

Q. What was the result of the EIR that was completed by the City?
A. The San Rafael Airport Sports Complex was reviewed extensively by government agencies, aviation agencies and safety experts during an exhaustive 5 year Environmental Review Process. The Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) found no significant or potentially significant environmental impacts by the project after mitigation.

This project is being built on private land, not open space. The setbacks are well away from the creek and much further from it then the McInnis park buildings, fields, parking lots, Porto- potties, walking trails and docks.

The EIR shows there is no development going on in any wetlands or wildlife habitat. Opponents stating otherwise are doing so erroneously and without any evidence.  Click here to read the full EIR report.