A vacant, steeply sloped parcel at the end of Merrydale Road off North San Pedro Road in San Rafael is poised to become a 12-unit apartment complex, according to plans filed with the city. The 0.4-acre site sits right up against U.S. Highway 101, and its steep terrain is expected to require retaining walls as tall as 7 feet.
The San Rafael Planning Commission scheduled a public hearing for August 25, 2026 to formally review the proposal, according to the City of San Rafael. The 18,151-square-foot parcel, identified by the city as APN 179-221-05, falls within a Multifamily Residential HR1.8 zoning district with a High Density Residential general plan designation. As reported by San Francisco YIMBY, the project would place 12 rental apartments on what is currently a vacant lot, with design work handled by SKS Architects of San Rafael for developer and owner August Place LLC, based in Mill Valley.
How the Project Reaches 12 Units
The site's base zoning would normally allow 10 units, and the proposal adds two more through a 20 percent density bonus, per the city's project records. The project includes one deed-restricted apartment reserved for a low-income household. The result is the 12-apartment plan now headed to the Planning Commission.
City planning submittals describe a two-story residential building sitting over a ground-level garage, spanning 21,674 gross square feet with a 6,013.5-square-foot footprint, according to the same city filings. San Francisco YIMBY reports the structure is expected to yield around 21,700 square feet overall, including 13,960 square feet dedicated to housing and 6,010 square feet for a ground-level 12-car garage. The building's maximum height is listed at 36 feet 9.27 inches, and the plans also call for bike storage and a two-way driveway.
Stucco, Board-Formed Concrete, and a Facade Meant to Break Up the Bulk
San Francisco YIMBY reports the building will be clad in a mix of stucco, Hardie-board lap siding, and vertical board-formed concrete, with an articulated facade intended to visually break up the massing and soften the building's scale along the highway corridor. The publication also notes the property sits about half a mile on foot from the Marin County Civic Center and roughly a mile from the Marin Farmers' Market, placing the site within walking distance of two major North San Rafael landmarks despite its highway-adjacent location.
The Merrydale corridor has become something of a focal point for San Rafael's housing efforts more broadly. The City Council formed a dedicated 350 Merrydale Affordable Housing Development Project Subcommittee in August 2026 to review developer proposals for permanent affordable housing elsewhere along the same street, according to the City of San Rafael. Hoodline previously reported on the city's acquisition of nearby 350 Merrydale Road for transitional and supportive housing and described plans for an interim shelter there.
A Highway Underpass Path Could Someday Link Merrydale to the SMART Train
Separately, the city is advancing design work on the South Merrydale Road-Civic Center Connector, a planned active transportation path that would run underneath U.S. Highway 101 to link Merrydale Road residents to the Marin Civic Center SMART train station, per city planning materials. The project is meant to bridge a physical barrier that currently separates west-side residential neighborhoods from regional rail access.
The push for infill housing on a difficult, sloped site like this one is not happening in a vacuum. It is taking place amid broader housing-planning pressures in Marin County. State provisions such as SB 35 can limit how much discretion local officials have to deny housing proposals that meet objective planning standards, as Call Marin Home has reported.
The 50 Merrydale Road proposal is a modest addition to the city's housing efforts, but it reflects the broader challenge of building on smaller, harder-to-build parcels across San Rafael.
