MARINA – The Marina City Council will leave it up to city voters to decide whether or not the city receives money to fund the construction of new facilities.

The council voted 4-1 at its meeting Wednesday, with Mayor Bruce Delgado dissenting, to place the $50 million general obligation bond on the November 2024 ballot to build a fire station, police station and community center in the city of Marina.

Delgado has said he believes that while the need is there, it would be easier to get a bond measure passed if it were a smaller amount to fund one of the three projects, namely the fire station, that the bond proposes to cover.

The Marina City Council has been studying putting a bond measure before its citizens for a number of years and has held workshops, study sessions and public forums to find a way forward. It recently held a study session that included a public open house, presentations by city staff and RNT Architects, covering topics such as facility needs review, cost estimates and potential locations.

At its meeting in late July, the council considered four options for construction and costs, landing on the third option of building three projects.

Option 1 would be the construction of a new fire station at an approximate cost of $16 million.

Option 2 would be the construction of a new fire and police station at an approximate total cost of $33.5 million (fire $16 million and police $17.5 million).

Option 3 would be the construction of a new fire and police station and community center, with an approximate total cost of $55 million (fire $16 million, police $17.5 million and community $21.5 million).

Option 4 would be the construction of a new fire and police station, city offices and renovation of the existing public safety building and community center into a recreational campus in Hillcrest at an approximate total cost of $62.5 million (fire $16 million, police $17.5 million dollars, community center $21.5 million and renovation of the Hillcrest campus $7.5 million).

“We were directed at our last meeting by the City Council to put a $50 million general obligation bond on the November 2024 ballot to build a fire station, police station and a community center,” said Marina City Manager Layne Long.

The cost of the general obligation is averaged over a 30-year period and comes out to $54.74 annually or $4.50 per month per $100,000 of assessed property value, Long explained. The median value of a single-family home in Marina is $496,962. The median is the midpoint of the home values ​​with 50% higher and 50% lower.

The approximate cost of a $50 million bond for a median single-family home in Marina with an assessed value of $497,000 would be $22.70 per month or $272 annually.

Action taken during Wednesday’s meeting included approving a resolution and ordinance to place the measure on the November 2024 ballot, approving ballot measure language and appointing two members of the City Council to write arguments supporting the bond measure and potential counterarguments.

The council needed to act Wednesday because it had an Aug. 7 deadline to put a measure on the ballot. Friday was the last day for the city to file the local measure with the Monterey County Registrar of Voters.

In previous meetings, the council reviewed several potential sites for city facilities, including the existing city development site, Locke Paddon Park, a site adjacent to the Marina/Salina transit station, Cypress Knolls and Vince DiMaggio Park.

Council decided not to identify a specific site for the community center buildings, as several potential identified sites will work. A more engaged process with the public to identify the specific locations for the community center facilities will occur later if the bond is approved.

Originally published: August 9, 2024 at 14.21