FORA intends to sell Preston Park, but tries to sneak it under the wire.

At 4:59pm, just before the holiday weekend, the Fort Ord Reuse Authority announced in an email to board members and the public that it intends to sell Preston Park, a hotly-contested piece of land that some believe should belong to Marina free of charge.

According to an inside source, the publication of the agenda item to sell the land—Resolution 14-XX—comes after various members said they could not attend the May 30 special board meeting, and the timing is no accident: FORA borrowed $19 million against the land from Rabobank in 2010, and the remaining principal, approximately $18 million, is due by June 15, 2014.

FORA claims to have taken on the loan with the understanding Marina would eventually buy out its share of the land. But that sale never happened, as some Marina officials believe the land should be transferred to the city free of charge, per their interpretation of a U.S. Army memorandum.

When FORA put the property on the market in 2012, Marina filed suit to block the sale, a case that is still pending.

FORA’s resolution claims the sale is necessary to prevent foreclosure on the property, and will not create financial hardship for Marina, which will collect 50 percent of net lease proceeds during FORA's ownership and 50 percent of net land sales when it's sold.