Marina council shows support for mixed-use rezoning next to Walmart.

The Marina City Council unanimously approved exploring a plan that rezones a portion of the Marina Landing Shopping Center to allow for housing on Wednesday, March 18.

The council gave direction for city staff to draft a plan that will be further discussed and refined by the council later this year. If approved, it then needs to pass muster with the California Coastal Commission, as the property is within the coastal zone.

Marina’s Local Coastal Program, a land use document that covers 1.5 square miles of Marina, including the Marina Landing Shopping Center where Walmart, 7-Eleven and Quick Quack Car Wash are located, hasn’t been significantly updated since the 1980s. Discussions during the council meeting centered around the mixed-use proposal, as well as defining recreation uses in open space zones, among other things.

Terry Tallen, CEO of Tallen Capital Partners who owns the 5.5 acres in question, seeks to build housing and a restaurant on the vacant property, citing decades of disinterest from retailers on the commercial-only plot of land.

While councilmembers discussed details of the proposal, including landscaping and layout, the question before them was whether or not to allow mixed use on the property. Those specific details will be hashed out at a later date.

The council supported keeping the property that houses Walmart, Quick Quack, 7-Eleven and the parking lot as commercial only (with Councilmember Brian McCarthy recusing himself for this segment of the discussion, as he owns property within 500 feet of this portion of the shopping center). Members also supported keeping drive-thru uses intact in the zoning.

Public comment was widely in support of mixed use for Tallen’s property, although some questioned how parking would work and what traffic impacts it could create.