Marina begins a separate outreach process as Cal Am does its own to decide how to spend $3 million.

David Schmalz here. Earlier this month, I wrote about an outreach process being conducted by EnviroGage, an environmental consulting firm being paid $195,000 by Cal Am, that seeks input from Marina residents about how they’d like to spend $3 million on a park or public amenity in the city’s Coastal Zone should Cal Am’s desalination project in Marina ever break ground. 

As I wrote, the first meeting EnviroGage hosted on March 1 did not go well, and was mostly two hours of Marina residents complaining that Cal Am was trying to steal their water. 

The whole process is bizarre, and came about because when the California Coastal Commission approved Cal Am’s desal project in 2022, some commissioners felt like more should be done to throw a bone to Marina residents, many of whom were, and remain, opposed to the project. 

The condition to build the $3 million public amenity was something the commissioners came up with on the fly—Cal Am had already agreed to pay $1 million for the same purpose—and in addition, the commissioners added a condition that Cal Am must pay a city employee’s salary for 10 years in order to oversee implementation of the project. 

But what does $3 million even get you in 2025? A bathroom and interpretative signage? 

Regardless, the city has decided, if Cal Am is going to spend $3 million on a public amenity in the city’s Coastal Zone, the city wants to steer the process, not Cal Am. 

In mid-February, the Marina City Council voted to hire its own consultant to do outreach at a cost of $50,000. In a statement the city put out March 18 announcing the beginning of the process—which starts tonight—Mayor Bruce Delgado said, “Since the city’s government and residents are the most knowledgeable about what the city’s long-term needs are, it is critical that we ensure that these funds are used in ways that truly reflect the priorities and needs of our residents.”

There will be two outreach meetings. The first is tonight, March 25, from 6-8pm on Zoom, and the second, an in-person meeting, is Saturday, March 29, from 10am to noon in the Marina City Council Chambers at 211 Hillcrest Ave. 

I don’t know if Cal Am’s desal project will ever get built—it’s got more lives than a cat—but if you’re a Marina resident, for the purposes of the meetings, you may as well assume that it will and come up with the best idea $3 million can buy.