Marina seeks a possible new vendor to run the Marina Equestrian Center, in a tense battle that pits a longtime nonprofit operator against newcomers.

The largest park in the city of Marina may also be its most hidden. There aren’t signs on the nearby streets directing would-be visitors to a recreational area and if people happen upon it, they may not realize they’re looking at a public asset.

The nearly 15-acre Marina Equestrian Center is an affordable horse boarding facility on 5th Street near Imjin Parkway at the edge of Fort Ord. The center has three riding arenas, a round pen, 70 horse stalls and 32 outdoor areas – called turnouts – for horses. There are also five historical buildings, including the Station Veterinary Hospital, a WWII-era facility; the center was one of the last places the Army trained cavalry units before they were deemed obsolete.

It’s supposed to be temporary boarding, where owners can board their horses for four-month stints. But many of the 60 horses boarded there have been at the facility much longer than that.

Now a battle is brewing over who will control the center in the future.

On Oct. 23, the city opened a request for a proposal (RFP) process to lease the Marina Equestrian Center to a concessionaire. In the RFP, Marina seeks to emphasize the center not only for its equestrian usage, but also as a public park, bringing in more visitors to use the space for other recreational purposes, such as bike riding.

The city has a budget of $850,000 to improve the Marina Equestrian Center and the accepted proposal will be reviewed by the National Park Service to make sure it will run as a public park. Marina isn’t opposed to private horse boarding, as long as it doesn’t interfere with its functioning as a public park.

The Marina Equestrian Association, a volunteer-based nonprofit, has run the equestrian center for over 25 years; for 15 of those years, they’ve been on a month-to-month lease. Now they face accusations of neglect as they fight to keep their lease.

“Since we’ve been on a month-to-month, it hasn’t given us a whole lot of ground to stand on,” MEA President Nicole Fisher says, explaining the organization hasn’t spent funds on improving the facility because it “can be taken away from us with a 60 – or 30-day notice.”

The stalls and open arenas show the passage of time. The stalls have patched walls and rusted fences. “The property is safe for horses,’’ Fisher says, adding veterinarians are at the center on a regular basis and have said the place is safe to operate.

Mayor Bruce Delgado’s take: “The city has asked too much from the Marina Equestrian Association.”

In early August, the city told the MEA to vacate the center within 60 days because demolition of the nearby old Fort Ord prison was to start. An online petition to keep the horses at the center garnered more than 5,000 signatures.

On Aug. 18, Marina City Council reversed the eviction order, but hard feelings have been left in its wake.

At that Aug. 18 council meeting, Kim Stemler spoke during public comment to say she had walked regularly around the park for the past 16 years. “My heart aches looking at the hazardous conditions at the Marina Equestrian Center,” she said. “I get so sad looking at how these horses live.”

Tensions rose among MEA members after the eviction notice was issued. Karen Hassan, a horse surgeon and MEA member since 2019, has been outspoken about the center’s conditions – and is leading a rival group that bid on the RFP to run the park in the future. She alleges she’s been harassed and blamed for the eviction notice.

Hassan filed a police report on Nov. 2, after someone allegedly broke into her storage room and left a note that reads: “You are in danger here!!! You are not safe!!! You and your horses are a target!!! Your horses will eventually die here!!! Leave Now they are watching you!!!”

She says she also found nails in her horses’ bedding. Since then, Hassan has installed cameras on the stalls and her storage room and checks her horses’ food and bedding twice a day with magnets to make sure it is safe. “I still pay for a stall that has rotten walls and a rotten roof,” she says.

Marina Police Chief Tina Nieto says they are investigating, but since they haven’t identified suspects the case is stagnant.

Before opening the RFP, Marina held a town hall meeting on Oct. 5 to talk about MEA’s current administration of the Marina Equestrian Center.

At that meeting, Margaret Davis, a former MEA member and longtime equestrian advocate, said the park needed a professional concessionaire. Davis asked the MEA: “What is your vision? Not just a vision of ‘people can come out and pet a horse,’ but people can come out and really get involved.”

Davis says the center shouldn’t be just a horse park serving the interests of a few.

MEA currently offers riding lessons and twice-weekly therapy lessons called Personal Action Towards Health for people with disabilities and military veterans, as well as private boarding and occasional public events. Since September, during shelter-in-place, they’ve been making and sharing online videos about tacking, grooming and horse anatomy.

Marina has received at least two proposals for the new lease, one from MEA and the other from the Fort Ord Equine Foundation, a nonprofit Hassan started after she unsuccessfully ran for the position of MEA president last December.

MEA pays the city $1,800 per month, less than what many two-bedroom apartments listed on Craigslist cost in Marina. According to their form 990s – filed by nonprofits with the IRS in lieu of tax returns – MEA brings in just under $100,000 a year, income generated from fees paid by boarders. About 65 percent of that goes to maintenance; nobody receives compensation, Fisher says.

Current monthly boarding rates vary between $105 to $135, plus a yearly $100 membership fee. Most MEA members are middle-class horse owners, member Sherilyn Marcuson says. “It’s one of the only affordable places to board horses in the area,” she adds. “We are definitely not Pebble Beach where they are taking $900 a month per horse.”

The deadline to respond to the city’s RFP is Jan. 4, 2021. City officials expect to make a decision by April.