Seeking revenue, Marina City Council discusses rent increases at Preston and Abrams developments.

On Tuesday, Sept. 30, the Marina City Council held a special meeting to review its 2010 policy on rents in Preston Park and Abrams Park, two former military housing developments the city inherited from the closure of Fort Ord. The issue: annual rent increases for long-term residents since then have been capped at 3 percent or the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower, creating an increasing disparity with newer residents.

The City Council has been discussing closing that gap for more than two years. Hanging over it all is the desire to find the money to build a proper City Hall and a new fire and police station, estimates of which have run over $50 million, but there is no real plan yet proposed.

(In November 2024, Marina voters rejected Measure U, a $50 million bond measure to fund facilities for police, fire and the city.)

The meeting also included an update on the loan coming due for Preston Park – the city was initially only given a 50-percent share of Preston Park in 1998, and the other 50 percent was held by the Fort Ord Reuse Authority. The City of Marina bought out FORA’s share in 2015 for $35 million, the loan for which is coming due next February.

The meeting got off to an unusual start when City Manager Layne Long announced that, because he is a tenant at Abrams Park, he would be stepping out of the meeting. Mayor Bruce Delgado then introduced Finance Director Tori Hannah (who started with the city in June 2024 after coming over from Pacific Grove) and said she was acting city manager when Long was “out of town.”

Hannah then delivered a 20-plus-minute presentation, mostly about the granular details of rental rates, the delta between long-time tenants and newer ones, and how much revenue the city could potentially capture.

Toward the end, she got into the refinancing options for the $35 million Preston Park loan based on information she had gotten from consultants, and explained the options, which she had laid out in a table.

The takeaway was that the city has been setting aside money for years to repay the loan, and has $13 million in the coffers for it. In three scenarios Hannah laid out for repaying the loan, the city could own Preston Park in 30 years, free and clear, while keeping the same debt payments and rent structure. Those scenarios include using the previously earmarked $13 million and instead putting it toward city facilities.

Currently, Preston Park is feeding about $2 million annually into the city’s general fund, and there’s nearly $2 million more coming in above expenses.

Former councilmember Gail Morton, who also served on the FORA board and has institutional knowledge of the properties, pointed this out to the council – she thought the council was “piggybacking” the refinancing issue with the rent stabilization, when in fact they aren’t related except in that they involve Preston Park.

Public comment, all opposed to rent increases, lasted nearly an hour, and the council deliberated for nearly another two. Toward the end, Delgado asked, “Staff, how are you sensing our direction?”

Hannah said some of it was “a little unclear.” Ultimately, nothing was decided.