Important Meetings Coming Up For Marina General Plan Update

The City of Marina is proposing to amend the Marina General Plan this year. The current General Plan was adopted in 1982, eighteen years ago, and is seriously outdated. State Guidelines say that a city's General Plan should be updated every five years.

Unfortunately, the Marina City Council has announced that its preferred alternative for the new General Plan is to facilitate a massive new suburban development on the 2000 acre Armstrong Ranch, most of which is outside the current city limits. The Armstrong Ranch is located to the immediate north of Marina, along Highway One, and encompasses virtually all of the land between Highway One, the current city limits, and the Salinas River. The development of new resorts and hotels, on the ocean side of Highway One, is also part of the city's plan.

Marina's coastal dunes contain some of the most sensitive habitat found along the Monterey Bay. The Armstrong Ranch, where the city proposes more than 3000 new houses, is currently used for irrigated agriculture, grazing and open space. It's interesting to note that the Gibson-Speno Company, the developer proposing new houses on the Armstrong Ranch, is the same developer that is seeking to build a new headquarters campus for Cisco Systems, to be located in the Coyote Valley, in the City of San Jose. The proposed Coyote Valley development would create new offices with 20,000 or more jobs, but with no housing whatsoever! Clearly, the Gibson-Speno Company would like to make housing accommodations available on the Monterey Peninsula, to help serve its office and light industrial development in the Silicon Valley. The question for Marina is whether the city should accommodate the desires of the Gibson-Speno Company, or whether another future would be better for the residents of the city.

Good land use policy focuses growth within defined urban boundaries, and protects sensitive habitats and agricultural land. Good land use policy also reduces service costs, instead of increasing them, as is virtually always the case with sprawling, suburban developments.

In Marina, the city is fortunate to have a great deal of development potential within the existing city limits, and particularly on the lands of the former Fort Ord. Fort Ord needs to be redeveloped and reused. The real question for the Marina General Plan Update is whether the residents of Marina want to facilitate a sprawling, residential development on the Armstrong Ranch, or whether they want a more focused development that utilizes lands within the existing city limits, and that rejuvenates and revitalizes the former Fort Ord. As indicated earlier, development of the Armstrong Ranch is the preferred alternative of the current City Council. The General Plan Update process, however, lets all interested persons participate˜and the final plan has not yet been adopted.

If you would like to participate in the Marina General Plan Update process, here is some information that should be of assistance:

Copies of the proposed General Plan and the Environmental Impact Report are available from the City of Marina. Contact the City of Marina Planning Department to get copies, or for information on the status of the Marina General Plan Update process:

Jeff Dack
Planning Director Marina City Hall
211 Hillcrest Avenue
Marina, CA 93933
Telephone: 831-884-1220, Ext. 215
Website: http://www.ci.marina.ca.us

To help support another alternative, contact Marina 2020 Vision, the Marina citizens group calling for a General Plan alternative that protects the coast, and that focuses new development within the existing city limits, and specifically on the lands of the former Fort Ord:

Ken Gray,
Chair Marina 2020 Vision
P.O. Box 1147
Marina, CA 93933
Telephone: 831- 384-5119
Email: gray@mbay.net

Important dates and deadlines are listed below. Meetings are held at the Marina City Council Chambers, at the Marina City Hall:

Please contact LandWatch if you would like further information on this critically important General Plan Update process. The decisions made in Marina will affect not only the future of the city, but the future of the entire Monterey Peninsula, as well.

6/24/00