City Council Poised to Approve Exclusive Negotiating Agreement with Potential Marina Developer on Wednesday
City envisions hotels, restaurants, sports courts, amphitheater and much more for waterfront; plus, police pay hike, staffing woes, and latest News You Can Use roundup of events around Martinez
By Craig Lazzeretti
Following months of discussion, the City Council is expected to vote at its final meeting of the year on Wednesday to enter into an exclusive negotiating agreement (ENA) with Tucker Sadler Architects of San Diego to explore a potential development project that would reshape the Martinez Marina and Waterfront.
The agreement envisions an expansive plan for the long-struggling area that could include hotels and restaurants; recreation amenities such as sports courts, a dog park and upgraded public boat launch facility; new commercial and retail businesses; public plazas and “beach-style waterfront areas”; an outdoor amphitheater; and surface and underground parking. The project would take place on roughly 70 acres of trust lands granted to the city by the state, and include both waterside and landside developments.
Tucker Sadler CEO Greg Mueller outlined an elaborate vision for Marina redevelopment at a council meeting in July. In the months since, the council has held several closed session meetings with Tucker Sadler to hammer out the details of the ENA that goes before the council on Wednesday.
An artistic rendering of Tucker Sadler’s vision for the Marina and Waterfront.
Tucker Sadler’s vision goes beyond what was originally identified in the Waterfront Marina Trust Lands Use Plan (“TLUP”) that the city spent several years developing. As the staff report accompanying Wednesday’s agenda item explains, “dire and deteriorating conditions that demand significant intervention” have become apparent at the Marina. After the Marina’s longtime operator, Almar Marina Management, abruptly departed in August 2024, the city became aware of the extent of the problems.
The city initially engaged Safe Harbor Marinas, the largest owner and operator of marinas in the United States, to explore development opportunities aligned with the TLUP, but Safe Harbor “found that (the TLUP) did not provide enough uses to support a public-private partnership” with it or its development partners, “unless the city were open to re-envisioning the plan for the Marina,” the staff report says. Safe Harbor then introduced the city to Tucker Sadler, which has produced successful projects in San Diego, to discuss devising such a plan.
Mueller’s presentation in July drew both public support, notably from trade union representatives drawn to the labor opportunities such an extensive development would create, and pushback from some community members (including myself) who questioned the viability and suitability of his vision.
The proposed ENA stipulates that the city and Tucker Sadler negotiate only with one another on a potential development project. According to the report:
The ENA does not approve the project; instead, it sets up a formal period for the parties to work through the details of the proposed project, including negotiating a Development Agreement, determining the financial terms, conducting environmental review, and securing other regulatory and permitting agency approvals. Either party can still walk away at any point if they decide the project is not right for the City or the developer. The ENA period also includes time for public outreach to receive input from the community and Marina and Waterfront stakeholders.
The negotiating period for the ENA would be 24 months. It also calls for public outreach in which the two parties “would create a public outreach strategy to obtain input and feedback on the proposed development from relevant stakeholders, which include, but are not limited to: local, regional, state and federal agencies; tribal governments; community-based organizations; the business community; Marina and Waterfront users; and the community.”
Because of the ongoing controversy surrounding neighborhood disturbances from the pickleball courts at Hidden Valley Park, some have advocated the waterfront as a preferable location for pickleball. But the staff report does not specify pickleball as a potential recreational amenity, beyond the reference to sports courts. Among sports organizations listed as stakeholders during the planning process are Martinez Bocce Federation, Power Sports Academy, Universal Sports Academy and American Youth Soccer Organization.
The ENA also requires Tucker Sadler to enter into a “cost recovery agreement” in which it reimburses the city for “all staff time and consultant costs associated with reviewing and processing the project.”
The staff report emphasizes that the ENA would require no “upfront financial commitment from the city beyond staff and legal support.” It reads:
If the ENA is approved, Tucker Sadler would be required to pay the city’s staff, legal and consultant costs during the negotiating period.
If a development project is ultimately successful, the city hopes that the resulting revenues will eliminate the ongoing General Fund subsidy of $650,000-plus per year for Waterfront and Marina operations. The report also notes that the “full cost of Marina reconstruction — including dredging and replacement/repairs of the northern breakwater and eastern seawall — would be borne by the developer, and not initially by the city.”
Finally, the city envisions potential new tax revenues resulting from the development as well as lease payments. Revenues also could be used to pay both outstanding State Department of Boating and Waterways loans and those from the city’s General Fund.
Martinez police to get raise as staffing woes mount
Also on Wednesday, the City Council is set to approve a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Martinez Police Officers Association covering pay and other employment conditions for the 2026 and 2027 calendar years. The MOU calls for a one-time salary adjustment of 5.54% in the first year and a 3% cost-of-living adjustment in the second year. The MOU is listed under the council’s consent calendar, meaning that it won’t be discussed during the meeting unless a council member specifically requests that it be.
The Police Department is again grappling with significant staffing challenges. In a Dec. 8 email to Martinez News and Views, police Chief Andrew White said the department currently has eight full-time sworn officer vacancies and an upcoming retirement, plus an additional retirement planned in the spring and another officer planning to depart for the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office. Additionally, two full-time sworn officers are on leave. In some good news, the department has three recruits scheduled to attend the police academy in January, and a lateral officer hire in the recruitment pipeline.
According to the staff report on the MOU, the pay increases are expected to cost the city $479,500 over the 2025-26 and 2026-27 fiscal years. With a Police Department vacancy rate of 29.63% as of Dec. 15, the city anticipates funding the pay hikes through salary savings from current vacancies. The city also anticipates that “this elevated vacancy level may continue into the next fiscal year.”
The staffing shortage recently caused the department to suspend its strategic enforcement team (SET) and hire private security to patrol the downtown business district. Although the hiring of private armed security drew some backlash on social media and local media coverage, there was no public comment about the topic or discussion by city staff or council members at last week’s council meeting.
Wednesday’s City Council meeting starts at 7 p.m. The full agenda, including instructions on how to attend remotely, can be seen here: https://granicus_production_attachments.s3.amazonaws.com/martinez/63ac58a09b7b4c207dfe66160741c6d90.pdf
News You Can Use: Holiday Events to Close Out 2025
The following roundup of upcoming events and activities in and around Martinez by freelance writer David Scholz and Craig Lazzeretti is made available to paid subscribers only. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber for $5 a month or $50 annually if not already to take advantage of content such as this and support more local news coverage of Martinez. You can also email craig.lazzeretti@gmail.com for information on other ways to support the newsletter.
