City Leaders Stay Focused on Long-Term Plans for Marina While Navigating Short-Term Challenges

Imminent departure of marina management company causes 'major blip' in city's plans, but mayor and others remain focused on long-awaited transformation, starting with new fishing pier

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By Sam Richards

Mayor Brianne Zorn and Jill Bergman, the city’s community and economic development director, say they’re passionate about Martinez’s waterfront and the possibilities there.

They say there’s so much set to happen, headed by the renovation of the city’s fishing pier starting this fall and filing applications in October for a maximum $20 million federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grant that city leaders hope would jumpstart the long-awaited transformation of the Martinez waterfront and marina.

But other things, at least in the short term, are diverting people’s eyes from the waterfront prize — most notably the imminent departure of the company that has managed the Martinez Marina since 2005, and the recent closure of the bait shop near the marina.

The city is looking for a new marina manager, Zorn and Bergman said, but it will have to become the marina’s interim manager in the meantime.

The planned Aug. 21 loss of Almar Marina Management, which coincides with that Torrance-based marina management company being acquired by a rival company, is a “major blip” in the city’s plans, Zorn said. But she insists the city is committed to a smooth transition to interim management of the marina, and subsequently to a new management firm.