The agenda for this week’s meeting of the Coronado City Council includes a report on the free summer shuttle’s 2026 ridership and filling the seats on seven city boards and commissions. It may also decide the future of the Mobility Committee, which hasn’t met since December 2025. Public comment will be heard.
The meeting is at 4 p.m. on Nov. 3 in the City Council Chamber at 1825 Strand Way, and will be broadcast here. The full agenda is here. A recording of the meeting will be posted afterward here.
Summer shuttle program ridership drops, but full buses left riders waiting
The city’s free summer shuttle saw a 9 percent drop in total ridership for 2026 compared to the year prior, despite running for 30 more days than in 2025, according to a staff report going before the City Council on Nov. 3.
Riders per day dropped from 1,123 to 688, about 39 percent. Total ridership fell from 70,585 in 2025 to 64,027 this year. The service ran for 93 days.
Despite being less popular, at least 653 people were left waiting at bus stops as full buses pulled away from the curb. This summer, the city opted for smaller, 20-seat buses with no room for standing passengers, hoping to make the faltering program more sustainable.
Passengers reported that the smaller buses were harder to use with strollers or wheelchairs, and the San Diego Metro Transit System (MTS) counted 242 buses that filled to capacity.
A key part of the summer shuttle program is its service to the Coronado Cays on the Fourth of July, and ridership dropped there as well, by nearly 50 percent: from from 949 riders to 498.
The city handed out 374 PRONTO passes to Cays households, allowing them to ride standard metro buses for free since the shuttle doesn’t regularly service that part of the city. However, MTS says only 81 were used. No one from Liberty Military Housing picked up a pass.
Staff wrote that the decline “was expected as a result of a reduction in capacity and trips per day,” and that the counts leave out “potential passengers that were lost due to the reduced passenger capacity.”
The city has operated the summer shuttle since 2013. Ridership peaked in 2019 at 154,026 riders, before the service was canceled in 2020 and cut back in 2021 during the pandemic. A 2023 bus workers’ strike pushed ridership down to 34,248. In 2024, the council shortened the season and gave the shuttle another chance, later calling 2025 its last try.
That gamble paid off. In 2025, the shuttle averaged 1,123 riders per day, its highest since the pandemic and the third highest in the program’s history. Council members have questioned in past meetings whether running both a routed summer shuttle and an on-demand service is redundant.
The smaller fleet cost the city less. The city paid MTS $103,371 for this year’s service, down from $114,004 in 2025. The full program cost $105,124, under the $117,094 estimate, and the cost per rider fell from $1.62 to $1.58.
At the council’s last meeting, it decided to hold off on deciding the future of the city’s Island Express, an electric, door-to-door ride service until council members could review more information — including data from the 2026 free summer shuttle.
For years, the council has been weighing both the door-to-door service, which operated as a popular but expensive pilot in 2024, and the free summer shuttle, which struggled with dropping ridership during and after the pandemic before rebounding in 2025. The council has noted that operating both services would be redundant.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the council will accept the city’s report and provide direction to the staff as needed for the future of the program.
Mobility Committee could be restructured or disbanded
The city’s Mobility Committee, which advises the city on its Active Transportation Master Plan and new technologies such as autonomous cars, hasn’t met since December of 2025. Three of its five seats are vacant or about to be so. Routinely, recruitment yields only one or even no applicants.
City staff suggests that the council review the committee’s purpose and makeup, or consider whether it should be consolidated or sunset. Resident Andrew Gade, who is running for City Council, is seeking reappointment, while James Callaway and David Hock have applied.
Because the committee is at risk of not reaching a quorum, staff recommends waiving the council’s rule that at least three qualified applicants be considered for each vacancy.
Tax break agreements for historic homes
Owners of five homes that have already been designated as historic are asking for Mills Act agreements, which lower property taxes in exchange for maintaining and restoring the homes. If all five are approved, the city expects to lose about $34,370 in property tax revenue in the first year.
The homes and the estimated first-year cost to the city:
- 1124 F Ave.: $14,296
- 548 Pomona Ave.: $11,250
- 1614 San Luis Rey Ave.: $4,918
- 647 Alameda Blvd.: $3,906
- 1027-29 Olive Ave.: $0, because its current tax base is likely already lower than the Mills Act value
The agreements come with conditions. At 1124 F Ave., a 973-square-foot second-story addition built in 1986 would be excluded from the tax break. Before signing, that owner would also have to make the home more visible from F Avenue by lowering a wall or trimming foliage. Owners at 1027-29 Olive and 647 Alameda would have to replace vinyl windows with period-appropriate wood windows.
The city estimates its Mills Act program will cost it about $1.1 million in property tax revenue this year and about $10.45 million since it began in 2001. Agreements recorded by the end of the year take effect in 2027.
Appointments to six more boards and commissions
In November 2024, the council asked that at least three qualified applicants be brought forward for each opening. This round, only the Historic Resource Commission and the Planning and Design Commission drew three or more new applicants. Unless noted, new terms begin Jan. 1, 2027, and run through Dec. 31, 2029.
The Mobility Committee also has seats up for grabs; that decision is discussed above.
- Cultural Arts Commission (up to three seats): Commissioners Alyson Barre and Dawn Richards are seeking reappointment. Christine Connor and Karen Wilson-Bonnar have applied. One seat is vacant now, so whoever fills it would serve the rest of this year and then a full term.
- Discover Coronado/CTID (two at-large seats): Colleen Cavalieri is seeking reappointment. David Spatafore is not eligible for another term. Samantha Bowman-Fleurov and Vinny Spatafore have applied.
- Historic Resource Commission (one seat): Commissioner Mary Jane Clements is not eligible for another term. Samantha Bowman-Fleurov, Christian Esquevin and Johanna Hunsaker have applied.
- Library Board of Trustees (two seats): Trustee Sharon Hall is seeking reappointment. Elizabeth Dahlgren and Beverly Ann Callaway have applied. One seat starts immediately and runs through Dec. 31, 2028.
- Parks and Recreation Commission (up to three seats): Commissioner Andrew Corley is seeking reappointment, and Darrell Sarich is not eligible for another term. David Evans is the only applicant. The commission absorbed the Street Tree Committee last November, and city code prefers that two of its members have a background in fields such as urban forestry or horticulture. Staff says the council could instead let the commission shrink from seven members to five.
- Planning and Design Commission (two seats): Commissioner Sue Godwin is seeking reappointment. Nancy Blair, Andrew Corley and Ed Weisbrod have applied. Corley, who sits on the Parks and Recreation Commission, is also seeking reappointment there.
Consent agenda at a glance
The consent calendar bundles items that are considered routine into a single vote, unless a specific item is pulled for discussion. The summer shuttle report is also included as a consent item. This week’s items include:
- A door and gate repair contract: The council is expected to approve a three-year, $574,200 contract with El Cajon-based Superior Door Systems to maintain doors and gates at city buildings, including the fire stations, police headquarters, the Boathouse and lifeguard headquarters. Superior was the only bidder. Routine maintenance accounts for $41,400 a year, and the rest covers repairs as needed at $300 an hour, or $450 for overtime. Two optional one-year extensions would add $191,400 each.
- Caulerpa emergency extension: The city will again extend its emergency over the invasive algae Caulerpa prolifera, first found near the Antigua Village docks in the Coronado Cays in September 2023. The algae threatens about 1,900 acres of eelgrass in South San Diego Bay, which is habitat for 70 fish species and 60 to 80 green sea turtles. The city has secured $850,000 in state and federal grants, but eradication is expected to cost more than $1.2 million.
- New massage business rules: In a second and final vote, the council is expected to replace the city’s own permit for massage therapists with a requirement that they hold state certification from the California Massage Therapy Council. Massage businesses would register with the Coronado Police Department instead of getting a city permit. Existing businesses would have six months to comply, and current therapists would have up to 16 months to get state certification.
- Posting board comes down: The council will repeal a policy it adopted in June creating a board outside City Hall where residents could post their own translations of council agendas, as a new state law required. A second state law signed Sept. 18 dropped that requirement. No translations were ever posted, and staff removed ads and flyers from the board several times before taking it down Oct. 1.
- A one-word code fix: The council is expected to give final approval to changing “both” to “either” in the city code section on serving public nuisance abatement notices. The change makes clear that a notice can be delivered in person, or mailed and posted at the property.
- 2027 meeting calendar: The council will set next year’s schedule of meetings on the first and third Tuesdays of each month. Meetings on Jan. 5, July 6, Aug. 3 and Dec. 21 would be canceled.
