The agenda for this week’s meeting of the Coronado City Council includes allocating its annual community grants and purchasing a property on Orange Avenue for affordable housing.
The meeting is at 4 p.m. on June 16 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 here.
Council to divide $1.2 million among community organizations
Coronado has more grant money to give than applicants this year.
Every year since 2000, the city allocates public funding to local organizations that support work in four broad areas: arts and culture, community pride and sense of place, economic development, and social services. This year, the city’s grant budget is $1.202 million, a figure that is set at 1.35 percent of the city’s General Fund revenue.
The grants help underwrite some of the city’s most recognizable traditions and institutions, including the Fourth of July celebration, the Coronado Flower Show, the Coronado Historical Association, the Coronado Island Film Festival and Lamb’s Players Theatre. They also support less visible but consequential work, from family services and youth programs to environmental education and accessible recreation.
This is the second year the city has used an expedited process designed to reduce the administrative burden on longtime grant recipients. Organizations that have received funding for the same program for at least two consecutive years may request renewal through a letter of intent and brief program update, rather than submitting a full application. Newer applicants and organizations seeking support for different programs may apply for mini-grants of up to $15,000.
Staff says the new approach has made funding more predictable and reduced work for both the city and nonprofit applicants, while preserving the council’s authority to increase, reduce or deny any award.
This year, city staff proposed proposed $961,149 in renewal funding for 16 returning organizations, generally matching the amounts they received last year. Two returning organizations asked the council to depart from last year’s baseline. Emerald Keepers requested an additional $2,500 for expanded youth leadership and engagement programming. Musica Vitale asked that funding for its main stage and school program increase from $15,000 to $27,000, reversing a reduction made during last year’s allocation process.
The city also received 13 mini-grant applications totaling $184,170. Six applicants have previously received city support or otherwise have an established history within the program, while seven are new applicants.
This leaves a surplus of $56,861 in available grant funding.
Because requests fall below the amount available, the council is not confronting the usual grant-season problem of too many applicants chasing too little money. Instead, it must decide how broadly the city should extend its support and whether prior participation should weigh more heavily than a new proposal.
Staff offers two starting points.
The first option labeled “Full Funding,” the city would maintain renewal grants at last year’s levels and award every eligible mini-grant applicant the full amount requested. The city would distribute $1,145,319, leaving $56,681 unallocated.
The label is slightly imprecise. The option fully funds the mini-grants, but it does not include the requested increases from Emerald Keepers and Musica Vitale. Even if the council granted both increases, total spending would remain below the $1.202 million available.
Under option two, called “Established Program Funding,” the city would approve the same $961,149 renewal package but initially fund only six mini-grant applicants with a history of city support: Camp Able, Coronado Community Theatre, Coronado Hospital Foundation, CoSA, PAWS and Storytellers of San Diego.
That approach would allocate $1,051,149 and leave $150,851 for the council to distribute. The seven new applicants would not necessarily be denied; rather, their awards would be left for the council to weigh individually.
The council is not bound by either option and may create its own allocation plan.
The central question, then, is less about scarcity than philosophy. Councilmembers must decide whether a healthy funding surplus warrants supporting every eligible proposal, or whether public money should still be distributed selectively, with preference given to organizations that have already demonstrated their value and ability to deliver.
A list of grant requests is here.
Purchasing a $4.84 million Orange Avenue property for affordable housing
A $4.84 million purchase of 213 Orange Avenue for a future affordable housing project is listed on Tuesday’s consent calendar, meaning the matter will be voted on without deliberation unless it is pulled for discussion by a council member.
The 0.16-acre property currently contains a vacant, 432-square-foot dwelling. It is zoned R-4, and city staff says a future project could potentially add six affordable housing units. No project has yet been designed or approved. If the purchase moves forward, staff would return to the council later with development options. Additional funding, in an amount not yet determined, would be needed to actually develop the property.
The city would initially fund the purchase from unassigned General Fund reserves, but staff proposed treating the amount as an interfund loan to be repaid over time with revenue from the city’s Affordable Housing In-Lieu Fee Fund. (The city structured its $6 million purchase of a property on D Avenue in the same manner.)
At six units, the land acquisition alone would work out to approximately $807,000 per potential unit, before demolition, design or construction costs.
Although the purchase has not previously appeared before the council as an open-session item, the property itself has appeared on a council agenda. On April 15, 2025, the council met in closed session to discuss real estate negotiations involving 213 Orange Avenue.
While the law generally requires council business to take place in public, California’s Brown Act allows a governing body to meet privately with its real estate negotiator before a purchase, sale, exchange or lease.
The reasoning is practical: Requiring the city to publicly reveal how much it is willing to pay, where it plans to begin negotiations or what concessions it might accept would allow the seller to sit in, figuratively speaking, while the city develops its bargaining strategy.
The exception is narrow, however. Closed-session discussions may cover price, payment terms and information essential to developing those terms. They are not intended to conceal the council’s broader policy deliberations about whether purchasing a particular property is wise in the first place.
Tuesday’s public vote would authorize the city manager to execute the purchase agreement, appropriate the full $4.84 million, and direct staff to begin developing options for the site.
A staff report notes that the seller has already signed the purchase agreement and that the $4.84 million price is consistent with the appraised value.
Extending the state of emergency for the Tijuana sewage crisis
The council routinely votes on whether to extend by 60 days its declaration of emergency regarding the ongoing Tijuana sewage crisis. Sometimes council members discuss updates; other times they approve the continuance. Recently, Mexico has suffered two pipe collapses to the Parallel Gravity Line, but the pipe is now fixed and operational. Coronado’s beaches are currently closed.
Consent Calendar at a Glance
The consent calendar bundles items that are considered routine into a single vote, unless a specific item is pulled for discussion. This week’s consent items include:
- Another $50,000 for undergrounding support: Increase the city’s contract with Huth & Associates from $100,000 to $150,000 and extend it through Dec. 31, 2027. The consultant has worked with the city since 2021, primarily providing coordination and support for utility-undergrounding projects, and has used approximately $99,000 of the existing contract authority.
- Extend the Caulerpa emergency: Continue the local emergency declaration associated with the invasive Caulerpa prolifera algae discovered in the Coronado Cays in 2023. Subsequent surveys identified about one-quarter acre of additional infestation. The city and its partners have secured $850,000 in grants, but eradication is expected to cost more than $1.2 million. Maintaining the emergency declaration allows the city to continue pursuing outside funding.
- Streamline the city’s nuisance-abatement process: Give final approval to an ordinance introduced June 2 that updates procedures for addressing code violations that constitute public nuisances. The ordinance would simplify notice requirements, replace a mandatory hearing on the city’s abatement costs with an appeal process and allow immediate action when hazardous materials, dangerous structures, fire risks or other conditions pose an imminent threat. Property owners would retain notice and appeal rights in nonemergency cases.
- Receive the quarterly investment report: File reports showing approximately $264.5 million in combined city and Successor Agency cash and investments as of March 31. City investments earned about $2.04 million during the quarter, with an average annual return of 3.4%, while the Successor Agency earned $94,442.
- Approve a $3.2 million EMS equipment lease: Enter an initial five-year agreement with Stryker Medical, with an option for five additional years, for a total cost not to exceed $3.22 million. The agreement would replace the Fire Department’s frontline emergency medical equipment immediately and again after five years, while including maintenance, software and shipping. Annual payments would be approximately $321,681. Staff estimates the lease would cost about $24,811 more than continuing to purchase equipment individually over the next decade, but says it would provide predictable pricing, standardized equipment and substantially reduce staff time spent managing replacements and maintenance.
- Create a pool of on-call architects: Award three-year, as-needed contracts to Architects Mosher Drew, HGW Architecture, Safdie Rabines Architects and Platt/Whitelaw Architects, with two possible one-year extensions. The four firms were selected from 15 submissions and could be assigned work involving city buildings, accessibility upgrades, utilities, transportation and other capital projects. There is no immediate cost; fees would be negotiated through individual task orders funded from existing project or department budgets.
