Custom Pool Construction in Marina

Sand, wind and newer lots

Marina is built on the dunes, and sand is a genuinely different medium to excavate and build against than the clay and alluvium inland.

Loose sand does not hold a vertical cut the way cohesive soil does, which affects how an excavation is shaped and shored and how quickly the shell has to follow the dig. It drains freely, which is helpful. And it is the reason a soils report earns its keep here even on what looks like a simple flat site — the engineer is designing the shell against the ground that is actually there.

Wind is the other constant. Marina is exposed, the onshore breeze off the dunes is reliable, and as anywhere on this coast that means evaporation, heat loss and a strong argument for a cover and a considered windbreak. A pool sited in the lee of the house behaves very differently from one in the open, and on a flat exposed lot that difference is worth designing for deliberately.

On the positive side, Marina’s newer subdivisions tend to give you what the older Peninsula cities cannot: a rectangular, reasonably sized rear garden with real access to it. That is the cheapest kind of site to build on, and it means more of the budget ends up in the pool.

Former Fort Ord land, and why we ask

A substantial part of Marina sits on land that was formerly Fort Ord. Land use controls apply across the former base, and where they apply, anyone digging or disturbing soil is required to have munitions recognition and safety training. Some mapped areas additionally require construction support by personnel qualified in unexploded ordnance, and in certain restricted areas excavation is prohibited outright.

This is not a reason not to build a pool in Marina, and plenty of the city is unaffected. It is a reason to establish, early and in writing, what applies to your specific parcel — which is exactly the kind of question that is cheap to answer before design and expensive to discover during excavation. The Fort Ord environmental cleanup programme publishes the land use control information.

It is also a fair question to ask any contractor quoting work in Marina. A builder who has not heard of it has not built here.

City permitting and the coastal zone

Building permits come from the Community Development Department’s Building Services Division. Marina is partly within the California Coastal Zone and administers a local coastal program, with coastal development permits issued by city planning services rather than the Coastal Commission for parcels inside the boundary.

The Design Review Board, a subcommittee of the Planning Commission, has jurisdiction over residential exterior work, and the city also runs a tree committee. As elsewhere, we confirm what applies to your parcel with the city before design.

What we do in Marina

New builds, remodels and ongoing service, all under one C-53 licence.

• Pool constructionNew custom pools and spas in Marina
• Pool designWorking the pool out before the shovel
• Pool remodelingTaking a dated pool back to the shell
• Pool resurfacingNew plaster, quartz or pebble and fresh tile
• Pool repairPumps, heaters, leaks, valves and covers
• Pool maintenanceScheduled water and equipment care

Building a pool in Marina: common questions

Nearby

Places we work close to Marina.

• SeasideSouth along the bay
• MontereyThe shoreline city
• SalinasInland and much warmer
• Castroville and Moss LandingNorth on the bay
• Pool covers and water useThe answer to an exposed lot
• Heating on the coastWhere the heat actually goes