College of Marin’s marine lab project hits snags

Persistent rain has delayed the opening of College of Marin’s new marine laboratory and field station in Bolinas, administrators said.

The $6.9 million field station along the Bolinas Lagoon was expected to open its classrooms and research facilities in September. But Jonathan Eldridge, the college president, said he is “hopeful it will be ready” late this year.

“But we won’t be able to state a more definitive timeframe for a few weeks, due to ongoing weather and other issues,” he said Friday.

Eresa Puch, a vice president at the college, told its trustees at a recent meeting that project contractors have had 29 rain days off since work started in July.

“When rain is forecast, the contractors call in a day before to cancel work,” Puch said.

The lab’s construction schedule includes only five rain days, according to Beth Rhodes, program manager for Gilbane Building Co.

Puch also noted that the building will need a considerable upgrade from AT&T. She said she is waiting for cost estimates and an installation schedule.

“We will need 300 units of power,” she said at the meeting. “The building currently only has 100 units.”

The project has attracted considerable financial support from individual donors and institutions, said Keith Rosenthal, the college’s fundraising director.

“The original funding gap was $2.5 million,” Rosenthal told trustees at a recent board meeting. “We’ve done incredibly well in closing the gap.”

About $1.935 million has been raised in individual and foundation donations, Rosenthal said.

“The first gift was in September 2021,” Rosenthal said. “The last gift was August of 2023.”

Top foundation donors include the Marin Community Foundation, the Lakeview Foundation, the Jay Pritzker Foundation and the Karen and Richard Robbins Family Foundation.

Marin County Supervisor Dennis Rodoni, who represents western Marin, has sponsored a grant of $40,000. Assemblyman Damon Connolly, whose district includes Marin, has brought forward a $1 million grant.

“Our communities are pulling together,” Rosenthal said. “They are really letting us know that this is something important to them, something that is needed.”

A separate list of individual donors has contributed $75,000 worth of equipment and furniture, Rosenthal said.

The college itself has allocated $2.976 million in voter-approved Measure B bond funds for the project, and another $1 million from the college’s capital projects fund.

The state has also pledged a $1 million grant, but distribution has been frozen until June because of state budget issues, Rosenthal said.

Joe Mueller, a College of Marin biology professor and supervisor of the marine biology program, said the need for the building is becoming more urgent as climate change intensifies and jeopardizes marine species.

“I used to say it was all about location, location, location,” Mueller said at the trustees’ meeting. “Now I’m saying it’s timing, timing, timing.”

“We have three approved classes ready to go,” he said. “There’s a huge amount of interest out there.”

In addition to prospective students, local researchers are waiting for the facility to open so they can access the more than 30 years of baseline data on fish, algae and other marine species that the program has collected, Mueller said.

“The need now is greater than ever,” he said. “No one has baseline data like us.”