Turnout appeared light at the City Hall polls at 3pm, but passions were running high regarding the controversial waterfront development proposals and city council candidates who represent opposing development philosophies.

“I feel strongly about the city council race,” said Albany resident Jessica Cross as she left City Hall, where she had just voted. “Building a giant mall between the shore and the Bay Street Mall doesn’t seem like a good idea.”

The controversial council race pits four candidates two on two based on their sentiments toward development.

Candidates Joanne Wile and Marge Atkinson have joined forces in an effort to defeat candidates Francesco Papalia and Caryl O’Keefe.

Wile and Atkinson call themselves the “save our shoreline team,” and are favoring a city park and environmentally friendly “green” hotels for the parking lot next to the Golden Gate Fields racetrack.

Candidates Papalia and O’Keefe say they support commercial development near the shoreline, including retail and residential construction, and cleaning and maintenance of the shore.

In his candidate’s statement Papalia said he wants to increase tax revenues in Albany to maintain the high standard of education exemplified by Albany’s popular school district.

Papalia says he believes that Wile and Atkinson, who are members of the Sierra Club, represent the Sierra Club’s interests and not the interests of Albany citizens.

But Papalia and O’Keefe’s opponents argue that the city council vote puts the future of Albany at stake. Some Albany residents have said they worry about claims that the development will stop at just retail and residential construction.

Cross said she received a mailer before the election that suggested there might be more room for development if the Golden Gate Fields owner, Magna Entertainment, decided to sell the racetrack. The ambiguity of the future of the shoreline, Cross said, concerns her.

Development issues may be of special concern to voters like Cross this election because of statewide proposition 90, the Libertarian-infused measure that some believe will threaten any government action taken to protect the environment under the guise of preventing eminent domain seizures of private property.

If the City Council fight and waterfront development are Albany’s high drama, Measure C may be their antithesis. The bond measure to renovate and expand the central fire station at Marin and San Pablo Avenues has few detractors, and was filed without opposition. If the measure passes, the city will issue $5 million in general obligation bonds to upgrade the central fire station that was built in 1966.

Fire Chief Marc McGinn said the measure was written after a friend of his who worked as a seismic engineer for CalTrans visited the station and saw immediately that the building’s construction was inadequate. According to McGinn, there are other ways the station reflects the era in which it was built.

“You should see the bathrooms,” McGinn said. “They are built for men and only men. Now we have female firefighters.”

Despite the projected upgrades, McGinn said he was neutral about passage of Measure C.

“Either way the measure goes, we have options,” McGinn said, referring what he called a “plan B” to fund the renovations. He said he couldn’t talk about this plan yet, because he hadn’t yet proposed it to the city manager.

Perhaps a sign of changing times, Measure D, the marijuana dispensary measure, also made the ballot unopposed. The measure would allow for a medical marijuana dispensary in Albany, subject to a conditional use permit.

If the measure is approved by voters, the city will review its legal right to establish the dispensary, and hold public hearings on adopting an amendment to existing zoning laws to allow for dispensation of medical marijuana.