Serving Monterey County and the Salinas
Valley
Published Thursday, January 3, 2002
New 20-year general plan emphasizes housing concerns
By VICTORIA MANLEY
The best way Monterey County can accommodate an expected population of 520,000 in 20 years is to build higher-density communities that provide housing for people of all income levels, says a draft of the county's new general plan released Wednesday. The best way Monterey County can accommodate an expected population of 520,000 in 20 years is to build higher-density communities that provide housing for people of all income levels, says a draft of the county's new general plan released Wednesday.
The 500-page document is the result of several dozen public meetings and a two-year planning process that has cost the county roughly $2.25 million.
The plan, a blueprint for the county's growth through 2020, recommends that a number of small communities be established at Fort Ord and in the Rancho San Juan area just north of Salinas and that the county break from a history of approving large subdivisions. It also envisions smaller pockets of development near Castroville and Pajaro and west of Salinas.
"We haven't built the right kind of (housing) units in that last five years, 10, 20 years or ever," said Jim Colangelo, assistant county administrative officer. "It's time we step up to the plate."
In March, the county will host more public meetings about the draft plan and its accompanying environmental report, which will be released later this month. The final draft of the plan is scheduled for approval by October.
The plan suggests how different areas of the county should evolve over the next 20 years, touching on roads, land use, job creation, housing and other issues.
"It's a very strong document in a lot of ways," said Annette Chaplin, project manager and co-author. "It changes the way we've let growth happen."
For example, the plan recommends constructing expressways that would link Salinas and the Monterey Peninsula in more direct routes. Espinosa Road, north of Salinas, would be one expressway. Another would be built around Salinas' eastern boundaries and link to the Salinas-Monterey Highway, also known as Highway 68.
"This is sort of thinking out of the box," Chaplin said.
The draft plan calls for a more vigorous approach to providing affordable housing by increasing the county's inclusionary-housing requirement from 15 percent to 20 percent, creating a wide range of housing developments and by asking that agriculture and tourism industry leaders set aside money to pay for worker housing.
More than 20,000 housing units could fit in the two designated growth areas, according to the plan, but it may require some creative development approaches and buy-in from cities, Colangelo said.
"It's important to work with the cities," he said. "Density is a real dirty word for some."
In the arena of economic development, the plan identifies South County's four cities - Gonzales, Soledad, Greenfield and King City - as new employment centers, creating jobs primarily in the agriculture or tourism industries.
The areas that need the most help, Chaplin said, are the several small, rural towns scattered throughout the county.
"We have some of the poorest rural communities in the nation," she said. "We need to narrow the gap ... to help those communities."
The plan also suggests restricting growth in areas near wilderness or natural resources, including Big Sur, Elkhorn Slough and river corridors.
The infrastructure to support the growth would cost millions of dollars, but planners have suggested ways the county can pay for some of it. One recommendation is to set aside a fund specifically to make infrastructure improvements in poorer, more rural communities such as Pajaro and San Lucas, or to link the plan's implementation to the county's annual budget process.
More than 50 community members and county officials, including the county Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission, drafted the plan after holding several public hearings last year.
A team of a half-dozen people whittled down 15 documents into the single general plan draft, Chaplin said.
"We went from two feet down to two inches."
The issue-specific draft should also help residents focus their discussions when talking about the future, Chaplin said.
"We've spent so much time talking," she said. "We've had two years of discussion. This gives them (the public) a document that helps them be more specific about problems they see."