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COUNTY ACTION ON MEASURE "A"


 1-11-05 - New letters to Chair of County Planning Commission recommend that County public hearings on PB Co.'s applications for major development projects in Del Monte Forest be delayed until Coastal Commission takes action on the Measure "A" Initiative covering major changes in the Forest Land Use Plan.

Click here to read each of these letters below:

 

 

                                      

P.O. BOX 5667, CARMEL, CALIFORNIA 93921

CHAPTER OFFICE • ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER (831) 624-8032

Please direct any response to: Rita Dalessio
16 Via Las Encinas, Carmel Valley, CA 93921

January 19, 2005

John Wilmot, Chair
Monterey County Planning Commission
Care of: Planning and Building Inspection Department
Box 1208
Salinas, CA 93902

RE: Pebble Beach Combined Development Plan

Dear Chairman Wilmot and Commission members,

The Ventana Chapter of the Sierra Club shares the concerns of the California Coastal Commission expressed by Commission Chairperson, Meg Caldwell in her December letter to the County Board of Supervisors regarding the certification of Measure A. As you know, it is inappropriate for the County to grant application until the California Coastal Commission has an opportunity to review Measure A for conformance with the Coastal Act.

The purpose of this letter is to request that you decline to review project proposals in the Del Monte Forest until the County has submitted Measure A to the Coastal Commission and the Commission has determined that Measure A is consistent with this law. The voters who voted for Measure A were given assurance that this was the procedure and the Coastal Act would be upheld.

It is the view of the Sierra Club that the County needs to follow proper procedures before granting final approval for the Pebble Beach Company's CDP. This would include processing the proposed Local Coastal Plan (LCP) as well as the amendment to the Spanish Bay CDP by the County and the Coastal Commission.

We have grave concerns for the federally limited and threatened species in the Del Monte Forest as well as the fragmentation of rare Monterey Pine Forest habitat. Rushing these procedures without proper review is a violation of the Coastal Act and could result in litigation. It seems to be the height of irresponsibility that when the County is currently facing a water shortage and budget crisis it continues to pour boatloads of precious nonexistent resources behind a private development proposal that is explicitly inconsistent with existing law.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

 /ss/

Rita Dalessio (RD/GT)
Chapter Chair

 

cc: Monterey County Board of Supervisors
     California Coastal Commission

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January 16, 2005

John Wilmot, Chair
Monterey County Planning Commission
Care of: Planning and Building Inspection Department
Box 1208
Salinas, CA 93902

RE: Combined Development Plan for Del Monte Forest

Dear Chairman Wilmot and Commission Members:

This brief letter is to urge your Commission to decline to review project proposals in the Del Monte Forest until the County of Monterey has submitted Measure A to the California Coastal Commission, for review under the Coastal Act, and until Measure A has been certified as consistent.

As I am sure you know, the Chairperson of the California Coastal Commission has recently written to the County Board of Supervisors, making this exact request. Your Commission does have authority to decline to hear a project application if that application is demonstrably not consistent with the basic land use policies against which each application must be measured. In this case, your duty is to review the Pebble Beach Company's proposed Combined Development Plan to see whether it conforms to the Monterey County General Plan and Area Plan policies. Demonstrably, the Combined Development Plan that is scheduled for your consideration later in January is not consistent with the 1982 General Plan and the applicable Area Plan, which are the planning policies now in force. In fact, the Combined Development Plan is based upon Measure A, which was adopted by the local voters, but which has never been certified by the California Coastal Commission as consistent with the Coastal Act.

Unless and until Measure A has been certified by the Coastal Commission, we believe it is premature for you to consider any proposed projects in the Del Monte Forest. Your Commission (not to mention the public) is being barraged with large and important development proposals in all parts of the County.

Neither the Commission nor the public has time to waste, and if the Coastal Commission were not to certify Measure A, or to certify only portions of it, any project decision based on Measure A would have to be reconsidered - in essence doubling the amount of review required.

Thank you for your attention to this important concern.

Very truly yours,

 

Gary A. Patton, Executive Director
LandWatch Monterey County

cc: California Coastal Commission
     County Counsel
     Planning Director

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CONCERNED RESIDENTS OF PEBBLE BEACH
and Monterey County

a Non-Profit California Corporation


Dedicated to Preserving the Natural Environment and Quality of Life in Del Monte Forest and Peninsula Communities

 January 11, 2005

Mr. John Wilmot, Chair, Planning Commission
County of Monterey
3199 Vista del Camino
Marina, CA 93933

Dear Mr. Wilmot

Subject: Measure A and Pebble Beach Company's Combined Development Plan

More than four years have passed since approval of Pebble Beach Company's land use initiative, Measure A, by Monterey County voters and certification by the Board of Supervisors. It was known at that time that the Measure A amendments to the Del Monte Forest Land Use Plan must be reviewed by the California Coastal Commission for consistency with the California Coastal Act.

There is a fundamental difference between how Monterey County, and the California Coastal Commission and the Concerned Residents of Pebble Beach view the process of Coastal Commission review of Measure A and the processing by the County of Pebble Beach Company's Combined Development Plan (CDP) which "implements" portions of the Measure A initiative.

Simply stated the Coastal Commission has told the County on numerous occasions that it will not entertain a review of the Pebble Beach Company's CDP until the County submits all of the relevant Measure A data for compliance review and the Coastal Commission has acted on it and the Spanish Bay CDP amendment request. It should be noted that if Measure A is determined not to be consistent with the Coastal Act or the Spanish Bay CDP amendments are rejected the County will have wasted substantial staff time, and taxpayer's and Pebble Beach Company's money reviewing and acting upon the CDP.

At its December 8, 2004, meeting the Coastal Commission again stated its position in unequivocal terms that Measure A and the Spanish Bay CDP amendments must be reviewed and acted upon first. Meg Caldwell, Chair of the Commission, communicated this position to Supervisor Calcagno by letter on December 22, 2004. In the letter she stated, "In summary, the proposed LCP amendment as well as the amendment to the Spanish Bay CDP need to be processed by the County and the Coastal Commission before the County takes further action on the CDP for the new Pebble Beach Company project."

From early 2001 the Concerned Residents of Pebble Beach has take the same position as the Coastal Commission and formally communicated this to Sally Reed on April 16, 2004. Ms. Reed responded by stating that the County would adhere to its plan of processing Measure A and the Combined Development Plan in parallel.

We urge the County to process the necessary Measure A documentation and the Spanish Bay CDP amendments to the Coastal Commission and defer any Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors action on Pebble Beach Company's CDP until the Coastal Commission has completed its action.

Sincerely

 ss/         /ss/

Ted R. Hunter     Carl E. Nielsen

Attachments: Coastal Commission Letter to Supervisor Louis Calcagno 12/22/2004
           Summary of letters and communications on Measure A processing

 

cc: Lew Bauman
     Scott Hennessy
     Thom McCue
     Charles McKee
     CRPB Steering and Advisory Committee Members

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STATE OF CALIFORNIA – THE RESOURCES AGENCY                                                                     ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, Governor
CALIFORNIA COASTAL COMMISSION
CENTRAL COAST DISTRICT OFFICE
725 FRONT STREET, SUITE 300
SANTA CRUZ, CA 95060
PHONE: (831) 427-4863
FAX: (831) 427-4877



December 22, 2004

 Supervisor Louis Calcagno
 Chair, Monterey County Board of Supervisors
 P.O. Box 1728 Salinas, CA 93902

Subject: Measure A and the Pebble Beach Company’s Project in the Del Monte Forest

Dear Chairman Calcagno:

I write to express the California Coastal Commission’s concern about the manner in which the County is processing the Pebble Beach Company’s Del Monte Forest project coastal development permit (CDP) application. We understand that this project relies on, and is intended to be measured against, the County’s Local Coastal Program (LCP) as modified by Measure A. However, the County has not yet submitted Measure A to the Coastal Commission for review under the Coastal Act, and the LCP modifications proposed by Measure A are not part of the certified LCP. It is premature for the County to take final action on the Pebble Beach Company’s CDP application until the Coastal Commission has fully reviewed Measure A for conformance with the Coastal Act. Similarly, because the Pebble Beach CDP application proposes significant development of property in conflict with the previously implemented CDP for Spanish Bay, neither the County’s nor the Commission’s review of this new project should precede Coastal Commission action on an amendment to the Spanish Bay CDP. As you know, the Coastal Commission holds the Spanish Bay CDP, not the County; therefore the Commission retains continuing jurisdiction over the permit. Finally, the legality of the County’s pending action is in question since the standard of review for the County at this time is the existing unmodified LCP. The County’s decision to move ahead with the Del Monte Forest project CDP application prior to establishing the degree to which Measure A can be incorporated into its LCP, coupled with the bypassing of Coastal Commission action on an amendment to the existing Spanish Bay CDP, will result in unnecessary and unwarranted expenditures of public funds by both of our agencies and significant confusion for the public.

The Commission therefore strongly advises that the County refrain from taking any final action on the Pebble Beach Company’s CDP application until after it has submitted, and the Coastal Commission has acted on, the proposed Measure A LCP amendments, as required by law. Similarly, the County should not take final CDP action until after the Coastal Commission has acted on any Spanish Bay CDP amendment request. As our staff has advised the County on several previous occasions, the Coastal Commission strongly recommends that the County address proposed LCP amendments before conducting any further deliberations on the CDP application for the project.

In summary, the proposed LCP amendment as well as the amendment to the Spanish Bay CDP need to be processed by the County and the Coastal Commission before the County takes further action on the CDP for the new Pebble Beach Company project. To discuss processing and scheduling options, please contact Deputy Director Charles Lester or Coastal Planner Dan Carl in the Commission’s Central Coast District Office.

As always, the Coastal Commission would like to work cooperatively with the County to expeditiously process the County’s requests but this will be more difficult to do if the proper processing order is not followed. Acting otherwise will only lead to a needless expenditure of public funds and costly and time-consuming litigation and controversy, which is not in anyone’s interest. We look forward to working with you to resolve this situation.

Sincerely,
/ss/

Meg Caldwell
Chair, California Coastal Commission
On behalf of the California Coastal Commission

 cc:   District 1 Supervisor Fernando Armenta
        District 3 Supervisor W.B. "Butch" Lindley
        District 4 Supervisor Edith Johnsen
        District 5 Supervisor Dave Potter
        Ann Anderson, Clerk to the Board of Supervisors
        Sally Reed, Monterey County Administrative Officer
        Scott Hennessy, Monterey County Planning Director
        Thom McCue, Monterey County Senior Planner
        Mark Stilwell, Pebble Beach Company
        Peter Douglas, Coastal Commission Executive Director

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