Monterey Downs EIR hang up over water

UPDATE 2.5.15: Monterey Downs specific plan is ready to go and the document is sound, that’s from the developers. But sources close to the situation say the City of Seaside is looking at some issues with the document, water being the biggest. Beth Palmer with Monterey Downs says a memo over water issues drafted last summer, conspicuously appeared two days before the planned December 19 EIR release date. The memo asked the city to review the water component in the EIR, but according to Palmer, all those issues had been addressed in the EIR by mid December. Now a law firm is reviewing the document again, at the expense of the developer. In the meantime, two weeks ago the Marina Coast Water District’s board approved a new desalination plant that could be up and running in two years with an output of 2700 acre feet of water. MCWD would need to adjust their EIR for that project since it’s two years old. This would essentially make any water issues with Monterey Downs EIR a non-issue according to Palmer. Stay tuned.

Update 12.16.14 The Monterey Downs specific plan and EIR is on hold for the public review period again. It looks like the City of Seaside is not satisfied with one section of the draft specific plan and the EIR, specifically the section on water. So Wissler-Adam says she doesn’t know how long the city will take to review that section before they allow the public to see the plan and EIR. Stay tuned!

Update 12.15.14: City contract planner Terri Wissler Adam tells News Channel 5 the public review period for draft environmental impact report is set for Friday December 19. The public review period will last for 60 days, 15 days longer than required by law. Once this period is over, Wissler-Adam says the city will provide written responses to each question. Once that process is completed, probably 30 to 45 days, the Seaside City Council will take up the project during their proceedings. The end result with the city council will to either to approve or not approve the draft specific plan. If Seaside approves the Monterey Downs plans and certifies the EIR. That opens another 30 day period where the public can dispute the approved plan, possibly filing a lawsuit opposing the city’s approval and certification of the EIR.

Update 12.3.14: City Planner Teri Wissler Adam says the Monterey Specific Plan has been finalized, but the Environmental Impact Report is still being vetted by staff. Seaside staff, “wants to put out the best possible work for the public that they can,” according to Wissler Adam. So at this point expect the Seaside website to have the EIR and the Specific Plan on their website ready to view by ‘mid-week.’

“That’s the plan,” says Wissler Adam. The law allows for a 45 day public comment period, but Seaside will make that 60 days due to the interest in the Monterey Downs project.

11.25.14: It’s a project 7 years in the making, Monterey Downs on the former Fort Ord promises to create thousands of jobs and be a $100 million economic boon to Seaside, Marina and all of Monterey County. Now, developers are revealing ahead of the release of the specific plan, an exclusive look at the planned new sports arena.

I received a note from Dale and he asked, “Dear Jon, with the closing of Bay Meadows and an aging Golden Gate Fields, is Monterey Downs still a possibility?

Yes, very much so. Beth Palmer, Chief Operation Officer for Monterey Downs recently revealed to me renderings of the news sports arena. “This is the first time anyone is seeing this, one thing we’ve been working on that we’re excited about is the sports arena.”

Monterey Downs is more than horse racing, businesses or residential development, Palmer says they are moving ahead to attract minor league hockey or basketball as an attraction, in addition to 39 day annual horse racing schedule. Add to that hotels, shops and several thousand residences.

Managing board member, Brian Boudreau is excited about their plans. He says right now there is no place to accommodate crowds of over 2,000 people in Monterey County. “One thing that is very special about it is, Monterey is a great place they want to go and spend a week. But the truth is, when you get to an event that’s over a couple thousand people, there’s nowhere to accommodate it. So you lose the tech conference, you lose all kinds of events here that are in Monterey. We will now produce a facility that can take between 5 and 6500 people under one roof. That is something that is completely lacking in Monterey County.”

But hold the horses, a lot has to happen on the former Fort Ord to make this a reality. Seaside city planner Teri Wissler Adam has been contracted by the City of Seaside to make sure all the applications for the environmental impact report and the fiscal and economic reports are ready for public consumption.

Beyond the environmental impact report there’s also a fiscal and economic report being released, says Wissler Adam, “The economic impact on the city and how much more income the city would receive from a project like this. Like sales tax and transient occupancy tax from the hotels and on the flip side how much is it going to cost the city to provide services like police and fire.”

These reports, applications and plans for Monterey Downs have been 7 years in the making at a cost of 8 million dollars out of the developer’s pocket. The plans are slated for release the first week of December.

But there have been several concerns according to Wissler-Adam, “The issues that are of most concern that the public has shared, and the ‘EIR’ will address, are traffic impacts, loss of oak trees and open space and water.”

Monterey Downs water will be managed by the Marina Coast Water District. The district studied water requirements for the project and found that Monterey downs will need more water than is currently available for the completed project.

Boudreau says there’s a plan to make that happen over time. “On the former Fort Ord, there’s 6600 acre feet of ground water rights, than another 3000 acre feet of reclaimed water and other augmented water projects, such as desalination that Marina Coast Water District has been working on. Those won’t be needed for 10 to 20 years to support the water on Fort Ord.” says Boudreau. “So as the demand comes, those projects will come online, that’s what the study basically says. So as those come online, we’ll have all the water we need and so does every other project on Fort Ord.”

The Fort Ord re-use plan adopted in 1997, set aside 20,000 acres for open space. Monterey Downs will take up just over 500 acres when it’s completely developed. But one group has come out and challenged the 20,000 acres saying there should be more open space. Boudreau says they’re trying to come and ‘highjack’ the plan that Fort Ord Reuse Authority has already approved.

“But you have a group that now doesn’t think 20,000 acres of open space is enough. They would like to make it 23 and take the last 3,000 acres that was actually set aside for development. So that part is a little frustrating and I think short sighted,” says Boudreau.

Short sighted how?

“The habitat is maintained by .25 cents of every developer dollar. So if you don’t develop all the 6600 residences, you can’t put the infrastructure and traffic mitigation in. And the .25 cents of each dollar doesn’t go to the habitat restoration. So you kind of blow the whole thing up if you don’t finish the plan.”

The complex specific plan also reveals Seaside should pocket about $2 to $3,000,000 in annual revenue not to mention other visitor revenue. Funds the city can sorely use after the base closure.

The plan addresses the endowment property, the annexing of county land into Seaside, the plans for cleaning the land of munitions and how the project will help funding the portions of the Veteran’s Cemetery. It’s a complex multiuse plan, one that’s sure to have opponents.

And that could mean a lawsuit if the city approves the development plan sometime next year.

But Boudreau is unphased by that. “I kind of have this theory, that there are only two developers, there’s the developers that are getting sued and there’s the developers that are going to get sued.”

Never the less, for the developers of Monterey Downs, the future is bright as the specific plan is about to be released. “They’ll show people that what we’ve been telling the public and what they’re really going to get out of the project are now shown in the reports and the economic analysis. For instance they’re will be 2700 jobs onsite and close to 2000 jobs off site created by this project.” Boudreau adds that there will be 500 contractors onsite at any given time for 10 to 15 years of the construction’s 52 phases.

Beyond jobs Boudreau believes this development will further attract business and visitors to Monterey County as never before. A county hit hard by the base closure.

So look for Seaside to release the plans the first week of December.

And Beth Palmer says if all rights and permits are approved, they’ll move dirt in the spring or summer of 2016 and construction will continue for another 10 to 15 years.

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