Posted on 06/30/2005 10:36:42 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
More than a score of appeals to Pebble Beach Co.'s proposed massive makeover of Del Monte Forest have been filed with the California Coastal Commission.
The plan calls for new projects at 13 locations in the forest, including an 18-hole golf course, a golf driving range, 160 new visitor suites, a new equestrian center in the Sawmill Gulch area next to Holman Highway, 33 residential lots in five subdivisions and 60 employee housing units.
The company will set aside 492 acres of permanent forest and open space, relocate existing trails and construct new ones, and make improvements in roads and infrastructure, including a remake of the Highway 1 gate at Holman Highway.
Attorney Anthony Lombardo, representing the company, said the plan also sets aside Monterey pine forest areas for preservation on land it owns outside Pebble Beach: 139 acres of the Old Capital Site next to Del Monte Center and 279 acres adjacent to Jacks Peak Park.
The plan is designed around the provisions of Measure A, which was approved by a countywide vote in November 2000.
The Monterey County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the Pebble Beach Co.'s Del Monte Forest Preservation and Development Plan on March 15.
Coastal Commission staffers and local environmentalists have expressed concern about the plan's effect on the Monterey pine forest. The proposal would eliminate about 17,000 trees.
Residents of the Del Monte Park area of Pacific Grove near Sawmill Gulch have contended that moving the equestrian center there will create problems in their neighborhood with traffic, odor and flies.
On June 10, the county issued a Final Local Action Notice to the Coastal Commission, which set the clock ticking on filing appeals.
The 22 appeals received may not be a record for a single project, said Charles Lester, deputy director for the Coastal Commission's Central Coast District office in Santa Cruz, but "it's quite a few more than usual."
Pebble Beach Co.'s proposal is "a large project that raises important coastal resource issues," he said.
The appeals were filed Monday, and Monterey County Planning Director Scott Hennessy and his staff were notified of them Tuesday by the commission staff.
They included 12 filings by organizations, eight by individuals and one jointly by Coastal Commissioners Meg Caldwell and Mary Shallenberger, according to Coastal Commission permit supervisor Steve Monowitz.
Individual appellants were Helaine Clark, Ruth Gingerich, Marilyn Hartwell Schangen, Mary Ann Mathews, Herman Medwin, Nancy Parsons, Karin Perling and Robert Shepner.
Organizations filing appeals included the California Coastkeeper Alliance, Monterey Bay chapter of the California Native Plant Society, Carmel Valley Women's Network, Concerned Residents of Pebble Beach and Monterey County, Friends of the Sea Otter, Green Party of Monterey County, HOPE (Helping Our Peninsula Environment), League of Women Voters of the Monterey Peninsula, Ocean Conservancy, Pacific Grove Neighbors, San Luis Obispo Coastkeepers, Save Our Peninsula Committee and the Ventana Chapter of the Sierra Club.
Lombardo said that he has seen a number of the appeals and that most of them object to the county's processing of the approval in terms of Measure A's provisions, disagree with the findings of the project's environmental impact report and dispute its consistency with the state Coastal Act.
Several are "duplicative," he said, in some cases using the exact same language or being filed by an organization and individual members of the same organization.
Lombardo also said that a number of the appellants never made an appearance before county agencies or made their opinions known while the permit was being processed.
The appeals are now being reviewed by the Coastal Commission staff, Lester said, adding that no hearing dates have yet been set.
For information on the Pebble Beach Company proposal: go to http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/pbi/major/pbc/pbc_main.htm
Yes, the Cali idiots will keep a forest until it burns down.
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