WHERE THE ACTION IS!
East Garrison Project
The LWVMP has sent a letter to the County Planning Department on the Specific Plan and Draft Subsequent EIR for the East Garrison Specific Plan. The project would be located at the most northeastern portion of former Fort Ord about 2 miles from Marina. It would include 1,470 residences, 75,000 sq. ft. of commercial uses, 11,000 sq. ft. of public and institutional uses, 100,000 sq. ft. of artist/cultural/educational uses, and approximately 50 acres of open space. The project would remove 53 acres of oak woodland, 41 acres of oak savanna, 40 acres of grassland, 2 acres of coastal scrub, and 5,100 oak trees. The environmental document finds that the project would have significant impacts on traffic, air quality, cultural resources, and public services for water supply. It found the impacts on vegetation to be insignificant because it would be less than if the project were constructed at Parker Flats.
The League questioned the findings on loss of trees and recommended additional mitigation measures to address air quality impacts. We recommended that an alternative adjacent to existing urban areas with higher densities be evaluated. We expressed concern about the project because of its distance from adjacent communities (leap-frog development), significant traffic impacts on eight road segments or intersections, provision for only 20 percent affordable housing, and proposed revisions to the zoning ordinance exempting specific plans from ridgeline development.
Safeway Project
Safeway is proposing demolition of the existing grocery store and movie theater and construction of a 53,000 sq. ft. grocery store at the mouth of Carmel Valley. The County Planning Department has prepared a mitigated negative declaration (MND) for the project that will go to the Planning Commission in November. The LWVMP sent a letter requesting that an environmental impact report be prepared, noting the project has the potential to have significant impacts on traffic, flooding, air quality, and the levee and conflicts with policies in the Carmel Valley Master Plan. These issues require preparation of an EIR. Additionally, since the MND does not include all mitigation measures needed to address impacts, a MND is an inappropriate document under CEQA Guidelines for this project.
