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Pebble Beach Company Has Ambitious Plans for the
 Del Monte Forest; a New 18-hole Golf Course
 and 160 new Guest Suites

By Kevin Howe, The Monterey County Herald, Calif.
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Jan. 24, 2005 - Pebble Beach Co.'s ambitious remake of the Del Monte Forest will be heard in a daylong session Wednesday by the Monterey County Planning Commission, but whatever the outcome, the California Coastal Commission has announced that it may have the final say.

The company's Del Monte Forest Preservation and Development Plan calls for new projects at 13 locations in Del Monte Forest, including a new 18-hole golf course, a golf driving range, 160 new visitor suites, a new, relocated equestrian center, 33 new residential lots in five subdivisions and 60 employee housing units.

The plan is intended to follow the guidelines of the countywide ballot Measure A, passed in November 2000, a measure sponsored by Pebble Beach Co. to put their new development plan before the voters.

But last month Coastal Commission Chairman Meg Caldwell sent a letter to the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, notifying them that the commission will require the county to submit Measure A for review before the Pebble Beach project can go forward.

Her letter said the commission has jurisdiction over the Coastal Development Plan for Spanish Bay, where Pebble Beach Co. proposes building the 160 visitor suites.

Before the county acts on the Del Monte Forest development plan, Caldwell wrote, the commission will have to amend the Spanish Bay development permit that it granted and over which it still has authority.

"The commission ... strongly advises that the county refrain from taking any final action on the Pebble Beach Co.'s coastal development plan application until after it has submitted, and the Coastal Commission has acted on, the proposed Measure A local coastal program amendments."

Caldwell said in her letter that it has been four years since Measure A passed but the measure has never been submitted to the commission for review.

Under the plan, Pebble Beach Co. would move Pebble Beach Equestrian Center on Portola Road, where the new golf course is to go in, to the Sawmill Gulch area near Holman Highway.

The plan creates 33 residential lots in five subdivisions and sets aside 492 acres scattered in various locations in the Del Monte Forest as open space or nature preserves.

A draft environmental impact report for the project addresses several areas: water supply and demand, protection of the endangered Yadon's piperia plant and the "Green Trail" from the Holly Hills Nature Area to Spanish Bay, as well as traffic circulation, noise, growth-inducement and cumulative impacts of the project.

The Planning Commission will convene at 9 a.m. in the Board of Supervisors chambers at the county courthouse, Church and Alisal streets, Salinas.

IF YOU GO:

--What: Monterey County Planning Commission hearing on Pebble Beach Co. plan

--When: 9 a.m. Wednesday

--Where: Supervisors chambers, County Courthouse, Church and Alisal streets, Salinas

--Information: Thomas McCue, senior planner, 883-7528 or e-mail [email protected]

-----To see more of the Monterey County Herald, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.montereyherald.com.

(c) 2005, Monterey County Herald, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail [email protected].

 
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