East Garrison Project a GoBack to News

It’s nearly time to break ground on the highly praised, long-planned East Garrison community development on the former Army base at Fort Ord.

On Tuesday, Monterey County supervisors officially handed over some 635 acres to the East Garrison Partners development consortium. The supervisors also approved a loan package that includes up to $75 million to pay for site prep work, and an agreement with three nonprofit affordable-housing developers to provide nearly 200 low- and very low-income rental units.

With those approvals, the supervisors cleared the way for site prep work to begin Feb. 1 on the 1,400-unit, 244-acre development.

According to county Housing and Redevelopment Director Jim Cook, the land transfer is a “significant milestone in the overall development of the project,” which has been in the planning stages since the early 1990s. Cook said the plan is to begin construction on the project’s first homes in August 2008.

Supervisors Dave Potter and Jerry Smith, who helped plan the project, hailed the landmark moment.

Potter lauded the efforts of people who worked on the project over the years, and said the groundbreaking would hold special meaning for him.

“Just let me know when the groundbreaking is, and I’ll be there,” he said.

Smith, whose district encompasses the development site, called it a “historic day” and praised the benefits of a unique project that incorporates “sustainable growth” in a “walkable community.”

“It’s not a project built around commercial development; it’s built around community development,” he said.

Located on a bluff just south of Reservation Road, the East Garrison site was used as a tent city by the Army during World War II and still features historic military-style buildings.

The project, approved by the supervisors in October 2005, will be developed by Woodman Development, William Lyon Homes and Urban Community Partners. The plan calls for 1,400 homes and apartments in a wide range of housing styles and income levels; an arts district with 57,000 square feet of studio space and an arts center anchored by about two dozen renovated military buildings; a town center with up to 75,000 square feet of commercial space; and a youth camp.

There are provisions for 196 low- and very low-income rental units, to be developed by the Mid-Peninsula Housing Coalition, Artspace Projects and Community Housing Improvement Systems and Planning Association nonprofit groups. Plans also call for 70 auxiliary housing units. Atotal of 280 homes will be affordable, and 140 will be designated as work force housing.

The homes will range from compact, single-family houses and multi-story townhomes to live-work units, condominiums and apartments.

Cook said the project’s “affordable-by-design” concept, with higher-density housing on smaller lots, offers a “greater potential for affordable housing” than most developments.

Split up into three neighborhoods each with its own park, the “new urbanist” community will include a fire station, alibrary and a sheriff’ssubstation. There are also plans for a community center, and future additions could include a school, a sports center and a day-care center.

The development will be built in three phases, to be completed by 2014.

“We’re basically building an entirely new community with a population roughly the size of Castroville,” Cook said.

Supervisor Simon Salinas noted with satisfaction the impending influx of so much affordable housing and said the community will be ideally located at the confluence of the Salinas Valley and the Monterey Peninsula.

Though there have been a few concerns expressed about the project over the years, mostly directed at its potential for adding traffic, there has been relatively little opposition. No members of the public spoke against or in favor of the project Tuesday.