East Garrison Project Heard by CommissionBack to News

Monterey County’s flagship Fort Ord development at East Garrison will be weighed by county planning commissioners today as behind-the-scenes wrangling continues over the financial terms.

The Planning Commission scheduled a 1:30 p.m. hearing in the Salinas county courthouse to consider its recommendations on the proposed 244-acre “new urbanism” project on a bluff above Reservation Road on the north side of Fort Ord.

It will be the second commission hearing on East Garrison, which calls for 1,400 homes, a village-style retail center, an arts district, fire station, several parks, and preservation of about two dozen historic Army buildings.

There was no opposition raised at the first commission hearing in November, in contrast to heated debates over other big Fort Ord projects in Marina and Seaside.

But at least two groups, LandWatch of Monterey County and the League of Women Voters of the Monterey Peninsula, want today’s hearing postponed because the final environmental impact report and a raft of other project documents were made public a little more than a week ago.

In a letter requested a delay, league president Marilyn Maxner cited changes in low-cost housing terms and unreleased agreements between the county and East Garrison’s developers.

“This project is one of the largest to ever be considered by the county. The complexity… requires adequate time for public review,” Maxner wrote.

Chris Fitz, executive director of LandWatch, said the 181-page final EIR was made public July 6 — just a week before today’s hearing.

“Clearly this is insufficient time for either the Planning Commission or public to review… a project that is the second largest ever to be considered in the unincorporated area of the county,” Fitz said.

Project planner Mike Novo said Tuesday that project documents the Planning Commission will review were released almost two weeks ago.

“I think we can proceed,” he said.

There will be at least two more public hearings, tentatively scheduled for July 26 and Aug. 16, on East Garrison before the Board of Supervisors, Novo said.

Documents released for today’s hearing include a proposed development agreement between the county and the East Garrison development partners of Woodman Development Co., William Lyon Homes and Urban Community Partners.

Price of real estate:

Negotiations are continuing on a second contract between the county redevelopment agency and the developers that will spell out important financial details, including the price the county will be paid for the land, affordable-housing levels and other money issues.

“We’re hoping to finalize it this summer,” County Administrative Officer Lew Bauman said.

The developers, frustrated that two other major Fort Ord redevelopment projects in Marina — Marina Heights and University Villages — are further along than East Garrison demanded in May that county supervisors get directly involved in the drawn-out negotiations. Supervisor Dave Potter and Supervisor Jerry Smith make up a board subcommittee handling the East Garrison financial negotiations.

“We’ve gotten a lot closer,” Potter said. “But the devil’s in the details.”

Money issues are important, but so is maintaining the original vision of the East Garrison project, which calls for housing “affordable by design,” the arts district and a village center, Potter said.

“We want to make sure the project stays intact,” he said.

The full Board of Supervisors was scheduled to be briefed Tuesday on East Garrison negotiations in a closed session.

A 2003 option agreement between the county and East Garrison developers proposed up-front purchase price of $1.5 million for the land. But the county is seeking a higher price.

“We’ve come a significant distance,” Potter said. He declined to disclose specifics because of the ongoing negotiations.

Effect on other projects:

The selling price of Fort Ord land to other developers stirred controversy with the Seaside Highlands project in Seaside and the Marina Heights project in Marina. Critics accused both cities of selling the former Army land far too cheaply.

Bauman said the Planning Commission can review the East Garrison project with financial pieces still up in the air because its authority is over the project’s land-use aspects.

Bauman took issue at a suggestion the county could end up selling the East Garrison land at a giveaway price.

“Absolutely not,” he said.

Bauman said East Garrison, because of its proposed arts district, compact design and lack of
“big box” stores, is far different from other Fort Ord reuse projects.

In addition to homes, the project calls for 75,000 square feet of commercial space and 100,000 square feet of art and cultural space.

Thirty percent of the 1,400 homes will be offered at below-market prices for very low-, low-, moderate- and workforce- income households. Most of the homes will have rear garages and sit on narrow, pedestrian-oriented streets.

Plans call for the development to be built in three phases, with the arts district coming in the final phase.

The arts district would include 65 live-work art studios fronting a village green. Twenty-three old tile-roofed Army buildings and a chapel will be preserved and merged into the arts area.