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   Conservation Issues of the Ventana Chapter | monterey county

Pebble Beach Update
Supervisors vote in favor of mystery project


In December, as requested by the Pebble Beach Company, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors voted to rescind their March 15, 2005 approval of Measure A and the massive Pebble Beach Company golf course/buildings expansion project. The Supervisors also voted in favor of a resolution of intent to approve the project once it returns to the Board. Since PBC hasn’t revealed what that revised project will consist of, the Supervisors actually voted to support some future project that has yet to be described or analyzed.

The Supervisors actually voted to support some future project that has yet to be described or analyzed.

That March hearing, two years ago, was attended by many local and national environmental groups and private citizens harshly critical of this destructive plan to cut down 18,000 trees and destroy the wetland and forest habitat for several endangered and threatened species. The hearing went on for hours and included a statement from the California Coastal Commission Chair, Meg Caldwell, explaining the impropriety of the Board’s approving Measure A before it went to the Coastal Commission for certification.

The pro-development Board disregarded all these concerns and heartily approved Measure A and the project. Following Board of Supervisors’ approval, nearly two dozen appeals with the Coastal Commission were filed including one from the Ventana Chapter. Since then, there have been over a hundred stories in the State, national, and international press, largely unflattering to the project. The primary focus of these articles has been about backroom politicians maneuvering to replace responsible Coastal Commissioners with ones who favor the Pebble Beach project.

The majority of the 200 people who showed up for the March 2006 Coastal Commission hearing spoke against the project. The Commission staff gave compelling reasons why this project violated the Coastal Act. The matter was continued to the June meeting, but fearing denial, the Pebble Beach Company withdrew their proposal.

Now we have an approval, sight unseen, from the Board. This latest action is typical of the control and power the Pebble Beach Company has over the Supervisors.

How to help
The Chapter needs your help to pay legal fees. Please send checks made out to the Ventana Chapter (not tax-deductible) or to the SC Foundation /Ventana Chapter (tax deductible), and mail to Joel Weinstein, Treasurer, 140 Carmel Riviera Drive, Carmel, CA 93923.

 


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