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May 14, 2001
Mr. Scott Hennessey, Director
Monterey County Planning Department
P.O. Box 1208
Salinas, CA 93902
Dear Scott,
I wish to protest the County's proposal to combine the
process of seeking certification of Measure "A" by the
Coastal Commission with the development application of the
Pebble Beach Company (PBC) development plan.
Since certification of Measure "A" must be the basis for the
development plan, it is necessary to ensure its conformance
with the current LCP prior to any hearings on the
plan itself. In correspondence with the County, the Coastal
Commission staff has consistently and repeatedly expressed
doubt as to such conformance, noting that much of the land
in the Del Monte Forest that would be affected by the
Initiative is constrained by existing natural resources on
site, such as, environmentally sensitive Monterey
pine forest, wetlands, riparian and dune habitats, and
several rare and endangered sensitive plant species that the
LCP protects, regardless of underlying land use
designations.
The timely preparation of documents pertinent to both
certification and development approval will occur naturally.
However, delaying Coastal Commission Review and
Certification to deliberately coincide with final
development approval is unacceptable. Because it has the
potential of pitting the County decision-makers against the
Coastal Commission if an approved development is negated by
lack of certification of Measure "A", the scene is set for
litigation, which benefits no one but the lawyers.
Unfortunately, this proposal lends itself to the
all-to-familiar perception that the County is acting as
advocate for the interests of the developer as opposed to
the environmental concerns of the community. After the
judicial reproof administered by the ruling in the Barnardi
lawsuit, this once again raises the question of who's in
charge.
It is incumbent upon the County to confirm certification of
Measure "A" prior to any public hearings on the PBC
development application.
Personal regards,
s/s
Janice O'Brien
Box 1037
Pebble Beach, CA 93953
cc: Board of Supervisors, Adrienne Grover, Sally Read, Peter
Douglas
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