Serving Monterey County and the Salinas
Valley
Published Thursday, January 10, 2002
Potential growth for Castroville
By VICTORIA MANLEY
vmanley@montereyherald.com
Monterey County Supervisor Judy Pennycook says she fears her North County district could be overwhelmed by development because of recent requests from Castroville-area landowners to rezone their farmland for residential use.
Owners of more than 1,000 acres of rural land in unincorporated Monterey County near Castroville have asked county officials to consider rezoning their properties to allow high-density residential projects.
"I think most people would find it staggering and find it inconsistent with the rural community," Pennycook said Wednesday. "I don't believe there's a whole lot of folks that would stand up and say this is appropriate."
Because of her concern, she has set up a town hall meeting about the issue and the county's draft general plan Wednesday at the Prunedale Grange Hall. The draft plan also calls for significant development in the Castroville area.
"I just think that it's very, very important for as many residents to come to the meeting as possible. It's critical to get this information to the public," she said.
More than 2,700 vacant parcels in North County are zoned for residential use. That could translate into nearly 4,000 new houses if more than one unit was built on each parcel, according to county estimates. Another 480 or so vacant agriculture parcels could be rezoned for residential use.
About 6,700 people live in Castroville, which has about 1,500 housing units. If all the requested zoning amendments were made to the farmland surrounding the town, the area population could more than double to 17,600.
Such a large population boom is not likely to happen, said Jim Colangelo, the assistant county administrative officer.
"You can get some really big numbers. We don't have the detail right now to know if that's what the intent is," Colangelo said. "That's the maximum possibility, but we don't know what the property owners want."
All requests for zoning amendments will be analyzed by a general plan advisory committee before it is put out for public scrutiny, Colangelo said.
Nonetheless, Pennycook said she's alarmed by the notion of such growth in Castroville.
"We need to do housing where there's infrastructure," she said. "We don't have safe transportation corridors. We're prone to floods. We have storm water run-offs."
The property involved is owned by several farmers and farming companies, including Ocean Mist Farms. None of the owners could be reached to comment late Wednesday.
Pennycook represents North County on the county Board of Supervisors, but her term ends at the end of the year. Her district has been combined with Supervisor Lou Calcagno, who is running for re-election.
Calcagno says he's not worried about the requested change. He said area residents shouldn't worry, either.
"It's just not gonna happen," he said. "It's a bunch of hullabaloo that amounts to nothing."
He said most property owners have no intention of building houses on their farmland, and that submitting a request for rezoning was more of a formal procedure than anything else.
"There might be some peripheral development. I'm not saying that's not happening ...but nothing that's near what Supervisor Pennycook is talking about will happen."
He called Pennycook's town hall meeting an "election gimmick."
A political ally of Pennycook's, county Planning Commissioner Carol Lacy, is challenging Calcagno for his supervisorial seat. She said she shares Pennycook's concerns.
"Residents don't want any more growth at all until all the infrastructure there is fixed," Lacy said.
Losing farmland to provide more housing, she said, "is not worth the sacrifice."
Victoria Manley can be reached at 646-4478.