The Ongoing MST Saga

A classic twenty-first century battle between land preservation and urban development is
currently being fought in the backyard of California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB).

For nearly two years, students and faculty traveling on Inter-Garrison Road between Main Campus and East Campus housing have passed a large sign posted on the north-side of the road, stating the site will be the location of a new Monterey-Salinas Transit (MST) center.

However, due to strong oppositional response from community members and representatives, the future of the new MST site officially remains undecided.

The Background
Preparing for the closure of Fort Ord in 1994, state legislation created the Fort Ord Reuse Authority (FORA) to plan, finance and implement reuse of the land. In accordance to the group’s strategic “FORA Base Reuse Plan,” which was adopted in 1997, FORA was responsible for drawing the new boundary lines for Marina, Seaside and Monterey County and allocating parcels of land to public services.

“We felt it was important for the Monterey region to have protected open space” stated FORA Executive Officer Michael Houlemard and assuring the plan was comprehensive and balanced, he explained, “Development on the remaining parcels is essential to providing the financial support for the recreational uses, the habitat protection and environmental mitigation measures.”

As a public service, MST was able to receive a parcel of land for a new bus maintenance yard in the “Parker Flats County Planning Area” and next to the future location of Monterey County’s high-end horse complex called “Monterey Downs Horse Park.”
 

The ‘New Site’
As plans developed for Monterey County’s multimillion-dollar horse park venture and recognizing the neighboring industrial MST site would aesthetically and economically be less than ideal, the Redevelopment Agency of the County of Monterey (RDA) took action. Monterey County planners presented MST a trade designed to benefit the future objectives of both parties and MST accepted.

County planners offered MST a 24-acre parcel of land in the nearby “Whispering Oaks Business Park” in exchange for the FORA allocated Parker Flats location. The larger, more centralized Whispering Oaks parcel is also location of the former Army landfill for Fort Ord, consequently offering MST more opportunities for funding and grants towards the redevelopment of the site.

MST quickly executed a revised development plan from a new bus maintenance yard into a new headquarters for bus operations and maintenance yard, which includes the destruction of an estimated 4,400 mature oak trees.

Applying for the newly available federal grants to fund the $100 million project, MST qualified for federal funding consideration of $33 million toward project costs through the United States Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)’s Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA).

The Political Ladder
As MST continued planning for the Whispering Oaks site, the City of Marina also offered MST the Marina Airport Business Park for the new center. The option of a new site that would cause less environmental impact proved to become the backbone for opposition.

“The question is not whether we should develop, but how and in what order we should develop these properties,” Marina Mayor Bruce Delgado said. “What is the appropriate pace of bulldozing wildlands? Maybe we should prioritize redeveloping the blight.”

When FORA denied the new Monterey County rezoning plans involved in the MST trade because it did not align with the base reuse plan, the RDA then petitioned the Monterey County Planning Commission to approve the ‘new site’ plans on April 13.

The commission also denied the new MST plans, largely because of the unnecessary destruction of the oak trees and considering there is another option already zoned for industrial infrastructure.
Appealing the Planning Commission’s vote to the Monterey County Board of Supervisor’s, on July 12, the Board voted 4-1 granting MST the appeal.

With the dissenting vote, 4th District Supervisor Jane Parker held a position that if the people do not want it, there are other locations available and it cuts down over 4,000 oaks, she would not support the appeal. The disputed areas are in Parker’s district.