A new 4,000-home development in Monterey County near the San
Benito County line would have little effect on local life in the
area, if it even passes.
A new 4,000-home development in Monterey County near the San Benito County line would have little effect on local life in the area, if it even passes.
Rancho San Juan, a development 20 years in the making along the northern border of the city of Salinas and about three miles from the San Benito County line, would create a community of 4,000 houses and 13,000 people on a 2,500-acre site. It would include a major employment center, golf course and business park, all located just southwest of San Juan Bautista off Old Stagecoach Road.
However, The Californian newspaper reported Thursday that the plan is being opposed by the city of Salinas, north Monterey County activists and several land-use groups, and may be cut from the county’s new general plan.
A development so close to San Benito County would have minimal impacts on the county but could affect commuters on the 101 corridor traveling to the valley, San Benito County Supervisor Reb Monaco said.
“I don’t think it would economically benefit us,” Monaco said. “Except maybe the possibility for more tourism dollars coming in.”
The project is slated to provide housing units of a wide variety, many of them affordable to low and moderate-income families, according to the project’s description from the Monterey County Planning Department’s Web site.
If the project is approved and housing units end up being more affordable than homes in San Benito County, it could draw residents away, San Benito County planning commissioner Gordon Machado said.
“If the housing is less, you might get people from here moving over there… and commuting,” Machado said.
As long as the development, or “urban village,” is not intruding on prime agricultural land, Machado said he doesn’t see any problems with a new neighbor.
“The Salinas valley is one of the largest producing areas in the state,” he said. “If it’s on marginal land, then who cares. If they’re taking ag land then it would certainly have an effect on all of us.”
A positive aspect of a city moving so close to San Juan Bautista could possibly increase money to the small town from people shopping and dining there, said Joe Tonascia, a San Benito County planning commissioner.
“It could bring a little money into the county from people coming to eat and shop, but other than that…” Tonascia said. “It’s just kind of a thing.”
Monterey County planning commissioners deliberated about the project at their meeting Wednesday, and although they didn’t take a formal vote they indicated agreement on dropping Rancho San Juan as a proposed growth area, according to The Californian.
Whether Monterey County ultimately gives the development a go or not, and whether the end product would be good or bad for San Benito County could be moot questions anyway, Monaco said, because San Benito residents don’t have a vote in the neighboring county.
“It’s something we’d have to investigate, but what can we do about it,” he said. “If it impacts us negatively, is there anything we can do? I don’t know if there is.”
