A REPORT TO LANDWATCH MEMBERS NOVEMBER 28, 2005
STATUS OF THE RANCHO SAN JUAN BUTTERFLY VILLAGE APPROVAL

Dear Friends:

Congratulations and thank you to everyone who participated in our overwhelming victory, defeating Rancho San Juan at the ballot box by a 75% majority! Voters clearly agree that Rancho San Juan is WRONG for Monterey County.

The Board of Supervisors decided, just one day before the public cast their ballots against Measure C, to approve the Rancho San Juan Butterfly Village project.  The vote was 4-1 with Supervisor Dave Potter dissenting. This approval was made despite strong opposition Cal Trans, and the City of Salinas!

The revised project is larger than the City of Carmel and would put an additional 13,000 additional cars on Highway 101 and other local roads. The project would build an 18-hole golf course in an area in critical water over-draft. This project requires the very same General Plan amendments as the earlier project, because the developer and the county can not provide the additional road and water capacity that the project requires.

If this weren’t bad enough, other projects in the Rancho San Juan area are already lined up to move through the approval process. The Board has passed a 45 day moratorium, delaying the approval process for these other projects. The moratorium could be extended for two years, but it is clear that the pro-development majority on the Board is headed toward the ultimate approval of these projects and the piecemeal approval of the original Rancho San Juan project, which was so soundly rejected by the voters.

Passing this revised project the day before the public vote was a flagrant act of irresponsibility and arrogance.

Since the Board of Supervisors would not wait to hear what the voters had to say about Rancho San Juan on election day, we have to tell them again! LandWatch and the Rancho San Juan Opposition Coalition are referending the Revised Rancho San Juan project. We need to collect 9,000 signatures to put the project back on the ballot in June of 2006.

You can help by signing the petitions that are now being circulated throughout the County at various shopping centers and other locations.  In addition to the petition to bring Rancho San Juan back before the voters, there is another petition to amend the 1982 General Plan so that we won’t have to referend Rancho San Juan a third time! The Community General Plan Initiative will ensure that the egregious and irresponsible land use decisions epitomized by Rancho San Wrong won’t happen in the future.

If you would like to sign the petitions please contact Josh Stratton at (831) 210-1080.

We will celebrate reaching our goal of collecting 14,000 signatures for the Rancho San Wrong Referendum at the LandWatch office on Monday, December 5th from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. LandWatch members and supporters are invited to this Holiday Open House, at 158 Central Avenue, Suite #3, for holiday cookies and eggnog.

If you have not yet signed the petitions for the RSJ Referendum or the Community General Plan Initiative, petitions will be available for you to sign. December 5th is the last day to sign the Referendum!

I hope you will be able to join us!

Very Truly Yours,

Chris Fitz, Executive Director
LandWatch Monterey County

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posted 11.28.05