New Pebble Beach Forest Destruction Project Already Going Wrong

1. The County is preparing to hire the same company (Jones and Stokes) that wrote the horrible, politically biased and legally faulty environmental harm analysis (the EIR) for the earlier Pebble Beach Company project.

2. The December Land Use Advisory Committee (LUAC) “approval” was illegally conducted. The LUAC only had a presentation agendized – not an approval. There was no public notice that they would be voting on the project. They never even asked the audience for their opinions – they only asked for questions.

Further, not only is the environmental harm analysis (EIR) for the proposed project not complete, it is not even started !

That’s because the project’s Application isn’t even complete !

Its hard to imagine a more premature and biased vote.

Let me paraphrase the line from the Humphrey Bogart film — “We don’t need no stee’nken information”

Knowing the history of this project I shouldn’t have been surprised when one Board member pressed for approval, and another Board member with concerns seemed powerless to stop it.

Monterey County Planner (Joe Sidor) watched it happen and said nothing. He either didn’t know (ignorance) or didn’t care (apathy about Public Interest laws). And Sidor is in charge of making sure the project follows the law. (That’s Great for Pebble Beach Company’s chainsaws – disgusting for the public.)

It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to predict this is just the first in a long line of illegal official approvals for this project.

David Dilworth, for
Helping Our Peninsula’s Environment

Notes:
1. Project at the County — http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/planning/major/Pebble%20Beach%20Company/Pebble_Beach_Company.htm

2. Herald Article (Jan 16, 2011) — http://www.montereyherald.com/local/ci_17112462?nclick_check=1

3. HOPE Web page on Pebble_Beach_Company’s Forest destruction projects http://1hope.org/pbc.htm

4. Jones and Stokes horrible quality and politically biased report on Carmel River Flow needed by Salmon – is thankfully refused and rejected by the Water Management District — http://1hope.org/crdangr.htm

5. Land Use Advisory Committee Agendas — (These are poorly posted and erratically archived, if at all.) http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/planning/cca/luac/luac_agenda.htm