Ignoring friendly but firm, advice from world experts the Supervisors once again flagrantly violated several laws, contradicted plain facts and sneered at science to approve yet another golf course and mansions project.

For example:

• Our Coastal Commission is a court recognized Coastal Act expert, but the County angrily rejected their warning the project is illegal.
• Dr. Hank Medwin, a world expert in acoustics,(Past President of American Acoustical Society, & author of world renowned acoustic text books) made some serious comments about the defective noise portion of the Environmental Impact report, but the County's anti-science "expert" ducked responding to his critical comments.

Next Step - Measure A and the project must go before our California Coastal Commission which has expressed serious concern about the bass-ackwards process Monterey County is forcing the project through and the County's failure to recognize and protect highly endangered habitats.

The project will admittedly --

• UN-PROTECT land that was supposed to be permanently protected from development - then develop it,
• destroy at least 17,000 large Monterey pines and an unknown number of smaller trees and their imperiled ecosystem,
• kill an unknown number of Endangered Species Act protected California red-legged frogs,
• increase overpumping of our Carmel River that already causes Endangered Species Act listed steelhead deaths,
• destroy the only vernal pool in native Monterey pine forest
• bulldoze 25 percent of the area's population of Endangered Species Act listed orchids and numerous other serious environmental insults,
• Oh, and by the way - it will fester permanent gridlock on our Holman Highway, hindering access to Pacific Grove's coast.

Even though the project proposes offsite Mitigation, Pebble Beach Co. Employs offsite bussing of spectators for golf events from Ft. Ord, and Pebble Beach Co. Already owns an offsite golf course in Monterey, and buying one would protect our forest and not impact our water supplies.

 As you already know too well, the Supervisors and Scott Hennessey's so-called "Planning Dept." are hostile to our natural environment. They smirk at science, lie about laws, flaunt false facts, and repudiate reason.

PBC lawyer Tony Lombardo offered a few new entries for next year's Ueberroth Whopper Award with "the vernal pool" which HOPE had just shown a photo of, "doesn't exist."

 Lombardo went on to say "No vernal pools exist, not just here, but anywhere in Monterey County." (I hope the Endangered Species Act listed "Vernal Pool Fairy Shrimp" who live at Fort Ord don't hear that; they might feel ignored.)

 Not content to let Tony get such a head start in the Whopper contest, Pebble Beach Company development co-ordinator Alan Williams weighed in with a poor echo of this year's Whopper winner saying "[Pebble Beach Company is] not in the developing business." Williams continued with "every question has been asked and answered in the Environmental document" even though Scott Hennessey's County "Planning" Dept imperiously ignored hundreds (more likely thousands) of comments asking for the basis of the Environmental Impact Report's conclusions.

Supervisor Potter made a tiny ambiguous effort to suggest more protection for Monterey pine forest in the neighborhood of the vernal pool, but he voted for the project without making any motion to modify it.

 The sham hearing, where not one Supervisor spoke about environmentally benign alternatives was delightfully interrupted by the debut of the catchy song "Monterey Pine" by Pat Clark, of the Cachagua Playboys band who grew up in Pebble Beach.

 Today, the LA Times accurately reported HOPE's Quote that the project is "a slow-motion Ecological train wreck." The Herald report for This giant project, possibly the largest single project ever on our physical Monterey Peninsula, which was reported in the LA Times and USA Today - wasn't even on the front page.

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 Supervisor Jerry Smith makes non-agendized motion to adopt Developer Group's General Plan as the basis for the new County General Plan. 

Right after the PBC project, Seaside Supervisor Jerry Smith read a prepared statement angrily responding to the failure to get a General Plan Update adopted. Smith then made a motion to adopt developer Group's giant growth document as the basis of the County's next General Plan.

I counted 18 "Refinement Group" members in the audience who seemed prepared for Smith's comments. In sharp contrast only 3 public interest advocates showed up for the innocuous agenda item limited to procedures. Supervisor Potter firmly resisted Smith's efforts to push the pro-hyper-development, property rights berates plan because it was not agendized.

Smith ultimately withdrew the motion after hearing the time schedule from County staff.