Ventana Chapter - Conservation Issues > Coastal Dunes Resort Update

Old Baldy, Canada | photo by Cameron Schaus

Conservation Issues of the Ventana Chapter | monterey county

Chapter Urges Sand City City Council to Deny The Collection at Monterey Bay Resort Project

November 2013

Sand City City Council will hold a public hearing on the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) for a proposed development, The Collection at Monterey Bay resort on 26 acres in the dunes west of Highway 1 on December 17. King Ventures of San Luis Obispo has plans for a 340 unit resort to be constructed in two phases: the first phase will include 105 time share units and the second phase will include a 235-unit hotel with a restaurant, conference center and wellness spa. There will be over 600 parking spaces.

Ventana Chapter retained attorney Larry Silver of the California Environmental Law Project and coastal ecologist Dr. Peter Baye to provide comments. Our position is to request the City to deny the Project a Coastal Development permit (CDP) and not to certify the FEIR. We believe the FEIR indicates that the Project as designed is inconsistent with the Local Coastal Plan (LCP) on several points. They are briefly:

1. The Sand City LCP requires that the development be sited and designed to avoid hazards and requires that it be sited to ensure stability and safety over its economic lifetime. The project site consists of highly erodible sand dunes, and has some of the highest shoreline erosion in the state.

2. The proposed Project fails to be consistent with the LCP policy requiring the development be sited and designed to protect and enhance significant public views and to minimize loss of visual resources. There is not sufficient information in the FEIR fully to be able to assess the Project’s visual impacts.

3. Sierra Club remains concerned that the FEIR's cumulative impacts analysis on neighboring development and water supplies is flawed.

For more details regarding our opposition to the Project, please see the attached letter to the Sand City City Council. (PDF here)

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