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Judge rules Monterey County must release development documents
A judge has ordered Monterey County to release records about the controversial
September Ranch subdivision in Carmel Valley-information county officials
maintained wasn't public because it was held by a county consultant.
Local open government advocates, The Open Monterey Project (TOMP)
and Patricia Bernardi, filed the suit, which resulted in this welcome
ruling. Ventana Chapter Conservation cochair Gillian Taylor, who
is also a member of TOMP, reported the lawsuit was filed after many
attempts were made to obtain the information through Public Records
Act provisions. The Act is meant to provide governmental accountability
through public access to documents covering the conduct of the people's
business.
The Chapter is actively engaged in the environmental review of
the huge September Ranch project itself, which calls for the removal
of 3,582 trees (890 coast live oaks and 2,692 Monterey Pines), involves
steep slope alteration and has many unanswered questions about water
and traffic impacts. The county approved a slightly different version
of the Ranch project in 1998, but after the Chapter and others filed
suit, the courts said the project's environmental impact report
failed to properly address the all-important water issue. That litigation
also led to revelations that the developer's Salinas law firm, Lombardo
& Gilles, "ghostwrote" project documents supposedly
created by county staff. Monterey attorney Michael Stamp represented
the Chapter and the citizen groups in both successful suits.
The water, traffic, and biological impact issues raised by the
first September Ranch project haven't gone away. The Carmel Valley
Land Use Advisory Committee voted against the project, but formal
hearings before the County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors
haven't yet been scheduled.
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