Chualar Referendum Begins

"With an existing population of about 900, Chualar has an elementary school with no room for new students, a sewage system that is in peril whenever the water gets high in the Salinas River, no parks and recreational facilities, a growing crime problem, and water that is filled with dangerous levels of nitrates."

The Monterey County Herald,
February 17, 1998.

More info on the referendum:

(Sorry, we can't provide the petition sheets electronically since they are not valid for submission)


Success! 17,692 signatures were collected and submitted, with 14,794 (83.6%) verified (9,200 signatures needed). The referendum will be on the November general ballot.

Dear Friend of Monterey County,

On February 17, 1998, Monterey County disregarded its strong heritage of protecting farmland and welcomed Rancho Chualar II, a Southern California-style suburban sprawl, with open arms.

When three Monterey County Supervisors overturned the unanimous recommendations of their Planning Commission, granted Rancho Chualar II a General Plan amendment, and approved theconversion of 165 acres of productive agricultural lands to 759-unit housing development, they established a dangerous planning precedent: the conversion of Monterey County's farmland for suburban sprawl and leapfrog development. And they violated the Monterey County General Plan, the blueprint for our future.

Citizens are circulating a referendum petition to protest Rancho Chualar II and submit it to Monterey County voters on the November, 1998 ballot. You can sign a petition at any of the following locations:

  • Carmel - Ambrose Pollock Fine Furniture at Mission between 5th and 6th, west side

  • Monterey - Morgan's Coffee House at 498 Washington Street

  • Pacific Grove - Wildberries, 212 17th Street

  • Tuesday evenings - Farmer's Market, Alvarado Street, City of Monterey

  • Anywhere else - please call 675-8130 for pick-up and delivery of petitions

You can pick up petitions for distribution from:

  • The Post Box, 820 Park Row, Salinas
  • Ambrose Pollock Furniture, Mission Between 5th & 6th, Carmel

If you would like to support this effort further by circulating petitions, please call the Committee to Save Ag Land in Chualar at 675-8130. March 25 is the absolute deadline for the Committee to receive signed petitions.

If you think Rancho Chualar II is an anomaly, consider this. In the next 22 years, Monterey County is projected to grow more than 40%, adding more than 160,000 people to today's 340,000. Where will these people go? What kind of communities await them? How will existing communities be impacted?

Monterey County has not planned for growth. Growth has planned for Monterey County. Drive along highway 68 or highway 101 and you know what we mean. The number and scope of development issues currently facing Monterey County is daunting. Over twenty development proposals are in the works. They include a total of 30,000 residential units, industrial complexes, the development of the 20,000-acre Rancho San Carlos, 30,000 to 70,000 residents at Fort Ord, leapfrog development along the highway 68 corridor, the loss of agricultural land surrounding Salinas and in South County, and major new projects in Pebble Beach and Carmel Valley.

We face a stark choice: Allow this growth to continue unabated, as it has at Rancho Chualar II, congesting our roads, destroying precious farmland, and diminishing our quality of life, or choose a more desirable, better-planned future.

LandWatch Monterey County promotes a healthier vision of the future. By encouraging greater public participation in planning, we aim promote better planning that protects your quality of life.

To do this, we need your help. What do we need first? Financial support. That's right. We need your contribution to develop the common vision, to communicate it, and to seek commitments from our elected officials to create the kind of communities we all desire.

The quality of life we enjoy today will be either preserved or compromised, depending on citizen involvement. It is only through better research, monitoring, policy advocacy and citizen action that the environmental health and economic rigor of Monterey County will be maintained. You can be sure the developers are well-organized in pursuit of their desires. LandWatch will research issues, attend meetings, and represent your interests in good planning.

Finally, consider this. On any given day, our five members of the Board of Supervisors can determine the future of our county. They can approve or deny Rancho Chualar II or a host of other developments that are pending. On any given day, they can make Monterey County a better or a worse place for us to live.

LandWatch Monterey County will watch out for all of our futures. Please join us.

Michael DeLapa
Joyce Stevens
President, LandWatch
LandWatch Advisor

Karen Ferlito
Mark Talbrook
Becky Shaw
LandWatch Board of Directors

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