The North Wavecrest Redevelopment ordinance should be rejected because it is the wrong plan at the wrong time for this city.
It is a decade-old contrivance which does not reflect today's tough economic realities -- a scheme created and financed by an out-of-state developer in league with developer-financed local politicians, with neither public oversight nor independent review of its economic assumptions.
It plunges the city into bonded indebtedness without voters' approval, and subsidizes private profit with public funds borrowed against future tax revenues that are by no means certain.
It places the extraordinary power of redevelopment law -- including the use of eminent domain -- in the hands of local politicians, opening the door to future condemnations elsewhere in the city.
It is based upon a 750 home residential development, which will add at least 1,200 cars to daily commuter problems, will weaken demand for existing homes, and will not redeem in taxes what it exacts from city services.
It establishes a framework for an even riskier agreement which makes school district funding dependent upon redevelopment, creates different funding sources for schools in unincorporated parts of the district, and could result in state funding cutbacks.
It impacts gravely on the blufftop environment, destroys plant/animal habitat and wetlands, replaces open space with a gated community and private golf course, increases water and waste treatment demands, and threatens the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary with pollution from sewage and chemical fertilizers.
Neither the developer nor the city have explored alternative non-residential, non-golf proposals as required by CEQA law -- an educational-recreational-business conference center a la Asilomar, for example, in which property owners could be shareholders.
The Plan has already been rejected. In last November's North Wavecrest Preference Vote, only 34-percent of the voters gave their approval.
/s/ Dennis Coleman
/s/ David Iverson
/s/ Arthur Zich