Fight begins against Monterey County plan

The Packer Editorial Board
Posted February 28, 2006

By Darcy DeVictor

MONTEREY, Calif. — To launch an organized opposition campaign to the Monterey County general plan initiative, leaders representing agriculture and other industries gathered Feb. 16 at the Portola Plaza Hotel to officially unveil Plan for the People.

Heads of groups representing produce, labor, social justice, affordable housing and wineries gave their arguments for how the county’s initiative, if passed into law, would hamper their industries.

More than 150 people convened for the announcement.

LandWatch Monterey County, Salinas, a group created to protect land from development, presented the initiative in January with sufficient signatures for the county’s board of supervisors to consider it for the June 6 primary election ballot.

The county’s board of supervisors has submitted the initiative for an economic impact review — the results of which should arrive Feb. 28 — and will decide whether it belongs on the ballot, said Kurt Gollnick, chief operating officer of Scheid Vineyards, Greenfield, co-chairman of the group.

If the initiative becomes law, the results could be devastating for agriculture, said Benny Jefferson, owner of Marina-based Jefferson Farms and past president of the Monterey County Farm Bureau, Salinas.

The law would obstruct the produce industry’s ability to add value to its product with processing facilities that need to be close to the fields, he said.

Under the initiative, decisions about development on land outside of Salinas city limits would require a county-wide vote.

Most companies can’t afford the nearly $500,000 it would take to wage a political campaign to win the public’s approval in order to add or alter their operations, said Bob Perkins, executive director of the Monterey County Farm Bureau.