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Monterey County Land Use & Development Overview



California Local Pin Marker Get To Know A Group

This nonprofit trust was founded in 1998 to protect rangeland in California. It has conserved more than 340,000 acres that support livestock, wildlife, and rural communities.

California Local Pin Marker Local Land Use & Development Digest

Can New State Regulations Resolve California’s Existential Insurance Crisis?

12/16/2024

There’s no law requiring California property owners to carry insurance, but the vast majority buy it to protect themselves from fire and other perils, or are required to do so by their mortgage lenders.

California Lawmakers Want to Cut Red Tape to Ramp Up Clean Energy but Rural Communities Push Back

12/13/2024

Some rural California communities are resisting efforts to streamline permitting for wind and solar farms and battery storage for environmental or safety reasons.

California Local Pin Marker Recent Articles

Monterey County Weekly logo LOCAL NEWS
Nonprofit Trust for Public Land Is Acquiring Ferrini Ranch to Transfer to Big Sur Land Trust.

For conservationists, the dream of preserving Ferrini Ranch, an approximately 870-acre property that straddles Toro Park along Highway 68, has been in the ether for decades, long before the County Board of Supervisors, in a 3-2 vote, approved a development…

Tahoe Daily Tribune logo LOCAL NEWS
‘Governors Are Going to Have to Create a New System’: Leaders in the West Lambast Insurance Industry Over Rising Costs for Homeowners

Smoke and burned trees are pictured near Sylvan Lake State Park during a wildfire that erupted south of Eagle in the White River National Forest on June 20, 2021. With intense wildfires becoming a greater threat in the West, homeowners …

Monterey County Weekly logo LOCAL NEWS
Pagrovians Band Together to Raise Funds to Return the Shine to Historic Chautauqua Hall.

A lecture hall, Sunday school, dance studio, Boy Scout headquarters, gym and tent storage during the winter between summer Methodist camp sessions in the late 1800s. Pacific Grove’s Chautauqua Hall has served many purposes over 143 years since it was…

Monterey County Weekly logo LOCAL NEWS
Developing the Former Fort Ord Remains a Tricky Proposition, as Seaside Has Long Realized.

David Schmalz here. Over the better part of the last decade, I’ve reported on the former Fort Ord and efforts to develop it, and one of the things that’s surprised me is how many people—including elected officials—don’t have a firm…

Monterey County Weekly logo LOCAL NEWS
A Marsh Restoration Project That Aims to Help Mitigate Sea Level Rise Reaches a Milestone.

After 13 years of planning and building, the Hester Marsh Restoration Project had its unofficial “ribbon-cutting” moment over the weekend of Nov. 15-17. Project researchers, managers and volunteers gathered at the marsh on the edge of Elkhorn Slough to observe…

Tahoe Daily Tribune logo LOCAL NEWS
Sierra Nevada May Hold Key to Meet California’s Ambitious 30×30 Goal

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – California's 30×30 goal was a topic at the Sierra Nevada Alliance Conservation Conference held at Lake Tahoe Community College, Nov. 7-8. In 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom committed the state to conserving 30% of lands …

Monterey County Weekly logo LOCAL NEWS
A New Report Shows Infrastructure Can Make the Pajaro River Floodplain Suitable for More Housing.

On Oct. 2, about a year-and-a-half after the Pajaro River levee failed, flood agencies broke ground on the long-awaited Pajaro River Flood Risk Management Project. The five-year, $599 million project sets out to protect the river valley and its tributaries…

Salinas Valley Tribune logo LOCAL NEWS
Construction Underway on New Greenfield Housing

GREENFIELD — EAH Housing, a nonprofit housing development and management organization, has announced that construction is underway at Greenfield Commons, with the last modular stack for Greenfield Commons Phase I recently completed.

Monterey County Weekly logo LOCAL NEWS
Handcar Tours in Marina Will End, Unless the City Inks a New Lease for Train Tracks.

Long-empty train tracks west of Highway 1 offer a spectacular view of the dunes and the Monterey Bay. Since 2021, people who signed up for handcar rides have enjoyed it while feeling the breeze.

Featured

Lighthouse Field in Santa Cruz, which might be a huge resort if not for the Coastal Commission.
The Public Shore Protectors
Born amid controversy, this public agency is responsible for managing some of the most precious real estate in the world.
Zoning laws tell you what you can and can't build on the property you own. How does government get away with that?
How Zoning Laws Shape California and Society
Zoning is everywhere, but is it a way to regulate development or a tool for social engineering?
How California reclamation districts turned millions of acres of wetlands into fertile agricultural land, starting in the earliest days of the Gold Rush.
Reclamation Districts: Turning ‘Swamps’ Into Farmland
From its earliest days as a state, California has been trying to turn marshes into productive land.
Since 1972, the California Coastal Commission has ruled over the state’s shoreline.
California Coastal Commission: Where It Comes From, What It Does
How a nuclear plant, a real estate development and an oil spill led to a landmark law.
The Baldwin Hills area in South Los Angeles is one region where a state conservancy would keep open land accessible to the public.
California’s 10 State Conservancies: How They Protect Parks and Open Land
Starting in 1976, the legislature began creating agencies to buy up open land, and keep it open.
Does California’s signature environmental law protect the state’s scenic beauty, or cause more problems than it solves?
CEQA: The Surprising Story of CA’s Key Environmental Law
54-year-old environmental law is often blamed for causing the state’s housing crisis. Is it getting a bad rap?
The 1965 law known as the Williamson Act has been responsible for keeping about half of California's farmland out of the hands of developers.
The Williamson Act: How the Law That Protects California’s Farmland Works
More than half of California farmland is under contracts that prevent its development.
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