A legal settlement could unlock development potential for Del Rey Oaks and Monterey.

For more than two years, the city of Del Rey Oaks has been in settlement discussions with attorneys representing the California Native Plant Society, who filed a lawsuit against the city (and the now-dissolved Fort Ord Reuse Authority) in June 2020 regarding the planned realignment of South Boundary Road. The settlement was reached in mid-May, and on June 2, was filed with the Monterey County Superior Court.

At issue was a 4.6-acre parcel of land containing endangered and threatened plant species (Seaside’s Bird Beak being the endangered one), established in a contract between FORA, the city and CNPS in 1998 as a mitigation for the General Jim Moore Boulevard project.

But in 2010, FORA proposed a South Boundary Road realignment project to make the intersection with General Jim safer, and also add underground utilities – water, sewer, etc. – that would unlock the development potential of Fort Ord lands owned by Del Rey Oaks and the city of Monterey. The problem was, the realigned intersection would pass through that 4.6-acre parcel.

The lawsuit CNPS attorneys filed in 2020 states, “FORA and Del Rey Oaks have destroyed or lost public records that are pertinent to the CEQA mitigation.”

Whether or not the road ever gets built is an open question. When FORA dissolved, it gave Del Rey Oaks $8.845 million to build the road and intersection, which City Manager John Guertin says will not be enough to cover the cost, though it’s not known by how much. So for a cash-starved small city, it’s not clear how they can make it happen. Guertin hopes the city can partner with Monterey.

Realigning the already approved realignment further north, to avoid the parcel, will require a new environmental assessment, and perhaps an environmental impact report.

So while a hurdle has been cleared, many hurdles remain.