City of Seaside Appears Short on Water Credits for Fort Ord Developments

The city of Seaside’s thirst for development might be bigger than its water bank.

Seaside has some of the grandest building ambitions on the water-limited Monterey Peninsula, thanks to its hefty chunk of Fort Ord: 4,000 acres – 1,658 of them developable, according to the Fort Ord Reuse Authority – plus 563 more with the planned annexation of the proposed Monterey Downs project.

But those would-be developments need more water than the city has. Marina Coast Water District, which supplies water to the former Army base, has allocated 1,012 acre-feet from the Salinas Valley Groundwater Basin to Seaside, according to a revised table in the water-supply assessment for Monterey Downs. But the city’s 11 existing sub-allocations, including 430 acre-feet for temporary golf-course use, add up to 1,217 acre-feet.

That’s not including several additional Fort Ord proposals in Seaside’s scope: Fifty acres south of Gigling Road, now under negotiation for residential development, and 26 commercial acres south of Lightfighter Drive (neither of which has estimated water needs yet). Plus the big one, Monterey Downs, with its suggested water need of 853 acre-feet.

Taken together, the projects could put Seaside at more than double its current allocation. The discrepancy’s caught the attention of activist group Keep Fort Ord Wild, which is critical of several proposed projects on Fort Ord open space.

“They’re in a real water bind, but they’re not really admitting it,” group spokesman Michael Salerno says.

Brian Lee, Marina Coast’s interim general manager, says district officials are starting a conversation with all the land-use jurisdictions that have stakes in Fort Ord. The district has split a total of about 6,600 acre-feet of water among them.

“Everybody has a number, but they don’t necessarily agree,” Lee says. “Clear as mud, unfortunately, but we are working toward a solution.”

Diana Ingersoll, Seaside’s deputy city manager, responds by email that the Downs water assessment was done by Marina Coast without the city’s input. But she notes the city can’t approve projects without available water credits.

Marina Coast isn’t likely to produce new water anytime soon. The November 2012 Monterey Downs Water Supply Assessment states that the district is pursuing recycled-water and desalination projects that could produce 2,400 acre-feet per year of water for new Fort Ord developments, but the desal component has since been shelved.

[The last paragraph of this article was corrected Sept. 16, 2013. An earlier version incorrectly states that California American Water's groundwater recharge and regional desalination projects would produce 2,400 acre-feet for Fort Ord development. In fact, no Cal Am water will be used for the area, which is served exclusively by Marina Coast Water District.]