Developers try to dodge environmental review of a proposed RV park in Del Rey Oaks.

It’s a case of truth being stranger than fiction.

Monterey Peninsula Properties, the developers behind the proposed Monument RV Resort in Del Rey Oaks, are employing creative means to get their project approved without an environmental review. And all they’ve needed thus far was one citizen sponsor and 110 signatures.

The process, which began a few months ago, involves an initiative measure that would apply specifically to the 54-acre project area of the resort, which is proposed to be built on the eastern portion of Del Rey Oaks’ land on the former Fort Ord.

Their reasons for bringing forth the initiative, sponsored by former city councilman Jeff Cecilio, were alluded to by City Manager Daniel Dawson at the March 9 City Council meeting.

“A lot of projects on the Peninsula get locked up in litigation.”

“The way that the developers are going about this project is somewhat out of the ordinary,” Dawson said. “As you know, a lot of projects on the Peninsula get locked up in litigation.”

Dawson went on to describe a “feeding frenzy” of lawsuits in the county, one that paralyzes development and drives up its cost.

“What that’s done, it’s forced people to look at other ways of doing things so they don’t get sued,” he said.

Broadly, the initiative measure would allow the project to circumvent the environmental review process required under the California Environmental Quality Act, one of the primary foundations of land-use litigation in the state.

It’s a little-known process that, two years ago, was upheld by the California Supreme Court after a Wal-Mart in Sonora, California sought to expand by similar means, and was challenged by an alliance of nearby small businesses.

Dawson said the process will allow developers to move forward without an environmental impact report, which can take years and cost millions of dollars.

With a total of 174 valid signatures in support of the measure, well over the 110 required, City Council is scheduled to certify it at a May 24 meeting. Then, the council will vote on whether to approve the project as proposed, send it out for further study, or send the measure to voters on the November ballot.

In an email, Dawson writes that city staff will be recommending approval.

Jonathan Brinkmann, a planner with the Fort Ord Reuse Authority, says the project will still have to come before the FORA board to be deemed consistent with the Base Reuse Plan. He hasn’t seen the measure, but adds that if it fulfills the project’s CEQA requirement, FORA will essentially check that box in the consistency determination.

Land-use attorney Molly Erickson says she’s suspicious of the initiative process the developers are trying to employ, saying it’s out of step with the type of regional planning repeatedly emphasized by the Base Reuse Plan.

She accuses Del Rey Oaks of “going rogue,” and avoiding the responsibilities that all the local cities have at Fort Ord. She also questions the very essence of the project, which is proposed to be built on land blanketed with maritime chaparral. “Is that what we really wanted, what the community intended in redeveloping and revitalizing Fort Ord: adding a trailer park?” she says. “I don’t think so.”

If it does gain City Council approval, there is also the possibility that Del Rey Oaks voters file a referendum petition and vote to block the measure.