It’s two steps forward, one step back for Monterey-Salinas Transit’s SURF! project, a busway between Marina and Sand City that is proposed for the rail corridor owned by the Transportation Agency for Monterey County.
In April, the Marina Planning Commission unanimously approved coastal development and tree removal permits for the project’s span through Marina; that decision was appealed to the City Council.
The Council considered the appeal on Tuesday, May 21, but delayed a decision until June 4 due to some unexpected events. On May 15, Kevin Kahn, manager for the California Coastal Commission’s Central Coast district, wrote to Marina planner Alyson Hunter to ask that the City not consider the appeal until the Coastal Commission has a chance to vote. (The project needs a coastal development permit from the commission as well as from Marina and Sand City, as 2.5 miles of the proposed road are outside of both cities’ jurisdiction.)
And on May 17, Kahn wrote to both the California Transportation Commission and the California Public Utilities Commission’s rail division, expressing a host of concerns about the project and asked both agencies to make a determination about its compatibility with Prop. 116 funding (TAMC used Prop. 116 money to acquire the land from Union Pacific) and its compatibility “with the intended future use of the rail corridor for rail.” (There are currently no active plans to revive the rail line.)
“The rail corridor in question is made up entirely of dune environmentally sensitive habitat area,” Kahn writes, “where only development dependent on the [environmentally sensitive habitat area] is allowed pursuant to the Coastal Act. A busway does not so qualify.”
The letter was forwarded to the City Council on the morning of May 21, which in part caused the meeting that night to go off the rails.
Carl Sedoryk, MST’s general manager, was exasperated when addressing the council, saying that he felt it was inappropriate for the agency to weigh in on a matter under the City Council’s purview. Also, he says the Coastal Commission staff – until Kahn’s email – consistently advised MST to get permits from the cities first, before coming before the commission.
The $91.5 million project is fully funded and construction is expected to take two years. Sedoryk hopes MST will be able to start construction this fall, advancing a goal of offering a way to avoid Highway 1 traffic.