Pacific Grove eyes annexing Mission Linen Supply site for much needed housing.

The Mission Linen Supply laundry on Sunset Drive in Pacific Grove was a bit of an oddity. Built in 1949, it was a light industrial business in the middle of a forest one mile from the beach. It’s at a five-street intersection with apartments on one corner, single-family homes on two others and Pacific Grove High School on another. Also odd, the three-acre site is an island: unincorporated Monterey County land surrounded on all sides by the city.

Unincorporated islands like the Mission Linen site are frowned upon by the Local Agency Formation Commission of Monterey County. After the company shut down the laundry and moved the operations to Salinas in 2018, LAFCO welcomed annexation talks between P.G. and county officials to fold the site into the city. The city is now planning to pre-zone the commercial site as “light commercial,” which would allow for a multi-unit housing development.

Like many California cities, P.G. faces pressure from Gov. Gavin Newsom to build more housing and city officials are seeking to meet the state’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation, or RHNA, number. P.G. currently needs to build nearly 100 units by 2023 to achieve its state-mandated goal. City Manager Ben Harvey calls the Mission Linen site an “amazing” location for housing, given that it has water credits and is located next to the high school.

The P.G. City Council is holding a public hearing on pre-zoning the site on March 4. If the council approves, the formal process of annexation will begin. It will likely include a provision for sharing property tax revenues with the county for the first few years of the site’s inclusion within P.G.’s borders.