Housing and agricultural needs clash in a major land use policy decision.

Somewhere between the shape of Monterey County today – a series of small cities that stand apart – and the shape of notorious suburban sprawl without space between, is a 365-page report by the staff of the Local Agency Formation Commission of Monterey County (LAFCO).

Because the cities of the Salinas Valley are like islands, surrounded on all sides by agricultural lands that define this place as the Salad Bowl of the World, there is a limitation on growth. If a city envisions expanding its footprint – for new housing, commercial districts or industrial development – it often means creeping outward into farmland. The expansion of cities is subject to approval from LAFCO. And for the better part of a year, LAFCO commissioners have been dusting off the agency’s ag mitigation policy.

The policy ultimately guides conditions of approval attached to developments. When the 252-acre Uni-Kool site in Salinas was annexed in 2010, including 240 acres of farmland, 197 acres of farmland were transferred to a land trust. When 216 acres of the Meyers-Mills Ranches, including 189 acres of farmland, was annexed in 2002 by King City, 361 acres were set aside in a conservation easement.

The premise, ultimately, is to strike a balance between enabling badly needed development of housing without killing the golden goose. Agriculture powers the region’s economy and provides the jobs that draw people to live here – but there aren’t enough places to live.

As the sense of urgency increases when it comes to the housing crisis, city leaders and developers are asking LAFCO for more flexibility. “These policies have the potential to curtail our jurisdictions’ healthy growth at a time when the need for economic development and housing production has never been greater,” the city managers of Salinas, Gonzales, Soledad and Greenfield wrote in a Nov. 17 letter to LAFCO.

Those city leaders want, among other things, the option to pay an “in-lieu” fee instead of setting aside land; a 1:1 ratio of annexed land to conserved farmland; compliance monitoring when a permit is issued, rather than at the time of project approval; and exemptions for housing development that enables a jurisdiction to meet its state-mandated Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) numbers.

When LAFCO convened on Monday, Nov. 27 for a workshop on updating its ag mitigation policy, everyone seemed to agree that some kind of policy is needed – but that’s where agreement stops.

“The [current] policy is not working,” said County Supervisor Chris Lopez, who represents South County and until last year was a LAFCO commissioner. He called housing “the biggest problem of our generation,” and offered up anecdotes that are all too common. He described one constituent, Lidia, who lives in Chualar with her two professional adult sons – one works as a CPA and one runs a tax service. “They love Chualar; they want housing in Chualar,” Lopez said. “Lidia repeats to me, ‘Where’s the housing? Let’s get it done.’”

Glenn Pace is the manager of Pembrook Development, which envisions building 3,498 residential units in Gonzales. The Vista Lucia project has been in the making for 22 years, and is expected to seek LAFCO’s blessing for annexation in the near future. “The policy seems to be working for land preservation, and that’s a positive,” Pace said, “but it clearly is not working for RHNA mandates.”

Housing is needed, everyone seems to agree on that. But the devil is in the details. And the details include the fact that, since 2000, according to LAFCO staff’s analysis, a total of 5,078 acres have been annexed into Salinas Valley cities, and 80 percent of those lands remain undeveloped.

Mike Novo, a former Monterey County planner, spoke on behalf of the Ag Land Trust. “Some comments imply that this policy has kept housing from being constructed,” he said. “I just don’t see any evidence of that. There is plenty of land available.”

If the policy is out of balance in favor of land conservation over housing, LAFCO needs to change that – but not at the expense of farmland conservation, because we need that too.

LAFCO commissioners will again pick up the topic from 4-9pm on Monday, Dec. 4, at 168 W. Alisal St. in Salinas.

SARA RUBIN is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at sara@mcweekly.com