Squid Fry 01.19.17: Hot Streak…

HOT STREAK… So far, 2017 has been a reminder that sometimes when it rains, it pours, and Squid isn’t just talking about what falls from the sky.

Since Dec. 1, 2016, local environmental attorney Molly Erickson has notched four victories. The first came with the implosion of Monterey Downs, then a victory in a lawsuit against the city of Monterey over its approval process for LED lights. In January, she won against the Fort Ord Reuse Authority for its handling of the Eastside Parkway, a proposed road with a preferred alignment that appeared to serve Monterey Downs.

Then on Jan. 12, at a meeting in San Luis Obispo, the California Coastal Commission unanimously denied a permit for Rancho Roberto, a proposed 26-lot subdivision north of Elkhorn Slough that activist group Friends, Artists and Neighbors of Elkhorn Slough (which Erickson was representing) fought for 17 years. She argued there was no safe long-term water supply for the project in the critically overdrafted Pajaro Valley Groundwater Basin.

It is worth noting that when the county approved the project 3-2 in 2005, the county supervisor representing North County at the time was Lou Calcagno – who voted against it. But District 2’s new supervisor, John Phillips, feels differently. Along with retired county planning chief Mike Novo, Phillips traveled south to the Coastal Commission meeting to advocate on behalf of the project. “I feel unfortunate being here,” he said. “The county staff and the commission staff are at odds, and that’s not the way it’s supposed to work. We need more collaboration.” The commissioners, however, couldn’t see a way to permit a project relying on water from an overdrafted area. “[It would be] defying my logic,” said Commissioner Mary Shallenberger. Also defying logic: Instead of attending a scheduled Monterey County meeting on, you guessed it, water, Phillips was in SLO.

MUSICAL CHAIRS… Re: meetings, land use and logic, the FORA board met Jan. 13 to discuss, among other things, who would serve on this year’s FORA Executive Committee, which sets board agendas. After Seaside Mayor Ralph Rubio locked in votes to be chair, and Supervisor Jane Parker to be vice chair, things got interesting: A nominating committee had recommended Del Rey Oaks Mayor Jerry Edelen and Salinas Mayor Joe Gunter for the remaining seats, but Marina Councilwoman/FORA board member Gail Morton nominated Monterey Councilman Alan Haffa first for Edelen’s spot, then for Gunter’s.

Haffa declined both nominations, citing “problems with the process.” The irony: Squid has it on good authority Haffa would’ve won. But one of the problems with the process, to Squid’s mind at least, is that newcomers aren’t supposed to ruffle the feathers of the old guard.