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This Fall, Monterey County will decide whether to give the go-ahead to the Phelps family’s proposal for a neighborhood-serving, shopping village. There are literally thousands of pages of information on which county supervisors can rely in making a decision.
Below is a list of Frequently Asked Questions. As you ask questions, we will work to find the answers from the volumes of available materials.
Feel free to direct any questions to
phelpsfamily@corraldetierra.com
Village Design and Shops
Q. What kinds of shops will go into the village?
A. One of the primary objectives of the Phelps proposal is to create something “of high quality.” Answering community demand, a gourmet specialty grocery store of about 40,000 square feet would be the anchor tenant. Other tenants filling the 10 smaller village-style buildings would likely include a post office, hardware store, coffee shops, dry cleaner, restaurants and other uses that meet residents’ daily needs.
Q. How can we be sure that the size and design fits our community?
A. The Phelps family has owned the site for 40 years. Many of the family members live here too. They took great care in designing a project that fits well with the community. They hired a world renowned, environmentally sensitive design firm, Hart Howerton, and directed them to create a shopping village and not a shopping center or strip mall. “The scale and organization of the buildings focus on a pedestrian core and creation of several public spaces. The architectural style works to preserve the site’s natural setting and to be compatible … with the ranch and farm structures of the surrounding rural areas (Draft EIR, page 57).
Q. How will we access the new shopping village?
A. The Phelps propose five driveways for vehicular access to the site. Three drives, including the main access, are proposed off Corral de Tierra Road and two driveways are proposed along Highway 68. The family’s proposal demarks distinct vehicular and pedestrian zones.
Q. Would parking at the new village be as tight as at Del Rey Oaks?
A. No. There are major differences between the two commercial centers. The Phelps proposal is designed as a destination, pedestrian village; Del Rey Oaks is more of a convenience strip mall. At the Phelps shopping village, people are encouraged to get out of their cars and stroll around on paths and through public outdoor plazas. And, the types of shops at the Phelps project will focus on high-quality goods and services, including a specialty gourmet grocery and sit-down restaurants, not drive-through establishments. The design of the Phelps village and the type of retail stores allowed in respond directly to what the community said it wanted in 1992 and 2002 surveys.
Q. What will happen to the trees?
A. The Draft EIR catalogues all 45 trees on the property (page 145), and finds that “of the 15 oak trees that occur on the nonnative grassland site, two cannot be avoided” and will be removed. Monterey County’s zoning ordinance requires replacement of oak trees. The Phelps have proposed a landscaping plan that includes planting a great number of new oak, cherry and other types of trees on the frontage of Corral de Tierra Road and Highway 68, within parking areas, and as anchors in small plazas among the retail buildings.
Q. How will the project affect traffic on Highway 68?
A. The Draft EIR found that the Phelps project will actually decrease traffic on Highway 68 by 3,470 vehicle miles traveled per day, because local residents will no longer have to drive to Monterey or Salinas to meet daily needs. This finding confirms an independent survey of 3,000 area households in 2002, which revealed that local residents travel to Salinas (59%), Monterey (25%) or other communities outside of the Toro Area (16%) to shop. Survey respondents estimated that if they had the option to shop locally they could reduce the number of vehicle trips on 68 by seven a week.
Q. Is the project doing anything to improve traffic flow in Corral de Tierra?
A. The project will contribute a proportionate fair share in fees to the Transportation Agency for Monterey County. These fees will be earmarked for commuter improvements on 2.3 miles of Highway 68 near the project site, and on nearby intersections.
Q. Who provides water and sewer to the property?
A. The project is currently served by existing water and sewer utility lines and has three hydrants. The Phelps have contributed to the development of the water supply and storage system owned by California American Water Company. The project’s water would come from Ambler Park water supply wells within the Corral de Tierra sub-area 500 feet southeast of the project site.
Q. Will the project deplete underground water basin supply?
A. The Draft EIR relies on 16 studies of the project’s potential impacts on surface water, ground water hydrology and water quality. According to a 2007 study, “the majority of long-term hydrographs for wells in the Toro Planning Area indicate the rate of groundwater pumping from the El Toro Primary Aquifer System exceeds the rate of groundwater replenishment” (Draft EIR, page 235.)
The DEIR identifies an alternative project called the Silver LEED, which the Phelps family has embraced. By incorporating water conservation fixtures and strategies and by creating an engineered storm water retention/percolation system to capture runoff, the Silver LEED alternative would mean that the project's water needs would be 6.46 acre foot per year (afy) and its groundwater recharge rate would be 10.92 afy resulting in a "net positive water balance" of 4.46 afy.
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