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There are 13,500 people living in the small neighborhoods straddling Highway 68 before it reaches the Monterey Peninsula.
Surrounded by parklands, open space and recreational
areas, and close to the Pacific Ocean, this is a bountiful place.
John Steinbeck described this area in Pastures of Heaven as a
“lovely place, and the hills hugged it jealously against the fog and
wind.”
This unincorporated area
of Monterey County has grown slowly in accordance with the Toro Area
land use plan. Zoning has preserved a majority of land in the
planning area as habitat, agriculture and other open space uses.
Rural residential is clustered primarily along Highway 68 and the
Corral de Tierra loop. The congested highway serves not only local
needs, but is one of only two direct routes between Highway 101 and
the Monterey Peninsula.
The Phelps family owns an
11-acre site at the corner of Corral de Tierra and SR 68. This is
the only remaining undeveloped commercial site in the entire 74
square mile Toro Plan. The family has submitted an application to
build a neighborhood-serving shopping village on this centrally
located property. The proposed project is designed to alleviate
traffic on the highway by meeting daily needs locally. And,
environmentally conscious architects Hart Howerton have designed a
village that aims to provide the greater Corral de Tierra
community
not only a place to gather, but a sense of community and identity.
The
Phelps family started
working on this project 40 years ago. The county has recently
published a Draft EIR on the proposal, which starts a period of
public input, and, hopefully, ends in approval sometime later this
year.
If you would like to know
more about the proposal, please contact
us. |
