The Carmel Pine Cone - July 27, 2001 Pebble Beach Co. asks county for Measure A permits Golf course, hotel rooms and eradication of non-native plants by PAUL MILLER Six thick, bound volumes and hundreds of drawings and blueprints were submitted by the Pebble Beach Company to the county planning department last week. The weighty submittal was the company's formal application to add a golf course and 150 hotel rooms in Del Monte Forest,along with designating hundreds of acres of forested open space that had been zoned for more than 900 homes. "The application is just what we promised--more open space and a juge reduction in the number of new houses," said Alan Williams, a Carmel businessman retained by the P.B.Co. to shepherd its plans through the permit process. Last fall, Monterey County voters overwhelmingly approved a company-sponsored ballot initiative to rezone much of the land in Pebble Beach to be consistent with the new owners' plan to reduce development in the upscale, forested community by swapping hotel rooms for homes. The rezoning also allows development of a new golf course between The Lodge and Spyglass Hill and relocation of the Pebble Beach Equestrian Center to a site near Highway 68. Almost nine months after getting voters' approval, the P.B.Co is ready to begin its journey to what it hopes will be permits from Monterey County and the California Coastal Commission. "We've put together a comprehensive package to implement Measure A,and we think that when everything is put on the table, the government agencies will support what we are trying to do." Williams said. A review of the documents prepared by the company shows that the only significant new element is an ambitious plan to eliminate non-native species such as Hottentot fig iceplant and Scotch broom from company-owned land throughout Del Monte Forest--and to keep the aggressive plant from returning. According to the company's forest management plan, native species such as Monterey pine are endangered when non-native plants move into their habitat. "Scotch broom can take over the lower story of the forest preventing pine seedlings from establishing themselves,"Williams said. "We want to get the exotics out, and keep them out. The forest management plan is unprecedented on such a large piece of private property, he said. On a tour of Pebble B each two years ago, officials with the California Coastal Commission expressed doubts that the site for the new golf course could be approved, because it is the location of several small "wetlands" and a few species of rare and endangered plants, including Hickman's onion and Yadon's piperia. "We think we've designed the golf course to avoid those impacts, and at the same time we are going to protect native plants throughout Del Monte Forest," Williams said. After county planners review the P.B. Co's application, they may ask for a new environmental impact report to replace the one prepared in 1995 for the company's earlier plan to build a golf course in Pescadero Canyon and 350 homes. That plan drew withering criticism from local environmentalists and was withdrawn after Peter Ueberroth, Dick Ferris, Arnold Palmer and Clint Eastwood took over the Pebble Beach Company two years ago. Public hearings on the new development plan probably won't begin until 2002. The Monterey County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors and the California Coastal commission will all hold hearings on the Pebble Beach plan. "The public helped us start the process by voting for Measure A, and we encourage then to let us know what they think about what we're doing when the hearings get underway," Williams said. Click on PEBBLE BEACH DEVELOPMENT PLANS to read much more about the ten Development Project Applications submitted to the County on July 26, 2001 that include major expansion of commercial/resort facilities in Del Monte Forest.