Jim Morgens and siblings still want to develop September Ranch.

Jim Morgens starts up a dirt road that winds through a tree-dotted pasture off Carmel Valley Road. A half-dozen cows graze at the bottom of the incline, and horses stand in paddocks near an old red barn. September Ranch is serene and bucolic. And it’s about to become the site of one of the most contested planned developments in Monterey County. Again.

In May, the County Subdivision Committee will consider a plan to build 94 market-rate homes and 15-inclusionary units on the hilly, 891-acre ranch. Morgens, an Atlanta-based real estate developer, owns the place with his brother Ned and sister-in-law Sally.

The houses won’t be seen from the road. The ranch’s well-known 20-acre equestrian facility will remain intact, and the project will also create a public trail that will connect Carmel Valley Road to Jacks Peak Park.

“The only change that will be visible from Carmel Valley Road is this line of oak trees,” he says, pointing to yet-to-be-planted trees that will line the new road into September Ranch. “The red barn, the horses, the fields will stay.

“In not disturbing 91 percent of the property, we preserved 95 percent of the 81,000 trees along here,” Morgens continues. “We preserve the viewshed and we preserve the historical landmark quality of the landscape.”

According to a map of the planned development, the 109 homes would be scattered throughout the entire property, with no large, contiguous parcel of land set aside for preservation.

If the plan is approved, Morgens will pay $2.6 million to the county for road improvements, $1.8 million of which, Morgens says, will be used to fund traffic mitigation projects on Carmel Valley Road and Highway 1.

Despite all of this, it’s doubtful that the decade-old subdivision will be any less controversial this time around.

In 1998, County Supervisors approved Morgens’ plan for September Ranch. A year later, a judge overturned the County’s approval because the environmental impact report didn’t adequately address water supply.

And now, history seems to be repeating itself.

Many neighbors, including the Del Mesa Homeowners association (a neighboring subdivision), say the development is a bad idea. The project’s water supply remains a hotly contested issue. Morgens’ hired hydrologists maintain that the ranch draws water from its own aquifer. Opponents’ water experts disagree, and argue that the water is taken from the Carmel Valley aquifer. Morgens’ consultants also say regardless of which aquifer the water comes from, Morgens does, in fact, have water rights. Opponents—naturally—disagree.

At a recent September Ranch workshop, frustrated planning commissioners told staff to work with experts and sort it out.

Once again, a judge will likely make the final call.

Originally, the County’s subdivision committee was slated to hold a hearing on September Ranch on April 13. Then the date got bumped to April 27. Earlier this week, it was postponed again, to May 11.