<>On Sept. 6, the Monterey City Council may take some of the final steps to fulfill a vision created by their 1939 counterparts: an open waterfront along the city’s coastline. But to do this—to create more open, ocean views—the elected officials would first have to deny a long-term lease extension to Adventures By The Sea and Monterey Bay Kayaks, two of the last businesses remaining in the Window on the Bay.

At its Aug. 22 meeting, the city council heard from sailors, kayakers, and public relations consultants who, overwhelmingly, asked the council to extend the businesses’ leases. Before the council could make a decision, however, Mayor Dan Albert adjourned the late-running meeting. He said he wanted to give the elected officials more time to weigh the merits of a public-private partnership in the Window on the Bay park.

The owners of Adventures by the Sea and Monterey Bay Kayaks, which are located near Monterey Municipal Wharf No. 2, want 20-30 year leases so that they can keep their businesses up and running on city-owned property.

The council’s decision next week will effectively determine policy for generations, says longtime open space advocate Richard Ruccello.

 “I think we’ve lost our way and I believe Monterey has lost its vision of Window on the Bay,” Ruccello says. “Visions are not just for tomorrow. They’re for 50 years, 100 years, 200 years. What are we leaving for the future? The coast is what we leave.”

The owners of the two businesses argue that they make significant contributions to the community and eco-tourism, and that they need long-term leases in order to afford making improvements to the buildings.

“The city came to us and asked us to hire an architect to show them what we’d do with a long-term lease,” says Frank Knight, who co-owns Adventures by the Sea with his wife, Michelle. Adventures by the Sea is a venue which hosts kayak and bike tours, live entertainment, and can be rented out for corporate retreats, parties and weddings.

“The plans we came up with illustrate a $300 to $350,000 renovation that we’re willing to pay for,” Knight says. “It’s a huge benefit to the city.”

Knight adds that they have already completed an $80,000 bathroom renovation to the Adventures by the Sea building at their own expense. In addition, Knight points out that Window on the Bay officially starts to the east of Monterey Bay Kayaks.

“That’s a fact,” Knight says. “So that property down there was designated for commercial recreation.”

“We’re not violating any zoning,” says Tara Roddy, retail manager of Monterey Bay Kayaks. “We want to be a doorway to the bay and we hope the City will allow us to continue our mission of responsible eco-tourism and marine education.”

The City bought the property in 2002 from the Catellus Development Corp. with the help of grants from the Coastal Conservancy and the Packard Foundation. The following year, the City changed the zoning from commercial to open space, a designation that permits commercial recreation activities such as kayaking.

“With this flawed zoning, buildings could start reappearing,” Ruccello warns. “We need to ask the council to make a new designation for open space zoning which restricts any commercial use. It’s the only way to keep future city councils from giving away everything we’ve already done.”

According to Ruccello, an advocate of the project since 1981, “the Window on the Bay is being tested.”

“There are no good or bad buildings, there is only a vision of open space,” he says. “If you knock down Roto-Rooter, you’ve got to knock down these businesses. You can’t make allowances for friends. These businesses are blocking access to the beach and Window the Bay was meant for every citizen and person to have unrestricted access.”

But Roddy counters that Monterey Bay Kayaks is far more beneficial than a commercial business like Roto Rooter.

“We’re one of the primary proponents of [Monterey Bay] Sanctuary awareness,” Roddy says. “We work hand in hand with sanctuary officials with programs like TeamOCEAN. Plus, we’re giving back to the community all the time. The proceeds of our annual Paddlefest event are donated to local marine organizations like TeamOCEAN, Baynet, and Elkhorn Slough Foundation.”

TeamOCEAN (Ocean Conservation Education Action Network) is a program sponsored by the Monterey Bay Sanctuary that puts naturalists out on the water in kayaks to greet and interact with fellow day kayakers.

Last month, when the council approved the $2.3 million purchase of the Roto-Rooter property at the intersection of Park and Del Monte Avenues, the Window on the Bay became one lot short of being 1,500-feet of continuous of open waterfront along Del Monte Avenue. Only one property, Mohr Motors, remains to complete the entire “Priority A” phase of the project—an idea decades in the making.

Sixty-six years ago, Monterey’s officials decided the City was allowing too much development. In the Master Plan for the City of Monterey, the 1939 city council expressed concerns that Monterey’s waterfront was “being used by private commercial interests,” and concluded that “the development has been gradual and the best interests of the community have not been served.”

To preserve expansive views and provide unrestricted coastal access, the council illustrated a vision for the future which included a long promenade through otherwise undeveloped open space which skirted the beach along a wide crescent from Figueroa Street to Sloat Street.

Yet over the ensuing decades, commercial development continued to expand along the Monterey coastline. By 1981, when the City finally decided to reclaim its waterfront for open space, little remained of the 1939 vision.

Beginning with Royal Seafood in 1983, the City began acquiring properties and demolishing them to provide an ever-larger window on the bay.

City council members were unable to comment on this story as Mayor Dan Albert requested they keep their opinions to themselves until after the Sept. 6 council meeting. Albert says public comment will not be allowed at the meeting and there is “no guarantee” the council will come to a decision next week.

“Going by the public input, we’re cautiously optimistic that Adventures by the Sea and Monterey Bay Kayaks have a good future with the city,” Knight says. “I felt 90 percent were in favor of keeping the beach and ocean-related activities open. There were only a few vocal voices of opposition.”

As for Ruccello, he simply hopes that the council will finish what their predecessors began.

<>“I remember when this was a small fishing town,” he says. “Then we started attracting tourists and in return we gave up the lower cost of living. Now we have gridlock. All we’re asking is for that one strip of land to be unrestricted nature.”