Trickle Effect: Monterey Bay Shores is billed as an ultra-eco hotel and conference center that could serve as a green-building prototype worldwide. (illustrated concept courtesy Rana Creek).
Make It Rain
Sand City "eco-resort" finally gets its water permit.
Monday, August 23, 2010
The local water district's steady opposition to a controversial coastal hotel development might be water under the bridge.
On Aug. 17, the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District board unanimously approved a water distribution permit for Monterey Bay Shores, a proposed 341-unit "eco-resort" in Sand City. The decision comes after years of repeated permit denials by the board.
In early 2009, the board denied the eco-resort's permit and ordered an updated environmental impact report on the water supply. But two months later, the courts invalidated the water board's decision and ordered it to revisit the issue under tighter restrictions.
Last month, the water board's motion to approve the permit failed, 3-4. But the board agreed to continue the issue at its August meeting, giving staff and developer Ed Ghandour's team a chance to return with more information.
Although Ghandour and Sand City officials are cheered by the decision, the eco-resort is not a done deal. The California Coastal Commission denied its development permit last December; the project cannot move forward without it.
Ghandour has challenged the Coastal Commission's denial in court and asked the state to overturn it, or to compensate him about $200 million for the loss of use of his property.
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