School District Takes Steps (Yet Again) to Consider Workforce Housing

Monterey Peninsula Unified School District (MPUSD) has long identified teacher recruitment and retention as one of its most significant challenges. Experienced teachers are essential for improved student performance, while constant training of new teachers is expensive. Human Resources and union surveys clearly show that the primary obstacle for MPUSD in recruiting and retaining teachers is the lack of housing that’s affordable for younger teachers.

MPUSD board members and administrators have been discussing workforce housing since 2017. The district has investigated and attempted various creative ways to provide it without bond funding. In November 2024, 63.88% of MPUSD voters approved Measure A, which authorizes the district to borrow $340 million for construction, including workforce housing. On Tuesday, April 8, the MPUSD board approved a contract with a consulting firm to prepare a study concerning the feasibility of building and managing housing for teachers and classified staff.

Since the mid-2010s, your Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce has maintained an official goal of "Housing Affordability for the Local Workforce—A Balanced Choice of Options," which includes a "meaningful increase in the number of residential units for non-wealthy income levels (at least to fulfill the Regional Housing Needs Allocations (RHNAs) while preserving and protecting the international appeal of the regional environment and quality of life.” Entities that have established workforce housing over the past ten years include Montage, the Pebble Beach Company, Salinas Union High School District, and various Salinas Valley agricultural companies. Based on the dismal latest RHNA progress reports published in recent Chamber Connections, Chamber leaders suspect that workforce housing remains one of the few feasible ways to increase the supply of new housing units for ordinary people in the region.

Meanwhile, your Chamber’s Government Affairs Liaison has been chair of the MPUSD Citizens Bond Oversight Committee since 2020 and will continue his leadership in the unglamorous but important work of making sure bond proceeds are spent responsibly and in compliance with law and the directives of MPUSD voters. He notes there are now vacancies on the committee. If you are interested in serving on this committee, please contact President & CEO Monica Lal at (831) 648-5350 or at Monica@montereychamber.com.

Large New Storage Tanks for Marina Coast Water District on Cal State Monterey Bay Campus Are Now Complete and Operational

On Thursday, April 24, the Marina Coast Water District (MCWD) hosted an event to celebrate the completion of its A1/A2 Tank Reservoirs and B/C Booster Pump Stations. A Chamber representative was in attendance. An example of how deteriorating and inadequate Fort Ord water infrastructure needs to be replaced, this $25 million project now provides superior operational, fire, and emergency water storage and flows for parts of the Ord Community and Central Marina. 

If you’ve been on the campus of California State University Monterey Bay in the past couple of years, you may have noticed the two large tanks under construction at the center of campus, along with other related construction. The two tanks are painted in waves of dark blue (ocean), brown (sand), green (forest and farmland), and light blue (sky). These are the 1.6 million gallon A1/A2 Reservoir Tanks.

In association with the tanks, MCWD has also built a new replacement B/C Booster Pump Station, which will pump water from the adjacent A tanks to the district's B and C tanks. MCWD also discovered that it had to replace a deteriorated U.S. Army supply pipeline from its eastern Well Field (Wells 30, 31, 34, & 35)  to the new tanks with a new 24-inch pipeline on California Avenue and Imjin Parkway. A concrete tank near Sea Haven at the intersection of California Avenue and Marina Heights Drive called “Sand Tank," used for storage before operation of the A1/A2 tanks, will now store recycled water from Monterey One Water (M1W) as part of the district's Regional Urban Water Augmentation Program (RUWAP) for landscape irrigation. MCWD was unable to obtain easements in a timely manner from PG&E and Cal State Monterey Bay, and ultimately that particular infrastructure —a transformer and meter panel—was built instead on city property.

Mixed-Use Development Project Officially Opens on Broadway in Seaside

The Seagrove project (formerly known as Ascent) is finally complete after Seaside City Council approval in 2019. It includes 106 residential units, including sixteen units reserved as affordable for “low income" residents. This is the first major apartment complex built in Seaside in many years.

Although your Chamber is pleased to see this project actually built, there concern about the relatively high rental cost of the 90 market rate units, the apparent demographic target of the marketing campaign for those units, and who is actually renting them. While someone might complain about the concept of profit, be aware that construction costs today in coastal California are high, for many reasons. Debt accumulated by developers through financing (private or public) needs to be paid back—both principal and interest.

Your Chamber recognizes that some Monterey Peninsula residents contend that only 100% affordable housing should be permitted, because most market rate housing that becomes available does not go to local residents but instead allegedly gets swept up by wealthy people from the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles as weekend or vacation properties. But your Chamber also notes that the parcel adjacent to City Hall in Monterey planned for affordable housing still remains undeveloped after many years of planning, and the nearby completed Van Buren Senior Housing project in Monterey also took many years to happen. Because it’s so difficult to fund and build affordable housing on the Monterey Peninsula (even through a non-profit developer or as workforce housing), a demand for 100% affordable housing can effectively be a demand to stop building housing.

And as far as some residents are concerned, the best housing policy for the Monterey Peninsula is to stop building. Under this perspective, job reduction (through contraction of the hospitality industry and closure of the military bases) is the better solution to the lack of affordable housing near Monterey Peninsula job centers. They believe government land use and water supply policies should reflect and advance this solution of reducing demand instead of increasing supply.

Your Chamber does not agree with that solution. Our Government Affairs Committee and Economic Vitality Committee will continue to discuss these ideas as local governments consider economic development strategies. These committees are open to all of our membership. Please contact monica@montereychamber.com to learn more.

montereychamber.com

RIBBON CUTTING: Escarraga's Luxury Cleaning

Thursday, May 1 | 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM

9621 Citation Court, Suite A, Monterey

Please join us for the E Luxury Cleaning Ribbon Cutting! Meet the team and tour the new location. Enjoy refreshments, sweet treats and beverages. There will be a business card drawing for a One-time cleaning service valued at $500!

Register Now >>

RIBBON CUTTING: Rice and Roots Grand Opening

Tuesday, May 13 | 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM

422 Tyler Street, Monterey

Please join us for the Rice and Roots Grand Opening Ribbon Cutting! Rice and Roots serves fresh, authentic Vietnamese cuisine with modern touches.

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MIXER: Non-Profit Mixer & Networking Event

Thursday, May 29 | 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

260 Del Monte Center, Monterey

This special event is an incredible opportunity for Non-Profit Members to showcase their mission, share community impact, and connect with fellow nonprofits, businesses, and supporters.

Register Now >>

Quarterly Business Insights Breakfast: AgTech: What Do Opportunities Look Like and Can Monterey County Be A Leader?

Friday, June 6 | 7:30 AM - 9:00 AM

Ferrante's at the Monterey Marriott, Monterey

With agriculture at the heart of our local economy, technological innovation presents an exciting opportunity to not only improve efficiency and sustainability, but also to serve as a catalyst for new economic growth. This panel will explore the opportunities and challenges facing the industry, as well as what it would take for Monterey County to emerge as a national leader in agricultural innovation.

Panelists include:

Monterey County Farm Bureau : Norm Groot

Monterey County Supervisor: Chris Lopez

Stout Technology: Ryan Mazzuca

Gabe Yountsey:The VINE at UCANR

Walt Duflock : Western Growers Association

Get Tickets >>

A Message from the Monterey County Water Resources Agency

Dear Community Leaders,

The County of Monterey in collaboration with the Monterey County Water Resources Board and the Salinas Valley Basin Agency is requesting your assistance in broadcasting the above asset in order to reach as many people as possible in Monterey County concerning the coming Groundwater Monitoring Program hearing and implementation. There are undoubtedly opinions on both sides of this complex issue but we are seeking your help in getting this information out, which will allow for additional public input. 

MPCC LEADERSHIP CIRCLE

Visionary

Cornerstone

Foundational