Citizens group wades into draft EIR

Public comment period ends Jan. 12, 2021

MONTEREY >> Both the school district and a local neighborhood association are wading through the findings of the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the Monterey High School Stadium Improvements project, which includes installing permanent lights.

Susan Nine, president of the Monterey Vista Neighborhood Association, reported the Association’s meeting Monday was scheduled to deal exclusively with the draft EIR which was released last month.

The Neighborhood Association has about 400 members and covers the area that will be most impacted by the improvement project.

The Monterey Peninsula Union School District Board, meanwhile, will not yet weigh in on the report consistent with the rules of the California Environmental Quality Act, said PK Diffenbaugh, MPUSD District superintendent. The Board will not do so until after the public comment period and receiving input from the community.

“From my perspective,” Diffenbaugh said, “the draft EIR demonstrates the degree of care and the amount of time and effort that has gone into the review of this project to help ensure that the project will benefit students while not having an undue impact on the community.”

Nine said the neighborhood association does not feel the mitigation measures outlined in the draft EIR begin to deal with the significant impacts from the project including light, noise and parking impacts on the neighboring community.

Those impacts “will trespass into quiet residential areas surrounding the high school, creating unsafe conditions, loss of property values and quality of life for residents,” said Nine.

The Monterey Vista Neighborhood Association president said her organization joined with others to insist a full environmental impact report be done on this project “but we have taken no official position against the project but are highly concerned on the impact that results from it.”

Nine said the association recommends looking at ways to reduce these impacts by limiting nighttime usage of the stadium lighting and looking at alternatives to holding large-scale events such as highly-attended games, instead moving those events to other venues.

“We’re just trying to become better informed about the impacts identified in the draft EIR,” said Nine. “We’re trying to also elicit support from representatives on the council and planning commission.”

The Neighborhood Association would like to see more effort made to address the concerns of Monterey residents.

“The EIR identifies mitigation measures that reduce the impact of the project on the neighborhood to the greatest extent possible,” said Diffenbaugh.

The MPUSD superintendent said that in modernizing Dan Albert Stadium, the district has always been committed to meeting the needs of both the students and the community.

“Before the draft EIR was prepared we reduced the height of the proposed light poles and reduced the size of the visitor bleachers as a response to public input,” said Diffenbaugh. “Ultimately approval of the project will be a decision that is made by the elected school board but from our perspective the conclusions in the draft EIR and proposed mitigation measures provide a ‘win-win’ for our students and the community.”

Diffenbaugh said the biggest takeaway from his perspective is that the project as envisioned in the EIR preserves the unique character of the stone bleachers at the stadium, allowing the district to have a more modern facility to accommodate the needs of today’s students.

“The adoption of the mitigation measures and consideration of project alternatives will be a decision made by the Board after public input,” said Diffenbaugh. “As currently proposed, the mitigation measures provide that the lights will be turned off by 8 p.m. except for evening football games, which are around five games a year. The lights will not be used for any practices or games during April through September and will not be used on the weekends. While there is always a need for more use, the district is committed to being a good neighbor and these mitigation measures ensure that the needs of the community are met.”

Nine said the Neighborhood Association sees room for compromise.

“We’re not trying to shut down Friday night football at Monterey High School,” said Nine.

The Monterey Peninsula Unified School District will hold a public hearing to receive comments on the Draft EIR Dec. 17 at 5:30 p.m. at 504 Canyon Del Rey Blvd. in Del Rey Oaks. The hearing will include a Zoom option, an in-person option or an email option to be read as public comment.

A draft agenda will be posted at montereypeninsula.agendaonline.net/ public/ and on the MPUSD web page at www.mpusd. net.

Diffenbaugh said the public comment period ends Jan. 12 and was extended due to the holidays.