Monterey Herald, September 13, 2003

Posted on Sat, Sep. 13, 2003

STATE ISSUES AG ORDER
200 acres in Salinas will be protected
from development

By MARC CABRERA

mcabrera@montereyherald.com

More than 200 acres of prime agricultural land outside Salinas will be protected from future development, thanks to a local conservation group.

The Monterey County Agricultural and Historical Land Conservancy, in conjunction with the state's Department of Conservation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, announced Friday that it has bought the development rights for 226 acres of the Dayton Ranch, off of Williams Road in Salinas.

The area set aside for preservation borders the future site of the Mountain Valley Estates subdivision, which will bring approximately 800 new homes to a 200-acre area off Bardin Road, between Williams Road and Alisal Street. Conservancy officials said they wanted to stop development in the area, partly in hopes of shifting the city's growth to the northeast and preventing more development toward Old Stage Road.

"We're trying to develop a pattern of protection," said Darryl Young, director of the state of California Department of Conservation.

The land is now used to grow strawberries, lettuce and broccoli. It stretches from the intersection at Williams Road and Boronda Road to Alisal Street, across the street from the Alisal Greenhouse and about a half mile from Alisal High School.

The land is now being prepped for next year's strawberry crops, according to Ken Lewis, farm manager who works with Gabilan View Farms.

The quality of the soil, combined with a convenient irrigation system and ideal weather conditions, make the property some of the most productive farmland in the state.

A $1.8 million grant provided through the California Farmland Conservancy Program allowed the Monterey County conservancy to purchase the development rights through an agricultural conservation easement. The grant will be supplemented by a $1.6 million grant through the federal Farmland Protection Program.

The easement allows landowners to voluntarily sell development rights to a conservancy group. The group retains those rights indefinitely, even if the owners sell the property.

"The conservancy's main focus is to protect the land," said Young. "We're not against development. We're just trying to preserve farmland."

Tina Hansen McEnroe, the landowner, said she sold the development rights because of her strong belief in ag preservation. As a special education instructor and reading specialist for Santa Barbara County, she has worked to integrate agriculture into her own curriculum.

Her efforts earned her a 2003 Teacher of Excellence Award for a Special Project from the California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom.

"I regard the easement as a very important legacy for my own three children," she said in a written statement. "I have tried to instill in them, and my students, a love of agriculture and the land."

The Monterey County conservancy has been able to secure development rights for more than 12,000 acres of agricultural properties since their inception in 1984. Its most recent acquisition helped protect a 946-acre ranch near King City.