www.montereycountynow.com OCTOBER 16-22, 2025 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 7 SAVE TARPY FLATS! HWY 68 CANNOT HANDLE A CATASTROPHIC INCREASE IN DAILY TRAFFIC! Tarpy Flats is the unspoiled mix of fields and woods across from the airport, running along the south side of HWY 68 from Olmsted Road (where the airport is) to Canyon Del Rey (where Tarpy’s Roadhouse and the 7-11 are). If you commute on HWY 68, you pass it every day. Do any of us who live on the Monterey Peninsula or in Salinas want to see the traffic on HWY 68 go from bad to worse? Does anybody who commutes daily want to face a far greater burden of traffic congestion than they endure already? And do any of us want the scenic beauty and wildlife habitats of our incredible community to be sacrificed for ill-advised development and personal profit? Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever. At this very moment developer Bradley Slama, in partnership with the Saucito Land Company, is seeking permits to turn Tarpy Flats into a sprawling housing development. They want to jam as many as up to 1,300 homes, condos, and apartments into this beautiful and irreplaceable wilderness habitat. The Monterey City Council and the Monterey County Supervisors are doing nothing to stop this… in fact, shockingly, they have so far voted in its favor. Nobody argues against the need for additional housing on the Monterey Peninsula. But we strongly argue that Tarpy Flats is by far the worst possible place for it. Here’s why: Consider: HWY 68 is one lane in each direction. It is the only commuting corridor between the Monterey Peninsula and Salinas. HWY 68 was designed to handle 16,000 vehicles a day. It currently handles about 25,000 vehicles a day. This proposed development would burden HWY 68 with thousands of more vehicles a day. (One estimate suggests a total over 30,000 vehicles a day.) This increase would have a disastrous effect on our community’s ability to function, for locals who depend on that commuting corridor and for visitors to the Monterey Peninsula. It would also interfere with access to our airport, interfere with access to medical and other facilities at Ryan Ranch, and severely impede needed emergency and other services along Hwy 68. Consider: The HWY 68 corridor is at severe risk from wildfires. Adding any housing development along 68 will only increase that risk to potentially catastrophic levels. Again, consider thousands of extra cars in this area. If an evacuation is called for due to wildfire, do we want to see traffic absolutely gridlocked with cars trying to leave the danger zone as happened in Southern California recently, where countless cars were abandoned to burn and then became a significant obstacle to fire trucks and other emergency vehicles seeking access to the fire areas? Consider: There is no infrastructure for such a development. No existing utilities. No sewer infrastructure. Even worse, there is no water for any development of Tarpy Flats, let alone a possible 1,300 dwellings. We all know that water access is a serious issue on the Monterey Peninsula, it is the most precious diminishing resource we have. Where do these developers and our local government officials expect the water to come from? Consider: The Tarpy Flats site fails to meet California’s own guidelines for RHNA (Regional Housing Needs Assessment) use. Development would violate Federal regulations protecting land such as this. Yet these developers are still trying to push this plan through, and our local government representatives are helping! Consider: Tarpy Flats is an unspoiled nature habitat. Wildlife of all sorts depend upon it for their very existence. Anybody who cares about our local wildlife and the irreplaceable natural beauty of this incredible community we are all blessed to call home will surely agree that developing this land would be a tragic and disastrous mistake. IF YOU AGREE, PLEASE MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD: 1 Go to our website SaveTarpyFlats.org and sign our petition. Add your name to the growing list of local residents who demand that Tarpy Flats be permanently removed from consideration for any future development. This land should be deeded in its entirety to the Big Sur Land Trust and officially designated a protected wildlife sanctuary. Our website will also give you more detailed information about Tarpy Flats, the disastrous effects of any proposed development, and the legal battle we’re facing to stop it. 2 Write polite but firm letters to local and State government representatives voicing your opposition to any development of Tarpy Flats. Our website will provide those names and addresses. Hold them responsible! 3 DONATE! We need your help to pay necessary legal expenses to fight this development. So far only a handful of local families have contributed financially. Now we need everyone’s help in order to succeed. THANK YOU ALL for listening and considering our position. Paid Advertisement
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