Need
for General Plan
Today, Salinas is a compact urban community
within a unique agricultural setting.
Unlike the vaguely defined boundaries and sprawl that characterize so
much of urban California, the highly-productive agricultural lands surrounding
Salinas create a distinct urban/agricultural edge that serves as a reminder of
the source of the area’s economic well-being.
The City lies at the north end of the Salinas Valley, known as “The
Salad Bowl of the World,” and is the processing and shipping point for lettuce,
broccoli, mushrooms, and strawberries, along with numerous other crops. The climate is also ideal for the floral
industry and grape vineyards planted by world-famous vintners. With its mild climate and fertile soil,
Salinas has become the processing and shipping point for one of the world’s
largest agricultural centers. Although
agriculture forms its economic base, the economy has diversified substantially
over the last 20 years.
To protect this valuable agricultural
resource and economic base, Salinas must continue to actively manage its future
growth and development. Planning for
the future means providing for employment and housing to meet the demands of
new population growth, while also providing urban services and facilities to
maintain the community’s quality of life.
This can be accomplished by:
stimulating new economic growth; revitalizing older areas; finding new
uses for underutilized land, assuring public safety and quality urban services;
and developing new land adjacent to the existing City, in selected areas, to
minimize the conflicts on agricultural productivity and to protect the
continued viability of the most productive agricultural lands. To that end, the General Plan serves as a
policy guide for determining the appropriate physical development and character
of Salinas.
The Salinas General Plan was last
comprehensively updated in 1988, and substantial changes have occurred both
within and outside the community during the last 14 years. Salinas has grown from a population of
approximately 100,000 persons at that time to over 150,000 in 2002, while the
population in Monterey County has increased 60,000 from a population of under
350,000 to over 410,000 during that same period. This indicates that Salinas absorbed 83 percent (50,000 ¸ 60,000) of Monterey County’s growth within that period. The community of Salinas faces significant
challenges ahead as it attempts to accommodate future growth, while protecting
its agricultural heritage and quality of life.
Over the past fifty years, the
community of Salinas has undergone extensive change. Once a small agricultural community of 14,000 persons in 1950,
Salinas has expanded to become the largest city in the County with a population
of over 143,000. The City’s rapid
growth has occurred largely over the last thirty years with population more
than doubling from 58,896 residents in 1970 to 143,776 in 2000. The City’s population is expected to
continue to grow at a similar pace over the next twenty to thirty years.
Salinas is also the employment
center of Monterey County, supporting about one-third of all jobs in the
County. Business services comprise
one-third of all jobs in Salinas. The
wholesale/retail sector is the second largest group, comprising 26 percent of
all jobs. The third sector includes all
agricultural related jobs, including manufacturing, and comprises approximately
16 percent of the City’s economy.
Salinas is projected to receive over 25 percent of the countywide
employment growth over the next twenty years.
As with the current workforce percentages, most of this employment will
occur in the business services, wholesale/retail, and agricultural sectors,
with average salaries ranging from a high of approximately $53,000 annually for
managerial and professional occupations to a low of about $12,000 annually for
farm workers.
Likely
because of the large percentage of workers in the agricultural field, whose
employment is often seasonal, Salinas’ unemployment rate was more than double
the State average of 5.3 percent in 2001, with even greater spikes in
unemployment occurring in the winter months.
These weak employment levels serve as
an indicator of the City’s labor market conditions and point to
potential cost-of-living imbalances between housing prices and employment in
the community.
The City’s
rapid growth and role as the employment center of Monterey County has placed
significant demand on the City’s housing supply. Substantial growth in employment opportunities in the Silicon Valley
has also placed pressure on the Salinas housing market as persons moving to the
Central Coast and Bay Area look to Salinas for more affordable housing
opportunities than exist in the Silicon Valley. Also adding pressure has been growth in the tourism/hospitality
industry on the Monterey Peninsula without corresponding construction of
housing for the workers. This
increasing demand has resulted in both steady construction and escalating
prices for housing in Salinas.
Higher homeownership and rental
prices mixed with high unemployment rates and lower wages has resulted in
families and non-family households doubling up to be able to afford their
housing payments. It is estimated that
overcrowding affects at least 29 percent of all renter households in Salinas
and 11 percent of owner households.
Overcrowding rates in Salinas are higher in comparison to Monterey
County as a whole, where 21 percent of renters and 8 percent of owners lived in
overcrowded housing conditions.
These challenges indicate a need
for the continued development of a variety of housing and employment
opportunities in the community to create more affordable housing opportunities
and diversify the types of jobs available.
Expansion of the housing and employment opportunities available in the
community, which will require expansion of urban development into some areas
currently used for agriculture, will help address the cost of living imbalance
in the community and provide the housing necessary to meet the future growth
projected for Salinas. Addressing this
imbalance and providing a variety of housing and employment opportunities will
result in a strengthened economy, more affordable housing
opportunities and less overcrowding, and will increase quality
of life for many residents in the community.
Agriculture is not only the third
largest employment sector in the County, it is also the economic base for
Salinas. Thus, there needs to be a
balance between agricultural land and other land uses that are needed if
agriculture is to survive. This
includes housing and services for farmworkers and land for agricultural support
industries.
A General Plan that reflects the values and
aspirations of the community for the future provides valuable assistance in
meeting these challenges and achieving success through thoughtful decision
making.
Salinas
Planning Area
Salinas contains approximately 18.8 square miles of land (or
about 12,000 acres) and is located in northern Monterey County about ten miles
east of Monterey Bay, between the Gabilan Mountain range to the northeast and
the Santa Lucia to the southwest. The
community is divided by the Highway 101 corridor which extends to the north
connecting with the San Francisco Bay Area and to the south connecting with
other smaller agricultural communities, such as Gonzales, Soledad, Greenfield,
and King City.
Figure I-1 depicts the planning area for
Salinas, which includes the City and adjacent unincorporated land that relates
to long-range planning for the community.
Much of the land in the planning area surrounding the City is in
agricultural use and is not identified for urban development. However, maintaining compatibility between
future urban development described in the General Plan and adjacent
agricultural use is an important aspect of long-range planning.
History
of Community
For centuries prior to
the arrival of Spanish soldiers and missionaries, and the establishment of the
presidio at Monterey and missions at Carmel, San Antonio, Soledad and San Juan
Bautista, the Salinas area was home to the Costanoan Indians. The Salinas Indians and Esselen Indians were
also found in Monterey County. While
the Salinas Valley remained generally unpopulated under Spanish rule, there
were small settlements around the missions.
Salinas was born after Mexico seceded from
Spain in 1822 and began granting rancho lands to settlers. In the 1850s, two of these ranchos, the
6,700-acre Rancho Nacional and the 10,000-acre Rancho Sausal, formed the
nucleus of what is today the City of Salinas.
Named for a nearby salt marsh, Salinas has
existed as a town since 1856. Salinas
began as a cattle-raising center and, through the California Rodeo, the
community pays homage annually to this western heritage. With its beginnings in wheat, barley, and
cattle ranching, growth as a town began in the late 1860s when the fertility of
the valley was publicized. Salinas
became the seat of Monterey County in 1872, coinciding with the arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad, and
incorporated in 1874.
In 1899, Claus Spreckels completed
construction of the world’s largest sugar beet processing factory and the sugar
beet reigned from the early 1900s to the 1920s. Growing sugar beets for the huge mill at Spreckels (1899-1982)
established large-scale irrigated agriculture.
Also, by the early 1900s, dairies had become a major component of the
valley’s economy, employing newly developed condensing processes.
During the 1920s, a major change in
agriculture occurred with the introduction of lettuce and other row crops,
including the artichoke. The
development of ice-bunkered railroad cars made it possible to ship fresh
produce nationwide, and lettuce soon replaced the sugar beet as the Salinas
Valley mainstay. Construction of
Reclamation Ditch 1665 in 1917 also had an effect on agricultural production in
the area because construction of the ditch allowed marshland areas to be
converted to farmland. The availability
of electrical power also affected farming practices as electric power allowed
farmers to extract groundwater, which allowed for a greater variety of crops to
be planted and harvested, as the agricultural operations no longer had to rely
solely on rainwater.
The significant points of identification
for Salinas today are its agricultural crops and the life and work of
Nobel/Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist John Steinbeck. The community offers many attractions for locals and visitors,
including the California Rodeo, National Steinbeck Center, Steinbeck House,
California International Airshow, Mariachi Festival, antique fairs, and
community festivals. With its rich
heritage of ethnic and cultural diversity, Salinas has retained its western town
image and its status as the dominant urban center in Monterey County.
Vision for
the Future of Salinas
Building on the unique history of Salinas,
the Vision for the Future provides the foundation of the General Plan and an
expression of what the community wants to maintain or become:
The community
of Salinas offers excellent quality of life and a livable community for its
residents by maintaining an appropriate balance among its various
interests. A compact city form is
maintained by revitalizing older neighborhoods through redevelopment, infill
development, and selective increases in residential density. High quality mixed-use development
provides a variety of land uses close to one
another, so
that residents can live, work, shop, and play in the community. A variety of housing types is available to
meet the needs of all residents.
While allowing
for new growth in prescribed areas, agricultural lands are preserved. Agriculture and retail continue to be the
primary economic bases for Salinas, although expansion of other industries
provides job opportunities that
allow greater upward mobility in the community. Upward mobility is also encouraged through
training and educational opportunities creating a more educated work force.
Surrounded by
and instilled with natural beauty, the community of Salinas values both the
natural and human-made resources that contribute to its character. To protect these resources and community
character, management of future growth is important.
As growth
occurs, the City provides adequate public services, facilities and
infrastructure to support its population and maintain the community’s quality
of life. Public safety in Salinas is
ensured through a variety of community programs, public services and community
design techniques. Adequate parkland
offers recreational opportunities for all.
The circulation system provides convenient access for City residents and
regional travelers, as well as access for pedestrians and cyclists.
