SOLEDAD — City Council voted to annex further land for the Miraville II annexation project, which has been ongoing for 20 years.
“It was intended to be a multi-year project, probably more like a 10-year project,” said Community and Economic Development Director Brent Slama. “With the economy and delays, it’s kind of gone longer than that.”
The project was approved in 2003 and the city annexed 138 acres as well as the tax transfer agreement that the Monterey County Board of Supervisors approved.
“All the progress was halted because they couldn’t figure out what to do with Bryan Canyon Channel,” Slama said. “The county really wanted those improvements and no one was sure how to pay for them.”
The 2007 application was declared “dead” by LAFCO in 2013. The USCP benchmark started moving on its Summerfield 2 project and made commitments to make the channel improvements at their own expense.
Last March, the city approved a memorandum of agreement with Monterey County.
Then on June 7, the City Council approved an extension of the sphere of influence and to annex the Miraville project.
“With the funding that the council has provided, we are going to pursue that (agreement) in the next fiscal year,” Slama said.
The annexation area includes all the undeveloped area from Metz Road up to the Phase Two development, along Bryan Canyon.
The area will be reserved for 125 units and a park that will extend Orchard Lane out to Metz Road. It consists of 46.23 acres to the city of Soledad.
The drainage ditch is a temporary feature and will be removed, according to Slama.
