Dilapidated duplexes sag on Marinas 188-acre Cypress Knolls development parcel. Recyclers have stripped the abandoned Army housing of its copper piping and aluminum window frames. Broken glass, asbestos and lead-based paint have led the city to fence off the hazard on the former Fort Ord.

Now, officials and residents are deliberating which developer can best transform the blight into a vibrant, 722-unit senior living community. And theres no clear winner. In June, the committee that evaluated the two competing proposals split its vote, 5-5. The stalemate leaves the City Council with no clear recommendation.

For the fourth time in more than a decade, the county's Planning Commission is forwarding a proposed template for rural growth for the next 20 years to the Board of Supervisors with one notable omission  a water policy.

On Wednesday, the commission unanimously recommended the latest version of the general plan update, now known as GPU5 or General Plan 2010, to the board. But the commission decided not to recommend a policy for determining the adequacy of a local water supply to support future growth, leaving the issue for the board to decide.

What started four decades ago as a small drop-off recycling center has grown into a statewide powerhouse for energy conservation with millions of dollars in revenue. Largely through an expanding clean-energy partnership with PG&E, the homegrown environmental nonprofit Ecology Action has seen revenues jump from $4.1 million in 2004 to $13.2 million in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2009, the latest available. The group has swelled from a handful of volunteers to 64 employees, with offices in Santa Cruz and Mountain View and more workers operating out of their homes or on sites from the Oregon border to Bakersfield.

The decline of the small, family-owned farm has been well-documented, but Monterey County has seen a significant uptick in small operations, thanks in large part to the Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association, a nonprofit farm business incubator in Salinas.

Serving a primarily Latino population, ALBA's work is grounded in the belief that "in order for limited-resource and aspiring farmers to gain a foothold within California's highly competitive farm sector, they must have access to information, operating capital and opportunities to access land."

A company that set up a containerized desalination plant in Moss Landing last year intends to start producing plants there.

Desal America's operation in Aztec, N.M., produces three to six plants a year.

In Moss Landing, "I'd hope it will be 10 times that," Stan Leuck, company CEO and president, said during a news conference Thursday.

Eco-friendly classrooms debut at new Santa Rita middle school
The Californian
Mon, 08/09/2010

Bolsa Knolls Middle School is the new kid on the block in the Santa Rita Union School District.

The school opens Wednesday with about 330 students drawn from La Joya and McKinnon elementary schools and some from Gavilan View Middle School. They all will attend Bolsa Knolls as sixth- and seventh-graders.

Some students will be taught in six eco-friendly modular classrooms made of concrete, steel and 99 percent recyclable material.

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