Two Projects Nearing Completion

Jul 13

3 min read

Dear Friends & Neighbors,

It is no secret that government moves slowly. Unfortunately, the system is designed that way with funding, plans, legal reviews and environmental considerations for projects of all types.

Two projects that have been in progress since I took office in 2023 are now heading towards their final stages of completion in the summer of 2027. Yes, they took four years, but that is not atypical. The two projects are a transfer station at the closed Crazy Horse Landfill and the reopening of the Porter Vallejo House in Pajaro.

Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority is planning to open a transfer station at the Crazy Horse Landfill, but I want to be clear that the landfill is not reopening. It is permanently closed. A transfer station is a transitional place where trash and recyclables are left, then hauled immediately to other sites. This site will serve Salinas and most of North County (the western part of North County is served by ReGen in Marina).

One of the complaints that I have heard from many residents after the closure of Lewis Road and Crazy Horse landfills in the past few decades is that there has not been a local place to take trash and recyclables. That will change. Undoubtedly, there will be some rough spots to work out, but the long-term benefit of convenience for residents will be immediate. Hopefully, it will also help with the illegal dumping marring our roads.

When the landfill was open, traffic was an issue on Crazy Horse. That’s why there is now extensive work planned to add lanes, and improve egress and ingress to the site, which are designed to prevent backups on Crazy Horse Road. Nearly anything that can be taken to a landfill can be taken to the new Crazy Horse Transfer Station. The rates are expected to be reasonable too.

The other project that is due to open next year is the renovated Porter Vallejo House in Pajaro. During the 2023 floods, the Pajaro Library was damaged. The bottom floor of the three-floor mansion known as the Porter Vallejo House had been the site of the library for years. The upper floors have been unusable because of access issues and poor conditions. The County acted after the floods to repair the library, but the state also presented the opportunity to fix the second and third floors with money granted for the Pajaro recovery efforts. With that, work began on the entire house, including adding an elevator to make the upper floors ADA-accessible.

The Porter Vallejo House is the oldest building in Pajaro. It was built by a member of the Vallejo family that lived in Monterey. The house was sold to John T. Porter from Massachusetts a few years later. Porter enlarged the house and moved it to its current site. The enlarged house was designed by notable architect William Henry Weeks. Its historical significance is major, and its improved use for the community represents a great opportunity.

On the bottom floor there will remain a library. The second floor is primarily planned as rooms for community groups and community meeting spaces. The third floor will have touch-down spaces for county departments, including space for an office occupied by my staff or myself, to enhance County services for the surrounding communities. This outline could change between now and the opening, but this is the basic configuration.

I had hoped that both these projects would have been completed by this year, but, as I mentioned earlier, government moves slowly. Nearly every step forward takes years of planning. The positive news is that both projects are rapidly approaching completion.

As always, don't hesitate to reach out to my office for assistance. You can reach us at 831-755-5022 or district2@countyofmonterey.gov.

Sincerely,