Month: July 2018

Fire on Jolon Rd.

9:00 pm – UPDATE:

8:55 PM 9 [31] [Notification] [CHP]-PER CALFIRE WILL STILL NEED RD CLOSED FOR A COUPLE MORE HRS, 1039 OFC – WILL SEND C WATCH TO RELVE B WATCH
8:10 PM 8 [29] [Notification] [CHP]-PER MONTEREY COMM SO 97 AT JOLON X MISSION HOLDING TRAFFIC REQ CHP UNIT TO RELIEVE THEM / REQ CB WITH ETA
7:45 PM 7 [28] 1039 CALFIRE MTRY LINE 25
7:31 PM 6 [26] B8-021 CALFIRE ADV ROAD CLOSURES SHOULD LAST NO LONGER THAN 1 HOUR FROM NOW

7:15 pm – Per SLO Cal Fire:

CAL FIRE/San Luis Obispo County Fire sending 3 engines and a dozer to assist on reported vegetation fire in S. Monterey County. Area of Jolon Road and Argyle Road.

Per CHP Website:

7:13 PM 4 [10] B8-021 HALFWAY BTWN MISSION/ARGYLE WILL GO SOUTH OF FIRE WHEN 42B IS 1097 // FHL IS ON SOUTH SIDE OF FIRE
7:10 PM 3 [14] [Appended, 19:15:24] [1] VEGETATION FIRE
7:09 PM 2 [7] B8-021 FIRE ON BOTH SIDES OF JOLON REQ 2ND UNIT
6:49 PM 1 [1] VEG FIRE CURRENTLY 2 ACRES

 

Wildfire in Morgan Hill, 7/10/18

4:10 pm – UPDATE: Here are where Cal Fire has placed these two fires, Curie on the left, and Hale on the right.

4:00 pm – UPDATE: The Morgan Hill fire is called #HaleFire. Now, there is a new one north of Hale. New fire north of #HaleFire, called the #CurieFire with structures threatened. Cal Fire reports the Hill Fire at 40 ac. And the Curie Fire at 50. Air tanker diverted and dropped on the new start. This is the new one:

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3:00 pm – UPDATE: Cal Fire air attacks have started. Firefighters say 40 acres have burned. Witnesses have seen several cars and trailers burned as well.

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2:45 pm – I haven’t been able to get many details, yet, it is not showing up on Cal-Fire. But here is some info from CHP:

2:35 PM 13 [31] CORDS – HARD CLOSURE HNB HALE AT TILTON
2:25 PM 12 [27] [Notification] [CHP]-1022 LN 26 PER CALFIRE HAVE 13B RESP HALE/MIRAMONTE
2:07 PM 11 [25] 1039 23-S5 12B/ 13B ENRT
2:04 PM 10 [24] SC FIRE REQ 2 CHP UNITS FOR TRAFFIC CONTROL
2:02 PM 9 [22] [Appended, 14:02:40] [4] XFER TO CAL FIRE
2:01 PM 8 [20] [Appended, 14:02:40] [2] BRUSH FIRE
1:58 PM 7 [17] 1039 OFFICE/ WILL BE SENDING 13
1:56 PM 6 [13] VERY CLOSE TO RANCHES
1:56 PM 5 [12] FIRE IS VERY LARGE NOW PER CDF
1:56 PM 4 [11] [Notification] [CHP]-FIRE VERY CLOSE TO 642 HALE AVE/ SPREADING FAST
1:52 PM 3 [1] BRUSH FIRE
1:49 PM 2 [15] [Appended, 13:57:43] [2] PER CALFIRE GRASS FIRE THEY ARE ENRT
1:49 PM 1 [14] [Appended, 13:57:43] [1] RP SEES WHI/BLK SMOKE

 

Crowded Out: The Story of Overtourism

There is a 20 minute British Documentary with the above title that is really worth seeing.  Unfortunately, I can’t seem to embed it here, but if you click on this link immediately below, then click on arrow at the bottom of the film, or click on Play Film on top,  it will play for you. It is a great little film that takes us out of our own Big Sur over tourism problems and introduces you to a few of the others. It is time to start managing, and several of us are working on that. I’ll keep you posted.

Crowded Out: The Story of Overtourism

Here is the first screen shot (no active links below, click on link above):

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When you see that, click on the arrow to get here (this is a screen shot) and then click on the arrow to start documentary. Very well done.

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Vegetation Fire near FHL

2 pm – One scanner listener reports a fire on Jolon Rd. But didn’t catch the cross street. Suspect it is this one – SLOFire reports:

“CAL FIRE/San Luis Obispo sending aircraft and two engines to assist with a reported vegetation fire near Fort Hunter Liggett within Monterey County.”

And from WildCAD:

07/07/2018 13:43 FHL-1787
 New Wildfire SAM JONES RD BRADLEY 93426 . CRW1LPF E15LPF 4X4 . Grass 15 35 54.834, -121

STRs public meeting

From the CVA:

A Short-Term Rental Ordinance for Carmel Valley
with no Limitation on Location, Number, or Type?
Next Wednesday the Planning Commission will conduct a public workshop on short-term rentals (STRs) and receive a report on the consistency of the draft ordinance with local area plans. We urge you to attend.
The workshop will be held on Wednesday, July 11, 2018 at 10:30 AM, in the Monterey County Board of Supervisors Chambers, County Government Center, 168 West Alisal Street in Salinas.
A survey by the firm Host Compliance, conducted at the request of CVA, determined that there are more than 140 advertised STRs in areas zoned residential in Carmel Valley. Over 80% of these are “whole homes,” generally investor-owned houses without a permanent resident, “managed” by off-site property management companies.
This category has been demonstrated to cause a loss of affordable housing and the disruption of neighborhoods. Many jurisdictions have enacted severe limits on STRs. Carmel and Monterey have banned them, Pacific Grove has limited their number (and may, through the initiative process, ban them completely), and cities such as San Francisco have limited them to “home stays,” where a resident owner must be present.
The ordinance proposed by county officials, although it does create a licensing procedure, does nothing to limit the number and type of STRs in our valley.
CVA has proposed what we believe is a reasonable compromise, limiting STRs to “home stays,” with the resident owner present. We have also made clear to the county that we expect any rules to conform to the Carmel Valley Master Plan, which limits the number of visitor accommodations in the area. We need your help to protect our valley! Plan to attend the workshop, or if you are unable, write or email the planners at:
RMAcomments@co.monterey.ca.us
 
Be sure to include your name and physical address.
Points you might consider including:
  • Unhosted STRs are essentially hotels in areas zoned residential. They violate the peace and quiet we expect when we purchase or rent a home.
  • Investor owned STRs have been proven to limit the availability of affordable housing.
  • Master Plan limitations on visitor serving units must be honored.
Read the notice from the county.
Read CVA’s April 20 letter to the county stating our position.

USFS Fire Restrictions & Closure Matrix

Here is the new matrix the USFS is distributing re the way they make the decisions about these crucial issues. Remember on the Fire Restrictions, it is forest wide, not just local.

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Rio Rd. construction update

It is almost done! 7/16 is the opening date.

July 6, 2018

Highway 1 Climbing Lane Project Update for Week of July 9th

Work crews will have regular daytime work hours this week: 7:30 to 3:30 p.m. New this week:

      • Caltrans will be modifying the county signal on Rio Road for east/westbound traffic
      • Construction crews will be placing concrete for sidewalks and gutters onboth sides of Highway 1
      • Commuters will see crews paving Rio Road Thursday and preparing to shiftto Stage 2, the final stage of this project, next week. You can see a graphicof what will be done during

Looking ahead, locals will be happy to know that on July 16th, Rio Road will be completely open for traffic, the cement barriers will be removed.

Barriers will also shift on Highway 1 so that drivers will be able to use newlypaved roadway.

Good news about the “No Parking” signs which have been placed near theentrance of Point Lobos.  Drivers appear to be heeding the signs.

CHP is enforcing.

Remember – business and shopping centers near the constructionarea are open! For easier access, drivers can detour to CarmelValley Road  and Carmel Rancho Boulevard until Rio Road us fullyopen.

For more information, or to sign up for project updates, contact ChristinePoe at PoeC@co.monterey.ca.us or (831) 755-5025 or Grant Leonard at

grant@tamcmonterey.org or (831) 775-4402.

 

Mud Creek Closure

NOTE: THE SOUTHERN CLOSURE ON STATE ROUTE 1 WILL MOVE FROM SALMON CREEK TO RAGGED POINT ON THE MORNING OF MONDAY, JULY 9 AND CONTINUE FOR MUCH OF THAT WEEK.

THE CLOSURE WILL MOVE BCK TO SALMON CREEK LATE IN THE DAY ON FRIDAY, JULY 13 UNTIL THE HIGHWAY IS FULLY OPENED.

Mud Creek is still scheduled to open July 20, 2018 with a ribbon cutting at Ragged Point at 11 am.

 

Silence

Ten years ago today, I got pissed off at the Sheriff of the time during the Basin Fire when he threatened to arrest anyone who came onto Highway One to go help their neighbors. So, I called the newspapers in LA and SF and started this blog. I had never blogged before. Ten years, and just shy of 4,000 posts. Thank you all for being a part of this journey and helping me grow by following and commenting and calling me out, when necessary. Today, I am going to celebrate by being silent, unless, of course, all hell breaks loose.