Christine Shaw, left, has lived her whole life in the Pajaro community, and has spearheaded the neighborhood’s efforts to stop a proposed farmworker housing project at the end of her small street that could house up to 480 new residents.

Christine Shaw, left, has lived her whole life in the Pajaro community, and has spearheaded the neighborhood’s efforts to stop a proposed farmworker housing project at the end of her small street that could house up to 480 new residents.

A proposed farmworker housing project in the Pajaro community was voted down by the County Planning Commission on Sept. 28 in a decisive 7-1 vote (commissioners Rich Coffelt and Paul Getzelman were absent; commissioner Nathalia Carrillo voted against denying the project). 

The vote came after a lengthy process that started earlier this year. The commissioners were first presented with the project in February, but delayed considering the proposal—due to a lack of bilingual noticing—until a March 16 meeting that went on for several hours. Ultimately, a decision on whether to approve the project was again pushed forward indefinitely so that county staff could address concerns about flood elevation, liquefaction and proposed traffic conditions, among others. 

The proposed project would comprise 60 units that would house up to 480 residents on a 3.41-acre lot at the end of Susan Street, and would be adjacent to both the Pajaro River levee and farm fields. 

From the outset, residents on sleepy Susan Street, most of whom are Latino, and many of whom are themselves farmworkers or descended from farmworkers, were vehemently opposed to the project. 

For one thing, it would completely transform the sleepy neighborhood of about 80 residents, adding considerable traffic, some of which would be buses transporting workers. One thing brought up at the meeting was that because Susan Street is so narrow, every time a car and bus met on the street, the car would probably have to pull into a driveway to let the bus pass. 

That issue, among others, was framed around social justice: Would such impacts, in a wealthier neighborhood, even be considered? 

Susan Street resident Christine Shaw, who grew up in the house she now lives in, has spearheaded the effort to oppose the project, and in doing so, has spent countless hours researching and organizing. She also, notably, was able to recruit local environmental attorney Alexander Henson, who agreed to work pro-bono. 

In the meeting, he made clear that the project, as proposed, is inconsistent with the county’s zoning code for the neighborhood, which requires at least a 200-foot buffer between residences and farmland due to concerns over pesticide drift. And while the project is arguably consistent with the county’s general plan, Henson said that a project must be consistent with both the general plan and the zoning code—it can’t be one or the other. 

The buffer for the project, which is 100 feet, became a major issue in the commission’s decision: County Ag Commissioner Henry Gonzales threw a curveball in the meeting when he chimed in to say that, even though his office's previous recommendation was for a 100-foot buffer with vegetative screening, he was changing his recommendation. 

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Based on new information, he said, that the adjacent grower was going to convert from organic to conventional farming, he was now recommending a 150-foot buffer and screen, which would make the project, as proposed, dead on arrival. A  buffer of that size would require a complete redesign of the project, or make it outright infeasible. That appeared to be the nail in the coffin for commissioners. 

When it finally came time for a vote, Commissioner Martha Diehl made a motion to deny the project based on concerns about traffic, buffers and liquefaction. The motion to deny passed quickly and without much fanfare. 

If developer Avila Construction appeals the decision to the Board of Supervisors, an affirmative vote could overturn the commission's denial. Complicating that, however, is that District 2 Supervisor John Phillips’ former chief of staff, Josh Stratton, is an investor in the project. (The project was initially proposed when he still worked for Phillips, who is retiring at the end of this year.) As a result, Phillips said he would recuse himself from voting it, and even now that Stratton is no longer working for him, Phillips says he intends to keep his word on that. 

“I haven’t changed my mind,” Phillips says, while adding there would technically be no legal conflict. But nonetheless, he says, “the appearance wouldn’t be good.”

That would mean it would take at least three of the remaining four supervisors to overturn the Planning Commission’s decision. 

It’s been a long road for Shaw, and right now, she feels relief and cautious optimism that this ordeal has come to an end, and that maybe now she can start to relax. 

“I’ve had to dig the grave for this project with my bare hands,” Shaw says, “This has been truly a monumental amount of work.”

Henson, who is representing Shaw and other Pajaro residents in the matter, feels he has an open shut/case, and he for one, he says while laughing, hopes the supervisors overturn the denial so he can make some money in court. 

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How about a family campground !

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