There's something you can do to help stop the airfield development.
- Fova 911
- Aug 20
- 6 min read
The application is void, but the fight isn't over.
The drilling has begun. If you've been near the airfield recently, you've likely seen it: a security fence, about 6 feet high, roughly 100 feet per side, backed with black screening and topped with barbed wire and security cameras, has gone up around one of the new stakes marking a "Proposed Well Site # 1225”. Residents have seen drilling trucks and heard drilling noise on site as early as 7:30am.
Aerial photos credit: Glen McDowell
That's understandably raised alarm, and some of you have reached out asking whether Griggs and Orosco are starting construction on the 90-home project.
Are they building now? ... THEY ARE NOT
Orosco's Builder's Remedy application required him to submit a complete, formal application by July 28, 2026. That deadline passed without a complete submittal, and the county's own records now show the application's status as VOID
When directly and publicly asked why he let his application lapse, Orosco has not responded - a notable silence from someone who, until now, had been persistently courting the community with promises about the project.
As of today, no new application (Builder's Remedy or otherwise) has been filed for any of the four airfield parcels. FOVA continues to monitor the public record daily. He can submit at any time while the Builder’s Remedy remains in effect.
If Orosco does refile, expect a preliminary application aimed at one thing: locking in Builder's Remedy eligibility before the loophole closes. Then, the county's review process could take anywhere from several months to well over a year before anyone breaks ground. We will be tracking this closely and will update you as it develops.
There is another “proposed well site” marker # 1226 on the section of the airfield that’s farthest east.
We can assume that a second new well will be drilled there
What you can do right now
The Builder’s Remedy will be lifted when and if the County’s long-delayed Housing Element plan is approved by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). You can help this happen by submitting a public comment supporting the county's rezoning plan as proposed, and urging the county to adopt it without delay. The public comment period closes August 31.
📫 Send a comment to GeneralPlanUpdates@countyofmonterey.gov (or mail: County of Monterey HCD, Attn: Edgar Sanchez, 1441 Schilling Place, South 2nd Floor, Salinas, CA 93901).
A simple message like the statement below will go a long way:
My name is [Name], and I live at [Address] in Carmel Valley. I'm writing to express my support for the County's Housing Element rezoning plan and its Draft Environmental Impact Report as currently proposed.
The County has done the work to identify adequate sites to meet its state-mandated housing numbers through the proper public process, and I don't believe the site list needs to be reopened or revised. I urge the Board of Supervisors to adopt this plan without delay. Prompt adoption is the necessary first step toward closing the Builder's Remedy loophole currently being used to bypass established local zoning.
Thank you for considering my comment
So what is that drilling activity, if they’re not building?
We don't yet know for certain. Well construction permits are issued by a different office from the one that just voided the housing application, and their records aren't searchable online. We're working to confirm directly whether this drilling is permitted and will update you as soon as we know.
Is drilling a well on the airfield concerning?... YES!
A closer look at public well data raises real questions about water. Orosco has stated that water for the proposed 90 homes (plus potentially 70 ADUs) would come from wells drilled into fractured rock, the same groundwater system that supplies the roughly 34 private wells of neighbors living around and above the airfield.
Unlike a large aquifer, fractured bedrock stores water only in cracks and fractures. The amount available is often limited, unevenly distributed, and may recharge slowly or unpredictably. Heavy pumping in one well can measurably affect others drawing from the same fractures.
Water Scarcity?
The airfield's own well (the one actively used for the nursery) reported a sharp, unexplained decline in water use to the county: 10.92 acre-feet in 2023, down to 3.93 in 2024, down again to 1.35 in 2025, even as the nursery operation has continued to grow. Four of the five wells on the airfield property are listed inactive. Meanwhile, the amount of water 90 new homes would need under the county's own standard (22.5 acre-feet a year) is comparable to more than half, and in some years nearly all, of what the entire existing network of 34 neighboring wells uses combined in a year.
We don't know why usage dropped, and we don't know what the fractured-rock system beneath the airfield can actually sustain. That's exactly the point: nobody knows, including, it seems, the developer. Before any project of this size is allowed to move forward, independent hydrogeological testing should be required to show it won't run neighboring wells dry.
How long will the threat of the Builder's Remedy be around?
Builder's Remedy is intended to force municipalities to provide affordable housing. It's meant as a last resort, not a shortcut. Monterey County’s housing plan is years overdue and, until approved, puts us under the Builder’s Remedy.
Progress is being made: the state found the county's Housing Element in statutory compliance back in May, and the plan includes plenty of designated sites across the county to meet its state-mandated housing numbers.
The county found sufficient suitable sites elsewhere, through the actual public process, which means that the Orosco and Griggs builders remedy project was not needed to meet the requirements for the county’s 6th cycle RHNA obligations. In fact, every other previous attempt to develop the airfield since 1994 has failed or been withdrawn, which may be why the county did not list it as an opportunity site.
The full draft is available here:
The county’s housing plan is open for public comment until August 31st. From there, it goes to the Board of Supervisors for a vote. Once approved, the housing plan will return to the state for adoption. After HCD adopts it, the county will reach full compliance, and Builder's Remedy, the loophole Griggs and Orosco are trying to use to bypass the airfield's actual zoning, will no longer be available to new applicants.
Why your comment on the Housing Element DEIR matters
The fastest way to close the Builder's Remedy loophole for good is for the county to adopt its Housing Element plan without delay. Although getting out from under the Builder’s Remedy may not affect the Airfield project, it would prevent similar non-conforminug developments throughout Carmel Valley. With the plan still in the public comment stage until August 31, this is your chance to tell the county you support it as proposed and want to see it adopted quickly, not to request changes.
The more voices on record supporting the plan as-is, the harder it is to justify reopening it and slowing everything down.
A quick roadmap: three... four? or more? fights, not one
There are three separate battles ahead, and we'll come back to you for help on each at the right time, so a new ask never reads as a repeat of one you already sent:
NOW! The Housing Element rezoning plan (comment period closes August 31): support it as proposed and urge the County to adopt it quickly. This will move the plan back to the state prior to closing the Builder's Remedy loophole for good, and it’s today’s task.
Orosco's Builder's Remedy application, if and when he refiles: we'll share details of any new plan as soon as it’s posted, and we’ll need residents to weigh in through that specific County review process.
The Orosco project's own environmental review, if it gets that far: this is where water, traffic, and fire-evacuation evidence matters most, and where independent expert studies will do the heaviest lifting.
Final County approval: assuming the project gets that far, this is our last chance to convince the Planning Commission and/or the Board of Supervisors to deny it. While that outcome may be unlikely, it is vital that the community’s voice be heard.
We appreciate all of your support and are committed to keeping you informed. Be sure to sign up for our updates if you haven't done so yet, and don't hesitate to share with your neighbors.
In gratitude,
The FOVA Team
Comments