UPDATE: Monterey County approves Tanimura and Antle farm worker housing in Spreckels

UPDATE 9/1/15 4:39 p.m.: On Tuesday, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors decided to unanimously approve a controversial farm worker housing project, slated to be built in Spreckels.

NewsChannel 5 will have more on this story.

PREVIOUS STORY: Many in Spreckels are concerned about a plan to build an apartment complex for seasonal ag workers on the edge of town.

Residents fired their questions and grievances at a last-minute meeting scheduled with the county planning department.

Ag company Tanimura and Antle is proposing to build a 100 apartment building complex to house an estimated 800 people. The plan is to have it up and running by April 2016, and operate through the harvest season into November.

The apartments will be fully furnished with eight ag employees living in each one. Apartments will also be gender specific, according to T&A.

“The lack of affordable housing in Monterey County is a major component to the decreasing number of workers in the fields,” a T & A written statement said.

“Progress must go on, nothing stays the same,” said Jim Riley, the chairman of the Design Review Committee of the Historic District of Spreckels.

T & A plans to move in to the space where the former Spreckels Sugar Company once stood.

“I think they fast-tracked it,” said Elizabeth Williams, a 70-year resident. She’s concerned the county didn’t take enough time to review the project. County representatives said they had only known about it for three weeks.

Williams spoke up at the meeting quite a bit, but her biggest concern is the environmental impact.

“My family worked at that factory, my great grandfather hauled the bricks over from Watsonville,” Williams said. “So I know there are chemicals out there.”

T & A said only adult ag workers are allowed in the new housing development.

The potential increase in traffic was another concern echoed by many residents. T & A said the employees won’t need cars because they will be bused to and from the ag fields.

“These are people, these are not animals, they’re not prisoners,” Williams said.

Similar worries spanned from longtime residents like Williams to newer neighbors like Eddie Takashima.

“I’m not for it because I’m a homeowner and I’m concerned it’s going to impact my property value and the safety of my family,” Takashima said.

If the project passes, it means almost doubling the population of the town. Right now, Spreckels has more than 900 residents, Riley said.

“They have nowhere to go. We haven’t a store, we don’t have anything in town for them to do so they’re going to come to the park,” Williams said.

T & A representatives attended the meeting Wednesday night but were only there to discuss the design of the building. They told NewsChannel 5 they didn’t want to talk on camera because they said they didn’t want to be pitted against the Spreckels’ residents.

Representatives added that this is a project that affects not only this town but the greater Salinas community as well.

T & A said they will hammer out the details of a potential town hall meeting with Board Supervisor Simon Salinas tomorrow.

On Friday, the county said it will release an environmental document about the project.

There will be a public planning commission hearing June 29.