Salinas residents speak out against $4 million housing development

Residents are speaking out against a new $4 million housing project coming to Salinas.

The development comes as many continue to struggle to find a place to live on the central coast.

But residents from a North Salinas neighborhood don’t want the extra traffic in their area and want the city to do something about it.

Jose Mendoza just moved into the Creekbridge neighborhood and said the first thing his neighbors warned him about was the traffic.

“She told me to watch out through here because people try to avoid traffic, so they avoid the light right there and cut through here just literally speeding,” Mendoza said.

But now Mendoza and several of his neighbors are even more concerned about the construction of a 48-unit apartment complex on Constitution Boulevard.

“It’s going to create more traffic and it’s going to be worse,” Mendoza explained.

And the city is aware of it.

“Residents in Creekbridge are very concerned and I don’t blame them. There’s a lot of traffic challenges in the neighborhood, “said Megan Hunter Director of Community Development.

The city said the land was originally zoned for commercial use, which would have created more traffic coming in and out of the area.

“It was proposed for a Walgreens and the daily trips would have been 16-hundred daily trips the housing complex is about 336,” Hunter said.

Hunter said Salinas is in desperate need of housing and the city hopes the new $4 million development will help with overcrowding.

And as for the traffic, “we are going to take a look and see how we could improve some intersections and there is traffic impact fees that the city collects to do roadway improvements so we’re going to see what the list is and where Creekbridge in some of those improvements that are planned over time,” explained Hunter.

As Mendoza as his neighbors gear up to take their concerns to city council next, he’s asking for one thing from drivers, “don’t be speeding through here.”