Monterey planning to build over 36-hundred housing units

MONTEREY, Calif. (KION) - The city of Monterey is planning to build more than 3,600 units.
Some of those units are being constructed where i'm standing on Garden Road.
However, this area had been zone for light industrial building and some people are now worried about an increase in traffic.
The state of California is pushing for cities to build more housing and that includes the city of Monterey.
the city is now on track to build about 3,600 units.
"Were really looking at jobs, housing balance and equity issues as well. And so Monterey received a very large number of 3654 housing units that we need to plan for," Kimberly Cole Community Development director

Katherine Bodell lives in Carmel is worried about the amount of traffic it's likely to add.
getting home to Carmel from Monterey on highway-one during rush hours is already painful.
"concerning the residences that they're considering building, i think we do have an existing traffic problem," said Bodell.

Right now the city is looking at around 15 locations for the units.
one spot they have their eye on is garden road, which runs along the Monterey airport.
"If we're able to house our workers based on their income level and we do have a lot of lower-income jobs in the city of Monterey, if we're able to house more people closer to their jobs, there might be fewer trips," said Cole.

Cutting people's commute sounds great, yet there may be some bumps on the road in achieving final plans.
Like everywhere on the peninsula water supply is at the root of the issue.
while this area would be converted from light industrial zoning to multi-residence, the existing water hookups are not enough according to Cole.
"If we don't combine that with the water supply, we're not going to be able to develop," said Cole.

Bodell agrees.
"I also think we have a tremendous water problem and that should be considered. we are all trying to conserve water as it is. and so i don't really understand where they're planning on getting this water from," said Bodell.

The city needs to find a solution to meet the state's housing requirement by December 15th.
A document is over 100 pages long, filled with public comments. Most of them in favor of the affordable housing and the units on garden road. Yet many point out the traffic concern.
If all goes as planned, the units should be completed by 2031.