At the end of May, the Public Draft of the Welcome Home Affordable Housing Strategy Document was released with a companion Background Data Summary report. The Planning Commission and City Council had a public joint session on Wednesday, May 26, 2021 where the project team shared the highlights from the planning process and walked attendees through the document content. After the presentation, the council and commission discussed the document and heard additional feedback from community members. You can review the agenda, the presentation slides, the video recording, and a summary of comments from the joint session. To learn more about the City's Planning Commissions involvement in the Welcome Home Initiative, click here.
If you are interested in providing written feedback, and sharing your thoughts, please contact us by emailing housing@cityofpacificgrove.org.
Welcome Home is a planning an action initiative to create more diverse and affordable housing options that can help secure Pacific Grove’s social, physical and economic well-being now and into the future.
The one-year process started in Spring 2020 and continued through Spring 2021. It is funded by an SB2 planning grant from the State of California. The work is being guided by City staff, Council and an appointed Advisory Group of community representatives, including elected and appointed officials, business leaders, housing experts, service providers and residents. The City hired the firm of Baird + Driskell Community Planning to lead the project.
Specific priorities will be defined through the process, including near-term actions and longer term strategies that can help increase the amount and range of housing choices in our community, with a focus on meeting the housing needs of lower income households and people with special housing needs.
About the Housing Advisory Group
The City Manager has appointed a Housing Advisory Group that will meet between now and early 2021 to:
- Provide strategic input and feedback on the project’s analysis and findings; assist with evaluation of policy and program alternatives; and help shape recommended actions.
- Provide input on the community outreach and engagement strategy and tactics, helping to ensure an inclusive and meaningful process.
- Engage in respectful debate about potential tradeoffs between alternative strategies, ensuring that multiple perspectives are heard and weighed and potential consequences considered.
- Serve as liaisons as appropriate to groups they represent and ambassadors to the larger community.
Advisory group members were selected to ensure representation of City elected and appointed decision makers, local employers. housing developers and realtors, special housing needs groups and regional housing groups. The Advisory Group members are:
- Rosemarie Axton, Interfaith Homeless Emergency Shelter Program
- Sarah Boyle, Member, Pacific Grove Planning Commission
- Matt Huerta and Emmy Hamm, Monterey Bay Economic Partnership
- Jan Lindenthal, MidPen Housing
- Barbara Martinez, Pacific Grove Unified School District
- Maureen Mason, Realtor
- Jenny McAdams, Pacific Grove Councilmember
- Barbara Meister, Monterey Bay Aquarium
- Donald Murphy, Former Pacific Grove Planning Commission Chair
- Bill Peake, Mayor of Pacific Grove
- Maribel Trejo, Alliance on Aging
- Jon Walton, Pacific Grove Unified School District Boardmember
- Anastacia Wyatt, Monterey County Housing Program
- Rev. Kristine Johnson, St. Mary's by-the-Sea Episcopal Church
- Christine Winge, Meals on Wheels of the Monterey Peninsula
The Welcome Home project started in May 2020 and will be completed by March 2021. During that time, a sequence of advisory group meetings, community workshops and input from the City Council and Planning Commission will review analysis results, help evaluate alternative strategies, and shape the recommendations and priorities for action.
The graphic below illustrates the core project activities and schedule.
Key documents produced during the process will be available on this website. Revisit here to get the latest information from Advisory Group meetings and summaries of community input.
Project Background
Housing Advisory Group Meetings
Community Engagement
City Council and Planning Commission
Strategy Documents
This event was open to the public, but specifically designed for city leaders, property owners, building industry and real estate professionals, employers, and anyone who wants to learn about affordable housing partnerships. Click here for a recording of the event.
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