1675 Farrell Rd Sanford Nc

80 North Main St.

Buried in our neighborhood's epic pile of unmarked debris lies the crumbling remnants of the 13.6 million BSA 4.6-billion-dollar construction project. The proposed Monterey II, now shrouded in a soggy, twisted pile of concrete on a concrete pad, was slated to bring Monterey County’s once-booming agriculture and tourism industry to their knees in the second half of the 20th century.

A hastily assembled planning commission didn’t have the staff, permits and resources to implement the proposed development through the entire first 40 months of a plan to convert this former gas pipeline and warehouse into an oil- and fertilizer-fueled mini-city.

Isolated towns with no locally based economic backbone would quickly crumble, crippling the development dream of the early ’80s.

“We had a $17 billion company, and it suffered through one year because of financial constraints and we had a giant bureaucracy. Did we even have the money to apply for permits? Maybe it was budget-neutral,” said Steve King, the former city administrator.

“I am a pragmatic person. I do what needs to be done to get this done. I think we did the right thing.”

The project required 500 approvals, or about a person per hour, according to a former city manager, as “troublemakers” opposed it. Officials tried one option after another, from creating a new department to laying off 13,000 workers (it was eventually, only 8,000) to having people do the work. Each time, officials fell behind.

One application that the city began on Jan. 17, 1987, took two years; another application, dated Feb. 21, 1990, was launched on the same day.

“We felt bad for the people who were affected in the downtown area by the project,” King said. A small group of concerned citizens, he said, organized a site visit to Monterey and met with former Project Managers James Owens and Fred Lavelle.

A building permit was also necessary.

“We were expecting the building of a steel building that would be the only type in Monterey County,” King said.