Buying Land in Monterey County, California

Big Sur: one of the most restrictive coastal land use plans in California

The Big Sur coast -- roughly the stretch of Highway 1 south of Carmel -- is governed by the Big Sur Coast Land Use Plan, adopted as part of Monterey County's certified Local Coastal Program under the California Coastal Act of 1976. It is widely regarded as among the most restrictive land use plans in the state, specifically because Big Sur's scenic, largely undeveloped character is treated as a resource to be protected in its own right: design and siting review focus heavily on minimizing visibility from Highway 1 and other public viewpoints, with strong restrictions on ridgeline development in particular.

For a buyer, this means that even a legally buildable Big Sur parcel can face a genuinely demanding design and siting review process, often requiring specialized site planning and landscape architecture input well beyond what a standard county building permit review would require elsewhere. See the dedicated zoning page below for more detail on how this plan actually functions.

Salinas Valley: intensive agriculture and a stressed groundwater basin

The Salinas Valley has long been known as one of the most productive vegetable-growing regions in the country -- frequently referred to as the 'Salad Bowl of the World' -- with intensive cultivation of lettuce, strawberries, and other row crops. That intensity has come with a well-documented long-term groundwater cost: portions of the valley's coastal groundwater basin have experienced seawater intrusion for decades, driven by agricultural pumping that draws down freshwater aquifers near the coast faster than they naturally recharge.

The basin is now subject to California's Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), enacted in 2014, which requires locally governed Groundwater Sustainability Agencies to bring the basin into long-term balance. Confirm current well-permitting rules, pumping allocations, and any groundwater sustainability plan provisions directly before assuming unrestricted well access on Salinas Valley agricultural land.

Fort Ord: from Army base to university and national monument

Fort Ord operated as a major U.S. Army base for decades before its closure in 1994 under the federal Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process. Much of the former base was subsequently redeveloped -- most notably as California State University, Monterey Bay -- while a significant portion was preserved as Fort Ord National Monument, managed by the Bureau of Land Management for recreation and habitat conservation. Land in and around the former base carries a redevelopment history, and in some areas ongoing environmental remediation considerations tied to its military use, distinct from the rest of the county.