Salinas planning commission backs recommendation to sell downtown parking lots to Taylor Fresh Foods for mixed-use development

The Salinas Planning Commission on Nov. 5 recommended that the City Council approve a land disposition and development agreement (DA 2025-001) with Taylor Fresh Foods to transfer and develop City-owned Parking Lots 8 and 12 in downtown Salinas. The commission’s 3-2 vote forwards staff’s recommendation that the council (1) find the project exempt from environmental review and (2) adopt an ordinance approving the agreement.

City Attorney Chris Callahan, presenting the proposal, said the LDA would allow the city to transfer the two lots to a private developer and provide the developer certainty about the laws and regulations that will apply to the projects. “A land disposition and development agreement is basically an agreement between the city and a private party pursuant to which the city agrees to transfer properties to the private party for specific purposes,” Callahan said. Callahan told commissioners the lots were declared surplus in 2020 and were rezoned to mixed use in 2021 to allow broader development opportunities.

Under terms described to the commission, the Lot 12 proposal would be a mixed-use multifamily residential and retail project with approximately 66…