The King City City Council voted 4-0 to approve a settlement agreement with SGH Holdings, LLC, regarding seasonal agricultural employee housing at an almost 87,000-square-foot warehouse building located at 218 North First St.
The settlement allows SGH Holdings to operate the seasonal H2A employee housing until Dec. 15, 2033, extending the permit beyond its original expiration of Sept. 20, 2021.
“Our community has a lot of ag workers in it, and we also understand the importance of H2A workers, and so we're just supportive of it,” says Mayor Mike LeBarre.
In 2016, the City approved a temporary conditional use permit authorizing SGH Holdings to commence a seasonal H2A employee housing in about 37,000-square-foot portion of the warehouse building for up to 214 agricultural workers at the property. The project was passed with a temporary condition of approval for a five-year period, with the option to request an extension of time of one-year at a time for a total of five one-year extensions.
On March 6, 2018, the City approved to add the requested 150 beds by SGH holdings, for a total of 364 beds within the building.
As part of the new agreement, SGH will pay the city almost $55,000 in outstanding development impact fees and install a fire-rated wall to comply with safety standards.
“The fire-rated wall is actually in anticipation of the railroad station being built and installed . So it's just another component,” LeBarre says.
SGH Holdings also agreed to fully cooperate with the City and Smith-Monterey LLC, regarding the extension of Broadway Street and the construction of the Multimodal Transportation Center project, promising not to impede these city infrastructure projects, LeBarre says.
SGH did not respond to Salinas Valley Now's request for comment.
The settlement resolves disputes regarding municipal code application, permit duration and development collaboration, allowing SGH Holdings to continue its agricultural employee housing operation legally until the new expiration date without further administrative appeals or legal challenges.