In 1997, the Fort Ord Base Reuse Plan (BRP) was prepared by the Fort Ord Reuse Authority (FORA). The closure of Fort Ord represented the largest base closure in the United States and was declared by President Clinton as his model for base closures. The 1997 BRP’s three primary goals are Economic Development, Education, and Environmental Protection.

The former Army base covers approximately 28,000 acres. Approximately 18,000 acres will be preserved as permanent open space under the jurisdictions of the Federal Bureau of Land Management and California Department of Parks and Recreation. The remaining 10,000 acres are under now under the jurisdictions of Monterey County, the cities of Monterey, Seaside, Del Rey Oaks, and Marina, two universities, and the United States Army. It is the responsibility of these agencies to fulfill the vision of the BRP.

Assurance that the BRP is implemented to meet its goal of job replacement for those communities that suffered economic loss upon closure of the base is important to the economic future of those communities as well as the region as a whole. Further, the development of the City of Monterey's portion of the former Fort Ord plays a key role in providing the middle-income jobs necessary to support the housing currently under development as well as in the pipeline for development.

The City’s financial/business objective for the site is to maximize the land value through a lease of the property zoned for open space uses and fee-simple purchase of the property zoned for business park, light industrial, and/or research and development uses.