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Listen to the reports each weekday at 6:49 am & 8:49 am To suggest a topic for a future land use report, or to convey a comment, please use this link. |
| Past
Reports
The following Land Use Reports have been presented on KUSP by Gary Patton, Executive Director of The Planning and Conservation League. The opinions expressed by Mr. Patton are not necessarily those of KUSP You can contact Gary Patton at PCL by emailing him at: gapatton@pcl.org.
Monday, October 23, 2006 – The Housing Element in Santa Cruz County An item of significantly more importance for most of us is the Board’s consideration of an amendment to the Housing Element of the Santa Cruz County General Plan. That’s on tomorrow’s agenda, too. The Housing Element of the General Plan is unique in that the “final word” on the Housing Element is not actually given to the local government (as is the case with respect to every other element of the General Plan) but to the State Department of Housing and Community Development. Santa Cruz County has been trying to get HCD to “certify” its Housing Element for several years. Tomorrow, they’re going to give it another go. The key issues are whether or not the County has designated enough land for affordable housing, and whether development of that land will be “by right,” which means that only limited public review is permitted. A lawsuit by California Rural Legal Assistance raised that concern. More Information Tuesday, October 24, 2006 – Here’s The Latest on Rancho San Juan If you are a frequent listener to these Land Use Reports, you’ll know that the development of Rancho San Juan, just north of Salinas on Highway 101, would be the biggest development project in the history of Monterey County. The EIR process made clear that Rancho San Juan would have a significant impact on North County water supplies, and would practically gridlock Highway 101. CALTRANS, in fact, has sued the County because of their concern about traffic. Two referendum petitions have qualified for the ballot, and one referendum election was actually held. The project “lost” by about 70%, as I remember. The Board is doing everything it can to prevent a second vote by the people, and agenda item S-7 seems to be part of a strategy to “wait out” current challenges until the pro-development General Plan now under consideration by the Board can take effect, and these challenges can then be brushed off. More Information Wednesday, October 25, 2006 – New Urbanism Comes To Salinas Several years ago, when Salinas adopted a new General Plan, there were three major areas of policy discussion: first, how much agricultural land should the city annex, for the purpose of more urban development? Second, should the city’s affordable housing ordinance be strengthened? Third, should the city incorporate “new urbanism” principles into its General Plan? Well, the City Council adopted the “big growth” model, and is proposing to annex and develop over 3,000 acres of agricultural lands, turning those lands into subdivisions and shopping centers. It recently watered down its affordable housing ordinance, so that affordable units won’t remain affordable over time, but will be sold by their lower income owners to give those particular owners an economic boost (but with the unfortunate result that the unit will go from an “affordable” to a “nonaffordable” category). Finally, and this is the good news, “new urbanism” principles were placed into the General Plan, and because they were, the City Council has now changed its zoning code. Most new development in Salinas, at least on all those newly-annexed lands, will be better planned and designed. More Information Thursday, October 26, 2006 – Something Is Happening in San Miguel In the transcript for today’s Land Use Report, I refer you to a website maintained by a group called “S.M.A.R.T.” SMART is comprised of residents, property owners, farmers, and ranchers that are taking interest in development issues in and around San Miguel. San Miguel is located in San Luis Obispo County, just a bit north of Paso Robles. Paso Robles is a fast-growing community, which means that developers and landowners (sometimes properly identified as “speculators”) like the idea of getting three votes on the Board of Supervisors to turn the relatively inexpensive agricultural land in the San Miguel area into land worth at least ten times more, when designated for urban development. In fact, there is such a proposal in the wings, sponsored by a Southern California developer/speculator, Brent Grizzle of Grizzle Land and Development Corporation. Check out the SMART website for more information, and tune in to KUSP’s “SLO County Report,” too, to keep up with the latest on what’s going on. More Information Friday, October 27, 2006 – Sewers and Soledad When growth proceeds at such speeds, the character the existing community is put at risk, and in the case of Greenfield and Soledad, located in the heart of the Salinas Valley, the future of agriculture is also put into question. Soledad actually grew by only 3% during 2005, and in order for Soledad to keep up its “momentum,” and to reach a growth rate of 10% per year, it needs to have the infrastructure to support all those new subdivisions. One vital piece of infrastructure is sewage capacity, and the City of Soledad is coming up short. In order to hasten its ability to serve new development, the City has asked the state to let it buy an old sewer plant previously used by the state prison. Senate Bill 276, by State Senator Jeff Denham, would have allowed that. In bad news for Soledad (but maybe good news for farmland preservation), Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed that bill last month. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton. More Information |