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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.
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| Past
Reports
The following Land Use Reports have been presented on KUSP by Gary Patton, General Counsel of The Planning and Conservation League. The opinions expressed by Mr. Patton are not necessarily those of KUSP Monday, September 8, 2008 – Greenfield Goes For It Tonight, the Greenfield City Planning Commission is getting ready to begin the conversion of the prime agricultural land that surrounds that city. The Planning Commission will meet at six o’clock, and Item E-2 is a public hearing about a proposed subdivision of agricultural land. The idea would be to convert this land, the most economically productive agricultural land in the world, into 297 low density residential units on 100 acres. Other housing, with higher densities is also proposed. I particularly appreciate the candor of the agenda description. It says, among other things, “The proposed project is not in the current Sphere of Influence in the City and was not anticipated in the City’s General Plan.” In other words, the community planning process that was fairly recently completed did not contemplate that this land would turn into mini-estates for the wealthy. Nonetheless, the City of Greenfield is willing to entertain this idea. City and County elected officials will ultimately make the decision on whether or not to covert the incredibly rich agricultural land surrounding Greenfield into more subdivisions, aimed not at meeting the housing needs of Greenfield’s lower-income, largely Latino population, but wealthy commuters from somewhere else. And, of course, the voters also can have their say, should they choose to get involved. If you choose to get involved, don’t miss tonight’s meeting. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton. More Information Greenfield City Website - http://ci.greenfield.ca.us/ Tuesday, September 9, 2008 – Litigation Makes A Difference Usually, before recording the Land Use Report, I take a look at the agendas of the local governments located in Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Luis Obispo counties. Local governments have the main responsibility for doing the land use planning that will ultimately shape our economic and community future, and that so profoundly affects our natural environment. My unhidden agenda is to try to get Central Coast residents more involved in this public policy process. And let’s be frank, the phrase “public policy process” is another word for “politics.” The land use (and other) decisions that shape our future are made by our elected representatives, and if we are not involved in the decision making process ourselves, we are not going to get the results we’d like. Once public policy decisions have been made, through that political process that we all should get more involved in, the next question is who enforces the public policy directives that have been established. The answer, in the arena of land use, is that ordinary people do, usually by suing the government, to make the government follow its own land use rules and regulations. The Monterey County Board of Supervisors is holding a special meeting this morning, the entire purpose of which is to discuss seven different lawsuits brought to enforce the land use and environmental policies of that County. So, both public participation, and litigation, make a huge difference! For KUSP, this is Gary Patton. More Information Monterey County Board of Supervisors Agenda - http://monterey.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=5 Wednesday, September 10, 2008 – The “Final Round” For the GPU? A draft Environmental Impact Report on GPU-5, the fifth draft of the proposed Monterey County General Plan Update, has recently been released. There’s a link to this document in the transcript of today’s Land Use Report. This morning, at 10:00 o’clock, at a meeting in Salinas, the Monterey County Planning Commission will discuss the process that will be used for taking comments on that draft EIR, and then for taking action on the proposed General Plan. Members of the public will have 45 days to read and comment on the Draft EIR. If you are interested in the future of Monterey County, and how the proposed land use policies in GPU-5 might impact your own property, or your business, or the spectacular natural resources of Monterey County, you should plan to participate in this process. Yesterday, I mentioned litigation as a way for ordinary citizens to enforce legal requirements in the land use policy arena. Here’s a “heads up.” If you don’t participate in the public policy review process, you can’t sue the government later on. The courts say you need to “exhaust your administrative remedies.” You need to try to get the County to do the right thing, before suing them for doing the wrong thing. Since the review schedule for the GPU-5 EIR was specifically set to give the greatest possible advantage to development interests, it’s important for those with other interests to get engaged now. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton. More Information Monterey County Government Website - http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/ Thursday, September 11, 2008 – Watsonville Growth On August 12th, the Watsonville City Council considered alternatives for a proposed Atkinson Lane Specific Plan. The Council was considering different development options for this area in order to specify which options would be utilized in the preparation of an Environmental Impact Report. One critic, writing in the Watsonville Register-Pajaronian, has opined that the kind of “mitigation” that the environmental review process is supposed to foster may not actually occur in Watsonville. He noted his concern that “‘mitigate’ used to mean [to] take actions that lessen the effects of a problem [but that] now it means [to] spin the problem with words or sweep the problem under the rug.” Let me “spin” the issue a bit differently. The environmental review process mandated by the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, is the most powerful tool easily available to a person who cares about the future of land use and development. But the CEQA process only works if there is very significant engagement on the substantive issues involved. What happens in the Atkinson Lane area could have real traffic impacts in Watsonville, and it could also have a profound impact on adjacent agricultural land. If local residents don’t actively and effectively participate in the EIR process, it could be that possible problems will be “swept under the rug.” But if there is real and effective participation, I don’t think they will be. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton. More Information City of Watsonville Website – http://www.ci.watsonville.ca.us/ Friday, September 12, 2008 – News From The Capitol Local governments have the basic responsibility for making the land use policy decisions that will determine our future, but local governments are all subject to the direction of the state government. Usually, our state laws delegate most of the important decisions to the local level, but that isn’t always true, and it doesn’t have to be true. Nothing prohibits the state government from giving local governments new, different (and perhaps better) directions on how to do land use. As you probably know, this year’s regular legislative session has now ended, and all the bills that have passed through the legislative process have been sent to the Governor either to sign or to veto. But this year there’s a quirk. Governor Schwarzenegger has said that he will not sign any bill passed by the Legislature until the Legislature passes a budget. And the Legislature hasn’t passed a budget, and the signs don’t look promising for the prompt passage of a budget. So, it may be that a number of bills that would change local land use practices will not become law, though if the Governor takes no action at all the bills will become law, after thirty days. It’s confusing! If you check out the written transcript for today’s Land Use Report, found on the KUSP website, you can link up to a list of some of the pending legislation that could make a difference, as well as review a critical analysis of Senate Bill 375, now on the Governor’s desk, and the most important land use policy bill this year. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton. More Information Dan Walters on the Legislative schedule - http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/1211922.html
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