Monday, May 18, 2009 – Build A Stronger Soquel and Live Oak

Last week, I received a brochure mailed to my home on the Eastside of the City of Santa Cruz, with the following headline: “Build a stronger Soquel and Live Oak.” The brochure announced a series of outreach meetings being held by the Santa Cruz County Redevelopment Agency, and strictly speaking, the Redevelopment Agency does not include any lands that are part of the City of Santa Cruz. City residents, however, do have a stake in how the Redevelopment Agency decides to invest its money, and all members of the Board of Supervisors, including Third District Supervisor Neal Coonerty, who represents most of the City of Santa Cruz, will get to vote on Redevelopment Agency priorities. The first scheduled outreach meeting is set for this Thursday evening, May 21st, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Elena Baskin Live Oak Senior Center, located at 1777 Capitola Road.

The Redevelopment Agency is really focused on parks, public works, housing, and other projects located in the Live Oak and Soquel area. If you happen to be a resident or property owner in Live Oak or Soquel, you shouldn’t miss the chance of helping to decide how the Redevelopment Agency can help build a stronger community. If you want more information, you should contact the office of First District Supervisor John Leopold, who is trying to engage the public in this important outreach effort.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

Santa Cruz County Redevelopment Agency – http://sccounty01.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/red/

Community Meeting Schedule – http://sccounty01.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/red/CommMtgs.htm

Information on Santa Cruz County Supervisors - http://www.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/bds/ctysupvs.htm

Tuesday, May 19, 2009 – Mohsin-Samoske

The Monterey County Board of Supervisors will hear an important land use item this afternoon. Since the County has recently updated its website (and congratulations again for that!) you can actually get access to all the materials presented to the Board without the need personally to go to Salinas. If you’re of a mind, however, personally to participate in the hearing this afternoon, and that’s always encouraged, then you should plan to be at the Board Chambers at 1:30 p.m.

Agenda Item #S-8 is a proposed residential subdivision on River Road. Both the current General Plan and the draft General Plan Update (GPU5) indicate that this area should be preserved for agricultural use. Nonetheless, the applicants for the proposed subdivision have been working for years to get County approval, and they seem to be getting close. Today, the Board of Supervisors will listen to the public, and then decide whether or not to approve the subdivision.

Since the proposed residential subdivision is inconsistent with a number of the County’s current land use policies, the Board is being asked to amend the Monterey County General Plan first, prior to taking action on the proposed subdivision. The idea is to redesignate the land from its current agricultural designation, to a designation called “Special Treatment,” and then to give the property owners the “special treatment” of approving a subdivision that will demonstrably injure surrounding agricultural uses. Next week, I’ll let you know what happened!

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

Agenda, Board of Supervisors – http://publicagendas.co.monterey.ca.us/

General Plan Update – http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/planning/gpu/GPU_2007/gpu_2007.htm

Current General Plan - http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/planning/docs/Plans/landuse.htm

Information on the Mohsin-Samoske Subdivision –

http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/planning/major/Mohsin-Samoske/Mohsin_Samoske_Main.htm

LandWatch Monterey County Website – www.landwatch.org

Wednesday, May 20, 2009 – The Coastkeeper Conference

Tomorrow evening, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., the California Coastkeeper Alliance will be hosting a training workshop at the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Conference Center, located at 299 Foam Street in Monterey. You are invited to attend, but bring change for the parking meters!

The focus at the workshop tomorrow evening will be on preparing citizen activists to participate meaningfully in upcoming hearings to be conducted by the Regional Water Quality Control Board. Every two years, federal law requires California to compile a list of the state’s most “impaired” and polluted water bodies. The state’s Regional Water Quality Boards then supervise an effort to clean up the polluted waters that have been identified. Clean up plans almost always have to consider how land-based erosion and pollution are leading to the water quality problems experienced offshore, or in streams and lakes that ultimately connect to marine waters.

There are definitely local problems. For instance, a recent story in the Register Pajaronian states that Pinto Lake, near Watsonville, contains the highest concentration of the pesticide DDT of any lake in California. If you’d like to get involved in the upcoming review of current water quality problems in our region, consider attending the workshop to be held tomorrow. There is more information on the KUSP website.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

California Coastkeeper Alliance - http://www.cacoastkeeper.org/

Monterey Coastkeeper Contract Information - http://www.waterkeeper.org/subsites/subcontact.aspx?userid=190

Information on Polluted Water Bodies – http://www.cacoastkeeper.org/impaired_waterbodies/

News Article, “Pinto Lake Contaminated” – http://www.register-pajaronian.com/V2_news_articles.php?heading=0&page=72&story_id=7180

Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board - http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/rwqcb3/

Thursday, May 21, 2009 – LandWatch Tonight

LandWatch Monterey County is unusual, in that it focuses specifically on land use “policy” matters. Most groups that form around land use issues tend to focus on the “project” level, not the “policy” level. In other words, when a specific project is proposed, a group comes together to have an impact on how the project is developed, or to oppose the project outright. Our system of land use regulation actually encourages this focus on the “project” level. However, since state law requires that project approvals must always be consistent with adopted land use policies, it’s clear that your participation will have more impact in the long run if you can get a good set of policies adopted than if you just deal with a single project. That is the idea behind LandWatch.

If you’d like to get an introduction to land use policy issues in Monterey County, I encourage you to attend the LandWatch “Around The County” event being held this evening in Marina. LandWatch is sponsoring a talk by Vince DiMaggio, an expert in urban and regional planning. He is a founding partner of DW Land Development, and is a public member of the Monterey County Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO. This evening’s presentation, which is free, will be held from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. at the Kula Ranch Island Steakhouse in Marina. You can get more information on the KUSP website.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

LandWatch Monterey County Website – www.landwatch.org

Tonight’s Around The County Event - http://www.landwatch.org/pages/news09/051109marina.html

Friday, May 22, 2009 – The Great Transition

I don’t usually advertise events that cost a lot of money, because the “unhidden agenda” of the Land Use Report is to stimulate active participation in the governmental and other discussions that ultimately result in the adoption of the land use policies that will guide the future growth and development of our region. If you have to pay to participate, most people won’t. They won’t because they can’t. In fact, the tables are always tilted towards those who can and do pay lawyers, consultants, and lobbyists to influence the governmental decisions that determine land use.

Today, I am nonetheless alerting listeners to an upcoming conference that does cost money ($295, for the two-day event). The conference is being held in San Jose, on May 27th and 28th, sponsored by the UC Davis Center for Regional Change. It’s titled, “The Great Transition.” Its focus is on “building workforce partnerships.”

I think it’s clear that we must develop a new, and broadly shared vision of the future. The old ways are sending the planet to global warming hell. Yes, land use policies are doing that! But it’s not so easy to get agreement on how to change our current patterns of growth and development. The “Great Transition” conference comes at this topic from the economic development side, and if we have any chance for a green land use future, we need to be smart about how we do build that new economy.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

UC Davis Center for Regional Change – http://regionalchange.ucdavis.edu/about-us/front-page

Conference Information - http://regionalchange.ucdavis.edu/events/building-workforce-partnerships-conference-the-great-transition/