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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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Reports
The following Land Use Reports have been presented on KUSP by Gary Patton, who was a member of the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors from 1975 to 1995. Mr. Patton now practices environmental law in Santa Cruz with the Wittwer & Parkin law firm. The opinions expressed by Mr. Patton are not necessarily those of KUSP Radio, nor of any of its sponsors. Tomorrow, doing something a little out of the ordinary, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors will hold an evening meeting at the Live Oak School Gymnasium, located at 1916 Capitola Road. That location is in the “Live Oak” area, and in the First Supervisorial District, for those not intimately familiar with Santa Cruz County geography. The meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. If you are a resident of either Live Oak or Soquel, both of which are within the First District, and both of which are within the territory of the Santa Cruz County Redevelopment Agency, this would be a particularly good meeting for you to attend. The Board is meeting in its capacity as the Redevelopment Agency, and the single item on its evening agenda is the proposed adoption of a new Five-Year Implementation Plan for the Agency, designed to guide Agency activities during the period from 2010 to 2014. First District County Supervisor John Leopold, who is in his first year of service on the Board of Supervisors, has made community building in Live Oak and Soquel a focus of particular attention, and there have been lots of public workshops about the Plan. The Redevelopment Agency has money to spend, and how it spends it can make a huge difference for the future. You can get information about what is being proposed on the KUSP website, and you can speak out with your own views tomorrow evening. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton. More Information Tuesday, November 10, 2009 – Housing Policy in San Luis Obispo County Item C-2 on today’s agenda for the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors is a hearing to consider an Annual Report and Action Plan for the County’s Affordable Housing Fund. For anyone who cares about affordable housing, this is an important item. Like many other jurisdictions, San Luis Obispo County has what is called an “inclusionary housing” ordinance. The purpose of this ordinance is to require developers to provide new affordable housing opportunities as they are given permission to develop new market-rate housing. The report on today’s agenda is massively discouraging to anyone who cares about affordable housing. The program was begun in December 2008, and unlike the most rigorous versions of such inclusionary programs doesn’t actually require developers to construct affordable housing; instead, the developers can just pay what’s called an “in-lieu” fee. During the last year in San Luis Obispo County, no actual affordable units were constructed, and only $6,508 dollars were collected for the County’s affordable housing fund. The staff estimates that about $100,000 in County funds (plus other funding) is needed to create a single affordable unit. The County staff is recommending that the Board adopt a fee schedule, going forward, that will actually reduce future fees. If you think that’s not the right direction, you might want to let the Board know. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton. More Information: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 – Highway 68 and Toro Park The Highway 68 Coalition, one of my favorite Monterey County grassroots groups, is always waging a battle to preserve and protect Highway 68, and to oppose further congesting-causing projects.* Based on news reports from last week, their job just got a little harder! Usually, local governments “review” proposed development projects, and then say either “yes,” or “no” to a proposal made to them by a landowner/developer. The “yes” or “no” answer is supposed to reflect the policies in the local General Plan, but local governments do get around that constraint by allowing the developers to ask them to approve a General Plan amendment at the same time that they approve the project. The Monterey County Board of Supervisors does that routinely. News reports last week indicate that the Board is planning to go way beyond its normal “review” function, to facilitate the latest big development proposal along Highway 68. In order to promote the development, the Board is considering selling off parkland at Toro Park, which is right on Highway 68, to provide necessary access for an 870-acre development proposed by a Southern California developer. Naturally, the Board is meeting in a closed “litigation session” to discuss this incredibly creative way to make a big development happen. There is more in the transcript of today’s Land Use Report. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton. More Information: *Highway 68 in Monterey County runs from the City of Monterey to the City of Salinas. Its beauty has been somewhat tarnished, over the years, by the development projects that have been allowed along its route by the Monterey County Board of Supervisors. Still, it’s a lovely drive. More accurately, it’s a lovely drive when it hasn’t turned into a miles-long parking lot, because of the traffic congestion that has accompanied those County-approved development projects, both along Highway 68 and in the Carmel Valley, which is best accessed from Salinas by using Highway 68 and the Los Laureles Grade Road. Thursday, November 12, 2009 – H.R. 4040 Land use decisions are mostly made by local governments, acting in their “regulatory” capacity. That isn’t the only way, however, that important land use decisions get made. Yesterday, I mentioned the possibility that the Monterey County Board of Supervisors might sell off County parkland to a Southern California developer, to facilitate a major new development on Highway 68. If the Board did that, it would be going beyond the “regulatory” realm, and acting as a landowner. In addition, not all land use decisions are made at the “local” level. The federal government, for instance, sometimes takes dramatically important actions that affect land use. Congress Member Sam Farr is proposing a dramatically important land use action in his new bill, H.R. 4040. There is more information about this bill in the transcript of today’s Land Use Report. In summary, H.R. 4040 would enact the Big Sur Forest Service Management Act, implementing multiple measures to protect public lands in the Northern Santa Lucia Mountains. That includes designating over 90 miles of Wild and Scenic Rivers, adding Horse Canyon and Black Butte to the Ventana Wilderness Area, and establishing a Big Sur Management Unit to provide greater management and budgetary autonomy, thus helping to address concerns unique to the Northern Unit of the Los Padres National Forest. Contact the Ventana Wilderness Alliance if you’d like to get involved. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton. More Information Friday, November 13, 2009 – Meetings Coming Up I like to give listeners a “heads up” on interesting meetings that will be held in the Central Coast Region. Next January, the Ecological Farming Association is going to be holding its annual “EcoFarm” conference at the Asilomar Conference Center. This is always a terrific event, and you can register online now. In addition, of particular interest to San Luis Obispo County residents, the last edition of the EcoFarm newsletter indicated that a Sustainable Ag Expo would be held in the City of San Luis Obispo on November 16th and 17th. That’s next week. I didn’t see mention of that event on the EcoFarm website, so if you’re interested, you should contact EcoFarm directly to get the final word. How about a Central California Invasive Weed Symposium? There is such a thing, co-sponsored by the California Native Plant Society, and the 11th Annual Symposium is actually taking place today, at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds, located at 2601 East Lake Avenue in Watsonville. I’m probably too late in getting the word out for this event, though dedicated weed whackers (invasive weed whackers, that is) could probably still get admitted. Probably more pertinent for most, I encourage you to link up with the California Native Plant Society, which does incredibly great work on habitat issues throughout the Central Coast Region. I’ve put the relevant links in the transcript of today’s Land Use Report. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton. More Information
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