|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||
| |
|
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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,
.
|
| Past
Reports The following Land Use Reports have been presented on KUSP Radio by Gary A. Patton. Mr. Patton is “Of Counsel” to the Santa Cruz law firm of Wittwer & Parkin, LLP, which specializes in land use and environmental law. The opinions expressed by Mr. Patton are not necessarily those of Wittwer & Parkin, KUSP Radio, nor of any of its sponsors. Note: The Land Use Report utilizes links provided by other entities and cannot guarantee that they will remain available by those hosting organizations. For broken links, please search via the website of the organization mentioned. Monday, August 16, 2010 – Setting The Target Santa Cruz County Supervisors Tony Campos and Ellen Pirie have placed an important item on the agenda of tomorrow’s meeting of the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors. This is agenda item 43.1. The Supervisors are looking for some direction from the Board as a whole, since they will soon be called upon to vote on an important item of land use policy as the Board’s AMBAG representatives. AMBAG, if you’ve forgotten, stands for “Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments.” The AMBAG Board of Directors is made up of elected officials from city and county governments from within the AMBAG Region. Supervisors Campos and Pirie represent Santa Cruz County. Here’s the issue for Board discussion tomorrow: should AMBAG ask the Air Resources Board to set an “ambitious” target for this region, in terms of what the region will have to do to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; or, should AMBAG try to minimize what local governments will have to do to change their land use policies to reduce future greenhouse gas emissions? It’s unclear what an “ambitious” target would mean for Santa Cruz County, but if an “ambitious” target is ultimately imposed in this region, it could have a very significant impact in Monterey County, discouraging local governments there from continuing to approve the sprawling subdivisions that are covering prime farmland in the Salinas Valley. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton. More Information: Tuesday, August 17, 2010 – A Field Trip Tomorrow I hope that the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors will be getting some feedback today on the question of whether or not we should be changing land use policies to make big reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. I talked about this yesterday. There is still time for you to weigh in, either by appearing personally at the Board meeting, or by using the “agenda email” system that is part of the Board’s online agenda. Santa Cruz County makes it very easy to communicate with the Board on any agenda item: (1) Find the agenda online; (2) Find the specific agenda item; and (3) Click on the little “letter” icon. Your message on the agenda item will be delivered directly to all Board members. Supervisors Campos and Pirie indicate how convenient it would be for local governments, if local governments were not challenged too much by an overly “ambitious” greenhouse gas reduction target. If you have a thought about this topic, I think the Board would benefit from hearing your views. Tomorrow, starting at 9:00 o’clock in the morning, the Monterey County Planning Commission is going to be taking a field trip to the site of a proposed “Corral de Tierra Neighborhood Retail Village,” proposed for development right off Highway 68. You can attend, and I encourage your involvement. Be at the Exxon gas station at 9:00 a.m., to give the Commission your thoughts. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton. More Information: Wednesday, August 18, 2010 – Join AMBAG For An “Imagination” Breakfast AMBAG, the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments, is the closest thing we have to “regional government,” here in the Central Coast Region. If you’d like to find out more about what’s going on at AMBAG, and specifically about the development of a “Regional Blueprint” for the counties of Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz, think about changing your breakfast plans for this coming Friday. On Friday August 20th, AMBAG is hosting what it is calling an “Imagination Coast Breakfast.” You’ll need to call or email AMBAG to get the exact location of the breakfast, but it’s currently scheduled for 8:30 in the morning this Friday, and will feature a presentation by Linda Meckel, who is an AMBAG planner working on the “Blueprint” project. According to Linda, “the 2035 Monterey Bay Area Regional Blueprint: Envisioning the Monterey Bay Area will generate a regional vision and practical strategies to ensure a more promising future for the Monterey Bay Area. Collectively, we will determine how population and employment growth can be shaped by local communities to improve our quality of life and minimize the negative impacts of growth.” The SB 375 greenhouse gas reduction targets I talked about on Monday and Tuesday will have an impact on what the contents of this “vision” will be. There is more information on the KUSP website. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton. More Information: Thursday, August 19, 2010 – Fire Safety In Monterey County Sometime soon, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors will probably address the issue of “fire safety” in the County’s wildland areas. I will try to give you “meeting specific” information when it’s available. Today, I thought I’d provide a little background, so that listeners will know what the issues are when the matter does come before the Board of Supervisors. Clearly, wildland fires in Monterey County could have devastating impacts, and the County has been participating in an effort by the Monterey County Fire Safe Council to develop a so‑called “Monterey County Community Wildfire Protection Plan.” There is more information in the transcript of today’s Land Use Report. Monterey County is not the only county concerned about wildland fire safety, and other areas are adopting their own versions of a Community Wildfire Protection Plan. This specifically includes Santa Cruz County, which is partnering with San Mateo County in the effort. One major issue in the Monterey County context is the need for environmental review. The Monterey County Fire Safe Council is claiming that their plan can be adopted and implemented without such review, even though the proposal is to allow very aggressive land clearing on over 1.2 million acres in Monterey County, or almost 60% of the County, without any detailed environmental analysis. Many, including the Sierra Club, don’t think that’s right. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton. More Information: Friday, August 20, 2010 – The CWC Suit – Hearing Today On August 3rd, the Santa Cruz City Council certified a Final Environmental Impact Report, or EIR, on the proposed expansion of the City’s “Sphere of Influence” to the undeveloped, 374-acre “North Campus” at UCSC, coupled with a proposal that the City provide extraterritorial water service. The University is proposing over 3,000,000 square feet of new buildings, and say they want 152 million gallons of City water per year, to make that construction possible. The area is not currently served by City water. The EIR identified significant environmental impacts that could not be reduced to a level of insignificance. Those included a lessening of drought protection for current customers in future “drought” years. In order to certify the EIR, the City had to make a finding that there were “overriding considerations” that justified ignoring the impacts. The Council did make such a finding, saying, in effect, that future growth at UCSC was “more important” than protecting the natural environment and current customers from the impacts of future droughts. The ultimate decision on this proposal is going to be made by LAFCO, the Santa Cruz County Local Agency Formation Commission. There is a court hearing this morning that relates to those LAFCO proceedings. You can probably read about it in tomorrow’s newspaper. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton. More Information |