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KUSP LandWatch
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ogo.gif" width="108" height="109" border="0"> "Listen Live" |
KUSP provided a brief Land Use Report on KUSP Radio from January 2003 to May 2016. Archives of past transcripts are available here.
Week of February 17, 2003 to February 21, 2003
The following Land Use Reports have been presented on KUSP Radio by Gary Patton, Executive Director of LandWatch Monterey County. The opinions expressed by Mr. Patton are not necessarily those of KUSP Radio, nor of any of its sponsors.
Monday,
February 17, 2003 – Changes at Salz Tannery
The Santa Cruz City Council, acting as the city “Redevelopment
Agency,” will meet tomorrow at three in the afternoon. The
meeting will focus on the reuse of the Salz Tannery property. This
is truly a spectacular property, located right on the banks of the
San Lorenzo River. The focus Tuesday will be on turning the historic
tannery into an Art Center. It should be an exceptionally interesting
meeting.
Finding a way to reuse the tannery property provides a good example of what is becoming a new type of development opportunity. Properties that have supported industrial operations are now, often, “surplus.” They’re no longer needed for their former purposes. The question, though, is what can be done with them? Such properties are often contaminated with toxic materials, but they are also (as in the case of Salz Tannery) frequently found in prime locations. They have great potential, but with significant development obstacles. This typifies what are often called “brownfield” sites.
Unless we want our communities to keep expanding into what’s left of our natural environment, our “greenfields,” we need to meet the “brownfield” challenge, and creatively reuse the industrial lands that are now, all too often, placed on the community “discard” pile. That’s not going to happen in Santa Cruz. Attend the meeting, tomorrow, and find out more. Check out the KUSP website, too. It’s at www.kusp.org.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
City of Santa Cruz
http://www.ci.santa-cruz.ca.us/California Center for Land Recycling (CCLR)
http://www.cclr.org/
Tuesday,
February 18, 2003 – Pismo Beach Local Coastal Program
When we think about the coastal zone, we most often think about
the beaches and bluffs that line the California coast. We think
about its spectacular natural features. In fact, however, most of
the people in California live either right on the coast or near
the coast. Large portions of the coast are highly developed. Residential,
commercial, and industrial uses are all found there, and the “coastal
zone” is not just “nature.”
In 1972, when the people of California adopted Proposition 20, providing a new level of planning protection for the coast, the policies they established affected urban communities at least as much as the natural resources found in the coastal zone. There’s a very good argument, in fact, that California land use planning would do well to follow the Coastal Act model. The Coastal Act is implemented mainly by local governments, which must conform their local land use decisions to Coastal Act standards. It is the state’s most comprehensive and effective system of land use regulation. It could be used as a model everywhere, but of course is now only aimed at a relatively small area immediately along the coast, usually from the edge of the water to the first major road.
If you’d like to see how Coastal Act planning works in an urban context, check out the Pismo Beach City Council meeting this afternoon. That’s the main item on the agenda. The meeting is at 4:00 p.m. at the Pismo Beach City Hall.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
City of Pismo Beach
http://www.pismobeach.org/HTML.html
Wednesday,
February 19, 2003 – Sand City Stormwater Program
The little city of Sand City (and it is small, with a population
of something like 250 people) is located immediately on the coast,
right next to Seaside, in Monterey County. Its history of sand production
gave the city its name. Today, though, Sand City is better known
for its “big box” commercial developments, so visible
from Highway One. There are lots of planning and public policy issues
on the front-burner in Sand City. Even the smallest cities deal
with the big problems that affect virtually every community in the
state.
Yesterday evening, for instance, the Sand City City Council discussed the major urban problem of stormwater runoff. This is one of the significant and often under-appreciated impacts of new development. As natural lands are paved over with impervious surfaces, runoff increases dramatically. All that water has to go somewhere, and of course in Sand City it ends up going into the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
Stormwater runoff has flooding, erosion, and water quality impacts. Plus, creating impervious surfaces also affects our groundwater aquifers and groundwater supply. New regulations under the Federal Clean Water Act are forcing even the smallest communities to deal with the impacts caused by stormwater runoff, as that runoff is generated by streets, and housing, and the vast parking lots of our business and commercial centers.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
City of Sand City
http://www.sandcity.org/city/index.htmlRegional Water Quality Control Board, Central Coast Region
http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/rwqcb3/
Thursday,
February 20, 2003 – City of Monterey GPU
General Plan policies are the “constitutional” commandments
that give direction to our community and individual actions relating
to land use. As a consequence, these General Plan policies largely
determine the future of our communities.
Frequent listeners have heard me make this assertion before. It bears repeating. LandWatch Monterey County, incidentally, has just published a comprehensive guide to “Land Use and the General Plan.” Click on the Land Use Report link at the KUSP website to find out how you can get a copy. You can use the website to send me an email, too. If there are particular land use related items that you’d like to have featured, please let me know. You can find the KUSP website at www.kusp.org.
This afternoon, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m., the City of Monterey General Plan Committee will be meeting at the Monterey City Council Chambers. The Monterey City General Plan Update, in preparation for more than a year, will soon be released for public comment and environmental review. Naturally, I’ll keep you posted. This evening, however, might be a good time to see what’s likely to be coming. The meeting will focus on the Circulation Element of the General Plan Update, and some very significant changes to traffic and circulation patterns will be discussed. Particularly if you’re a Monterey City resident, you’ll find the proposals interesting, and maybe controversial.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
City of Monterey General Plan Committee
http://www.monterey.orgYou can find out how to order “Land Use and the General Plan” by going to www.landwatch.org.
Friday,
February 21, 2003 – Monterey County Committee For Fair Housing
Housing issues preoccupy many of us, and sometimes we’re focused
on our own, individual situation. Families and persons with an average
or below average income, living along the Central Coast, often have
difficulty finding housing they can afford. A number of agencies
and programs exist to help such individuals, and they can often
make a huge difference.
Housing can be looked at from a “community” perspective, too, and not just from an individual perspective. In the realm of land use policy, trying to develop and then implement a “community perspective” about affordable housing can have a big payoff. Wouldn’t it be great if the adopted policies of our local governments really dealt, on a community scale, with the housing crisis we face? This housing crisis isn’t just individual (though it is that). It has profound consequences for the entire community.
When people begin to think about housing from a “community perspective,” one of the first things that happens is the need to “get organized.” There’s no need to go to meetings or join groups if you’re just working on your individual housing problem, but when you begin to think that the community should do something at the community level, then forming or joining a group is almost the first thing that comes to mind.
In Monterey County, a “Committee For Fair Housing” is now meeting regularly. Check the KUSP website for more information – www.kusp.org.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
Committee For Fair Housing
Contact Mark Weller - (831) 375-2246; Markw483@aol.com
Archives of past transcripts are available here
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