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KUSP provides
a brief Land Use Report on KUSP Radio. Tune in every weekday at 6:33 or 8:49 am.
KUSP is at 88.9 FM in General Coverage, 105.9 FM in Big Sur Valley, 91.3 FM in
Palo Colorado Canyon, and 91.7 FM in San Ardo. Archives of past transcripts are
available here.
Week
of February 24, 2003 to February 28, 2003
- Monday,
February 24, 2003 – Permit Reforms in Santa Cruz County
- Tuesday,
February 25, 2003 – Monterey County And The Valley Cities
- Wednesday,
February 26, 2003 – City of Monterey And Its GPU
- Thursday,
February 27, 2003 – Water Management on the Peninsula
- Friday,
February 28, 2003 – Schedule Ahead For Pajaro Workshops
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 24, 2003 – Permit Reforms in Santa Cruz County
Good land use policies are clear and unambiguous. They actually
state, as a matter of principle, what the community wants. Every
community will have a slightly different “take” on what
policies are best. The key, though, is to make sure that fundamental
decisions about land use are at made at a “policy” level,
not at a “project” level. Making the most important decisions
at the “project” level really means making up land use
policy as the community goes along. That way of making land use
decisions (which is quite common) provides maximum “flexibility,”
but often results in a community without any substantive land use
policies at all. To achieve a land use decision-making system that
is policy-based, or principle-based, a community must make the tough
decisions “up front,” as a matter of policy.
When
a community is willing to make its most important land use decisions
“up front,” as a matter of policy, it is then possible
to speed up the permit process. This is a big advantage for the
development community.
Tomorrow,
the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors has several very important
permit process reform items on its agenda. The entire agenda packet
is on line, and you can send the Board an email on any of these
items, with a click of your mouse. Visit the KUSP website for more
information. It’s at www.kusp.org.
For
KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More
Information:
Santa
Cruz County Board of Supervisors
http://www.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/bds/ctysupvs.htm
Agenda
http://sccounty01.co.santacruz.ca.us/bds/
Govstream/archive/ArchiveIndex.asp
Principles
of Good Land Use Policy
http://www.landwatch.org/pages/generalpages/fiveprinciples.htm
Tuesday,
February 25, 2003 – Monterey County And The Valley Cities
The Monterey County Board of Supervisors is meeting today, and their
agenda is chock full of land use items. The meeting starts at 9:30
a.m., at the County Courthouse in Salinas. By 10:00 o’clock,
the Board is scheduled to begin taking up a series of land use permit
and policy items.
The
Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors, which is also meeting today,
and which is also handling key land use policy matters, has a sophisticated
and effective way of making its materials available to the public.
If you have web access, you can get a copy of any agenda item that
the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors is considering, and can
send the Board an email, commenting on the item, which will be delivered
directly to Board Members. The Monterey County system isn’t
quite that slick, but you can get a full agenda listing online.
If you’d like to see what these Boards of Supervisors are doing
today, click on the Land Use Report link at the KUSP website, www.kusp.org.
Probably
the most important land use policy item on the agenda of the Monterey
County Board of Supervisors is scheduled for 4:30 this afternoon.
At that time, the Board is going to discuss the progress of discussions
between the County and the five Salinas Valley cities. Where new
growth goes is the issue. It’s hard to imagine a more important
topic.
For
KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More
Information:
You
can obtain a copy of the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors
Agenda (and send them an email) by going to their website at:
http://sccounty01.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/
bds/Govstream/archive/ArchiveIndex.asp
Agenda
for the Monterey County Board of Supervisors
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/suagenda/
Wednesday,
February 26, 2003 – City of Monterey And Its GPU
If you are a Monterey city resident, or are interested in the future
of the Monterey Peninsula, you might want to modify your afternoon
plans. This afternoon, from 4:00 to 6:00, at the Monterey City Hall,
the City Council will be holding an important study session, to
discuss key policy issues in the Draft Monterey City General Plan.
I
belabor loyal KUSP listeners with the drumbeat of a constant refrain:
a community’s General Plan is its most important statement
about what the community wants the future to be. The General Plan
makes a difference. If you care about the future of your community,
you ought to be involved in charting that future through the local
General Plan. Well, this afternoon, Monterey City residents can
put their toes in the water. The meeting isn’t going to be
a decision-making session. It’s going to be an information-delivery
opportunity. I hope some of you can make it.
The
City of Monterey has established a General Plan Committee, which
is now nearing the end of its labors. Very soon, a proposed update
to the current General Plan will be officially circulated for public
comment and environmental review. This afternoon, you can get an
advance peak at some of the concepts that may be advanced. These
include significant changes in traffic patterns in the “New
Monterey” area (near the Aquarium), and a proposal for a new
type of “mixed use” development in existing commercial
districts.
For
KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More
Information:
Monterey
City General Plan
http://www.monterey.org/boards/genplan.html
Thursday,
February 27, 2003 – Water Management on the Peninsula
Water and land use are very much related. This evening, there are
a couple of opportunities to find out more about water issues that
affect the Monterey Peninsula and North Monterey County.
At
7:00 p.m., the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District is meeting
at the Seaside City Hall, and will consider a proposed ordinance
to reinstate water use credit transfers. This ordinance would allow
the transfer of water use credits from one commercial site to another,
and from a commercial site to the water allocation account maintained
by each local jurisdiction. This proposed change in the law would
be part of the settlement of a lawsuit brought against the District
by the cities of Monterey, Seaside, Sand City, Pacific Grove, Carmel,
and Del Rey Oaks. Enactment of this ordinance, in other words, addresses
a past controversy of really monumental proportions.
If
you’re inclined to future controversies, you might want to
head to Prunedale, and attend a forum to be held at 7:00 p.m. at
the Prunedale Grange. This forum will focus on a plan recently announced
by the California-American Water Company, to build a major desalination
plant at Moss Landing. Oddly enough, while the plant is proposed
for North Monterey County, Cal-Am wants to use the new water to
solve the water deficit on the Monterey Peninsula. One of the controversial
aspects of the Cal-Am idea is that it would displace any need to
get voter approval.
For
KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More
Information:
Monterey
Peninsula Water Management District
http://www.mpwmd.dst.ca.us/
Desalination
Forum
http://www.landwatch.org/pages/issuesactions/
northcounty/012903desalination.html
Friday,
February 28, 2003 – Schedule Ahead For Pajaro Workshops
The little community of Pajaro, located right across the river from
the City of Watsonville, has lots of problems, and lots of possibilities.
This is, of course, the general human condition. We all have both
problems and possibilities, and so do each of our communities. In
Pajaro, it’s perhaps fair to say that the problems are visible,
and the possibilities not so much. That doesn’t mean that the
possibilities aren’t there. In fact, Monterey County has established
a governmental agency whose job it is to make the possibilities
more visible, in order to stimulate the actions that can realize
them.
This
agency is the Redevelopment Agency of Monterey County. It uses the
magic of tax-increment financing to help revitalize and stimulate
new and positive developments within the communities of Castroville,
Pajaro, Boronda, and the former Fort Ord.
If
you’d like to find out more about the Agency’s plans for
Pajaro, plan ahead for these upcoming meetings:
- On
Thursday, March 6th, the Redevelopment Agency will hold a meeting
on Pajaro’s current and future needs, focusing on potential
solutions and opportunities.
- On
Thursday, March 13th, the Agency will outline short term solutions
and long term strategies.
Both
these meetings will be held at the Pajaro Middle School Gymnasium,
at 250 Salinas Road, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
For
KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More
Information:
County
Redevelopment Agency – http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/housing/
Pajaro
Redevelopment
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/housing/Redevelopment/PajaroRedevelope.asp
For
More Information Contact Action Pajaro Valley
http://www.actionpajarovalley.org/
Archives
of past transcripts are available here
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