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KUSP LandWatch
News
Week of July 14, 2003 to July 18, 2003
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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 July 14, 2003 to July 18, 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,
July 14, 2003 – A Report on The FORA Meeting
Last Friday, more than 200 people came to the meeting of the Fort
Ord Reuse Authority, to talk about affordable housing. The overwhelming
majority came to support a set of strong policy recommendations
made by Congress Member Sam Farr. Check the KUSP website for more
information.
Unfortunately, Seaside Mayor Jerry Smith, who chaired the meeting, abruptly adjourned the meeting at exactly 6:00 p.m., saying that this is what FORA’s rules of procedure required. Last month, those rules weren’t so iron-clad. When the clock hit six at the last meeting, Mayor Smith asked for a motion to extend the meeting, which in fact occurred. This time around, with about five people still standing in line to testify, and with Congress Member Farr asking to be recognized, Mayor Smith wouldn’t even discuss the alternative of extending the meeting. It certainly appeared to this observer that it wasn’t so much a devotion to the rules that motivated the action, but a desire to avoid any discussion about affordable housing in front of a crowd that was critical of past inaction.
Mayor Smith’s adjournment of the meeting was so abrupt that no new meeting date was even set. Whether intentional or not, this action could result in FORA discussing these key affordable housing issues when there aren’t nearly so many members of the public around to hear what is said. The antidote to that, of course, is for the public to show up in even greater force next time.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
Fort Ord Reuse Authority (FORA) Website
www.fora.orgWebsite for Congress Member Sam Farr
http://www.house.gov/farr/Members of the FORA Board of Directors are listed on Page 2 of July 7, 2003 Land Use Report transcript
A full copy of Sam Farr’s recommended policies is available at:
http://www.landwatch.org/pages/issuesactions/
fortord/070503farrhousing.htmlFor more information, contact Elizabeth Panetta at 831-759-2824, Ext. 14; or by email at:
Tuesday,
July 15, 2003 – The City of Santa Cruz Housing Element
The Santa Cruz City Council is meeting tonight at 7:00 p.m. This
is a special meeting to take public testimony, and then action,
on the proposed Housing Element of the City General Plan. You are,
of course, very much invited to attend, and you can get some additional
information at the KUSP website, www.kusp.org. Click on the Land
Use Report link, and while you’re there, send me an email with
your comments and suggestions.
Each city and county in California is required to adopt (and then regularly update) a comprehensive general plan, to govern land use within that community. State law requires each general plan to cover the following specific topics: land use; circulation; conservation; noise; open space; safety; and housing.
In many ways, the Housing Element is given a kind of special treatment. State law doesn’t impose too many specific requirements with respect to the other elements, but where housing is concerned, each local jurisdiction must demonstrate that they can accommodate a specific number of new housing units. That tends to turn the Housing Element into a growth promoting requirement, and leads to lots of conflicts. In the past, both the City of Santa Cruz and Santa Cruz County have had problems getting state approval. The meeting tonight should tell us how much conflict with the state we can anticipate this time around.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
City of Santa Cruz Website
http://www.ci.santa-cruz.ca.us/
Wednesday,
July 16, 2003 – Scotts Valley Development on Bean Creek Road
I’m fond of pointing out the importance of land use "policy."
In fact, however, most folks get involved with land use issues,
when they do at all, at the so-called "project" level.
There are at least two reasons for this. First, "projects"
are specific, so it’s easy to see what’s at stake. Second,
our public notice requirements generally alert the public to "projects,"
and not, so much, to "policy" matters.
When some sort of project is proposed, like a new subdivision, or shopping center, public notices are stapled to telephone poles, and mailed notices are sent out to surrounding property owners. There’s a good chance that interested persons will find out that something might be happening. If someone wants to turn that open field down the street from where you live into a gas station or a five-story apartment building, you’ll quite likely find out, and may decide to get involved.
"Policy" matters, on the other hand, are by their nature "abstract," and they do not directly lead to any specific project, at least not usually. Nonetheless, "policy" decisions are likely to have a much greater long term impact on a community than any single project level decision.
Tonight, the Scotts Valley City Council will be meeting on a proposed "project" on Bean Creek Road, and in connection with that, they will consider changing a Scotts Valley General Plan "policy" that would prevent the project, unless modified. These two levels of land use decision making do intersect.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
City of Scotts Valley
http://www.scottsvalley.orgJuly 16, 2003 Scotts Valley City Council Agenda
http://www.scottsvalley.org/cca.PDF
Thursday,
July 17, 2003 – The Santa Cruz Planning Commission
Water and land use are distinctly, directly, and indubitably related.
If you’d like to pursue this topic, I’ve got a good meeting
to recommend.
Tonight, the Santa Cruz City Planning Commission is meeting at 7:00 p.m., at the Police Department Community Room, 155 Center Street in Santa Cruz, and there will be a couple of public presentations relating to water.
First, Water Director Bill Kocher will make a presentation on water issues affecting the City of Santa Cruz, and will almost certainly talk about a proposed desalination plant as an important way to meet future water needs. Robert Ketley will then make another presentation, on stormwater management.
It’s pretty obvious that land use and development decisions need to be related to water supply, since no new growth and development can responsibly proceed unless there is going to be adequate water.
What people tend to think less about is stormwater management. Every time an impervious surface is created (rooftop, parking lot, or whatever) water that used to percolate into the ground runs off, and that means potential flooding, erosion, and degraded water quality. It can also mean the loss of a long term water supply, as water that would have gone into a groundwater aquifer runs out to the Bay.
For a short course in water, and stormwater, take in that Planning Commission meeting tonight. For more information, check out the Land Use Report link at www.kusp.org.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
City of Santa Cruz Website
http://www.ci.santa-cruz.ca.us/
Friday,
July 18, 2003 – The MBEST Center
The University of California at Santa Cruz has expanded its operations
into Monterey County, and specifically into the City of Marina,
where it now operates the MBEST Center. MBEST stands for the Monterey
Bay Education, Science, and Technology Center. This is, in a way,
the UCSC answer to the Stanford Research Park.
As you may know, Stanford University used some of its land to build research and industrial facilities for high tech companies. The "synergy" between academics and economic growth has proved compelling. In fact, there’s a pretty good argument that the Stanford industrial park has greatly stimulated the conversion of Santa Clara County into what we now know as the "Silicon Valley."
MBEST is more limited in its ambitions, but it does hope to relate new industrial developments on the MBEST Center to the academic programs at UCSC. The MBEST Center is on land that was formerly part of Fort Ord, and that UCSC received "free" from the United State Army, in connection with the Fort Ord shutdown.
The latest endeavor of MBEST, however, is to promote the transformation of a part of its lands to a housing development. The lands, incidentally, are currently producing organic crops. This isn’t part of the MBEST plan, but it is a way to make a buck in the Monterey County housing market. I’ll keep you posted.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
MBEST Website
http://www.ucmbest.org/
Archives of past transcripts are available here
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