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KUSP LandWatch
News
Week of July 28, 2003 to August 1, 2003
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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 28, 2003 to August 1, 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 28, 2003 –The Monterey County LAFCO Meeting Today
The state’s Local Agency Formation Commissions (LAFCOs for
short) are among the least well-known and most powerful governmental
agencies around. LAFCO members sometimes call themselves “sprawl
busters,” because the essential mission of LAFCO is to prevent
the inefficient and wasteful use of land. LAFCOs are supposed to
promote local governmental efficiency, prevent urban sprawl, and
conserve productive agricultural land, all while still making it
possible for local communities to grow and develop economically,
and to provide housing opportunities. Moreover, LAFCOs are supposed
to do all this without any direct control over land use.
If you’d like to learn more about LAFCO, there are lots of references in the transcript of today’s Land Use Report. Go to www.kusp.org, and click on the Land Use Report link. You can send me your comments and suggestions, too!
If you’d like to see a LAFCO in action, the Monterey County LAFCO is meeting this afternoon. The meeting begins at 4:00 p.m., in the Board of Supervisors’ Chambers at the Salinas County Courthouse. LAFCO will be considering an annexation of Fort Ord lands to the City of Monterey, and will reconsider a former decision, approving the annexation of large amounts of North County farmland to a municipal Community Services District, which might just “set up” that land for later development.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
Monterey County LAFCO Website
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/lafco/California Association of LAFCOs
http://www.calafco.org/index.htmState Law Establishing LAFCO
http://napa.lafco.ca.gov/govcode.htm
Tuesday,
July 29, 2003 – Big Sur Coast Highway Management Plan
Congress Member Sam Farr, Monterey County Supervisor Dave Potter,
and many Big Sur residents have been working for years to get the
California Department of Transportation to be more sensitive to
the spectacular Big Sur Coast. The actions that CALTRANS takes to
maintain and improve Highway One directly affect not only its usefulness
as a transportation corridor, but can also either enhance or degrade
the kind of experience that a motorist will have, as they drive
this extraordinary highway.
By all accounts, CALTRANS is now “with the program,” and wants to give the Highway One corridor in Big Sur the special attention it deserves. In the next week or so, you’ll be able to hear their plans, and most important, can provide your comments and suggestions. If you’d like to find out about and comment on the proposed Big Sur Coast Highway Management Plan, which encompasses a 75-mile corridor from the Carmel River in Monterey County to San Carpoforo Creek in San Luis Obispo County, then mark your calendar for these meetings:
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
CALTRANS Website on Big Sur
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist05/projects/bigsur
Wednesday,
July 30, 2003 – Marina Projects: University Villages
Frequent listeners will have noticed that the City of Marina, in
Monterey County, is mentioned here with some frequency. Marina is
the only city on the Central Coast with a voter-approved Urban Growth
Boundary, which qualifies the city as a hotbed of community land
use activism. That is not, however, the reason that Marina keeps
appearing in these Land Use Reports. In fact, there’s simply
a lot going on in Marina.
Tomorrow, for instance, the Marina Planning Commission is going to hold an extremely important public hearing, at 6:30 p.m., in the Marina City Council Chambers, to consider the proposed Marina Heights development. I’ll feature that proposed development project on my Land Use Report tomorrow, but you might want to mark your calendar now, if you’d like to weigh in on the affordable housing and other issues that will be discussed.
This morning, however, I need to alert you to a meeting tonight. This evening, from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m., Marina is holding an Open House to introduce the public to a group of developers who propose to undertake the University Villages redevelopment project, the largest ever redevelopment project on the former Fort Ord. The meeting tonight will be held at the Marina Airport Conference Room, 781 Neeson Road, Building 520, in Marina. There’s more information at www.kusp.org.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
City of Marina Website
http://www.ci.marina.ca.us/For information call Joy Junsay at 831-884-1211 or email her at jjunsay@ci.marina.ca.us
Thursday,
July 31, 2003 – Marina Projects: Marina Heights
The proposed Marina Heights project is the largest and most significant
development yet proposed on the former Fort Ord. The KB Homes project
in Seaside, so visible from Highway One, could be called a “minor
project” when compared to Marina Heights. There are some 300
new houses in the KB Homes project. There are over a thousand houses
proposed in Marina Heights.
Marina Heights won’t be visible from Highway One, but because of its potential impact on Marina, and on the entire Monterey Peninsula, this proposed project should not be allowed to fly “under the radar” of public scrutiny. Tonight, the Marina Planning Commission will be holding a major public hearing on Marina Heights. The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m., at the Marina City Council Chambers.
As proposed, the Marina Heights project would demolish hundreds of existing homes (just like the homes that have been rehabilitated for affordable housing in other parts of the former Fort Ord). Once the land is cleared, the developer would put up his thousand or so new homes, at least eighty percent of which will likely have a selling price of more than half a million dollars apiece. The developer has received concessions from the City that mean that this developer will pay fewer fees for public services than other developers do.
Tonight would be a good time to express your views. I hate to say it, but it may be your next to last chance.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
City of Marina Website
http://www.ci.marina.ca.us/For information call Joy Junsay at 831-884-1211 or email her at jjunsay@ci.marina.ca.us
Friday,
August 1, 2003 – The FORA Meeting in August
Fort Ord housing projects, like the proposed Marina Heights project
discussed yesterday, are not the same as a typical development.
The typical development is proposed for land owned by the developer.
The local government that reviews a proposed project usually gives
a good deal of deference to what the developer wants, since it’s
the developer’s land.
In the case of all Fort Ord projects, the landowner is the public itself. This means that the developer, in effect, is building something for the public, on the public’s land. Obviously, the public should be able to decide what it wants to have built.
In the case of Marina Heights, the Mayor of Marina, and some (but not all) of the other elected officials in Marina, have been arguing that the vast majority of the new homes to be built –80% of them—should sell for at least $500,000 apiece, the current market price. 200 or so homes might be sold for lower prices.
Does the public want its land, on the former Fort Ord, used mainly for housing for persons who can afford a home of $500,000 or more? If the answer is “no,” then the public agencies in charge (including Marina and the Fort Ord Reuse Authority) need to adopt binding guidelines that specify what the public does want.
You can weigh in on this issue at the next meeting of the Fort Ord Reuse Authority, on Friday, August 8th.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
Fort Ord Reuse Authority (FORA) Website
http://www.fora.org/Information on Sam Farr’s Proposed Affordable Housing Policies
http://landwatch.org/pages/issuesactions/
fortord/070503farrhousing.html
Archives of past transcripts are available here
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