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KUSP LandWatch
News
Week of August 2, 2004 to August 6, 2004
"Listen Live"
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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 August 2, 2004 to August 6, 2004
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, August 2, 2004 – The Marketplace Project in SLO |
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On July 6th, the San Luis Obispo City Council approved a major new commercial development called the “Marketplace Project.” This new shopping center would be built on farmland, and might undermine the economic viability of stores in downtown San Luis Obispo. The Marketplace project is similar to projects routinely approved throughout California. A longtime landowner, often someone whose family has been in the farming business for generations, convinces local officials that agriculture is no longer really “viable” on a particular parcel of land they own, and that they propose for commercial use. As you might guess, the land in question is usually located right off a freeway, just on the outskirts of a rapidly-growing community. Check out Vacaville as you head towards Sacramento, to see a large scale example of this phenomenon. In San Luis Obispo, project opponents are relying on a technique that helps give citizens control over land use decisions. It isn’t easy to do, but the California Constitution guarantees the public the right to “second guess” decisions made by their elected officials, by gathering signatures to place a contested decision on the ballot. That’s called a referendum. Signatures must be gathered within 30 days of the decision objected to, so if you’re a voter in San Luis Obispo, and would like to have the City as a whole vote on the Marketplace Project, you only have a few days left to sign a petition. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Tuesday, August 3, 2004 – Friends of Locally Owned Water (FLOW) |
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Local residents in the Felton area are going through the steps necessary to establish and fund a Communities Facility District. In California, the State Constitution attempts to give ultimate control of the public’s business to the people themselves. Yesterday, I mentioned a referendum effort in the City of San Luis Obispo that illustrates this principle. In a different context, the proceedings in Felton also highlight how concerned local citizens can use the tools of government directly to assert control over important aspects of their lives. In this case, the issue is “who owns our water?” A group called “Friends of Locally-Owned Water,” or FLOW, has gathered over a thousand signatures, of which 991 (or 77.8%) were valid. This qualifies their effort to move forward. The ultimate aim is to establish and fund a Community Facilities District that will allow the public to assert control over the water system that serves Felton. If that effort succeeds, local water supplies will then be under local control, instead of being owned by the multi-national corporation that currently controls them. This is all rather amazing and unusual, and I think it proves that citizen government is still alive and well in Santa Cruz County. If you’d like to learn more, consider attending the Board of Supervisors’ meeting tonight, at 7:30 p.m. You can get the details at www.kusp.org. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Wednesday, August 4, 2004 – LAFCO In Two Counties |
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The Santa Cruz County Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO, meets this morning at 9:30. LAFCOs are little understood, and very much under-appreciated. In terms of the long term growth and development of our communities, LAFCOs play a key role. Today, the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau will be complaining to LAFCO because a development in Watsonville has not provided what the Farm Bureau thinks is an adequate and appropriate agricultural buffer. It’s great to see a local Farm Bureau actually sticking up for the rights of agriculture. If you spent your time at the LAFCO over in Monterey County, you’d get a completely different idea. Last Monday, as a matter of fact, I was at the Monterey County LAFCO, which was considering a proposed residential development on prime farmland adjacent to the City of Soledad. The proposed development was not inside the City, or even inside the City’s planned Sphere of Influence, and it provided no agricultural buffer at all, although the developer had specifically been told years ago, in connection with an earlier proposal, that no further conversion of farmland would be approved unless an adequate agricultural buffer were provided. A member of the Monterey County Farm Bureau spoke on the Soledad proposal. He was generally against agricultural buffers, and in support of the development of the prime farmland that would be sacrificed for the Soledad project. As I say, that’s a different idea about what’s good for agriculture.For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Thursday, August 5, 2004 – Local Projects of Interest in Santa Cruz County |
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As frequent listeners know, I invite your comments and suggestions. And I do try to respond. Today, I’d like to highlight two pending developments that could have some major public impacts, but that the public may not be following very closely. I heard about them both from KUSP listeners. The construction of a proposed seawall below Depot Hill, in the City of Capitola, will be discussed at a Capitola City Planning Commission meeting tonight, beginning at 7:00 p.m. The “applicant” for this permit is actually a Geologic Hazard Abatement District, a quasi-public agency established by Santa Cruz County. The seawall would be 1,257 feet long and 25 feet above the sand, along the base of Depot Hill. If you’re interested, showing up at the meeting tonight would be worthwhile. At a County Planning Commission meeting, scheduled for 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday August 11th, discussion will take place on an appeal filed by “Nisene 2 The Sea,” a group trying to establish a continuous trail to link Nisene Marks State Parks with the coastline. Right along one possible route, a single family house is proposed, and this proposed house might have a large impact on the Nisene to the sea linkage. More information on the topics I cover can be obtained by clicking on the Land Use Report link at www.kusp.org. And once you’re at the KUSP website, you can easily send me an email. I hope you will! For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Friday, August 6, 2004 – The Community GPU Process |
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As you may recall from earlier editions of this Land Use Report, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors has voted to “start over” on the General Plan Update process that has been underway for about five years, and that has cost Monterey County taxpayers about $5 million dollars so far. In all fairness to the Board, only three members actually voted to start over: Supervisors Edith Johnsen, Fernando Armenta, and Butch Lindley. Supervisors Lou Calcagno and Dave Potter wanted to complete the process, and to confront the difficult decisions necessarily involved. Three members of the Board, however, are a majority, and therefore the process has begun again. The “start over” process will be based on a series of private, closed-door meetings with those persons that the county staff decides are “stakeholders.” Most of the ordinary members of the public who have been participating for the last five years assume this term “stakeholder” is a code word for the property owner attorneys who lined up at the podium to urge the Board to discard the last five years of the public process. To make sure that the public voice is not shut out from future deliberations on the General Plan, a group of sixteen community organizations is sponsoring a series of public forums. The first forum will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Prunedale Grange, on Saturday, August 21st. You might want to mark your calendar. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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Archives of past transcripts are available here
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