This coming Thursday, June 9th, San Luis Obispo County residents will have an opportunity to explore one of the most important land use issues around: higher density housing. The San Luis Obispo County Housing Trust Fund will be sponsoring a “Workforce Housing Coalition Seminar” at the San Luis Obispo Library, 995 Palm Street, in San Luis Obispo. The seminar will begin at 7:30 in the morning on Thursday, and run until 9:00 o’clock. So, for early risers in San Luis Obispo County, here is an opportunity not to miss.

Featured on the program are Tom Jones, the Dean of the CalPoly College of Environmental Design, David Watson of King Ventures, and John Campanella, from Bermant Development.

Whether you call it “smart growth,” or something less “cutesy,” like “good land use planning,” a requirement for the inclusion of higher density housing opportunities in new development is generally recognized by planning professionals as one of the most important things that a community should be doing, as a way to improve the economic, environmental, and social equity impacts of that new development. The upcoming seminar will spell it all out, with a  slide show demonstrating that “higher density” does not mean “lower quality,” and that well-designed, higher density housing developments in fact can lead to better communities than the more typical large-lot single family developments that are often called “sprawl.”

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

San Luis Obispo County Housing Trust Fund
http://www.slochtf.org/

Flyer For Higher Density Housing Seminar
http://www.slochtf.org/files/whc-seminar.pdf

Land use issues come in all sorts of sizes and shapes. Mostly, I talk about the “big picture” items like General Plan policies, or those major developments that will, if permitted, irrevocably shape the future of the community. In Monterey County, where I head an organization trying to “promote and inspire sound land use policy through grassroots community action,” there are lots of “big picture” items. The Monterey County Board of Supervisors, for instance, is now heading into its sixth year (and fourth draft) of a General Plan Update. They spent about five million dollars on the first three drafts, and then threw out the results when the development community protested. They have now “started over,” and will be spending millions more. The Board has also spent something like three million dollars on the massive Rancho San Juan project, and voted a couple of weeks ago to spend a third of a million dollars more, even though the project is going to the ballot in November, and has been challenged by five lawsuits.

Today, let me mention a smaller scale item. At 10:30 this morning, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors will consider a proposed ordinance to allow tow truck operators to turn any residential property they own into an ad-hoc towing equipment staging area. Apparently, this is to accommodate the owner of a towing service, who uses his home as an equipment parking location, with complaints coming from the neighbors.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

LandWatch Monterey County
http://www.landwatch.org

Typically, proposed developments are looked at differently, depending on their proposed geographic location. A proposed new house in the Live Oak area in Santa Cruz County, for instance, or in Castroville, needs to be designed and constructed with sensitivity to the adjacent neighbors, and to traffic and parking issues. But when it comes right down to it, Live Oak and Castroville are areas already devoted to urban development. Someone with a vacant lot in Live Oak or Castroville may have to design their new house with sensitivity, but they’d expect to be able to build some sort of house.

In Big Sur, that same presumption doesn’t exist. In Big Sur there is special oversight. You can’t expect to be able to build a house in Big Sur, just because you own an existing lot.

This brings up an item on today’s Monterey County Planning Commission agenda. A property owner with an existing lot in Big Sur wants to change the Monterey County General Plan and to rezone his property to allow the construction of a single family home in an area now designated for “Outdoor Recreation.” Currently, it’s not permissible for him to build a house. The County planning staff apparently doesn’t really see much of a difference between Castroville and Big Sur, because they are not only recommending this change, to permit the house, they are also recommending that the change be made without doing an Environmental Impact Report. There’s more information on the KUSP website.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

Monterey County Planning Commission Agenda
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/pbi/cca/pc/2005/
06-08-05/pc06-08-05a.htm

Staff Report, Doud Application
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/pbi/cca/pc/2005/
06-08-05/PD040368PC3.pdf

A LandWatch letter in opposition will be placed on the LandWatch website at http://www.landwatch.org

Effective grassroots action on land use policy requires citizen participation and “getting organized.” The nonprofit I work for, LandWatch Monterey County, specializes in just that process. You don’t, however, need to call for outside assistance to get organized and make a difference. “Santa Cruzans for Responsible Planning,” or SCRP, proves that. Their “scrappy” and activist approach has already made a big difference in Santa Cruz.

SCRP is a relatively new group, and has been particularly concerned about major development proposals that could impact Westside neighborhoods and Mission Street (and hence all Santa Cruz residents). They were very active in the Coast Hotel debate, and are fully participating in discussions about the proposed Arts Habitat project. Their latest involvement is what I want to report about today.

At the Beach is the La Bahia residential hotel, already approved (if I’m remembering it correctly) for a major renovation and expansion. Development of La Bahia could result in the kind of economic boost to tourism and commerce that was the main argument for the Coast Hotel. What is interesting is that the possible developer of La Bahia is now approaching SCRP, to try to bring them in at the front end. In other words, “getting organized” did lead, in this case, to being taken seriously in the development process. Get more information at www.kusp.org.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

SCRP Website
http://www.scrp.us

Email for information on SCRP to

SCRP is working with Barry Swenson Builder on a presentation on plans for La Bahia. Contact SCRP for details.

With tomorrow comes the weekend, and it’s a good time to provide another of my periodic reminders that actually getting out into our spectacular Central Coast environment may be the very best thing you can do, in the long run, for better land use policy. We fight to protect the places we know and love. The less we know, personally, about what’s at stake, the less we’ll care about the often plausible proposals to “develop” our natural areas into something really nice. Like that Pebble Beach plan to cut down 17,000 Monterey Pine trees to “save the forest” from residential overkill, and incidentally to put in a major new golf course.

A columnist in some newspaper I read recently talked about the fact that the “world” that young people more and more inhabit is the world of video, and that fewer and fewer kids are climbing trees, and rolling down grassy slopes as their major form of childhood exuberance. I grew up with pine pitch staining my lands and pepper tree sneezes, and Robin Hood adventures in the eucalyptus groves at Stanford, and I thought the columnist made a good point.

So, consider taking your kids to the coast tomorrow or Sunday. Starting at 10:00 a.m. there will be a “walking tour into the past” at the Point Sur Lightstation State Historic Park. There’s a small charge to participate, but you and your kids might get a “big charge” from the experience. Check www.kusp.org for more information.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

The Point Sur Lightstation State Historic Park Tour will be a volunteer led, three-hour walking tour on a paved road. The walk is less than a mile, but with a rise in elevation of 300 feet. Meet along the west side of Highway One, 1/8 mile north of Point Sur Naval facility. Arrive early, because the tour size is limited. Tours are Saturday at both 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., Sunday at 10: 00 a.m., and Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. Admission is $8 for adults, $4 for ages 6-17, with age 5 and under free. More information may be available from Jack Ellwanger at 530-627-3054.