The impact of development on farmland or open space is immediately obvious, and the public is increasingly aware that more development generally means more traffic. What people often don't think about (because you have to be a civil engineer, probably, to understand it in detail) is that when development replaces naturally permeable surfaces by surfaces that shed water, that water has to go somewhere. A typical single family dwelling takes up only a relatively small portion of the lot on which it is constructed, but when you add up thousands of houses, and the streets that connect them, it turns out that mammoth amounts of stormwater runoff are generated.

There are at least three important impacts of stormwater runoff. First, stormwater runoff can be a flooding danger. Second, water that doesn't go into the ground doesn't replenish underlying groundwater basins, and this can lead to real water supply problems. Third, runoff from developed areas almost always contains toxic materials, including oil, grease, suspended particulates, and pesticide residues. These materials impact the place where the water ultimately ends up.

The State Water Resources Control Board has released a list of water bodies not meeting water quality standards, and the list for the Central Coast Region is 210 pages long. Check it out on the KUSP website. Runoff from development is one of our major problems.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

State Water Resources Control Board
http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/

Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board
http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralcoast/

Workshop Notice
http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/tmdl/docs/
303d_update/workshopnotice303d.pdf

Current List
http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/tmdl/303d_lists.html

Proposed List (available on this page)
http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/tmdl/303d_update.html

This afternoon may be your last chance to tell the City Planning Commission what you think about the proposed General Plan for the City of Watsonville. The Planning Commission is holding a regular meeting this afternoon, starting at 4:30, but the General Plan hearing won't begin before 6:00 p.m., so you could get home from work, grab a bite to eat, and still make this meeting.

As the public notice says, "any person may observe, make inquiries, and present testimony either for or against" the proposal. Further information is available by visiting or calling the Watsonville Community Development Department.

Frequent listeners know that a community's General Plan is called its "Constitution for Land Use." If the General Plan is written with strong, clear, enforceable standards, it can truly help shape the economic, environmental, and social equity future of the community. If it's filled with equivocation and "flexibility," as such documents often are, then future development will happen on a "case by case" basis, and there is little guarantee that a series of future individual decisions, added up, will result in the kind of community that the public really wants.

The stakes are high whenever General Plan policies are adopted. If you live in Watsonville, and haven't been involved, there is still time to make a difference.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

City of Watsonville Website
http://www.ci.watsonville.ca.us/

Public Hearing Notice
http://www.ci.watsonville.ca.us/public%20
hearing%20notices/gpPublic%20Hearing.pdf

Draft General Plan Document
http://www.ci.watsonville.ca.us/
departments/cdd/generalplan.html

Land Use and the General Plan explains how to build an effective and enforceable General Plan, to address key planning issues
http://www.landwatch.org/pages/publications03/
gpsummit/landusegeneralplan.pdf

The Monterey County Community General Plan, available online, has examples of many strong and enforceable General Plan policies
http://www.landwatch.org/pages/pubs05/cgp/index.html

The Watsonville City Council will probably be taking final action on the proposed Watsonville City General Plan within the next month. There is still time to make a difference. Just not much!

Among his other responsibilities (and I guess I should say among his "many other responsibilities"), Assembly Member John Laird sits on the Board of Directors of the State Coastal Conservancy. This is a very important post. The Coastal Conservancy is actively engaged not in "regulating" the coast, like the Coastal Commission, but truly in "conserving it." The Conservancy helps construct beach accesses, and often funds the acquisition of key coastal areas that need long term protection. Regulation is important, and that is the job of the Coastal Commission, but the more "affirmative" work of the Conservancy, if you will, also plays a key role in maintaining and restoring our superlative coastal environment.

Tomorrow, the Conservancy will be meeting at the Pacifica City Hall, and item #7 on their agenda is listed as follows: "Consideration and possible Conservancy authorization to disburse up to $10 million to the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission for the acquisition of approximately 32 miles of railroad right-of-way known as the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line in order to preserve suitable portions of the right?]of-way for future use as a public pedestrian and bicycle trail, and as a segment of the California Coastal Trail."

Linda Wilshusen, former Executive Director of the Transportation Commission, says that there is "nothing more important to the future of transportation and environmental enhancement in Santa Cruz County."

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

State Coastal Conservancy Website
http://www.coastalconservancy.ca.gov/

Agenda for December 8, 2005 Meeting
http://www.coastalconservancy.ca.gov/Meetings/meetings.htm#ten

Completing The California Coastal Trail
http://www.coastalconservancy.ca.gov/
Programs/Coastal%20Trail%20Report.pdf

Everyone is invited to a Monterey Bay Area Water Issues Conference being held this evening at the California State University, Monterey Bay. The focus of this evening's presentations will be "desalination." The conference will take place in the CSUMB Music Hall, Building #30, located on 6th Avenue on the CSUMB campus.

The conference this evening is being presented by students from CSU-Monterey Bay's Water Resources Assessment, Law and Policy course, taught by Professors Robert Curry and Myriam Weber. The scarcity of water for communities in the Monterey Bay Area is an ongoing concern, and desalination is often proposed as the answer. For example, the City of Santa Cruz now has a project proposal, and a small desalination plant has been advanced as part of a hotel project on Monterey's Cannery Row. Two different desalination plants are being pushed for the Moss Landing area.

Because our area is immediately adjacent to the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, desalination proposals here will have to undergo very stringent review, both at the local level and by the state. The Planning and Conservation League, the organization I direct, is focusing an increasing amount of attention to the desalination option.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

For more information, contact CSUMB Professor Myriam Weber, at 831-582-3975 or at

CSUMB Campus Map
http://csumb.edu/site/x12184.xml

Parking is available in Lots #29 and #30 for $1.50.

Planning and Conservation League Website
http://www.pcl.org

I sometimes feel guilty about announcing meetings with very little lead time (though I honestly do the best I can). It's not unusual for me to pop up on your radio first thing in the morning with the announcement that an important meeting is starting in an hour or so. I know that most people can't drop everything else, to attend a meeting on such short notice. I always hope, however, that getting the word out, even so late, will help make the point that listeners should be thinking ahead, and should be paying attention to what their local public agencies are doing in their names. Self government doesn't really work unless we get involved ourselves, and the land use decisions made by local governments will profoundly affect our future.

Today, I may be falling into the opposite trap, giving you "too much" notice of an interesting meeting that will be coming up later. From September 17th to September 20th, next year, the California Ocean Protection Council will be hosting an international conference called "California and the World Ocean." The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy and the Pew Oceans Commission have documented that our nation's oceans and coastlines are in trouble, and have developed hundreds of recommendations for improvement. Land use policy changes are among the most important.

Send me your comments, too!

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

California Ocean Protection Council
http://resources.ca.gov/copc/

U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy
http://www.oceancommission.gov/

Pew Oceans Commission
http://www.pewoceans.org/

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