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The following Land Use Reports have been presented on KUSP Radio by Gary A. Patton. The Wittwer & Parkin law firm is located in Santa Cruz, California, and practices environmental and governmental law. As part of its practice, the law firm files litigation and takes other action on behalf of its clients, which are typically private individuals, governmental agencies, environmental organizations, or community groups. Whenever the Land Use Report comments on an issue with which the Wittwer & Parkin law firm is involved on behalf of a client, Mr. Patton will make this relationship clear, as part of his commentary. Mr. Patton’s comments do not represent the views of Wittwer & Parkin, LLP, KUSP Radio, nor of any of its sponsors.
| Monday, May 1, 2006 Healthy Communities By Design |
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Good land use policies are more fiscally positive for local government than bad land use policies. Compact patterns of growth and development help reduce both infrastructure and service costs. Good land use policies are also better for the natural environment. They help prevent the kind of urban sprawl that is the number one danger to wildlife and wildlife habitat.
However, that isn’t where the story ends. It’s also true that compact patterns of growth and development are better for your health! Today, a consortium of local groups is sponsoring a tri-county summit, including San Benito, Monterey, and Santa Cruz Counties, to explore how good planning policies, and compact growth patterns, can help fight the childhood obesity crisis. The keynote speaker is Dr. Richard Jackson, former California State Health Officer. Dr. Jackson is the author of “The Built Environment and Children’s Health.” He is a riveting speaker, and has inspired communities up and down the state to begin planning and designing and building the kind of communities that will keep us healthy (instead of putting our health at risk). The summit is being held at the Salinas Community Center, starting at 8:00 this morning. If you haven’t heard about this meeting already, you can probably still attend. Good land use policies aren’t the solution to every problem, but they actually do turn out to be pretty important! For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Tuesday, May 2, 2006 Environmental Goals For Santa Cruz County |
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Save Our Shores and Ecology Action have both linked their websites to a brief, online survey that will allow Santa Cruz County residents to voice their opinions and concerns about how best to protect the environment and to effect positive changes at the local level. If you’d like to participate, check out the information below. The Community Assessment Project is a collaborative project, led by the United Way. Its intention is to attempt to measure and then improve the quality of life in Santa Cruz County. The first step is to document public opinions about what issues are important; then, the project will set goals for the County to achieve, and will monitor progress towards meeting those goals. The question now being posed is, “What changes would you like to see in the Natural Environment in Santa Cruz County by the year 2010?” You can list three different areas of concern. Frequent listeners to this Land Use Report will probably have a lot of good ideas, and right at the top of the list may well be local land use policies that promote and encourage compact, infill development, and that require the presence of all necessary infrastructure (including “natural infrastructure,” like a reliable water supply, and “humanly constructed infrastructure,” like adequate transportation facilities), prior to any development approval. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Wednesday, May 3, 2006 Bus Rapid Transit in Monterey County |
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The National Transit Institute, in cooperation with the Federal Transit Administration, is sponsoring a Monterey Bay Rapid Transit Regional Workshop on the topic “Bus Rapid Transit – A New Modal Option for Monterey Bay.” “Modal” is kind of jargonesque, at least to my ears. What the workshop is going to explore is whether or not we might be able to develop a new “transportation option” for the Monterey Bay Area, something quite different from the single vehicle automobile, but different from our current transit system, too. The workshop will be held on Friday May 12th, at CSUMB, and will run from 8:30 in the morning to 4:00 p.m. A special two-hour seminar on Thursday is being arranged for elected and appointed officials who might not be able to spend an entire day at the Friday workshop. If you’re interested, please visit the KUSP website, where I provide additional information. “Bus Rapid Transit” is, perhaps, best thought of as “rubber-tired light rail,” with dedicated guideways and reliable, frequent service. It has been notably successful in Curitiba, Brazil, and it will be fascinating to see if the experts think it could happen here. Of course, as gasoline gets to $4 and $5 a gallon, a lot of us might be looking for a way to leave that single occupancy vehicle behind. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Thursday, May 4, 2006 Reforming The Permit Process |
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I spent twenty years as a locally-elected official in Santa Cruz County, and would have to say that one of the most enduring and consistent complaints I heard was that the planning and permit process was too complex, and confusing, and costly, and time-consuming, and unfair, and…..well, the list of complaints was pretty long. In Sacramento, the complaints are similar. A lack of “certainty” is what the development community complains about most. Is there a way, actually, to reform and improve the permit process? Is there a way to provide more certainty for those wishing to undertake development projects? I think the answer is “yes,” and I’ve outlined what I think of as a very positive proposal in a publication available from LandWatch Monterey County, “Land Use and the General Plan.” Check out the Land Use Report link on the KUSP website, and you’ll find the reference there. The way to provide “certainty” for developers is to tell everyone, upfront, what will be allowed and what will not. In other words, if the community can make up its mind about what it wants, in advance, on a policy level, the “permit process” can be abbreviated. If every permit requires the community to rethink its basic land use philosophy, if “everything is up for grabs,” then certainty will be impossible. Actually, it’s just that easy. Decide on the policies, and make them clear, and the permit side largely takes care of itself. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Friday, May 5, 2006 Get Outside: Take A Hike! |
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Frequent listeners to the Land Use Report know that I’ve been highlighting various “wildflower walks” that will get you out into the natural environment that all these good land use policies I advocate are trying to protect. I really do recommend that you give this program a try. Here’s another installment of some recommended walks that can let you appreciate the beauty of our Central Coast Region:
The details on both of these hikes are available below. Have a great weekend! For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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Archives of past transcripts are available here
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