Tomorrow, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors will talk about how current land use regulations will impact efforts to rebuild after the Summit Fire. At the time the agenda materials were prepared, neither the Board nor County staff were aware that the same issues were going to be relevant to rebuilding after the fire in Bonny Doon. Anyone directly affected by either of those horrible fires should probably plan to be at the Board meeting tomorrow. The Board meeting starts at 9:00 o’clock, and Item #41, focused on fire rebuilding issues, is the second item on the Regular Agenda. That means that the Board will get to this item pretty early in the morning.

As County staff point out in their report to the Board, an important question is almost always raised after any natural disaster: “How can local government help private property owners accelerate the building and repair process?” As the staff notes, the best response to that question will balance the desires of property owners to rebuild with the need for good land use and hazard mitigation planning. A proper balancing of these sometimes competing concerns can result in both a streamlined process for applicants, as well as a regulatory system that ensures that the rebuilding occurs in a manner that minimizes future risks.

Tomorrow morning, that dialogue begins. If you’ve been directly affected by either of these fires, you should read the staff report, and plan to participate.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

Board of Supervisors Staff Report, Agenda Item #41
http://sccounty01.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/bds/
Govstream/BDSvData/non_legacy/agendas/
2008/20080617/PDF/041.pdf

AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act, commits California to reduce its global warming emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020. There is no chance that we can do this unless we change the sprawling growth patterns that have typified land use in this state.

Two bills pending in the State Assembly address the problem. One is imperfect, but would make some progress; the other is a sham. My bias is always for legislation that follows the KISS principle: “keep it simple, stupid.” That means that the law should contain a clear and unequivocal direction, which tells governments and individuals what they must do, and what they must not do. This is often known as the “regulatory” approach.

Legislation that relies on “incentives” is usually more popular. But that kind of legislation often results in lots of activity, with little being accomplished. Unfortunately, Senate Bill 375, which is an honest effort to promote good regional planning, does take the incentive-based approach. But SB 303, which also takes an incentive-based approach, would pretty much allow local governments to decide themselves what they should do, by way of regional planning to address global warming. In other words, SB 303 will not make any change at all in the kind of local decision-making that is causing the problem, and it could make things worse.

Both these bills will be up for key votes soon. You can get more information below.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

Senate Bill 375
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/sen/sb_0351-
0400/sb_375_bill_20080324_amended_asm_v91.pdf

Status of SB 375
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/sen/
sb_0351-0400/sb_375_bill_20080409_status.html

Senate Bill 303
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/sen/sb_0301-
0350/sb_303_bill_20080609_amended_asm_v93.pdf

Status of SB 303
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/sen/
sb_0301-0350/sb_303_bill_20080610_status.html

The proposed schedule for completion of the Monterey County General Plan Update has now been announced. The General Plan Update process began in 1999, and the County is working towards adoption of the fifth draft of the Plan, euphemistically called GPU5.

No planning document is more important than the local General Plan. All planning and public works decisions must be consistent with the local General Plan, so if the General Plan contains clear, and unequivocal policy statements, it’s possible for the public to have real confidence about what future land use decisions will look like.

The problem is, many General Plans don’t contain such clear policy statements. That means that policy direction really comes from a series of project level decisions, added up. While quite typical, this approach really isn’t worthy of the name “planning.” The idea of a plan is to decide what you want to achieve in advance, and then make sure that subsequent decisions conform to the plan adopted.

If you’re a Monterey County resident, you might want to note these dates:

• On August 1st, the Draft EIR on GPU5 will be released for comment. Comments will probably have to be submitted within 45 days.
• On October 1st, responses to comments will be filed, and hearings on the actual General Plan document can begin.
• Final action on GPU5 is supposed to be complete by December 31st, when the current Board composition will change, with Jane Parker replacing Ila Mettee-McCutcheon.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

If you are interested in getting involved in the review and approval process, helpful materials are always available on the County’s website, and on the website maintained by LandWatch Monterey County:

• http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/planning/gpu/default.htm
• Http://www.landwatch.org

A helpful publication on the importance of the General Plan is “Land Use and the General Plan,” available on the LandWatch website
http://www.landwatch.org/pages/publications03/
gpsummit/landusegeneralplan.pdf

The Presidential election to be held this November will have a determinative impact on the future of this nation. But the choice between Barack Obama and John McCain in the Presidential contest isn’t the only important choice that the electorate will face. California voters are going to be asked whether or not they want to authorize a $10 billion dollar bond issue, to help stimulate the construction of a High Speed Rail system, running from the Bay Area to Los Angeles.

Unfortunately, authorizing the Bond isn’t automatically going to get the High Speed Rail System built. In fact, voters are going to be asked to invest in a rather speculative business proposition, which might not pan out. As the Sacramento Bee says, there are a “lot of questionable assumptions. While there are obvious benefits to a modern high-speed rail network, [there are] … doubts about the authority's ability to gain access to rights-of-way necessary to build a new rail corridor, [and] … the financing plan relies on outdated estimates of construction costs.”

Senator Alan Lowenthal, Chair of the State Senate Transportation and Housing Committee, has posed this key question: “What assurance can the authority provide that California taxpayers will not be stuck with a massive bill in the future, if they approve the bond measure on the November ballot?” That’s a good question, and only one of many good questions about the proposed High Speed Rail System, which some people think could end up being a costly and environmentally destructive mistake.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

Editorial, Sacramento Bee
http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/1003976.html

Current version of AB 3034
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/asm/ab_3001-
3050/ab_3034_bill_20080421_amended_asm_v97.html

Recent State Senate Report on High Speed Rail
http://www.senate.ca.gov/ftp/SEN/COMMITTEE/
STANDING/TRANSPORTATION/_home/REPORTS.HTP

Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park will be celebrating its 75th Anniversary on Saturday, July 12th, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. “County fair” type activities will be held in the Day Use parking lot, including old fashioned children’s games, educational displays, and nature walks. There will be free day use parking for this event.

Generations of campers have enjoyed walking through the majestic redwoods at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, swimming in the Big Sur River, and camping under the stars. In fact, I remember doing all those things during my high school years, and that’s getting to be a long time ago, now! More information on this event will be made available as the date gets closer, but now would be a good time to mark your calendar.

Perhaps we can celebrate the future of our State Parks, as well as their past, when the gathering takes place on July 12th. Maybe there will be something to celebrate. Assembly Member John Laird, Chair of the Assembly Budget Committee, has suggested that car registrations in California be increased by $10 dollars per year, with the funds from that increase going to support State Parks. In return for the increased fee, anyone with a California license plate would be able to get in to our State Parks free. This could, at long last, provide stable funding for our State Park system. You can get more information by tracking down the written transcript for today’s Land use Report on the KUSP website

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

More information on the Pfeiffer Big Sur 75th Anniversary celebration is available from Pat Clark-Gray via e-mail at pgray@parks.ca.gov, or by phone at (831) 649-2855.

You can reach John Laird through his official website at
http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/members/a27/

More on the State Parks funding proposal:
http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/members/a27/parks.htm