Last week, the Santa Cruz County Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO, voted to authorize the City of Santa Cruz to extend water service to the UCSC North Campus. This means the University can transform 240 acres of natural area into a new, dense development, with over 3,000,000 square feet of new buildings. My law firm represents the Community Water Coalition, and I testified that there really isn’t a secure water supply for all this proposed new development. While the Chairperson of the Commission agreed, saying, “I do not believe that the City has an adequate, reliable, and sustainable water supply,” he and most other Commissioners* voted to support the University’s application. The Chancellor of UCSC, who was present, had warned the Commission, in a letter threatening a lawsuit, that town-gown good will was on the line, to quote a headline in the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

The fact that LAFCO has indicated that it will allow the City to commit its admittedly scarce water supplies to new development on the campus should make everyone pay even more attention to water policy issues. Tomorrow, Item #35 on the Board of Supervisors’ agenda provides a good overview of “water challenges in Santa Cruz County.” I recommend you read it, and I recommend you get personally involved!

More Information:

• Gary Patton writes a daily blog, Two Worlds / 365
• December 13, 2011 Board Agenda
• LAFCO Materials on UCSC Expansion Item #35- Water Resources Program Status Report
• Sentinel Article on Chancellor’s Warning To LAFCO
• LAFCO Website
• What Is LAFCO? - List of LAFCO Commissioners

*County Supervisor John Leopold and Special District Representative Jim Anderson voted “no.”

One of the most important land use items now under discussion in Monterey County is the question of whether or not the Sphere of Influence of the Marina Coast Water District should be expanded to include the entirety of the former Fort Ord. If the entirety of Fort Ord is going to be developed, so that a municipal water supply will be needed, then putting the entirety of the former Fort Ord into the Sphere of Influence of the Marina Coast Water District may make some sense. If areas on the former Fort Ord are not going to be developed, and should remain in their natural, open space condition, then it is not clear why the Water District should be trying to expand its jurisdiction over such open space and natural lands.

I suspect that what is really underlying the current expansionist proposal by the Water District is a specific development proposal, the so-called “Monterey Downs” development. At any rate, if you are concerned about the future of the former Fort Ord, you should get involved now.

I have placed some links to information on this proposal in the transcript of today’s Land Use Report. The District is accepting written comments up until December 15th (that’s this Thursday), and there will be a hearing on January 10th of next year. Again, I can’t think of a more important land use issue in Monterey County. I hope you’ll get involved.

More Information:

• Gary Patton writes a daily blog, Two Worlds / 365
• Marina Coast Water District Website
• Draft Negative Declaration on proposed Sphere of Influence expansion
• List of Reference Documents
• Official Notice, as revised on November 17, 2011
• Monterey County Herald Article on LAFCO Reaction

The Planning Commission of the City of Santa Cruz is meeting tomorrow. The meeting will start at 7:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, 809 Center Street. Public participation is a matter of public right. If you attend the Planning Commission meeting tomorrow, you can participate. Frankly, it’s a lot harder to participate if you don’t attend, though written submissions are considered. If you haven’t seen one of your local planning bodies in action, and would like to get a taste for how things go, this meeting tomorrow evening might be a good introduction. Of course, such meetings are particularly interesting if you happen to be interested in the topics being addressed.

Tomorrow night, the Planning Commission has two items on its agenda. One involves a request that the City reduce off street parking requirements at 1010 Fair Avenue, and approve a permit for a restaurant use, with beer and wine service. If you happen to hang out in the Fair Avenue area, or live nearby, you might be affected, and you might be interested.

A second item on the Planning Commission agenda tomorrow is of a somewhat larger scale. A landowner and developer would like to demolish the existing structures at 350 Ocean Street, and thereafter to construct a four-story, mixed-use development that would include 58 residential apartments and about 5,000 square feet of commercial use.

There is more information in the transcript of today’s Land Use Report.

More Information:

• Gary Patton writes a daily blog, Two Worlds / 365
• City Planning Commission Agenda for December 15, 2011 Meeting
• Staff Report on 1010 Fair Avenue Project
• Staff Report on 350 Ocean Street Project

Geographic Information System or “GIS” technology can be pretty powerful. The County of Santa Cruz, for instance, has a GIS database that ties all sorts of planning and related information to a county map. You might want to give it a spin. You can find a link in the transcript of today’s Land Use Report. These transcripts, now in a rather handsome blog edition, are accessed by clicking on the “Archives/Podcasts” link on the KUSP home page.

Since water issues are of such importance, and since that specifically includes groundwater issues, I want to make KUSP listeners aware of a newly available GIS database called GeoTracker GAMA. “GAMA” stands for “Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment.” The database has been developed by the California State Water Resources Control Board. It makes it possible easily to search a number of groundwater quality databases, and to get links to other groundwater quality data. All this is done using a GIS approach, which means you type in a location, and then see a map, and from the map you can go to the relevant data.

North Monterey County and South Santa Cruz County face massive groundwater problems. I think that KUSP listeners living in those areas might be particularly interested in seeing what sort of information is available on the groundwater problems they confront.

More Information:

• Gary Patton writes a daily blog, Two Worlds / 365
• Santa Cruz County GIS Planning Database
• DWR GeoTracker Website

A consortium of conservation organizations, including the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County, the Nature Conservancy, the Peninsula Open Space Trust, Save the Redwoods League, and the Sempervirens Fund, have now entered into an agreement to purchase most of the so-called CEMEX property, comprising more than 8,000 acres on the Santa Cruz County North Coast. CEMEX owns land from Bonny Doon Road north, and used to operate a cement plant on this property. The Cement Plant itself is not part of the conservation purchase, but the open space and forested acreages that surround the plant are.

The plan appears to be to have the land go into the immediate ownership of the Peninsula Open Space Trust and the Sempervirens Fund, who will then develop a long term management plan in cooperation with the other organizations. It is not anticipated that the land will ultimately be transferred to any public agency, but will ultimately be sold to one or more private parties, who will then be able to carry out activities consistent with a “conservation easement” that will be developed by the conservation organizations. Continued logging is anticipated. However, it is not yet clear what other sorts of uses might be proposed. Public involvement in the development of the conservation restrictions will be critically important.

More Information:

• Gary Patton writes a daily blog, Two Worlds / 365
• Sempervirens Website – News About The CEMEX Purchase
• Land Trust of Santa Cruz County Website
• Land Trust of Santa Cruz County Press Release
• Santa Cruz Patch Article on Conservation Purchase