El estado del condado de Monterey 1998
Craig Wiley Response to the State of Monterey County Report

1. Do I agree with LandWatch's assessment of Monterey County planning issues?

Absolutely, LandWatch has touched on all the major issues facing our area in the coming years. Growth is out pacing services and this was even demonstrated recently in the Chular II housing crisis, as well as in other areas. This particular project reflects a failure in the planning and approval process. Growth, its affect on infrastructure, and the building and planning process is one of the major issues facing us today.

My experience has taught that the solution to large problems that affect great numbers of people usually involve taking action on many levels simultaneously. This problem is a prime candidate for that approach.

If elected, with the current information before me I would take the following actions simultaneously.

a. Accurate information on actual short term and long term growth needs should be compiled right away.

b. The process by which projects are evaluated and there impact on the surrounding environment needs to sharpened and refined. In the short term, all proposed projects should come immediately before the board so that potential problem areas can be identified and addressed in the planing and evaluation process. Public input needs to be gathered at the beginning of the process not just at the end.

c. Regular information exchange and a public relations effort needs to be established so that the voters that would approve, be a party to, and be affected by the solutions are up to speed on the problems and the consequences of in-action.

d. Cooperative relationships and emergency action plans need to be coordinated with surrounding municipalities so that speedy, and comprehensive action can be taken to mitigate immediate problems while more long term fixes are constructed and put in to place.

e. I would direct municipal services to identify major problem areas in their domain and prepare short term solutions for implementation, utilizing existing resources, and to propose possible long term solutions for consideration.

f. I would commence an ongoing effort to gather information from government, business and the public in order to develop a "Master Plan".

g. Establish a position for a grant researcher, to continuously research the availability of state, federal, and private grants, matching funds, and other funding conduits.

2. Do I agree with LandWatch's recommendations?

I mostly do agree with LandWatch's recommendations, in fact on most points I feel that LandWatch has not gone quite far enough. For instance, it is not enough to simply declare a moratorium on building, developing and the creation of affordable housing until a Master Plan has been updated or developed from scratch. Master Planning is extremely time consuming, controversial and can even be years in reaching consensus and approval. Additionally, regardless of wether any new development is approved or not there will still be an increase in population from within (as our communities grow) and from without (as more people try to relocate to this unique area) that would add to our water supply, traffic, education and density problems. That is why I would propose short term solutions to address the most immediate needs while we move forward at top speed to develop and implement long term answers.

On the other hand, if a moratorium on subdivisions and annexations is the only way to stop the encroachment of low density urban development on to valuable farm land, and to curtail developments that are strictly for the gain of the developer at the cost of infrastructure and the quality of life for surrounding communities, then I would have to support such moratoria.

With respect to LandWatch's last recommendation for an annual report by Planning and Building Inspection to the state, obviously we must meet our legal obligations here on time and in a thorough and cooperative manner.

Nobody accomplishes anything significant these days by themselves. Time and time again we will be involved on the state level for assistance, direction, funding, support and guidance when appropriate, thus, it is critical that we be genuinely responsive when asked for information or to respond in kind.

3. What is my vision of growth, how much and how fast, what about the next 20 years, where should this growth occur, how does affordable housing, the environment and our infrastructure fit this picture?

Hopefully, I have covered much of this in my answers to questions 1 and 2. My vision of growth is that there is no way to stop it but that there is a best way to plan for it. That growth options that work are good for everyone and are welcomed by a wide consensus. And that the involvement and participation of everyone affected by the problems and solutions will help to bring about positive answers that are way better and more effective than those that are developed by one group to then be imposed upon another.

As to the growth rate over the next 20 year period, I favor the rates that are suggested by the research, and steps that I have described above. This question will actually be answered by the process of creating a comprehensive Master Plan.

More importantly for me, over the next 20 years and certainly during the time that I am in office, it is my hope that more and more people will be able to see the interrelatedness of all these supposed opposing interests. That commercial/industrial space cannot work if you don't have housing to support the workforce and that you can't attract a high level workforce if you let the quality of life and the environment deteriorate.

Growers are providing a financial backbone to our community and are bringing in uncountable amounts of money while utilizing one of our strongest assets, this great farming land. And that tourism while also bringing in tremendous amounts of cash and employment opportunities functions as a fantastic diversification of our economy in that a bad year growing might be offset by a great year of tourism or vise versa.

Everyone needs good schools even people with no children because there is a relationship between crime and education. We all need plentiful top quality water, and it is no fun getting around when roadways are thick with congestion. Affordable housing affects us all even though some may not think so. Consider that if you are well off and don't think that it affects you what will happen when your parents retire and want to move in with you or when your own kids grow up and want to move out, or not move out all because housing costs are out of sight. And when you add the fact that more people homeless means more people on the street, panhandlers, etc., then it's easy to see that this is our issue too.

Certainly we are enjoying one of the best environments that the world has to offer and I'm going to see to it that it stays that way. It is one of our greatest assets, and it too is linked to all of the other concerns mentioned above. In fact, when the infrastructure can not keep up with the demands on it then the environment is the first thing to go. The environment is compromised when the water supply is strained or becomes tainted, or if a landfill is located in such a way that it causes unwanted side-effects, or when we have twice as many automobiles, or when heavy manufacturing is indiscriminately placed.

I hope by now that you agree with me that WE are all compromised in situations such as these, that's why we all need to pull together to solve our common problems.

Craig Wiley [Back to State of Monterey County Responses]