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KUSP LandWatch
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KUSP provided a brief Land Use Report on KUSP Radio from January 2003 to May 2016. Archives of past transcripts are available here.
Week of February 10, 2003 to February 14, 2003
The following Land Use Reports have been presented on KUSP Radio by Gary Patton, Executive Director of LandWatch Monterey County. The opinions expressed by Mr. Patton are not necessarily those of KUSP Radio, nor of any of its sponsors.
Monday,
February 10, 2003 – San Benito Growth Management Initiative
Local land use issues are often not just local. The land use challenges
facing the California Central Coast are often regional in scope.
Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Benito counties, for instance, are
all profoundly affected by what happens in Santa Clara County.
We see this impact most clearly on housing prices. Affordable housing for the Silicon Valley is not generally found in the Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley wage earners often find that housing affordable to them is located in one of the adjacent counties. Impacts on agricultural land and natural resources are also generated by growth that is occurring within the wider region.
Geographically, Santa Cruz County is the smallest county in the state. Growth pressures on Santa Cruz County, generated in the Silicon Valley, have been a major challenge. San Benito County is “next in line” in terms of Silicon Valley growth pressures.
In 1978, Santa Cruz County voters adopted a referendum measure that has helped with, but not eliminated, regional growth impacts. This year, a group of San Benito County activists are hoping to qualify a comprehensive growth management initiative for the San Benito County ballot. If you’d like more information, including a copy of the initiative, visit the KUSP website at www.kusp.org.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
A copy of the San Benito County initiative is available on the LandWatch website
http://www.landwatch.org/pages/issuesactions/
regional/020903sanbenito.htmlTo get more information on the San Benito County initiative, contact Ernie Goitein at fego@pacbell.net, or Mark Levine at mark@hollinet.com.
Tuesday,
February 11, 2003 – Monterey County Approves Woodman Project
Last week, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors approved an
“Option Agreement” with a private developer, to govern
the future development of county lands located on the former Fort
Ord. It’s hard to overstate the importance of Fort Ord for
the future of Monterey County.
Assuming that growth pressures continue (and that’s a pretty good bet), Monterey County has only about three possible strategies to deal with new residential growth. First, the County could continue to allow significant residential development throughout its rural areas. This is probably the least desirable alternative from the perspective of planning policy.
Second, and this requires some real leadership from the County and from LAFCO, the Local Agency Formation Commission, growth could be directed to existing cities. Rural development would be discouraged. The major problem with this approach is the potential loss of economically productive agricultural land around the Salinas Valley cities, as they expand in response to growth pressures.
The third option is to maximize the use of Fort Ord, and to focus a very significant share of all new residential growth there. In terms of planning policy, that’s probably the most desirable solution, but it’s the most difficult to achieve. Unfortunately, the Option Agreement just approved turns over significant policy making authority to a private developer, which makes a tough task even tougher.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
Text of Option Agreement
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/opt_agr_012103_clean.pdfAnalysis of Option Agreement
http://www.landwatch.org/pages/issuesactions/
fortord/020503woodman.html
Wednesday,
February 12, 2003 – Walkable Workshop in Marina
Land use policy is important, and complex, and filled with controversy
and difficulties of all kinds. It doesn’t seem to be that much
“fun,” does it?
Well, everyone to their own taste, of course, but I’m here to tell you that there are some “fun” aspects of land use planning and land use policy. To prove it, I’d like to invite you to an event that I think will be quite a bit of fun, if you’re at all interested in the land use policy topics that I generally cover on these Land Use Report segments on KUSP.
The event is tonight. It’s a “Walkable Communities Workshop,” to be held in the City of Marina. And it will be led by Dan Burden, who is an entertaining, and inspiring speaker. I’ve heard Dan Burden talk on several occasions (most recently in Salinas, about a year or so ago), and I think you’ll enjoy his message.
This workshop, I’m almost positive, will feature a set of slides that Dan has collected from all over the country. They show how changing the way we design and build our streets and highways can make all the difference for the shape and character of our community.
The meeting will be held at the Marina Small Business Incubator, located near the Marina Airport at 3180 Imjin Road. Take the Reservation Road exit off Highway One and stay on Reservation Road till you see the Airport. Then, turn left on Imjin. I hope to see you there!
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
Workshop Flyer
http://www.landwatch.org/pages/
issuesactions/marina/020603workshop.htmlWalkable Communities Website
http://www.walkable.org/Local Government Commission
http://www.lgc.org/Livable Streets, Inc.
http://www.livablestreetsinc.com/Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District
http://www.mbuapcd.org/City of Marina
http://www.ci.marina.ca.us/For More Information Contact: John Heiser, City of Marina – 831-884-1291
Thursday,
February 13, 2003 – Our Water Future
A recent news article had a strange headline. It read: “FRESNO
- Water District May Move To Watsonville.” The news story didn’t
actually live up to the headline. It said that Watsonville growers
were negotiating to buy a Fresno County Water District and move
the water (not the district) to their land near the coast. This
is all related to a project being advanced by one of the lesser
known but more important public agencies located here on the Central
Coast, the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency, sometimes known
as the PVWMA.
KUSP listeners probably know that the Pajaro Valley, encompassing areas in both Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, has been in a condition of serious groundwater overdraft for a very long time. This overdraft is causing saltwater contamination of the fresh water aquifers upon which our local economy is utterly dependent. The solution proposed by the PVWMA is to build a pipeline to the Central Valley, and to import water from there. This is a controversial plan.
Other solutions are also controversial. A small local nonprofit, the Monterey Bay Conservancy, argues that the PVWMA should buy local farmlands, and take them out of production to reduce water demand. There is more than one way to bring the basin into balance, and using imported water, is only one.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency
http://www.pvwma.dst.ca.us/Monterey Bay Conservancy
http://www.pogonip.org/
Friday,
February 14, 2003 – General Plan Guidebook
If you’re a frequent listener to this Land Use Report, you’ve
heard me say many times that a community’s General Plan is
its “constitution” for land use, and that the planning
policies contained in the local General Plan will have a profound
effect on the future of the community. That’s all true. State
law requires every city and county in California to have a General
Plan, and every planning decision in the community has to be found
“consistent” with that General Plan.
It’s this last feature that makes the General Plan so important. Every zoning decision, every planning approval, and every public project must be “consistent” with the policies in the General Plan. By adopting the right policies, a local community can shape its future in the way that seems best to that community. This is because General Plan policies will determine the fate of all the individual planning decisions that follow. Individual decisions, added up, create the world we ultimately inhabit.
LandWatch Monterey County has just published a “best policies” guidebook, entitled “Land Use and The General Plan.” It covers affordable housing, property rights, agricultural land preservation, water, natural resources protection, transportation and transit, and permit process reform. If you’d like to get a copy, check the KUSP website at www.kusp.org.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
KUSP listeners interested in receiving a copy of this recently published guidebook, “Land Use and the General Plan,” should contact Gary Patton at . At some point in the near future, LandWatch hopes to have the full text available at the LandWatch website. You should check the “Publications” section of the website at www.landwatch.org. The printed edition will be easier to use, and more helpful for anyone seriously interested in pursuing adoption of the land use policies it recommends.
Archives of past transcripts are available here
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