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KUSP LandWatch
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ogo.gif" width="108" height="109" border="0"> "Listen Live" |
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 September 15, 2003 to September 19, 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,
September 16, 2003 – The GPU Refinement Group
If you were of high school age or older in the 1960’s, I imagine
you’ll remember that song by the “Lovin’ Spoonful,”
which focused specifically on the nature of the decision-making
process:
“Sometimes you really dig a girl, the minute you’ve kissed her; but then you get distracted by her older sister…Her daddy comes in and takes you aside, and says, son, you better go home and make up your mind.”
In the land use realm in Monterey County, the time for some major decisions has arrived. Growth pressures are pushing up against the limited natural resources and scarce financial resources of the county. Deciding how to deal with those growth pressures is really what the General Plan Update is all about.
Tomorrow, the Board of Supervisors will consider procedural issues related to its General Plan Update. In June, the Board created a so-called “Refinement Group,” hoping that group could find some way to eliminate differences of opinion on the current draft document. As it turned out, that didn’t happen. Citizen groups want future growth to be tightly focused in existing urban areas. Business groups and large landowners want what they call “flexibility,” to build housing and other projects in rural areas. This kind of difference of opinion really does demand a choice, and elected officials are the ones who have to “make up their mind.” No group of special interest representatives can take them off the hook.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
Monterey County Board of Supervisors’ Agenda
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/suagenda/agenda.htmlPreliminary Draft of General Plan Update
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/gpu/Reports/0403/Refinement Group Report:
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/gpu/news/MONTEREY%20
COUNTY%20BOARD%20OF%20SUPERVISORS.pdf
Tuesday,
September 16, 2003 – Cannery Row
Last Saturday (and only about a block from the LandWatch office,
as a matter of fact), Oprah Winfrey was in Salinas to tape part
of an upcoming show, celebrating the writings of John Steinbeck.
Monterey County is still “Steinbeck Country,” but if you’d
like to see “Steinbeck Country” in a somewhat still recognizable
form, I’d suggest an earlier rather than a later visit.
Two weeks ago, for instance, I saw the famous “Red Pony Barn,” featured in one of Steinbeck’s most endearing stories. The barn is located in the rolling hills off San Juan Grade Road. I was there not as a literary tourist, but to make a site visit with the Planning Commission. This old and picturesque barn is dead center in the middle of the biggest residential development ever proposed in unincorporated Monterey County, the so-called “Rancho San Juan” development.
On the other side of Salinas, in the little town of Spreckels, which looks like a stage set for a Steinbeck reenactment, Tainimura and Antle, the largest agricultural grower in the Salinas Valley, is proposing to pave over some of its farmland with a residential subdivision, that would be immediately adjacent to historic Spreckels.
Tonight, at the Monterey City Council meeting, you can find out about efforts to preserve the historic qualities of Cannery Row, another Steinbeck favorite place. Suffice it to say that many of the business owners there are not very supportive of any regulation to protect its historic character.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
Oprah Winfrey Website
http://www.oprah.com/Monterey City Website
http://www.monterey.org/City Council Agenda for September 16th
http://www.monterey.org/ccncl/agendas/2003/a030916.pdfRancho San Juan Specific Plan
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/pbi/major/rsj/rsj_main.htm
Wednesday,
September 17, 2003 – Marina Heights Tomorrow
Marina Heights, the largest single development project ever proposed
in the City of Marina, will be heard before the Marina Planning
Commission tomorrow night at 6:30 p.m. If approved, the Marina Heights
Project would result in the demolition of 828 existing homes. Those
existing homes would be replaced with 1,050 new homes, and 80% of
the new homes would be sold at prices in excess of half a million
dollars apiece.
The alternative of retaining and renovating the existing 828 housing units is not being given any consideration by the City. In a way, that’s odd, since in an immediately adjacent area, the exact same kind of houses have been renovated, at the cost of about $30,000 per house. That renovated area is now a fine suburban neighborhood. The renovated houses are being rented out by the City of Marina to ordinary working families, and after all the costs are paid, net income to the City is about $2,000,000 per year.
Again, this model is not being looked at for the Marina Heights area. The land on which the Marina Heights Project is proposed is owned by the public, but the City plans to sell that land to a private developer for about $10,000,000 of one time income. Why this is preferable to a development that would produce several million dollars a year, in perpetuity, is a question that Marina citizens and residents might want to pursue.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
Marina City Website
http://www.ci.marina.ca.us/
Thursday,
September 18, 2003 – Action Pajaro Valley
Those interested in the future of the Pajaro Valley might want to
take in a meeting scheduled for this evening. Tonight at 6:00 o’clock,
Action Pajaro Valley will hold its quarterly Advisory Board Meeting.
The meeting will be held at the Kalich Building, 449 Union Street
in Watsonville. This would be a fine chance to learn about the organization’s
past work, and to get an update on its current work.
Action Pajaro Valley is a nonprofit group, formed in 1998. The group brought together a broad range of civic, business, and environmental leaders, to forge a common “vision” for the future of the Pajaro Valley, on both sides of the River. This is never, and was not in this case, an easy task. It’s fair to say, though, that getting organized, bringing people together, and working on specific changes at the local level often does pay off. In the case of Action Pajaro Valley, at least one payoff came with the Watsonville Urban Limit Line and Development Timing Initiative, adopted by the voters in November 2002.
If you’d like to get more information on Action Pajaro Valley, the meeting tonight is your best chance. But you can use the World Wide Web, too. Just click on the Land Use Report link at www.kusp.org, and track down the transcript of today’s Report. Send me your thoughts and comments, too. I really would like to make the Land Use Report as helpful and informative as possible.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
Action Pajaro Valley Website
http://www.actionpajarovalley.org/
Friday,
September 19, 2003 – LAFCO Next Monday
I go out of my way talk about LAFCO, since many people don’t
have a very good idea of what LAFCOs do. LAFCO is the acronym for
“Local Agency Formation Commission,” and there’s
a LAFCO in every California county. When the same governmental institution
exists in every county, there’s a good chance this is because
the State Legislature said it had to be that way. And that’s
true for LAFCO. LAFCOs are really not local agencies. They’re
state agencies. They operate under state law, and the whole idea
in creating LAFCOs was to bring some order and discipline to local
land use decisions.
It used to be that cities could decide their own boundaries just by voting on them. The City of San Jose was renowned for what were called “cherry stem” annexations. The City would spot some land located a mile or more out of town, and vote to annex that land and the road leading to it, but none of the land in between. In this way, revenue producing properties were brought into the city, and the expense of paying for most of the impacts of the remote development fell to county government. LAFCOs were set up to avoid that. It says right in the law that they’re supposed to stop urban sprawl.
If you’d like to see a LAFCO in action, check out www.kusp.org. I’ve provided references to the LAFCO websites for all the LAFCOs in the Central Coast Region.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
Monterey County LAFCO
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/lafco/Agendas.htmSanta Cruz County LAFCO
http://www.santacruzlafco.org/San Luis Obispo County LAFCO
http://www.slolafco.com/Santa Clara County LAFCO
http://www.santaclara.lafco.ca.gov/California Association of LAFCOs
http://www.calafco.org/State Law Establishing LAFCO
http://napa.lafco.ca.gov/govcode.htm
Archives of past transcripts are available here
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