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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 January 12, 2004 to January 16, 2004
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,
January 12, 2004--The Greenfield Inclusionary Housing Ordinance
The City of Greenfield will shortly be considering the adoption
of an inclusionary housing ordinance. This kind of ordinance imposes
a requirement on residential developers that they ìincludeî
a certain percentage of affordable housing in each new development
they build. Santa Cruz County, Monterey County, and the cities of
Salinas and Watsonville have had inclusionary ordinances in place
for some time. Santa Cruz County has had such an ordinance in place
since about 1979, and it has resulted in the construction of more
than a thousand units of housing available to persons with average
and below average incomes.
For those wishing to get into the details, the Nonprofit Housing Association of Northern California has an excellent publication available. You can get details by clicking on the Land Use Report link at www.kusp.org.
For those wanting to help formulate the specifics of what will happen in Greenfield, thereís an important meeting tonight, starting at 6:00 p.m. at the Greenfield City Hall. At that time, the Greenfield Planning Commission will hold a continued public hearing on the proposed inclusionary housing ordinance. Housing advocates can identify ways that the ordinance currently proposed could be strengthened. Developers, of course, have a very great interest in making sure that the ordinance produces a system that will work for them. In other words, I hope to see you in Greenfield this evening!
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
City of Greenfield Website
http://www.greenfield-ca.com/NPH Publication on Inclusionary Housing
http://www.nonprofithousing.org/knowledgebank/publications/index.atomic
Tuesday,
January 13, 2004--The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors
The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors makes it particularly
easy for members of the public to get involved; at least, itís
easy for those with internet access. The County puts the entire
agenda packet for each Board of Supervisors meeting on the County
website. You can not only see what items are scheduled, you can
get the full staff report, and all the other materials that the
Board will consider. The Board even makes it easy to send in an
email comment, which goes to each member of the Board of Supervisors.
An audio recording of past items is also available. If youíre
interested in seeing how the system works, click on the Land Use
Report link at www.kusp.org, and track down the transcript for todayís
broadcast. The system is so good that residents of other areas ought
to be asking for something similar from their city or county government.
Today, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors will confront some interesting and important land use issues. On the Consent Agenda, the Board is getting a report on proposed changes to the fee schedule for new development. As the fiscal challenges to local government increase, the idea of making new development pay its own way gains importance. Agenda item #42 on the Regular Agenda is going to be a discussion of just how significant the Countyís inclusionary housing program has become. This is an item well-worth reading.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
Santa Cruz County Government
http://www.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/January 13, 2004 Agenda
http://sccounty01.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/bds/Govstream/ASP/Display/
SCCB_AgendaDisplayWeb.asp?MeetingDate=1/13/2004Fee Study Item
http://sccounty01.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/bds/Govstream/BDSvData/
non_legacy/agendas/2004/20040113/PDF/025.pdf
Wednesday,
January 14, 2004--Coming Up in Marina
The concept of ìopportunity costî is an important one.
This is an idea that is associated with economic analysis, but in
fact, thinking about ìopportunity costsî is a good
idea in lots of different contexts. Click on the Land Use Report
link on the KUSP website for a reference to a very user#8209;friendly
article on the topic. As the article notes, people do not have the
resources to satisfy all their wants. We need to make choices about
how to allocate the resources we do have. The concept of ìopportunity
costî helps us focus on the consequences of the choices we
make.
In the City of Marina, a very significant ìopportunity costî problem is facing the City Council. The Council is poised to approve the so-called ìMarina Heightsî project that would result in the construction of about 1,050 new homes in Marina. About 80% of those homes would cost at least half a million dollars apiece, and thus would not be affordable to most of us. The City Council, however, thinks that this is a good project, and would probably have approved it already, if a late-breaking Water Supply Assessment hadnít suggested that by approving Marina Heights, the Council would be precluding developments that would result in new jobs. On Tuesday, January 20th, the City Council will be holding a public hearing to discuss this critical ìopportunity costî problem. You might want to mark your calendar and attend.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
"Opportunity Cost" Defined and Discussed"
http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.cfm?lesson=EM51City of Marina Website
http://www.ci.marina.ca.us/Marina Jobs-Housing Plan
http://www.ci.marina.ca.us/news/MarinaJobsHousingPlanFinal9-11-03.pdf
Thursday,
January 15, 2004--What FORA Did
The reuse of Fort Ord is governed by a Fort Ord Reuse Plan. That
plan makes no specific provision for affordable housing. In the
last year or so, FORA has been discussing whether to change that,
and specifically whether to adopt policies that would require each
new development on the former Fort Ord to contain a significant
share of affordable housing.
Under current state law, 20% of the new housing constructed on Fort Ord will have to be affordable. That means that 80% of the housing will be for those who can pay more than $500,000 for a house. Up until last Friday, Congressmember Sam Farr, backed by huge public support, was calling for a much greater percentage of affordable housing. 50% and 40% were the figures mentioned most often. Since the lands of the former Fort Ord either are, or will be, 100% owned by local governments (in other words, itís public land) it seems to make sense to reserve a significant share of the new housing for the ordinary working families of Monterey County.
But, last Friday, Congressmember Farr and the rest of the FORA Board officially dropped the idea of any requirement for an affordable housing percentage greater than 20%. ìFlexible targetsî were substituted for a definite requirement. It appears that an initiative measure may now be the only way to ensure significant affordable housing at Fort Ord.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
FORA Website
http://www.fora.org/FORA and affordable housing
http://www.landwatch.org/pages/issuesactions/fortord.htmlTo get involved, contact Elizabeth Panetta at
Friday,
January 16, 2004--Candidate Forum on River Road
Local land use decisions will have a big impact on our lives, fortunes,
and our sacred honor. Well, what Iím trying to say is that
how we use the land will determine not only the health of our local
economy, but also how well we keep faith with the natural environment
that sustains our lives, and whether or not we build a society that
achieves greater social equity. Our sacred honor really is implicated,
I think, in the land use decisions we make.
ìWe,î members of the public, make land use decisions through our agencies of local government. Sometimes we act directly, through the initiative or referendum process, but we mostly rely on our local elected officials to act on our behalf. Selecting those representatives, then, gets to be pretty important for the future of our local communities.
In Monterey County, voters in the Fifth Supervisorial District have some fundamental choices to make in the election this March. Current County Supervisor Dave Potter is being challenged by Steve Collins, who is a consultant to agricultural companies, and by Susan Goldbeck, a member of the Pacific Grove City Council. On Friday, January 23rd, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., the League of Women Voters will moderate a candidate forum for these candidates, to be held at the Buena Vista Grange, 518 River Road. You might want to put that one on your calendar.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
Contact Doug Fay at douglaspaulfay@aol.com
Archives of past transcripts are available here
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