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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 February 23, 2004 to February 27, 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,
February 23, 2004 – University Villages in Marina
The City of Marina is inviting the public to attend a Town Hall
Meeting tomorrow night, to comment on the proposed “University
Villages” project. The Meeting will take place at the Marina
Community Center, 211 Hillcrest Avenue in Marina. It starts at 7:00
p.m. City staff will make a short presentation, and then Marina
Community Partners (the developers) will display the current concept
plan. The floor will then be open for suggestions, comments, and
insights from the community.
The proposed “University Villages” project is part of the effort to redevelop and reuse the former Fort Ord. You may remember hearing about the proposed “Marina Heights” project. That project is another such effort. “University Villages,” unlike “Marina Heights,” is supposed to mix both residential and commercial uses. The proposed development is immediately adjacent to the California State University, Monterey Bay campus, so you can think of the “University Villages” project as trying to conceptualize, and then build, a “University district,” or “college town,” on lands that have previously served as an Army base.
The land proposed for this project is public land, and the City is still in an early stage in the planning process. If you’d like to get involved in some “hands on” planning, the meeting tomorrow might be a good place to start.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
City of Marina Website
http://www.ci.marina.ca.us/University Villages Contact List
http://www.ci.marina.ca.us/Revised%20
Contact%20list%202-13-03.pdf
Tuesday,
February 24, 2004 – TAMC and Development Principles
“TAMC” means the “Transportation Agency for Monterey
County.” Most of the money for transportation related projects
in Monterey County, from freeway interchanges to city streets and
bike paths, flows through the hands of TAMC. The TAMC Board of Directors
includes all five members of the Monterey County Board of Supervisors,
and a representative from each city within Monterey County.
In transportation matters, as in so many other areas, things seem to happen according to the “Golden Rule.” Those who have the gold make the rules. Because TAMC has the ability to decide on transportation funding priorities, it could, if it wanted to, insist that various conditions be met, prior to providing funding for local projects.
Tomorrow, TAMC will discuss proposed “Community Development Principles.” The TAMC staff is suggesting that county and city governments should “encourage mixed used developments,” to minimize automobile trips, and should “require new development to pay for its proportional impact to the transportation system.” As proposed, the “Community Development Principles” would just be “recommendations.” LandWatch Monterey County has suggested that TAMC think about making them actual requirements. For more information, click on the Land Use Report link at www.kusp.org.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
TAMC Home Page
http://www.tamcmonterey.org/List of TAMC Board Members
http://www.tamcmonterey.org/tamc/members.htmA copy of the LandWatch letter
http://www.landwatch.org/pages/issuesactions/
development/021804tmacletter.html
Wednesday,
February 25, 2004 – The D’Arrigo Project
This morning, at 10:20, the Monterey County Planning Commission
is scheduled to consider a controversial project in the Spreckels
area. Spreckels is located near Salinas, and is a one time “company
town,” constructed for workers in the Spreckels Sugar Beet
factory, which was located nearby. Today, the little town of Spreckels
is officially recognized as an “historic resource” by
Monterey County. It’s a picturesque island of early 1900’s
architecture, located in the middle of fertile agricultural fields.
On one of those fields, close by the town, a large agricultural processing plant is being proposed, along with a large office building. Some 900 truck trips a day would be generated by the new factory, if in fact it’s built.
One of the key policy issues is whether productive agricultural land should be utilized for factories and offices. One provision in the current General Plan seems to say, “no,” and states that processing facilities can only be constructed on agricultural land if the land <quote> “is not suitable for cultivation.” It’s particularly interesting that the United Farm Workers have been one of the biggest opponents of the proposed project. In the long run, of course, if we turn fertile fields into factories and office buildings (even when those are related to agriculture) the jobs that go along with agricultural production will be lost.
Check the KUSP website for more information.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
Planning Commission Agenda
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/pbi/cca/pc/02-25-04/pc02-25-04a.htmStaff Report
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/pbi/cca/pc/02-25-04/PLN020069PC2.pdfLandWatch Letter on D’Arrigo Development
http://www.landwatch.org/pages/issuesactions/
spreckels/021702plancom.html
Thursday,
February 26, 2004 – The Seacliff Highlands Project
In the City of Seaside in Monterey County there’s a big housing
development under construction. It’s called “Seaside Highlands,”
and is controversial, among other things, for its lack of affordable
housing. Built on public land once owned by the City of Seaside,
this development consists of over 350 homes. Not one of them is
affordable to a person with an average or below average income.
The lowest priced home in this development is over half a million
dollars. You can get more information on the Seaside Highlands project
by clicking on the Land Use Report link at www.kusp.org. Don’t
hesitate to send me an email with your comments and suggestions,
as well.
In Santa Cruz County, the Board of Supervisors has just set a public hearing for a housing development called the “Seacliff Highlands” project. The “Seacliff Highlands” project in Santa Cruz County is quite different from the “Seaside Highlands” project in Seaside. The Santa Cruz County project is proposed for 100% affordable housing. All the homes would affordable to persons with average and below average incomes. The public hearing on “Seacliff Highlands” is set for Tuesday, March 9th, at 9:00 o’clock in the morning, at the County Courthouse in Santa Cruz. If you want to weigh in on affordable housing issues, you might want to put that date on your calendar.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
Information on the “Seaside Highlands” development in Seaside:
http://www.landwatch.org/pages/issuesactions/seaside.htmlHearing Notice, Seacliff Highlands (Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors):
http://sccounty01.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/bds/Govstream/BDSvData/
non_legacy/agendas/2004/20040210/PDF/034.pdf
Friday,
February 27, 2004 – TALC Annual Summit
Frequent listeners to this Land Use Report know that land use and
transportation issues are intimately related. The transportation
decisions we make have a powerful effect on the land use and development
patterns that ultimately shape our communities. There’s a very
good argument that the public investment that we’ve made in
highways and freeways (hundreds of billions of dollars) have generated
much of what has come to be called “urban sprawl.”
Looking at it from the other way around, the land use decisions we make directly affect what kind of transportation systems we ultimately develop. If we build remote, rural subdivisions, the people who live there will have to get to work, and school, and shopping by driving, and that means more highways and freeways. The process is called “circular and cumulative causation” by noted economist Gunnar Myrdal, in a fascinating book called “Economic Theory and Under-Developed Regions,” which isn’t really about transportation at all.
If you’re interested in this relationship between land use and transportation; if you’re pondering the “Dear Abby” type question, “can this relationship be saved,” then you might like to attend the 7th Annual Summit meeting of the Transportation and Land Use Coalition, to be held in Oakland on Saturday March 13th. Get all the info you need at www.kusp.org.
For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
More Information:
Economic Theory and Under-Developed Regions, by Gunnar Myrdal (Gerald Duckworth & Co., London, 1957)
Transportation and Land Use Coalition Website
http://www.transcoalition.org/Information on the TALC Annual Summit
http://www.transcoalition.org/cal/Summit/04summit.html
Archives of past transcripts are available here
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