KUSP LandWatch News
Week of November 1, 2004 to November 5, 2004

I read that the son of an elderly man, in a small Texas town, persuaded the registrar of voters to make a “house call,” to let his father vote before he died. In California, you don’t have to be on your death bed to vote in advance. I, and many of you, have already voted. Whatever may happen to us before tomorrow, early voters have already cast a vote in what will probably be the most important election in any of our lifetimes.

For those who have not already voted, tomorrow’s the day! Besides getting to weigh in on the future of democracy, Santa Cruz County voters will have the chance to vote on Measure J, one of the most significant land use measures to come before the electorate since the “original” Measure J, in 1978.

If passed by a two-thirds vote, Measure J will raise the sales tax in Santa Cruz County by one-half cent for the next thirty years. That will raise over half a billion dollars. The main use of the money will be to widen Highway One. You can find links to the arguments, pro and con, at www.kusp.org. The basic argument in favor is that “something needs to be done” about congestion on Highway One. The arguments in opposition are that widening the highway won’t actually reduce congestion (except in the very short run); that the costs are “astronomical;” that the construction phase will make current conditions look good; and that we will end up with a “canyon of concrete sound walls.” I’m quoting the opposition. Tomorrow, you decide.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

Transportation Commission Website on Measure J
http://www.sccrtc.org/measurej.html

No on Measure J Website
http://www.no-on-j.com/

Tomorrow, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors will discuss the future of Chualar, a small unincorporated community south of Salinas, right off Highway 101, and right in the middle of some of the most productive agricultural land in the world. Chualar has a few stores. There is a school, which is overcrowded. There are some older houses, mostly without sidewalks and good drainage, and there is a more recent subdivision. Parks and other community facilities are lacking, and the water supply for Chualar is precarious, with nitrate contamination a major issue.

Chualar is a textbook example of why it’s best, in terms of land use policy, not to “sprinkle” developments throughout rural and agricultural areas, but instead to direct development into compact and efficient urban areas, where services are available to residents, and where high quality infrastructure, including water supplies, emergency services, schools, libraries, good roadways, and parks can be economically provided, and then maintained.

However, Chualar (with all its deficiencies) does exist, and the question is what to do about it now. Adjacent landowners would like to build major new residential subdivisions, converting about 1,000 acres of prime agricultural land, and they say that this would improve the lot of current residents. That would perpetuate a pattern of growth that has proven undesirable, but something does need to be done for the disadvantaged residents of the current community. We’ll find out more tomorrow, at 2:00 o’clock.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

Monterey County Board of Supervisors Agenda
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/cttb/agenda.htm

If you’d like to find out more about the Carmel River, I suggest you attend a workshop scheduled for tomorrow. The workshop is being held from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Rancho Ca?ada Golf Club, 4860 Carmel Valley Road in Carmel Valley. There is more information at www.kusp.org.

The workshop tomorrow is sponsored by the Carmel River Watershed Conservancy and the Planning and Conservation League Foundation. Presenters will include researchers from the Watershed Institute at CSUMB, and natural resource specialists from the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District. State Department of Water Resources staff will provide an update on the San Clemente Dam. Members of the Carmel River Watershed Conservancy will present information on their plans to implement a “Watershed Action Plan” for the Carmel River, to restore its watershed resources.

Actually, there will be two important meetings tomorrow on the Carmel River. Besides the workshop, the Army Corps of Engineers will hold an open house meeting on the proposed seismic retrofit of the San Clemente Dam. That open house meeting will start at 6:30 in the evening, and is also being held at the Rancho Ca?ada Golf Club.

The Carmel River is the most important single source of water for the Monterey Peninsula, and is an outstanding environmental asset. Tomorrow, you can find out more at either or both of these meetings. And both events are free!

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

Carmel River Watershed Conservancy Website
http://www.carmelriverwatershed.org/nonprofit.html

PCLF Website
http://www.pcl.org/pclf/pclf_home.asp

Workshop Information
http://www.pcl.org/pclf/pclf_workshop_mh.asp

Decisions about the scenic qualities of the Highway One corridor along the former Fort Ord can’t compete in importance with many of the decisions that were being made in the elections held on Tuesday. But these issues are important. What we see, as we look around the world, affects how we feel. Perhaps subtly, but definitely, the views we get of the environment in which we live either make us happy, and inspire us, or have the opposite effect, and depress us. We recognize this particularly when we see something spectacular, like Half Dome at Yosemite, or the Grand Canyon, or when we look upon particularly ugly scenes, like strip mined lands in the Ozarks, denuded hillsides after a clearcut in the Sierras, or stained and dirty streets in any of a number of run-down urban areas.

What we see is important to the quality of our communities, and the quality of our lives. Therefore, when we build new things, doesn’t it behoove us to try to make them attractive? The Seaside Highlands development in Seaside, plainly visible from Highway One, is not what most of us would call beautiful. Neither are the large advertising signs visible from the Highway. Congressmember Sam Farr has been calling on the Fort Ord Reuse Authority to protect the quality of the scenic corridor along Highway One. Later this month, FORA will decide. So far, strong requirements to protect views are not what FORA is demanding.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

City of Marina Website
http://www.ci.marina.ca.us/

FORA Website
http://www.fora.org/

The fifth in the series of “Community GPU” Forums is scheduled for Saturday, November 13th. The Forum will be held at the Los Arboles Middle School in Marina, and will run from 9:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.

I attended the fourth Forum, held about a week ago in Greenfield. That was an evening meeting, focusing on the Noise and Infrastructure Elements of the General Plan. I wondered, ahead of time, whether the South County location would discourage participation. The first Forum, held in Prunedale, drew over 100 participants. The second Forum, held in Carmel Valley, had over 200 in attendance. The third Forum, in Salinas, again attracted more than 100 participants (not counting about 40 or 50 demonstrators who were present for a half-hour or so). Greenfield is pretty far south in the Salinas Valley, but about 70 people were there, vigorously participating in the discussions, and that number included a good share of South County residents.

Wherever you live in Monterey County, I’d encourage you to come to the final “Community GPU” Forum in Marina. After five years, and the expenditure of about $5 million dollars, the Board of Supervisors voted to “start over” on the General Plan Update. The eighteen local community groups sponsoring this “Community GPU” process are insisting that the public voice not be silenced. So, come to Marina and make your voice heard! There’s more information at www.kusp.org.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

The “Community GPU” Website
http://www.8of10monterey.com/pages/community.html