The controversial Coast Hotel project in Santa Cruz will be coming before the State Coastal Commission later this year. If you'd like to see the Coastal Commission in action (and maybe "get briefed" on what the Coast Hotel hearing might be like) I've got a suggestion. Plan to attend the Coastal Commission meeting this Wednesday, February 16th, at the Portola Plaza Hotel at the end of Alvarado Street in downtown Monterey. The Commission meets in our area only about once a year. On Wednesday, it will decide whether or not to let groundwater overdraft continue in the North Monterey County Coastal Zone, as the Commission hears a "request for reconsideration" of its decision to deny the so-called "Sunridge Views" subdivision. It's a decision of major importance for the future of Monterey County. There's more information at www.kusp.org.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

Coastal Commission Website
http://www.coastal.ca.gov/

Coastal Commission Agenda
http://www.coastal.ca.gov/mtgcurr.html

A staff report on Sunridge Views is available by clicking on that item on the Commission's Agenda.

More information on the Sunridge Views Subdivision
http://www.landwatch.org

Unless something changes, an all day workshop on the Monterey County General Plan will be held on Wednesday, February 23rd, from 8:30 in the morning till about 4:30 in the afternoon, at the Agricultural Commissioner's Auditorium, at 1428 Abbott Street in Salinas. The public is most definitely invited, and I think it's going to be an extremely informative and educational event.

As regular listeners will recall, Monterey County has been in the process of updating its General Plan since 1999. In May 2004, after the County had spent almost five years and $5 million dollars on the update effort, the County Planning Commission sent the Board of Supervisors the "third draft" of a new General Plan for Monterey County. At the request of business and development interests, and over the objection of community participants, the Board voted to scrap this $5 million dollar document and to "start over." Eighteen community groups then stepped forward, and vowed to do it "better, cheaper, and faster," and over the next six months produced a complete "Community General Plan." Next Wednesday, that "Community General Plan" will be compared, issue by issue, to a General Plan document produced by a group of business and development interests calling themselves the "Refinement Group." Plan to be at that workshop, to see what the differences are!

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

County of Monterey Website
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/

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

County General Plan Website
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/gpu/

"Community General Plan"
http://www.8of10monterey.com/

Last week, citizen activists in Monterey County succeeded in qualifying a referendum measure for the ballot, to challenge the so-called "Rancho San Juan" development, the largest development ever proposed in Monterey County history. The Rancho San Juan project has also been challenged by a number of lawsuits, including lawsuits brought by the City of Salinas, CALTRANS, LandWatch Monterey County and the Rancho San Juan Opposition Coalition, Save Our Peninsula, and a local landowner.

Also last week, citizen activists in the City of Santa Cruz announced that they would seek to qualify a referendum measure for the ballot, to challenge the controversial Coast Hotel project. This project would require a $30 million investment by City taxpayers, to build a six-story parking garage, with the idea that parking and other revenues from the expanded hotel would make the investment "pay off" for the City (in addition, obviously, to "paying off" for the out of state hotel owner who is the major beneficiary of the project approval).

This Land Use Report is unabashedly in favor of citizen participation in land use decision making. Use of the referendum power definitely slows down such decision making, but I think we're lucky, in California, to have a system that allows the voters to take direct control of key decisions that affect them. That's what a referendum is all about, letting the people decide themselves.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

Last week, the League of Women Voters of the Monterey Peninsula held a forum on water issues. By all reports, this forum was extremely educational and informative to all those who attended. I did give KUSP listeners some advance notice of the League's forum, and I hope that some of you were able to be there. But for those who weren't, and for all those who are interested in the complex and critically important decisions about water that are facing our Central Coast Region, let me give you another option.

On Thursday, February 24th, from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m., at the Watsonville Senior Center, 114 East 5th Street in Watsonville, the Watsonville branch of the American Association of University Women will be presenting a forum entitled, "Who Owns Our Water?" Participating will be the former Mayor of Watsonville, Judy Nielson, the General Manager of the Soquel Creek Water District, Laura Brown, and the Technical Division Manager of the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency, Mary Bannister. Barbara Springer of Friends of Locally Owned Water will also be on the program.

Water law is a complex and difficult subject, but if "we" own "our" water, then it behooves us to begin getting involved in some of those management and "ownership issues" that represent the responsibilities that accompany our "rights" to our own water.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

For event information call the Watsonville AAUA at 831-724-9545

Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency
http://www.pvwma.dst.ca.us/

Friends of Locally-Owned Water (FLOW)
http://www.feltonflow.org/

Soquel Creek Water District
http://www.soquelcreekwater.com/

The way we choose to spend our time defines our life. Looking back on a lifetime of activity, we can sometimes deduce what has motivated and inspired us. We can find a theme. And how lucky we are if we decide, looking back, that we've spent our life on worthwhile endeavors.

On Friday night, February 25th, Friends of the Sea Otter, the Sierra Club, and LandWatch Monterey County are sponsoring an evening with a "Champion of the Coast," Peter Douglas. Californians love the coast. As I mentioned on Monday, we have a special set of legal protections for our coastal resources. These come from a successful citizen initiative effort, in 1972, to ensure that California's coast would truly be protected for future generations. Peter Douglas was in the forefront of that initiative effort, co?]authoring the measure that was adopted by the voters as Proposition 20. Today, he continues to lead the movement to protect the coast, as the Executive Director of the California Coastal Commission. Looking back, if and when he does that, Peter Douglas must surely be proud to have spent a working lifetime on coastal protection.

If you'd like to learn the latest news about coastal protection, and perhaps be inspired to join in what could be a lifetime commitment of your own, click on the Land Use Report link at www.kusp.org, to find out more about this special event.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

The event is scheduled to take place at the office of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, 299 Foam Street in Monterey. Seating will be limited (though the sponsors will try to find a larger venue if lots of people want to attend).

If you'd like to hear Peter Douglas talk about present and future challenges to coastal protection, contact Lupe Garcia at LandWatch Monterey County- 831-422-9390, Ext. 13. Email Lupe at .