These Land Use Reports highlight opportunities for public involvement in various kinds of land use policy issues. They also convey, I know, a particular policy perspective (which is one reason you hear that "disclaimer" at the start of each Land Use Report). The purpose of the Land Use Report is not to preach a particular gospel, however. It's more to get people involved in the policy discussions, from whatever perspective. Land use decisions fundamentally affect our future, and have profound effects on the local economy, the environment, and on our ability to achieve our social equity goals. The "unhidden agenda" of this Land Use Report is to prompt listeners to get engaged, and "get active," on land use policy matters.

To that end, I often highlight upcoming meetings, and I invite listeners to let me know about issues or activities that they think should be featured. If you have a suggestion, please let me know by clicking on the Land Use Report link at www.kusp.org. You can send me an email from that website. Since I "pre?]record" this Land Use Report, I need to hear from you about a week in advance. Without a week's notice, it's likely that I won't be able to get a suggestion on the air.

On the KUSP website, you'll almost always find additional information about the topics I cover. If you'll check today's transcript, you'll find a listing of important public meetings taking place tomorrow.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

Information on Meetings Tomorrow, May 10th:

In San Luis Obispo County, the Board of Supervisors will consider ordinance amendments changing the County's Growth Management Ordinance, to maintain the countywide growth rate at 2.3% per year, and to set the Nipomo Mesa Area rate at 1.8% per year. The meeting starts at 9:00 a.m. The Agenda for the meeting is available at: http://www.co.slo.ca.us/Board_of_Supervisors_Inter.nsf/
Agendas_ag051005.htm?OpenPage&charset=windows-1252

At 10:30 a.m., the Monterey County Redevelopment Agency (the Board of Supervisors serves as the Redevelopment Agency) will consider 5-Year Implementation Plans for the Boronda and Castroville-Pajaro Redevelopment Project Areas. The Board of Supervisors Agenda is available at the following website location:

http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/cttb/bmagenda.htm

The City of Monterey Planning Commission will hold a public hearing at 7:00 p.m., at City Hall, to consider the "Old Town" Area Plan. The plan contains goals and policies for land use, parks, recreation, and open space, traffic and parking, and public facilities. The Agenda: http://www.monterey.org/boards/planning/agendas/2005/0510pcagenda.pdf

Find out about Genetic Engineering from Pete Shanks, author of Human Genetic Engineering: A Guide for Activists, Skeptics and the Very Perplexed, at a meeting at the Louden Nelson Community Center in Santa Cruz, from 7:00 to 90:00 p.m. It's free.

Tomorrow, at a meeting held at the Bechtel Conference Center at Stanford University, the Coastal Commission will consider a proposal by Sand City, the smallest city in Monterey County, to construct and operate a reverse osmosis desalination plant, capable of delivering 300 acre feet of water per year to City residents and businesses. There is more information on the KUSP website, at www.kusp.org, including a full Coastal Commission staff report.

Desalination is an expensive way to provide potable water, but the Monterey Peninsula seems to be running out of alternatives. The proposed Sand City plant is "minor" compared to the desalination plant proposed at Moss Landing. Instead of 300 acre feet per year, they're talking about 20,000 acre feet per year at Moss Landing. The impacts of desalination on the marine environment can be very significant, but don't discount the land use policy impacts. They're significant as well. The Commission's staff report really addresses the issues, and is well worth reviewing.

At 6:00 p.m. tomorrow, after the Commission ends its business, there will be a celebration to honor the people who were critical to the formation of the California Coastal Commission, including a discussion moderated by Paul Rogers of the San Jose Mercury News. That's a celebration that any lover of the California coast ought to think about attending.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

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

Staff Report on Sand City Desalination Plant
http://www.coastal.ca.gov/sc/5-2005-W8a.pdf

The reception and celebration will take place at 6:00 p.m. at the Oksenberg Conference Room, 3rd Floor, Encina Hall Central, 616 Serra Street, Stanford. Honorees include Mel Lane, Alan Sieroty, Joe Bodovitz, Michael Fischer, Jerry Smith (not the Jerry Smith who is a member of the Monterey County Board of Supervisors), and Ellen Stern?]Harris. For more information contact Jenny Kreitzer at , or by phone: 650-725-5778.

From 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. today, the Hollister Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management (or BLM) is inviting the public to participate in a workshop to explore social values and economic conditions in communities located mainly in the counties of San Benito, Fresno, and Monterey. This workshop is part of the BLM's process to develop new or revised land use plans, called Resource Management Plans, for about 287,000 acres of public lands located in the region. Specifically included among these BLM lands are the extensive BLM land holdings on the former Fort Ord.

Information about social and economic conditions gathered at this workshop today will assist BLM in deciding the role that BLM-managed public lands can play in reaching the goals of the local community. So, if you are interested in how this federal agency is going to manage these public trust resources, you might try to rearrange your afternoon, to be at the workshop.

While the workshop will be conducted by the Hollister Field Office of the BLM, it will actually be held in Salinas, in the East Wing Conference Room of the Monterey County Courthouse, located at 240 Church Street. You can get more information by clicking on the Land Use Report link at www.kusp.org, and tracking down the transcript of today's Land Use Report.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

For more information, contact BLM Hollister Field Office Environmental Coordinator Sky Murphy: 831-630-5039.

The California Labor Federation AFL-CIO Workforce and Economic Development Program has convened a "Building Workforce Partnerships Conference," bringing together people who care about good jobs, a strong California economy, and ensuring economic opportunity for workers. The event provides a unique forum for union leaders, labor program operators, workforce and economic development experts, education officials, and community-based organizations to network, to learn from each other, and to share successful models and practices. This year, the conference is being held at the Hyatt Regency in Monterey. In fact, it's underway now, and will continue through tomorrow.

If you're a frequent listener to these Land Use Reports, you'll remember that I often say that three "E's" are at the core of what land use policy is all about: the economy, the environment, and social equity. It's heartening to note that this labor-sponsored conference includes a systematic effort to focus in on two of these three policy objectives, to build a strong economy for the state, while achieving social equity advances for working men and women. Partnerships between employers, and labor organizations, and community-based groups, including environmental groups, can in fact use the tools of land use policy as a way to achieve the goals that the California Labor Federation is so properly pursuing.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

Information on the "Building Partnerships" Conference
http://www.calaborfed.org/workforce/events/

Two important meetings are being held today, one on each side of the Monterey Bay. In Marina, on the Monterey County side, the Fort Ord Reuse Authority (or FORA) will decide, at 4:00 o'clock this afternoon, whether or not to certify an amendment of the Marina General Plan as consistent with the Fort Ord Reuse Plan. So?]called "consistency determinations" are the way that FORA maintains the integrity of the overall base reuse planning policies, since direct land use control is vested in different local governments. If you're interested in the future of Marina, or Seaside, or that part of the unincorporated area located on the former Fort Ord, you should be following what FORA does.

On the Santa Cruz County side of the Monterey Bay, the California Public Utilities Commission is holding a public hearing on Cal-Am's latest rate increase application, which asks for a rate increase of more than 100%. The hearing will be held at the Felton Community Hall, 6191 Highway 9 in Felton, at both 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Whether rate increases in the Felton District are approved will undoubtedly have an effect on whether local customers (and voters) decide to purchase the current private system, and make it public. In the long run, who controls water (either public agencies or private entities) can have a big impact on land use policy.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

Felton FLOW Website
http://www.feltonflow.org/

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