When I was an undergraduate (and that’s getting to be a long time ago), I participated in an Honors Seminar in Social Thought and Institutions. During our Junior year, participants met every other week with about six of the most inspirational professors from the humanities and social sciences. In each seminar session, the group discussed our readings and research during the preceding two week period, and all of that revolved around our in-depth study of a single word. For my seminar group, the word was “Utopia.” In our Senior year, we each wrote an Honors Thesis based on the explorations and discussions we’d done the year before.

A lot of my interest in land use and planning came from that “quest for utopia” that I engaged in during my last two years of college. Imagine my surprise to find out that my son (as if by some genetic twist) has a very similar interest. During the last year, he has traveled by van around the entire United States, visiting various “intentional communities.” Some of the communities are “urban,” and some are “rural,” but they all are seeking a way to integrate respect for the environment, humane social interaction, and the economic necessities of community survival and prosperity. Some of them have something to say about the kind of “land use” principles that can assist in this quest. You can check out my son’s journal by clicking on the Land Use Report link at www.kusp.org

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

Philips Patton, In Search of Community
http://www.armory.com/~wavejump/Communities.html

My personal introduction to land use issues came in the 1970’s, when a small group of concerned Santa Cruz residents formed the “Save Lighthouse Point Association.” That rather “eclectic” group needed an attorney, and I was chosen. Since the money soon ran out, I ended up being just one more citizen activist, albeit one with a law degree. The legal training was helpful, but what made the group successful was the organizing effort itself. It doesn’t really matter what the issue is (saving Lighthouse Field, getting better bicycle policies, or building affordable housing), our system of democratic self-government only works when we do get involved ourselves, and when we collaborate and cooperate in an organized way with others of like mind.

Today, let me alert you to a 21st Century organizing effort that is aiming to preserve California’s wilderness areas. To be effective, that organizing effort needs to influence the federal level of government, which of course makes the task much more challenging. Challenging, but not impossible! The California Wild Heritage Campaign, with strong supporters like Senator Barbara Boxer and Congress Member Sam Farr (both former County Supervisors, by the way) is making a real difference. You can find out how to get involved yourself by clicking on the Land Use Report link at www.kusp.org.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

California Wild Heritage Campaign Website
http://www.californiawild.org/

Organizer For Central Coast - Dave Westman: Telephone - 510-622-0290 x220. Email -

I often invite listeners to contact me with their comments and suggestions. You can do that by using the email address found on the KUSP website. I particularly encourage you to contact me if you think there’s an upcoming meeting or event that I should highlight, but you need to give me some advance notice, since these reports are pre?]recorded.

Some time ago, a listener alerted me to an extremely interesting presentation which was coming up at the San Benito County Cattlemen’s Association’s annual meeting. I didn’t have enough notice, unfortunately, to get a reference to that presentation on the air in a timely way, but the topic of the presentation made to the Cattlemen’s Association is still important, and I thought I’d mention it today.

Facing a future of rapid population growth, and recognizing the failure of previous efforts to reduce the loss of their rural lands, civic leaders in Collier County, Florida decided to try something new. They created a “Rural Lands Stewardship Program” that now permanently protects 90,000 acres of environmentally sensitive land, and removes development rights from another 85,000 acres that will remain in agriculture. New development is channeled into designated growth areas, and an expedited permitting process is in place. If it can work in Florida, why can’t it work here? Check out the references on the KUSP website!

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

Stewardship America Website
http://privatelands.org/rural/RLSP.htm

The Florida Program
http://www.dca.state.fl.us/fdcp/dcp/
RuralLandStewardship/index.cfm

Local Coverage in The Pinnacle News
http://www.pinnaclenews.com/sb-edition/
story.php?section=stories_sbc_archive&id=208

Local Coverage in The Hollister Freelance
http://www.freelancenews.com/
news/contentview.asp?c=141339

For more information contact Len Materman – Telephone: 650-867-7768; Email:

California’s land use law is rather “non-directive.” Each city and county must adopt and implement a local General Plan, and each General Plan must cover certain designated topics. But the “content” of the General Plan is pretty much left to local discretion. Even in the housing arena, where there are more state mandated requirements, the state mandates are delivered rather indirectly.

There is a significant exception to the basic rule that “local control” is what determines land use in the State of California. That exception is the California Coastal Act. Because the people of California were distressed by what “local” decision making was doing, in areas along the coast, they enacted an initiative measure in 1972 that took away a good deal of local discretion within a geographically defined “Coastal Zone.” The system was enacted legislatively in 1976, and has been in effect ever since. In the Coastal Zone, local governments don’t, in fact, have the last word on land use. The last word comes from state policies contained in the Coastal Act, and a state agency, the Coastal Commission, has ultimate supervisory control over the Coastal Zone policies.

There’s a good argument that we need some stronger state direction in non-coastal areas of California, if we’re to preserve anything worth saving in terms of agricultural land and our natural resources.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

Find out about the Coastal Act at http://www.coastal.ca.gov/

“Agroecology” is a word that may not be familiar to everyone, but it’s a word with a specific Santa Cruz County context. The University of California at Santa Cruz has maintained a leadership role in the field of “agroecology,” and was to have hosted an International Short Course on Agroecology during July. Unfortunately, this Short Course has been cancelled, because of a lack of early registrations. The next such Short Course will be held in the summer of 2006 in Nicaragua and El Salvador, and then will return to the UCSC Campus in the summer of 2007.

UCSC Professor Dr. Stephen Gliessman, who has written a book on agroecology, defines agroecology as “the application of ecological concepts and principles to the design and management of sustainable systems of agricultural production.” According to Dr. Gliessman, human beings must, to build a sustainable basis for their civilization, integrate ecological knowledge into the systems they use to produce both food and fiber. This “ecological” perspective on farming and agriculture is perhaps particularly relevant as we face a major energy crisis. Much of what we do is dependent on cheap, fossil fuel, and that includes the way we produce food. If fossil fuel stops being so cheap and available, the principles of agroecology may be a main route to the survival of our modern societies.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

Agroecology Website
http://www.agroecology.org/

Cancellation Notice, Agroecology Short Course
http://www.agroecology.org/shortcourse.htm

UCSC Professor Stephen Gliessman’s Research Group
http://www.agroecology.org/people.htm

Agroecology Textbook
http://www.agroecology.org/textbook.htm