Item S-7 is a proposal to convert prime ag land around Spreckels to a designation that allows residential development. Item S-5 is a Board discussion of the proposed City of Salinas Sphere of Influence. The Board of Supervisors has no direct control over the future growth of the City of Salinas, but it can comment, and the item tomorrow is aimed at developing a comment letter to the Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO.

Here’s a short course on how cities grow: Within their existing city limits, the elected City Council makes all the important land use and growth-related decisions. The City Council can pretty much do what it wants to. For areas outside the existing city limits, however, the City Council has no jurisdiction at all. The Board of Supervisors makes land use and growth-related decisions for such “unincorporated” areas.

The key to city growth is the city getting approval to annex unincorporated lands, so they come within the city limits. LAFCO has control over annexations. The City of Salinas is proposing to annex over 3,000 acres of agricultural land, to turn it into more subdivisions and shopping centers. That’s the proposal that the Board of Supervisors is going to comment on. As a member of the public, you can comment, too!

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

Board Agenda For August 30, 2005
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/cttb/agenda083005.htm

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

Last Friday, the Monterey County Herald ran an article with the title, “No ‘Winners’ In Town Hall Water Talks.” The article reported on a meeting that discussed options for regional water development, and the “No Winners” headline pretty much typifies how water issues present themselves, not only locally, but throughout the state. “Whisky is for drinking, and water is for fighting,” as Mark Twain and California water experts have said.

A publication released late last year by Water for California and the Planning and Conservation League suggests a way to bring water development decisions back into a more positive framework. Listeners can find a reference at www.kusp.org.

What this new publication points out is that new water “development” projects, often extremely controversial because of their high cost and environmental impacts, aren’t often the best way to provide necessary water supplies. In fact, by investing in water conservation and water recycling efforts, needed water can be provided at a cheaper cost for the customers and with many fewer adverse environmental impacts. To take a local example, it’s very clear that water leaks from the existing Cal-Am system on the Monterey Peninsula could be plugged, and that the net result would be a greater local water supply, lessening the need for a costly new dam or growth-inducing desalination plant.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

Monterey County Herald Article
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/
mcherald/news/12483192.htm

An “Investment Strategy” For California Water
http://www.pcl.org/pcl/pcl_files
/Investment%20Strategy_11_18_04.pdf

Land use and transportation issues are inevitably linked. Or maybe I should say that they ought to be linked. In fact, one of our biggest land use policy problems is that land use decisions are often not properly connected to the decisions made about our transportation system, and vice versa. Good planning policies should require local elected officials to ensure that adequate transportation capacity is in place before new development projects are either approved or constructed. That often doesn’t happen. Projects get approved with a “condition” that requires a future solution for expected transportation impacts. The end result is that the traffic comes rather immediately, but the promised improvements are long delayed, and perhaps never made.

The “problem” with connecting land use approvals to the provision of adequate transportation capacity (and it’s a “problem” mainly for the development community) is that many new developments simply can’t pay for the traffic infrastructure they are going to require, and so to impose the right kind of “linkage” means that developments will have to be denied. Whether that is acceptable depends on the politics of the community. In our region, elected officials in Santa Cruz County often think it’s “ok” to turn down developments. Elected officials in Monterey County often think that it’s “not ok.”

Ultimately, of course, the people of a community can act directly, through the initiative process, if their elected officials don’t make the right connection!

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission will consider a “Comprehensive Transportation Funding Program” at their meeting on Thursday, September 1, 2005. Check their website (http://www.sccrtc.org/) for more information.

The Sustainable Base Reuse Institute is an educational, non-profit, non-partisan organization committed to the transformation of former military bases into sustainable communities. The group describes its mission as:

• Providing education about sustainable development and reuse
• Providing resources to make projects happen; and
• Empowering people to help create sustainability in their communities

More information on the Sustainable Base Reuse Institute is available through the KUSP website, at www.kusp.org. Just click on the Land Use Report link and then track down the transcript for today’s Land Use Report.

A current project of the Sustainable Base Reuse Institute is the creation of a Monterey Bay Green Building Coordinating Board, which will attempt to stimulate “green building” practices at Fort Ord, and within the greater Central Coast Region. “Green building” focuses on the “construction details” of how we grow and develop in our communities, sort of the “flip side” of the coin from the larger land use “policy issues” I usually touch upon in this Land Use Report. If you’re interested in getting involved, the Institute is seeking members to serve on the “Green Building Coordinating Board,” which will oversee the local effort. Applications are now being solicited, with an application deadline of September 6th. Again, you can get information through the KUSP website.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

Sustainable Base Reuse Website
http://www.basereuse.org/mbgbcboard.html

Application for Green Building Coordinating Board
http://www.basereuse.org/mbgbcboard.html

U.S. Green Building Council
http://www.usgbc.org/

Green Building Resource Guide
http://www.greenguide.com/

Monday is Labor Day, and I’d like to suggest that you consider celebrating at the Labor Day picnic, held at the DeLaveaga Park in Santa Cruz. There is more information on the KUSP website.

The first Labor Day was celebrated in 1882, sponsored by the New York City Central Labor Union. The second Labor Day holiday in New York City was just a year later, and in 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as a standing date for the holiday, and the Central Labor Union urged labor organizations in other cities to celebrate on that date. In 1885, Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country. In 1887, the first state measure establishing a holiday was passed by the Oregon Legislature, and by 1894, 23 other states adopted the holiday. On June 28th of that year, Congress passed an Act making the first Monday in September a national holiday.

In the Monterey Bay Region, the Central Labor Council has focused not only on traditional “labor” issues, but has increasingly become involved in critically important land use policy matters. This Monday, as we all celebrate the contributions of working men and women to our history, and our communities, I’d like to give a special salute to the Labor Council for doing just what I urge all KUSP listeners to do, getting directly involved in the land use policy issues that so profoundly affect our future.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

The history of Labor Day
http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/laborday.htm

DeLaveaga Park Website
http://www.ci.santa-cruz.ca.us/pr/parksrec/parks/delapark.html

Monterey Bay Central Labor Council
http://www.montereybaylabor.org/