Each year, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors holds a public hearing to consider the "Growth Goal" that will direct County planning efforts for the upcoming year. The "Growth Goal" hearing for 2006 will take place tomorrow at the Santa Cruz County Governmental Center. The hearing will probably begin at around 9:30 in the morning. The whole idea is for the public to get involved, so you are very much encouraged to participate. There is quite a bit of information at www.kusp.org, including a link to the staff report that will be before the Board of Supervisors.

Measure J, the comprehensive growth management system adopted by the voters of Santa Cruz County in 1978, is the reason that the Board holds this annual "Growth Goal" hearing. Measure J has often been called a "slow growth," or even a "no growth" measure, but it actually isn't. The main point was to put growth-related decisions under the control of the people, so that the public can decide what the County's future growth should be, instead of letting growth just "happen," as the result of a lot of individual decisions added up. The "Growth Goal" can be low, or high; that's a matter of political choice. But every year, the public gets to have its say, and our elected representatives have to vote on the issue. That makes growth a "political" issue in the very best sense of the word, so we can all help make the choices that will affect the future of our community.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

Santa Cruz County Government Website
http://www.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/

Information on Measure J
http://www.landwatch.org/pages/publications02/
081802MeasureJstory.pdf

Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors' Agenda
http://sccounty01.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/bds/Govstream/archive/ArchiveIndex.asp

September 28, 2005 Board of Supervisors' Agenda
http://sccounty01.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/bds/
Govstream/ASP/Display /SCCB_AgendaDisplayWeb.asp
?MeetingDate=9/28/2004

Staff Report on Growth Goal Discussion
http://sccounty01.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/bds/
Govstream/BDSvData/ non_legacy/agendas/
2004/20040928/PDF/039.pdf

Protecting our coastal resources is vital for the future of the Central Coast region. Not only can our natural environment be compromised, but there are important economic and social equity issues at stake, as well. Local groups like Greenspace (the Cambria Land Trust), EcoSLO (the Environmental Center of San Luis Obispo County), LandWatch Monterey County, and the Santa Cruz Open Space Alliance all are working on these issues, in one way or another. In fact, there are a host of local organizations which you should probably know about, and (no hidden agendas, here) get involved with, as a way to increase your personal participation in key land use and environmental policy issues. Providing a kind of "directory" to such groups may be a good topic for a future Land Use Report. For the moment, please check the KUSP website at www.kusp.org for contact information about the groups I'm mentioning today.

And let me mention one other: The California Coastal Coalition, which lobbies in Sacramento for policies and programs to promote the preservation, protection, and restoration of California's coastline. The Coalition also sends out a very informative email alert, the latest of which reports on a number of bills that would enhance coastal protection efforts, if signed by the Governor. I encourage you to sign up for the Coastal Coalition alert, and start helping personally to protect the coast.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

EcoSlo
http://www.ecoslo.org/

Greenspace, The Cambria Land Trust
http://www.greenspacecambria.org/GreenspaceIndex.htm

LandWatch Monterey County Website
http://www.landwatch.org

California Coastal Coalition Website
http://www.calcoast.org/

Planning and Conservation League Website
http://www.pcl.org

Location Information For Open Space Alliance of Santa Cruz
http://www.santacruzosa.org

Nothing is more important in the world of land use policy than the local "General Plan." Every city and county in the State of California is required to prepare and maintain a local general plan, according to specifications outlined in the California Government Code. The Government Code tells local governments what topics have to be addressed, but doesn't mandate any specific conclusions. Local governments must have policies relating to circulation, land use, noise, safety, conservation, open space, and housing, but what the local government decides to do about those issues is pretty much up to local discretion.

The last comprehensive revision of the Monterey County General Plan took place more than 22 years ago. The County was warned by the Attorney General about seven years ago to update its Plan, and the Board of Supervisors has now been working on a so-called "General Plan Update" since 1999. They've spent more than six years and six million dollars on the effort, and have rejected, so far, five different comprehensive plans that have been presented to them (three prepared by County staff, one prepared by a coalition of development interests, and one prepared through a grassroots community effort).

If you're a Monterey County resident, I'd like to encourage you to get involved in the latest General Plan Update efforts. A new GPU schedule has just come out, and there will be lots of chances to participate.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

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

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

GPU Schedule
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/pbi/gpu/rpt/
SRBOS_GPU%20SCHEDULE%20OBJ_09-19-05.pdf

The Planning and Conservation League works on environmental issues in the State Capitol, and a big item of concern is the future of the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA. The Schwarzenegger Administration has convened a "CEQA Improvement Work Group," which includes representation from what could be called the "development" side and the "environmental" side, though that particular way of dividing up the world of those interested in CEQA may not be the best way to think about it. At any rate, PCL is deeply involved in the "CEQA Improvement" effort, and Central Coast residents might benefit from a brief report. Last Saturday, I made a report at the Bay Area League of Women Voters "Bay Area Day," and the Central Coast is at least as affected as the San Francisco Bay Area.

What may come out of the Administration's "CEQA Improvement Group" is a way to restructure planning decisions, to do more CEQA review "up front," and less at the "project level." There's promise in that approach, but great danger, too. To quote former State Senator Byron Sher, "CEQA does not guarantee a specific outcome; instead, it guarantees processes and procedures, and empowers the individual person to enforce them. CEQA is the bill of rights for an environmental democracy."

Great care is needed, when considering changes to a law so central to our ability to influence the decisions that will profoundly affect our future.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

I recommend that interested listeners read "Everyday Heroes Protect the Air We Breath, the Water We Drink, and the Natural Areas We Prize," recently published by the Planning and Conservation League Foundation. The report is available on the web at the PCL-PCLF website, and you can also order a hard copy online

PCL-PCLF Website
www.pcl.org

CEQA Campaign
http://www.pcl.org/pcl/pcl_ceqa_campaign.asp

"Everyday Heroes" Report
http://www.pcl.org/pcl/pcl_ceqa.asp

I direct these Land Use Reports to what might be called "political" level issues, since we live, as Bob Dylan says, in a "political world." Our existence is largely determined by the choices we make, not only as individuals but as communities. In the United States, our community decisions ("political" decisions, in the best sense of the word) are at least susceptible to democratic control. We can have "self?]government," as I'm fond of saying, but only if we get involved "ourselves."

There is "another level" to be considered, which might be called the "spiritual" level. While we live most immediately in a "political world," we live ultimately in a world of Nature, a world that we did not create, and which sustains our life, and all life. That is not a world in which we make the decisions. That is a world to which we need to defer, and to submit ourselves to the decisions that its Creator (God or Nature) put in place. Those who think about things from this perspective, and focus on that "spiritual" level, most often come to the conclusion that our job is to make sure that the human world that we create does not violate the principles on which the world of Nature is based.

A national group that works on these issues is the Sacred Earth Network. They will be holding a "Deep Ecology Intensive" from October 7th through October 10th. For more information go to www.kusp.org. 

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

Sacred Earth Network Website
http://www.sacredearthnetwork.org/

Deep Ecology Intensive Workshop (Rhode Island)
http://www.sacredearthnetwork.org/updates/default.cfm