This morning, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors will be holding a special meeting, to continue discussion about their General Plan Update. The Board started a General Plan Update process about six years ago, and that process has cost county taxpayers about a million dollars a year, so far. The six million dollars and six years of discussion have not yet produced any actual policy decisions, except, perhaps, for a policy decision not to make any decision. The high point of this decision avoidance process came in 2004, five years and five million dollars into the effort. That’s when the County Planning Commission unanimously recommended that the Board adopt a third draft General Plan Update, and the Board refused even to look at the document, and told their staff to “start over.”

Since then, eighteen community groups have produced a “Community General Plan,” and a business and development consortium has produced a comparable document, coming from the pro-development side. The ability to act is certainly there, but nothing has really happened by way of decisions by the Board.

This seems to be changing, and suddenly the General Plan Update is the highest priority of the Board and the entire County government, special meetings and all. Why is this? It certainly appears that now that the community has put forth an initiative measure, so the voters can act directly, the Board is trying to beat the voters to the punch.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

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

The Community General Plan
http://www.landwatch.org/pages/pubs05/cgp/index.html

The “Refinement Group” (Pro-Development) Plan
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/pbi/gpu/refine_main.htm

Board of Supervisors Agenda
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/cttb/specagenda103105.htm

Background Materials For October 31, 2005 Meeting
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/pbi/gpu/rpt/103105_GP_BOS.pdf

For information on the initiative, contact LandWatch Monterey County
www.landwatch.org

This Thursday, a workshop focusing on riparian restoration on the California coast will be held at the Carmel Valley Trail and Saddle Club, 85 East Garzas Road in Carmel Valley. The workshop runs from 8:30 in the morning till 6:00 p.m., and is being offered by the Elkhorn Slough Coastal Training Program. It will explore virtually all aspects of the successful restoration of streamside habitats. Presentations by restoration experts during the morning will include an ample opportunity for questions and answers. In the afternoon, participants will be taking a field trip, to see riparian restoration efforts firsthand, in the actual environment.

The health of our environment is often best gauged by an examination of the health of riparian areas, those green ribbons of vegetation along our creeks and streams. These are the places where natural life abounds (at least if they’re healthy places), and that determine the quality of the water that we use for agriculture and municipal purposes. The quality of our coastal riparian environments also has a big impact on the quality of our coastal waters. The Planning and Conservation League Foundation is working with local, state and federal agencies, and with the community, to restore and improve conditions on the Carmel River. There’s hardly a more important topic out there!

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

The workshop is an intermediate level session for those wanting in-depth information about riparian restoration. The intended audience includes land use planners, agency biologists and land managers. Anyone who is personally involved in, or oversees, the restoration of riparian areas is welcome to attend. There is no charge, and lunch will be provided.

To register for the workshop, please visit
http://www.elkhornsloughctp.org/training/
show_train_detail.php?TRAIN_ID=RipZ9RL1

Local government is where it’s at in terms of land use policy. The state government, of course, is the ultimate authority, since both counties and cities take directions from the state. But in the land use area, the state by and large lets local governments make their own land use decisions. There is an exception, and that is in the California Coastal Zone. In the Coastal Zone, thanks to the passage of a statewide initiative measure in 1972, the state actually sets up very specific standards, to which local governments must conform. This means, by and large, that land use planning along the coast is a lot better (on the average) than the planning that takes place elsewhere. If we cared as much about our prime farmlands as we do about our coastal environment, we might have a set of statewide standards that would prevent the inappropriate replacement of our agricultural lands by shopping centers and subdivisions. So far, though, each county and city is making up its own rules, and they often opt for the “more is better” concept, and choose growth over preservation.

I could go on, but I’m actually off the track of the meeting announcement I wanted to make. Because local government truly is “where it’s at,” it’s always good to pay attention to what local governments are doing, and tonight, the Soledad City Council will be considering some very significant land use items, including whether or not to approve one of those agricultural land conversions I just mentioned. The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Soledad City Hall.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

City of Soledad Website
http://www.cityofsoledad.com/

City Council Agendas
http://www.cityofsoledad.com/departments/citycouncil/agendas.cfm

Rancho San Juan is the largest development project in the history of Monterey County. The Board of Supervisors approved this development in December 2004. The Planning Commission had unanimously recommended that the project be denied, but the developer insisted that the Board act, and so the Board approved it, with Supervisors Smith, Lindley, and Armenta voting “yes.” Supervisors Potter and Calcagno voted “no.”

The approval of the project led to lawsuits by the City of Salinas, CALTRANS, LandWatch Monterey County, and others. The Rancho San Juan Opposition Coalition also launched a referendum effort. In thirty days, more than 16,000 signatures were collected against the project. By law, the Board set the matter for a referendum election. That election will take place on Tuesday, November 8th, next Tuesday. Next Monday, November 7th,  the Board is now scheduled to meet in special session, to try to “preempt” the voters of Monterey County, by approving a “revised” Rancho San Juan project, which County staff claim will make the citizens’ referendum “moot.”

If your idea of self-government is that your elected representatives should listen to what the voters say, instead of trying to preempt them and beat them to the punch, you should probably plan to attend the Board meeting next Monday, and ask the Board to wait, and to see what the voters say about Rancho San Juan, instead of adopting a new version of this project before the voters have a chance even to express themselves.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

Monterey County Board of Supervisors Agendas
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/cttb/agenda.htm

Rancho San Juan Opposition Coalition
http://www.stopranchosanjuan.org/

The Coalition To Limit University Expansion, or CLUE, is trying to find ways to make sure that community concerns are addressed as UCSC adopts and then implements its next “Long Range Development Plan,” or “LRDP.” The University’s LRDP is the equivalent to a community General Plan, with one big difference.

A local General Plan as adopted by either a city or a county is subject to all the democratic remedies that members of the public have to make sure that their local government does what they want. Specifically, local voters can recall officials if they believe that they’ve done the wrong thing, and they can qualify a “referendum” measure for the ballot, to overrule a decision taken by elected officials. In addition, the “initiative” power allows voters to vote in their own proposals. I’ve been talking, recently, about a referendum effort in Monterey County (with respect to Rancho San Juan) and an initiative effort (to propose some new General Plan policies for Monterey County). Santa Cruz residents are very familiar with these tools of democratic self-government.

As I explained last week, the University of California is Constitutionally insulated from this kind of voter control, but that doesn’t mean that their plans can’t be affected by citizen action. If you’d like to get involved, the next CLUE meeting is on Monday, November 7th, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Police Community Room, 155 Center Street in Santa Cruz.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

CLUE is a community group working on the EIR and LRDP
http://santacruzclue.org/nk/html/

Find out more about CEQA at:
http://www.pcl.org/pcl/pcl_ceqa.asp

LRDP and CEQA Documents are available at:
http://lrdp.ucsc.edu

Public meetings on the relevant CEQA documents are scheduled as follows:

• Wednesday, November 16, 2005, 7:00-10:00 p.m., Old Holiday Inn on Ocean Street
• Wednesday, November 30, 2005, 3:00-6:00 p.m., Stevenson College Dining Hall, UCSC