The initiative, referendum, and recall give voters the right to make key governmental decisions directly, as a check and balance on our basic system of representative government. The initiative is used to enact a law that our representatives have failed or refused to enact. A referendum gives voters the right to overrule a decision by their elected officials. And the recall is a way to get the basic system of representative decision?]making back on track, by putting new representatives in office.

Keeping this theoretical perspective in mind, it’s fair to say that most members of the Board of Supervisors of Monterey County (every one of them but Supervisor Potter) are now competing against the people’s right to direct democracy. In the case of Rancho San Juan, where a referendum was qualified, the Board of Supervisors raced ahead to approve a development project in a special meeting held last Monday, the day before the referendum election. In that election, the public voted by an overwhelming 75% majority to disallow any development that violated the current General Plan – exactly the kind of development that four members of the Board had just adopted the day before.

Today, the Board is holding another special meeting, trying to outrace a proposed General Plan initiative.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

November 14, 2005 Board Meeting Agenda
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/cttb/specagenda111405.htm

November 15, 2005 Board Meeting Agenda
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/cttb/agenda111505.htm

For information on Rancho San Juan
http://www.stopranchosanjuan.org/

Community General Plan Initiative
http://www.montereycountyfarmbureau.org/General%20Plan/
Community%20General%20Plan%20Initiative%20OCR.pdf

The Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments, or AMBAG, is a largely voluntary effort by local governments located in Santa Cruz, San Benito, and Monterey Counties to work together on regional issues, like air quality, transportation, and housing.

In recent years, internal conflicts have put pressure on the Association. Specifically, Santa Cruz County governments (and that includes both city governments as well as the county government) have felt that the Monterey County agencies haven’t treated them fairly, and have used their superior voting power to impose housing requirements that make it almost impossible for the Santa Cruz County agencies to be successful in meeting the housing goals that the state wants them to meet. Because of this intra?]organizational conflict, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors has seriously been investigating the possibility of withdrawing from AMBAG. At today’s meeting, the Board will receive a report on the issue.

If you’d like really to understand the intricacies of regional government in general, and AMBAG in particular, I hope you’ll read the report presented to the Board of Supervisors. It’s comprehensive, and very understandable, and outlines several options for the Board to consider. The recommendation, today, is for the Board simply to accept and file the report. At next year’s budget hearings, the Board will decide what to do about County participation in AMBAG.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

AMBAG Website
http://www.ambag.org/

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

Staff Report on AMBAG
http://sccounty01.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/bds/Govstream/BDSvData/
non_legacy/agendas/2005/20051115/PDF/010.pdf

It’s not a national holiday, and you may never have heard of it, but true land use aficionados know that Friday, November 18th is "GIS Day."

"GIS Day" celebrates the uses of Geographic Information Systems. GIS users, computer hardware manufacturers, and the vendors of various GIS software programs will be trying to illustrate for schools, businesses, government, and the general public some of the most compelling and real-world applications of this important technology. The event is principally sponsored on a nationwide basis by the National Geographic Society, the Association of American Geographers, the United States Geological Survey, and the Library of Congress, with support from corporations like Sun Microsystems and Hewlett Packard. In the area of land use, Geographic Information Systems are a terrific tool for helping us make good decisions.

Locally, "GIS Day" is sponsored by the Central Coast Joint Data Committee, and will highlight presentations by the Monterey Institute of International Studies, the University of California at Santa Cruz, the Monterey County Water Resources Agency, the Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District, Sanctuary Integrated Monitoring Network, the California Department of Fish and Game, the U.S. Army Base Realignment and Closure Division, the California Coastal Commission, and California State University, Monterey Bay.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

Central Coast Joint Data Committee
http://www.ccjdc.org/

GIS Day, 2005, in The Monterey Bay Region
http://www.ccjdc.org/events/gisday/2005_flyer.pdf

What is GIS Day?
http://www.gisday.com/

See Information on GreenInfo (mapping and information in the public interest)
http://www.greeninfo.org/

A few weeks ago, I talked about providing a kind of "directory" to groups in the Central Coast Region that work on land use and environmental issues, with the thought that listeners might like to get involved with one or more of them.

I make an unashamed "pitch," in these Land Use Reports, for greater public participation in land policy matters, which is why such a "directory" is relevant. How our communities use our land resources will determine how well we protect and preserve the natural environment that ultimately sustains us. Land use policy also has a great deal to do with the success (or not) of our local economy, and of our ability to reach our social equity goals.

Let me advertise, once again, a readable reference source, available online, that makes the argument for public involvement in land use policy. I’m referring to "Land Use and the General Plan," published by LandWatch Monterey County. This 64-page handbook outlines why to get involved, and includes a set of "model" land use policies, as a place to begin. You can get more information on all of this, including a mini "directory," by clicking on the Land Use Report link. While you’re there, please notice that there’s something new on the KUSP website, and that’s "podcasting." Investigate what’s already available, and be warned; pretty soon you may be able to listen to the Land Use Report on your iPod or comparable device!

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

Local groups working on Land Use policy (not an exhaustive list, by any means):

Monterey County

• Sierra Club, Ventana Chapter
  http://ventana.sierraclub.org/current/index.shtml
  
  
• Friends, Artists, and Neighbors of Elkhorn Slough (FANS)
  http://www.saveourslough.org/
  
  
• Rancho San Juan Opposition Coalition
  http://www.stopranchosanjuan.org/

Santa Cruz County

• Sierra Club, Santa Cruz County Regional Group
  http://ventana.sierraclub.org/current/index.shtml
  
  
• Coalition To Limit University Expansion (CLUE)
  http://santacruzclue.org/nk/html

San Luis Obispo County

• Environmental Council of San Luis Obispo County
  http://www.ecoslo.org/
  
  
• Greenspace, The Cambria Land Trust
  http://www.greenspacecambria.org/

 

Land use planners generally believe that rules that direct new growth into areas already committed to an urban level of development, protecting natural habitats and productive agricultural lands, is the "best" kind of land use regulation. The common rubric calls this development pattern "smart growth."

One way to achieve this kind of development pattern is simply for our communities to enact a set of appropriate regulations and laws. As frequent listeners know, this is the approach I most often talk about. Our system of democratic self-government does allow us to make rules for ourselves, which means that we have the opportunity to enact and implement land use policies that will have a positive impact on the local economy, environment, and on our ability to achieve our social equity goals. Naturally, the enactment of such land use policies occurs in connection with a great deal of debate and discussion, but that is exactly what self?]government demands. After the conflict and controversy comes a decision, adopted officially, which then guides our individual and collective efforts.

There is a "non-regulatory" route to agricultural land preservation, and that’s to establish a program of "affirmative agricultural easements." It may not be sufficient to protect all we need to protect, but it can certainly help. On Wednesday November 30th, the State Coastal Commission will be holding a workshop on just how to make such a program work.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

Coastal Commission Website
http://www.coastal.ca.gov/

A Coastal Commission sponsored workshop on "Affirmative Agricultural Easements" will be held on Wednesday, November 30, 2005, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., at the office of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, 50 California Street, Suite 2600, San Francisco, CA. For information or to RSVP, contact Ruby Pap at the Coastal Commission’s North Central Coast District office at 415-904-5260.