Governmental agencies are meeting this week to make important decisions about land use policy, but many of us may be thinking more about the holidays! Let me suggest that a holiday shopping trip to San Francisco, this Thursday, could be combined with a very appealing public participation opportunity.

On Thursday, in San Francisco, the California Coastal Commission is going to consider two items relating to PG&E’s Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, located in San Luis Obispo County. Depending on what the Commission does, Thursday could be the day that a beautiful and biologically significant part of the California coastline is given permanent protection.

PG&E wants to replace aging steam generators at Diablo Canyon. It doesn’t have an absolute “right” to do that, and has to get approval from the Coastal Commission. The Commission is directed by the Coastal Act to make sure that it doesn’t say “yes” to proposed developments unless the Commission does everything it can to protect coastal access and sensitive coastal habitats. Coastal Commission staff is proposing a permanent conservation easement over 620 acres around Point San Luis, as a condition of permit approval. PG&E is fighting that proposed condition, and public testimony will be vitally important.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

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

Coastal Commission Agenda
http://www.coastal.ca.gov/mtgcurr.html

Staff Report on Diablo Canyon Steam Generator Item
http://documents.coastal.ca.gov/reports/
2006/12/Th6a-s-12-2006.pdf

Next January, Mardi Wormhoudt will complete three full terms, or twelve years, on the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors. Today, Mardi is participating in the last regularly scheduled Board meeting between now and then, and unless a special meeting is called in the interim, this will be Mardi’s last official Board meeting as an elected official.

For me, Mardi Wormhoudt has always exemplified the very best in government. She works hard, calls things the way she sees them; and she has never been afraid to cast a “no” vote, if she doesn’t agree with a particular policy or proposal. That last is rare, let me tell you!

My Land Use Reports focus almost exclusively on “policy,” not “personality,” since I think that a healthy politics is based on discussion and debate about policy matters. Personalities are incidental, not central, to the process. Today, though, I’d like to give a special salute to Supervisor Mardi Wormhoudt, for her incredible service to her community. There are lots of “careerists” and other self seekers involved in government, but that’s not Mardi Wormhoudt. As part of the transcript of today’s Land Use Report, I’ve included a little checklist that will let you evaluate how good your public officials are. I think you’ll agree, if you do review it, that Mardi Wormhoudt comes out as top rank. We owe her a debt of gratitude. So thank you, Mardi!

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information
Some time ago, as I was nearing the end of my own term on the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors, I formulated a set of “Five Rules” that I think well express how to be a good elected official. I am including them here for your review. I think they’re rules worth pondering, by members of the public and elected officials alike!

FIVE RULES I FOLLOW

After twenty years on the Board of Supervisors, I've decided what it takes to do a good job as an elected official. It all comes down to five simple rules:

Rule #1: “Answer Your Mail.” This is just a shorthand way of saying that it's important to listen to the messages that come to you--from whatever source--and then to respond to them, as honestly and as positively as you can. By following this rule, I always have lots of work to do, and the people who contact me really do get to influence the government.

Rule #2: “Remember You're In Charge.” There is a bureaucratic momentum present in every institution (certainly including government). An elected official needs to remember that he or she was elected to run the bureaucracy--not the other way around.

Rule #3: “Remember Who Elected You.” On many of the big issues, there are at least two responsible and reasonable positions--if not an even greater number. Presumably, if you're an elected official, you were elected because of the positions you took. If you were elected as an environmentalist, be an environmentalist. Do what you said you would do. After all, you got the majority vote. That's why you were elected.

Rule #4: “Go Where You're Invited.” In other words, never be afraid to open up a dialogue and discussion with the people who didn't elect you. You might learn something. This is an antidote to Rule #3.

Rule #5: “Be honest.” This means more than the minimum requirement of not taking bribes--though of course that is important. What this Rule means is that you've got to tell people what you really think. That lets them decide whether they like your positions, and whether they like you. That puts the people in charge of politics.

In the end, that's what it's supposed to be all about!

Gary A. Patton, Member
Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors
November 20, 1994

In terms of land use policy, adopting or modifying the local General Plan is usually the most important action that a local government can take. In terms of project level decisions affecting land use, approving a “subdivision” is usually the most important action that a local government can take.

Approving a “subdivision” means approving the division of an existing parcel of land into two or more parcels, which can then be separately sold and developed. A simple “two-split” is a subdivision, but subdivisions can also create hundreds or thousands of new parcels.

In general, a property owner has a “right” to sell or develop any existing parcel of land. Once a parcel is created, in other words, all of the impacts that go along with the development of that parcel are likely to spring into existence. If there are existing or potential water supply, or traffic congestion, or other problems related to development, the time to decide how to address those impacts is at the policy level, in the General Plan, before any new subdivisions are approved. In Monterey County, which is still struggling with a General Plan revision, major subdivisions are being made in advance of the policy determinations. Today and tomorrow, new subdivisions are set to move forward, including the “Carlsen Estates” subdivision that would put more development into traffic-impacted and water-short Prunedale. The hearing on that one is tomorrow. Get more information on the KUSP website.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

Planning Commission Agenda
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/pbi/cca/pc/
2006/12-13-06/pc12-13-06a.htm

Subdivision Committee Agenda
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/pbi/cca/
sub/2006/12-14-06/sub12-14-06a.htm

Carlsen Estates EIR
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/pbi/major/
carlsen%20estates/carlesen_estates.htm

Global warming could be a civilization-ending problem if worst case scenarios pan out. Global warming has been caused by human activity, and lots of little actions added up, and it’s a perfect example of what the California Environmental Quality Act (or CEQA) calls “cumulative impacts.”

CEQA is one of this nation’s most effective environmental protection laws, and it works this way. Before any governmental agency can take an action that might have an adverse impact on the environment, that agency must prepare an “Environmental Impact Report,” or EIR. First, a Draft EIR is prepared that analyzes a number of key issues, including “cumulative impacts.” Second, that Draft EIR is circulated, so any member of the public can comment. Third, the governmental agency must respond substantively to every comment. The “Final EIR” is the Draft, plus the comments, plus the responses to the comments. That Final EIR must be considered before governmental action can be taken, and feasible mitigation measures must be adopted. The courts are available to make sure that the government actually does what it’s supposed to do.

The Planning and Conservation League has published a very helpful “Community Guide to CEQA,” but we’re revising it, to make clear how local activists can use CEQA to help reduce global warming emissions. More on that tomorrow, with a specific focus on land use!

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

CEQA Website
http://www.ceres.ca.gov/ceqa/

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

PCL’s CEQA campaign
http://www.pcl.org/projects/ceqa.html

Everyday Heroes
http://www.pcl.org/projects/everydayheroes.html

The California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, has been extremely successful in helping to protect the California environment, and is one of this nation’s most powerful environmental laws. If you’d like to review some CEQA “success stories,” I recommend the PCL publication, “Everyday Heroes Protect The Air We Breathe, The Water We Drink, and The Natural Areas We Prize: Thirty-Five Years of the California Environmental Quality Act.” You can find a reference on the KUSP website.

CEQA requires governmental agencies to consider “cumulative impacts,” before taking actions that might impact the environment. Lots of actions that the government takes (for instance those subdivision approvals I was talking about earlier this week) could have an adverse impact in terms of global warming. For instance, about one-third of all global warming emissions in California are associated with vehicle use. Establishing land use patterns that reduce VMT, or “vehicle miles traveled,” would be a powerful way to fight global warming.

Because land use decisions can affect global warming, CEQA requires governmental agencies to start analyzing their land use approvals in terms of those global warming impacts. By and large, they’re not doing that now, but that is what the law requires. Making better land use decisions is one way to respond to what former Vice President Gore has called “An Inconvenient Truth.”

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

CEQA Website
http://www.ceres.ca.gov/ceqa/

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

PCL’s CEQA campaign
http://www.pcl.org/projects/ceqa.html

Everyday Heroes
http://www.pcl.org/projects/everydayheroes.html

If you haven’t read the book or seen “An Inconvenient Truth,” I urge you to do so.

Book version
http://www.bookshopsantacruz.com/
NASApp/store/ Search?s=results&initiate=
yes&ks=q&qsselect=KQ&title =&author=&
qstext= Inconvenient+Truth&x=0&y=0

DVD version
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/
103-7295748 -1087822?url=search-alias
%3Ddvd&field-keywords= an+inconvenient
+truth&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go