Land use policy didn’t used to be a sermon topic. Increasingly, it’s becoming one. More and more, churches are starting to focus on what is sometimes called “Caring For The Creation.” I spoke at a recent conference held in Sacramento, as a matter of fact, on exactly that topic. It was an interfaith gathering of church people from throughout California. They came to the State Capitol to lobby on various issues of importance to the local churches they represented. Social justice and social equity issues were at the top of the list of their concerns, with panels focusing on welfare reform, and prison reform, and health care. But there was a sizable contingent that came specifically to talk to the State Legislature about land use and the environment.

J. Matthew Sleeth is an evangelical environmentalist and author. About seven years ago, in what he calls a “religious awakening,” he left his job as an emergency room doctor, in order to reorient his personal life in a way that he feels is consistent with his religious faith, and with the demands that his religion puts upon him in this consumer-oriented society. His book is called “Serve God, Save the Planet,” and I’ve put a link to an interesting article about Dr. Sleeth in the transcript of today’s Land Use Report. Sometime soon, Dr. Sleeth will be speaking in the San Jose area. He’ll be speaking in Sacramento on April 23rd. Check the links below for more information.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

Grist Article on J. Matthew Sleeth
http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/
2006/10/05/sleeth/

To get information on the Aril 23, 2007 visit of J. Matthew Sleeth to Sacramento, or on his Bay Area speaking engagements, please contact Mark Carlson at the Lutheran Office of Public Policy. Mark Carlson’s Email is: lutheranadvocate@earthlink.net. His telephone number is: 916-447-6666.

There are several important bills relating to land use policy that are heading for their first committee hearings in Sacramento. Well, actually, there are lots of bills that meet that specification, but in a minute and a half, I can only mention a few of them, and I can’t be comprehensive. If you are interested in what the State Legislature is doing about land use policy (and particularly as that relates to efforts to make last year’s global warming legislation more than empty rhetoric), you should keep your eye on these pieces of legislation:

• Senate Bill 303, by San Diego Senator Denise Ducheny, proposes a method to speed affordable housing production, by giving greater certainty to developers. Environmental advocates are trying to get equal certainty with respect to protection of the natural environment, and to use the bill to encourage infill development.
  
  
• Senate Bill 375, by Sacramento Senator Darrell Steinberg, will be amended to be an ambitious effort to reform planning practices to discourage vehicle miles traveled, or “VMT.”
  
  
• Assembly Bill 1091, by Los Angeles Assembly Member Bass, would implement the “urban infill” part of Proposition 1C, the housing bond passed last November, to couple better land use with more housing affordability.

You can get information on all of these bills online. Click the links below.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

Bill information is available online at http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/

Legislation mentioned:

• SB 303
  http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/sen/
  sb_0301-0350/sb_303_bill_
  20070322_amended_sen_v98.html
  
  
• SB 375
  http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/sen/
  sb_0351-0400/sb_375_bill_
  20070221_introduced.html
  
  
• AB 1091
  http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/asm/
  ab_1051-1100/ab_1091_bill_
  20070223_introduced.html

On Monday April 9th, the San Jose City Council Community and Economic Development Committee received a report on the status of the Coyote Valley Specific Plan. Last Monday, the Coyote Valley Task Force met. Tomorrow, there is a community meeting, scheduled to take place from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Coyote Creek Golf Club. A follow up community meeting is set for Wednesday, May 2nd.

All these meetings indicate that things soon may be happening to change the character of the Coyote Valley. Coyote Valley is located within the city limits of the City of San Jose, but it looks like “country.” The land is currently devoted to agriculture and open space, but large-scale residential and commercial development is being proposed.

The latest round of planning for Coyote Valley began when a major industrial campus, proposed by Cisco Systems, failed to materialize. The Cisco proposal was approved by the City Council, but never built. The current planning efforts are intended to result in something a bit more creative than a 22,000-vehicle parking lot and a lot of low-rise office buildings.

Whatever happens, the impacts of any Coyote Valley development will be felt throughout the Monterey Bay Region. If you’d like to get involved, there’s still time, but don’t wait around. Comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Report are due by June 1st. There is information below.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

Coyote Valley website
http://www.sanjoseca.gov/coyotevalley/

Status Report to City Council Committee
http://www.sanjoseca.gov/coyotevalley/EIR/
docs/CED_Meeting_04-09-07_CVSP-DEIR.pdf

Coyote Valley Specific Plan Draft EIR
http://www.sanjoseca.gov/coyotevalley/
publications_DEIR.htm

The last time I gave you a list, about a week or so ago, I alerted you to a number of meetings relating to land use policy, to try to entice you to get personally involved in the land use decision-making process. My list this morning is more like “fun.” It’s a list of activities that will get you outdoors, into that wonderful natural environment that good land use policy must be sure to protect:

• The Land Trust of Santa Cruz County is sponsoring a “Birding Walk” at Antonelli Pond, in the City of Santa Cruz, on Saturday, April 21st, from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

• On Sunday, April 22nd, the Elkhorn Slough Foundation is also sponsoring a “Birding Walk,” from 7:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. In this case, expert birder Rick Fournier will lead a group of fifteen through the wetlands on the Sea Mist property, adjacent to Moro Cojo Slough. Farmland Manager John Kenney will talk about what the Foundation has done to convert the property into a vibrant wetland habitat.

• Finally, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and the Coastal Watershed Council are seeking volunteers to collect water samples, to assess the health of streams entering the ocean. The sampling will be done on “Snapshot Day,” May 5th. A volunteer training session will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on April 28th.

There is more information on all of these items below.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

• There is no charge to attend the Santa Cruz Land Trust “Birding Walk,” but you must be a member, and you must register in advance. Call the Land Trust office at 831-429-6116. The Land Trust website is found at www.landtrustsantacruz.org.
  
  
• To attend this “Birding Walk” you must be a member of the Elkhorn Slough Foundation. Contact Michelle at 831-728-5939, or email her for more information, or to RSVP - michelle@elkhornslough.org. Visit the Foundation website at www.elkhornslough.org.
  
  
• The April 28th training session will be held at the Watershed Institute at CSUMB, located on campus in Building 42 on Sixth Avenue and B Street. For more information on how to volunteer for “Snapshot Day” contact Debie Chirco-Macdonald at 831-464-9200 or by email at michelle@elkhornslough.org. You may also contact Bridget Hoover at 831-883-9303 or at bhoover@monitoringnetwork.org. For a copy of the “Snapshot Day” report for 2006 see www.montereybay.noaa.gov.

The Santa Barbara Permaculture Network and the Sustainable Agriculture Resource Consortium are presenting a set of lectures and workshops with Darren Doherty. Members of the public are specifically invited to attend a talk by Doherty to be held on Thursday, May 3rd, at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. The presentation will take place in Building 8, Room 123, from 7:00 to 9:00 p. m.

Doherty is from Australia, and will explain the so-called “Keyline” systems developed in Australia during the 1950’s by P.A. Yeomans. These agricultural systems were a response to increasing desertification and erosion, and Yeomans’ book, outlining the concept, is called “Water For Every Farm, A Keyline Plan.” Keyline Design integrates terraces, ponds, tree plantings on contour and a special cultivation technique using the Keyline plow, to infiltrate water into the soil efficiently, and to hold it on the land as long as possible. Water harvesting strategies employed by Keyline Design are claimed to provide drought-proofing for farms with very low maintenance using gravity fed irrigation systems, with a significant reduction in water lost to evaporation. Not a bad thing to be planning for, as California faces the impacts of global warming.

You can get more information on this presentation below.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

For more information on the Keyline Workshop, email Margie Bushman at Margie@sbPermaculture.org, or reach her by telephone at 805-962-2571.

The Yeomans Concept –
http://www.yeomansplow.com.au/
yeomans-keyline-system.htm.

Global warming and Keyline systems
www.yeomansplow.com.au/