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KUSP LandWatch
News
Week of December 29, 2008 to January 2, 2009
Week of December 29, 2008 to January 2, 2009
KUSP provided a brief Land Use Report on KUSP Radio from January 2003 to May 2016. Archives of past transcripts are available here.
Week of December 29, 2008 to January 2, 2009
- Monday, December 29, 2008
Santa Margarita Ranch Reprise
- Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Representative Government And Land Use
- Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Seven Elements (Land Use Basics)
- Thursday, January 1, 2009
New Year's Resolutions (Land Use Edition)
- Friday, January 2, 2009
More Hortatory Words on Land Use
The following Land Use Reports have been presented on KUSP Radio by Gary A. Patton. The Wittwer & Parkin law firm is located in Santa Cruz, California, and practices environmental and governmental law. As part of its practice, the law firm files litigation and takes other action on behalf of its clients, which are typically private individuals, governmental agencies, environmental organizations, or community groups. Whenever the Land Use Report comments on an issue with which the Wittwer & Parkin law firm is involved on behalf of a client, Mr. Patton will make this relationship clear, as part of his commentary. Mr. Patton’s comments do not represent the views of Wittwer & Parkin, LLP, KUSP Radio, nor of any of its sponsors.
| Monday, December 29, 2008 Santa Margarita Ranch Reprise |
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The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors did as expected, two days before Christmas, and approved the controversial Santa Margarita Ranch project. This land use approval, if it survives an expected court challenge, would transform an area containing 3,700 acres of agricultural land into an "agricultural cluster" subdivision containing over 100 subdivided residential lots. The Board took its action despite a score or more of shoes piled at the base of the dais, this shoe pile reflecting the "contempt" that many of their constituents felt at what the Board did. The dynamics and drama of the final couple of weeks offended at least one local newspaper columnist, who thought that the two "lame duck," retiring Board members who supported project should have been allowed a more dignified exit from office. The lack of dignity attendant upon the last minute scrambling over the project, however, occurred because three out of the five Supervisors insisted on letting the developer write many of the conditions that would govern the development. Permitting a developer to take over this task from the County's own legal and planning staff is not unprecedented, but it's always unseemly. While elected officials do have authority to make decisions for the entire community, they are supposed to be doing so with the public interest, not the developers' interest, in mind. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Tuesday, December 30, 2008 Representative Government And Land Use |
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The approval of the Santa Margarita Ranch development project in San Luis Obispo County illustrates one important thing about "representative democracy" where land use is concerned: our "representatives" actually have, during their term of office, the right to do whatever the officials decide they want to do. It was pretty clear, in this case, that the public at large did not approve of the proposed development. The County Planning Commission, for instance, voted to deny approval. Nonetheless, the elected members of the Board, including those who had been voted out of office in November, did have the legal authority to approve the project. One of the things the Board majority did was to refuse to adopt the findings and conditions of approval proposed by the County's own legal and planning staff. Instead, the Board voted, 3-2, to allow the developer to write his own findings and conditions. This means, as a practical matter, that conditions that were originally written to make sure that the developer would do things in a certain way were "watered down," or eliminated, so that the developer can do whatever the developer wants to with respect to those matters. There is a democratic safety valve when elected representatives use their authority not to benefit the public, but to advance private interests. It's called "direct democracy," and includes the referendum power that can substitute a popular vote for the vote of the elected representatives. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Wednesday, December 31, 2008 Seven Elements (Land Use Basics) |
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Local elected officials have plenary power, as our elected representatives, to act on our behalf with respect to land use. And since how the land is used has such a determinative effect on our economy, environment, and issues of social equity, it's wise for local voters to follow land use issues closely. The voters do have, ultimately, the "direct democracy" powers of the initiative, referendum, and recall, which they can employ to counteract actions by elected representatives that contradict what the voters actually want. Through public participation, it's possible for the public to establish land use policies that they believe best meet the public interest, and to insure that land use project decisions do the same. State law doesn't really constrain local authority over land use very much, though it does require local officials to develop policies in the following seven areas: land use, circulation, housing, safety, open space, conservation, and noise. These are the seven "elements" that must be addressed in every local General Plan, and for the most part, local officials can decide whatever they want to with respect to how these issues will be handled in their local community. If you'd like to start playing a bigger role in the land use issues affecting the future of your community, check out a publication by LandWatch Monterey County called "Land Use and the General Plan." A link is available in the transcript of today's Land Use Report. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Thursday, January 1, 2009 New Year's Resolutions (Land Use Edition) |
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Happy New Year to listeners everywhere! If this isn't your first exposure to the Land Use Report, you'll know that I have an "unhidden agenda" to try to stimulate greater public participation in the land use policy and land use project decisions that so fundamentally affect our future. Many people have a "reality model" that postulates that we inevitably act individually, and that as we each pursue our individual activities we produce an overall result; this is how "reality" is created. Adam Smith liked this theory, which he called the "Invisible Hand." Everyone pursues his or her own individual self-interest, and that "Invisible Hand" somehow turns all that self-interest into the public interest. Well, as I'm fond of pointing out, Adam Smith was wrong! The so-called "Tragedy of the Commons" occurs because while it's in the self-interest of each one of us, individually, to maximize our own benefits, we are not only individuals, and such self-interested actions ultimately destroy the common environment upon which we all depend. My "reality model" supposes that we are all in this life together, and that we can only achieve a result that benefits us (both individually and collectively) when we act together through what we are privileged to know as "self-government." Would you like a good New Year's Resolution to add to your list? Get more involved in community land use decision-making in 2009! For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Friday, January 2, 2009 More Hortatory Words on Land Use |
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I often use these brief moments on the Land Use Report to alert listeners to specific upcoming public participation opportunities. The land use policy and land use project decisions that so profoundly affect our future are largely made at the local level, so every Board of Supervisors' meeting, and every City Council meeting, provides interested persons with an opportunity to participate. As I said yesterday, I hope you'll seriously consider a "New Year's Resolution" for 2009 that will have you increasing your quotient of public participation in land use issues. The best way to get involved, of course, is not by acting "individually," but by working together with others who share your views and concerns. While we are individuals, we are not only individuals. We are also, each one of us, part of a greater community (in fact many communities), and land use decision-making is a kind of "community" decision making. In California, land use decisions are made in the context of a system of self-government that allows us to create our own, collective reality by acting together to establish and apply policies, and not incidentally by raising and spending money. These are "governmental" activities, and if we don't participate in government ourselves, the powers of government will be utilized to provide special benefits to those who do participate. We can't expect self-government to work to our advantage unless we participate ourselves. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton. |
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