Water planning is underway on both sides of the Monterey Bay. In Monterey County, the focus is on a future water supply for the Peninsula. This is a particularly vexing problem, since the Peninsula actually has to "give back" about 10,000 acre-feet of water currently being taken from the Carmel River each year. Right now, an Environmental Impact Report is being prepared on the "Coastal Water Project." The proposed project would produce 12,500 acre-feet of water per year, and would include a seawater desalination plant, water transmission pipelines, and aquifer storage and recovery facilities. Public comments are being received up until April 1st.

In Santa Cruz County, the City of Santa Cruz and the Soquel Creek Water District are also pursuing a proposed desalination project. You can get more information on both projects below.

City of Santa Cruz residents might also want to attend the City Council meeting tomorrow night. The Council will be considering the final adoption of a Water Shortage Contingency Plan that will mean significant cutbacks in water deliveries to the City’s water customers when drought conditions are present. In case you haven’t noticed, that definitely includes this year, which is still considered to be "critically dry," even with all the rain we’ve had in the last few weeks.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

Monterey Herald News Story on Water Planning
http://www.montereyherald.com/
local/ci_11812987?nclick_check=1

Cal-Am Coastal Water Project Website
http://www.cwp-eir.com/docs.html

SCWD2 Santa Cruz County Desalination Program
http://www.scwd2desal.org/

City of Santa Cruz Website
http://www.ci.santa-cruz.ca.us/

March 10, 2009 Santa Cruz City Council Agenda Packet
http://64.175.136.240/sirepub/meeting.aspx?
cabinet=PUBLISHED_MEETINGS&ftr=0&docid=95071

The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors is meeting today, and Agenda Item #23 will be of interest to affordable housing advocates, and to those neighbors who might think that the County’s efforts to comply with the state’s affordable housing requirements places undue burdens on neighborhood residents.

Under state law, the County is required to designate lands for future housing development that will be sufficient to meet the County’s "fair share" of future state growth. The County is also required to do that in a way that will accommodate a "fair share" of affordable housing. Because the cost of land is such a significant part of the cost of building new housing, affordable housing almost always has to be built at higher densities than housing that will be sold at market rates. Higher "density" means more housing units per acre, which of course reduces the land cost for each individual unit.

Tomorrow, the Board is going to be doing a "design review" on a proposed project on Minto Road, that will help the County meet its Regional Housing Needs Assessment goals, as required by state law. Neighbors in the Seacliff area, concerned about a proposed higher density designation on the "Poor Clares" property, might want to see how a higher density land use designation would actually "play out" with respect to a specific housing project. The Board will probably get to Item #23 at about 9:30 this morning.

More Information

Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors Agenda
http://sccounty01.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/bds/Govstream/
ASP/Display/SCCB_AgendaDisplayWeb.asp?
MeetingDate=3/10/2009

The Santa Cruz City Transportation Commission is meeting at 7:00 o’clock tonight, and since land use and transportation go together, this is a meeting that you may want to attend. You may specifically want to attend tonight’s meeting if you care, one way or the other, about a proposed King Street Bicycle Boulevard.

The King Street Bike Boulevard would reportedly cost about the same amount as a traffic light, and would provide cyclists with a safe route to schools, homes, and businesses. The idea is to establish a route for bikes that parallels Mission Street, but without all that heavy and dangerous traffic. Such a dedicated bike facility on King Street has been under discussion for many years, and for the last several months the local "People Power" group has been meeting with residents to assess their views, and to build support for converting King Street into a Bike Boulevard. This option would not only create a safe and pleasant through-route for cyclists and pedestrians, but safer and quieter neighborhoods for those who live there.

The problem, of course, is that a Bike Boulevard would make things more inconvenient for cars. A diverter system would direct non-local traffic onto Mission, while leaving King Street and other neighborhood streets for bicycle and pedestrian use, as well as for residential automobile traffic and emergency vehicles. The next step in the process would be for the City to hire a consultant to prepare a specific draft plan. If you’re interested, there’s more information below.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

The agenda for tonight’s meeting of the City Transportation Commission can be downloaded as a PDF file from the City’s website
http://www.ci.santa-cruz.ca.us/

More information is also available on the People Power Website
http://peoplepowersc.org/

As reported here earlier, the City of Salinas would like to revitalize its downtown core. The City itself owns considerable property in downtown Salinas, and it would be possible, at least theoretically, for a developer to use the City’s property to build a mixed-use residential and commercial development, including new facilities for the City, that would bring new economic life into the Salinas downtown. In fact, the City is attempting to explore just such an option.

In the meantime, however, the Wal-Mart Corporation, known for its downtown-killing characteristics, has indicated that it wants to open a new "superstore" in one of the City’s remote shopping centers. It could be that such a remotely located "superstore" would actually undermine the City’s long-term plans for revitalizing its downtown.

The Salinas City Council has considered this matter by way of a "big box" ordinance that would prevent the kind of "superstore" developments that have often decimated the downtown areas of the cities in which they’re located. The Council held the "second reading" of a "big box" ordinance at their meeting this past Tuesday. If you would like to see how a "big box" ordinance actually works, you can get a full copy of the proposed ordinance, plus a staff report, on the Salinas City Website. There’s a link below.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

Salinas City Website
http://www.ci.salinas.ca.us/

Salinas City Agenda Materials
http://www.ci.salinas.ca.us/leadership/
agendas_minutes.cfm

Monterey County Herald Story on Wal-Mart Superstore
http://www.montereyherald.com/local/ci_11850910

The recent rains, I am pretty sure, are going to provide some very nice wild flower walks in our Central Coast region. As I sometimes do, I want to suggest today that you can leave those indoor meetings behind, at least briefly, and actually get out into the spectacular environment in which we are so lucky to be able to live.

One of my favorite groups, the California Native Plant Society, has chapters throughout the state, and the Santa Cruz County Chapter has just announced its Spring 2009 field trips. There is a full list and a full description on the Chapter’s website, and I’ve provided a link in the transcript of today’s Land Use Report. Let me highlight just two upcoming trips, to whet your appetite:

On Sunday, March 22nd, from 9:00 a.m. sharp to 2:00 o’clock, Gordon Williams is going to lead a trip to the Marks Ranch. This will be hike of about 5½ miles with about a 600-foot total elevation gain. According to Gordon, this will be a fairly slow walk, in which participants will be "talking to, and talking about" the flowers you’ll see. Gordon expects you’ll see at least 50 different species.

On Sunday March 29th, Kevin Bryant will take participants to the Coyote Ridge, which is an incredibly important area, biologically. CNPS invites you to enjoy the beauty of this place, and learn how CNPS and other organizations are involved in helping to preserve these lands in perpetuity.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

California Native Plant Society Website
http://www.cnps.org

CNPS Santa Cruz County Chapter Website
http://www.cruzcnps.org/