The fiscal problems afflicting the State of California are definitely affecting Monterey County, and will have a direct impact on the Monterey County Planning and Building Services Departments. It is proposed to reduce the Building Services Department from 58 positions to 35, and to eliminate four code enforcement officers and two land use technicians. Two code enforcement officers and one land use technician would be transferred to the Planning Department, to be responsible for zoning enforcement. Building Services would maintain responsibility for building and grading code enforcement, and would assign four additional building and grading inspectors to do such code enforcement work. According to the Director of Building Services, the idea is to maintain the total number of code enforcement investigators for zoning, building and grading code violations.

One thing that may be going on here is an attempt to move positions to a department that can recover staff costs through increased fees, thus reducing demands on the County’s General Fund. 100% cost recovery would be the goal. From a philosophical point of view, this would mean an end to public subsidies for new development. From the point of view of a permit applicant, it could mean a potentially steep increase in the cost of getting a planning or building approval.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

The proposed reorganizations and reassignments discussed in today’s Land Use Report were on the May 19, 2009 Consent Agenda of the Monterey County Board of Supervisors. You can get more information by tracking down those agenda materials on the County’s website:

• Monterey County Website
  http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/
• Planning Department
  http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/planning/
• Building Services Department
  http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/building/
• Agenda Materials
  http://publicagendas.co.monterey.ca.us/

A meeting is scheduled for 5:00 o’clock this afternoon at the Calvary Episcopal Church in downtown Santa Cruz. The focus of discussion will be on transportation alternatives, and particularly on alternatives that would eliminate the need to build a new five-story parking garage on the surface parking lot at the corner of Center and Lincoln Streets, the current site of the very popular Farmers Market. As you may recall, the City considered building such a new parking structure, which would definitely have a big impact on downtown, not too long ago. No action was taken then, but the idea is still pending. If you are looking for a good issue to get involved with (in all your spare time), this is certainly one that is worthy of consideration. As with almost all public policy matters, who gets involved, and how many people get involved, and how effectively they organize, will have a lot to do with what ultimately happens.

You can get more information on this evening’s meeting, and on City transportation issues generally, by visiting the website of the Campaign For Sensible Transportation. I’ve put a link in the transcript of today’s Land Use Report. This evening, there will be a discussion of the results of the Commute Habits Survey, and recommendations for incentives that would encourage walking, bicycling, carpooling and transit. Those who work in downtown Santa Cruz are particularly invited to attend!

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

Campaign For Sensible Transportation
http://www.sensibletransportation.org/

In January, the State Lands Commission considered and denied a proposal to allow offshore oil drilling in State waters off Santa Barbara County. That proposal would have set a precedent for new offshore oil drilling along the entire California coast.

The State Lands Commission has only three members: the Lieutenant Governor (currently John Garamendi); the State Controller (currently John Chiang); and the State Director of Finance, who is appointed by the Governor (currently Mike Genest). The Governor’s appointee voted in favor of the offshore oil drilling proposal, but the two statewide elected officials outvoted him. As you can see, the State Lands Commission plays a critical role in overseeing the resource rich lands along our coastline, including State waters immediately offshore.

Governor Schwarzenegger has now proposed a budget trailer bill that would say that if the State Lands Commission has denied a project that project may be resubmitted to the Director of Finance, who can then take action independently. In other words, the Governor wants to be the sole custodian of the resource rich lands along our coast, and we already know that he favors accommodating the oil companies.

Now would be a good time to let your elected State representatives know what you think about this idea to give the Governor unilateral power over coastal land and water resources. There is more information below.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

State Land Commission Website
http://www.slc.ca.gov/

Find out more about the PxP oil drilling proposal
http://wildheritageplanners.com/

For more information on the controversy contact:

Jack Eidt, Director of Planning
Wild Heritage Planners
PO Box 50260
Los Angeles, CA 90050
Phone: 323 257 0383

The Planning and Conservation League Foundation (or PCLF) will soon be holding a series of Regional Land Use Summits, in various parts of the state. These Regional Land Use Summits will focus very centrally on the implementation of Senate Bill 375, a bill that passed the Legislature last year with the support of the Planning and Conservation League (or PCL), a sister organization to the PCL Foundation. PCL’s support for SB 375 came with a list of reservations, which PCL directly communicated to the Bill’s author, State Senator Darrell Steinberg, who is currently President pro Tem of the Senate. The main concern was not that it wasn’t a good idea to put transportation planning and land use planning together, as SB 375 demands; it was how effectively the process set up by the bill would really work.

In short, SB 375 is set up to be a “carrot,” not a “stick,” and to encourage (but not require) that local governments design their future land use plans to reduce vehicle miles travelled, or VMT.

If you would like to help make sure that the implementation of SB 375 does work, and achieves the greenhouse gas reductions its sponsors said it would, keep your eye peeled for the upcoming Land Use Summits. There is more information below.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

Senate Bill 375
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?
bill_number=sb_375&sess=PREV&house=B&author=steinberg

The Planning and Conservation League Foundation (or PCLF) is a statewide environmental education and outreach organization, based in Sacramento, affiliated with the Planning and Conservation League (or PCL), which lobbies in the California State Legislature on environmental bills. PCL, in other words, is directly involved in legislative advocacy. The PCL Foundation is not. This separation of education from advocacy is dictated for the most part by the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, which provides that donations to educational groups, like PCLF, can be deducted from a donor’s taxes, while donations to advocacy groups, like PCL, cannot.

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

Last Thursday, the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission held a “Transportation Policy Workshop.” Among other items considered was a staff presentation on various pieces of State Legislation, with a recommendation from the staff that the Commission take a position in support of some of these legislative proposals.

I would like personally to encourage listeners to the Land Use Report to get familiar with how the state legislative process works, and then to start paying attention to one or more bills that will clearly have local impacts. Our land use and transportation policies are ultimately defined by what the State Legislature does, and all too many of use believe that things in Sacramento are just too complex (or maybe too corrupt) for our own involvement to make any difference. Having been an environmental lobbyist, myself, I can tell you that I don’t agree with that conclusion. If you pay attention to what’s happening in the State Legislature, you can definitely influence the results. Thankfully, our local government agencies (like the Transportation Commission) realize this, and do get actively engaged.

A link to the entire list of bills spotlighted by the Transportation Commission staff is available below. So is a link to the “leginfo” website, a website that can make you into an effective lobbyist, working from home. It’s actually true. Give it a try!

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

Legislative Information is available on the “Leginfo” website, which will let you search by legislator, by bill number, and by keyword, to find the legislation you’re interested in. It will then give you all the information about the bill that the legislators have, and will allow you to “subscribe” to bills, so you can know about changes and proposed actions before they occur. Check out this powerful tool for citizen participation
www.leginfo.ca.gov

Transportation Commission Website
http://www.sccrtc.org/

The item referred to in this Land Use Report is Agenda Item #5 on the May 21, 2009 SCCRTC Workshop Agenda
http://www.sccrtc.org/packet/2009/0905/TPWAgenda0905.html