Boards of Supervisors meet on Tuesdays. At least, that’s their regular pattern. Tomorrow, however, residents of the Central Coast region won’t be able to satisfy their cravings for county government deliberations anywhere but in Salinas. Neither the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors nor the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors will be in session.

In Monterey County, though, an important land use policy item will considered by the Monterey County Board of Supervisors tomorrow. Agenda Item #S-10 is a report on "Big Box" stores. The Board will review that report, and take public comment, and then provide direction to staff regarding the possible preparation of an ordinance regulating such “Big Box” stores. The City of Salinas is also in the process of considering how best to regulate (or whether to regulate) large superstores like those typically constructed by Wal-Mart.

I often point out that our land use regulatory decisions have economic and social equity impacts, as well as “environmental” impacts. This is a good example. The courts, by the way, have specifically held that the economic blight in downtown areas, often caused by or associated with a new superstore somewhere on the outskirts of town, is an “environmental” impact that needs full review under the California Environmental Quality Act.

Find out more on the KUSP website.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

Monterey County Board of Supervisors’ Agenda
http://publicagendas.co.monterey.ca.us/

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

The need to coordinate water supply planning with land use planning is an important issue on both sides of the Monterey Bay, and the Monterey Peninsula provides a kind of “cautionary tale” for what might happen within the City of Santa Cruz Water Service Area, if commitments to provide water service are allowed to outrun available supplies.

The cities of Carmel and Monterey, and the Carmel Valley, all receive water from the Carmel River, but the amount of water currently being taken out of the Carmel River actually exceeds the amount of water that is legally supposed to be taken out, as documented by an official Order from the State Water Resources Control Board. Consequently, there is now a full moratorium on new residential and business water connections, and things may get worse for Peninsula residents and businesses. A Federal lawsuit has recently been filed, to require reduced withdrawals from the Carmel River, to try to save an endangered population of steelhead trout. An initial hearing on the lawsuit is scheduled for August 14th. If you’re interested, check the link provided below.

City of Santa Cruz officials, and members of LAFCO, who are going to be making a decision on whether or not to make a large new commitment of water for University growth should be careful not to overcommit the San Lorenzo River, because the exact same kind of endangered species impacts are at issue on this side of the Bay.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

Article on Federal lawsuit from Carmel Pine Cone
http://www.pineconearchive.com/090703PCA.pdf

You have all, I trust, survived the Fourth of July Holiday intact, and with a renewed enthusiasm for the kind of representative democracy that the American Revolution helped initiate within the world on July 4th, 1776.

If you are thinking more than usual about democratic self-government, and about what that requires from you; if your patriotism, in other words, has been stimulated and you’d like to do something about it, I have a specific suggestion. Why not plan to attend a meeting of the Marina City Planning Commission and the Marina City Public Works Commission being held tomorrow evening at the Marina City Hall?

Item #7 on the agenda tomorrow is a special presentation by Marina City Attorney Rob Wellington. He will be providing a training to members of the City Planning Commission and the City Public Works Commission on the Ralph M. Brown Act, which establishes a set of rules requiring every local agency to allow full public participation in its meetings. The Ralph M. Brown Act and the California Public Records Act are a kind of “charter” guaranteeing your rights to participate effectively in governmental decision-making. Since public meetings are open, thanks to the Brown Act, you can attend this training session free. What’s more, the Brown Act allows you to make a comment on any item on the agenda, which means you can raise any questions or concerns you have, at the public meeting tomorrow night.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

City of Marina website
http://www.ci.marina.ca.us/

Marina City Commission Agendas
http://www.ci.marina.ca.us/index.aspx?NID=56

Planning Commission Agendas
http://www.ci.marina.ca.us/Archive.aspx?AMID=46

The Ralph M. Brown Act (2004)
http://www.brownact.org/

Leginfo Website
www.leginfo.ca.gov

The Brown Act on Leginfo
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?
section=gov&group=54001-55000&file=54950-54963

Government Code Section 54954.3: (a) Every agenda for regular meetings shall provide an opportunity for members of the public to directly address the legislative body on any item of interest to the public, before or during the legislative body's consideration of the item ….

If the world climate crisis hasn’t entered your consciousness yet, then you’re probably not going to be too interested in the event I’m going to tell you about. However, if you are not paying attention to global warming would you do me a favor? I’ve put a link in the transcript of today’s Land Use Report to a recent New Yorker article profiling climate scientist James Hansen. I think this article presents a particularly compelling argument for why we all should be taking global warming even more seriously than we already are. And if your concern is really at “zero,” or close to it, you can start here to get up to speed real fast.

Once you are up to speed on why we should care about global warming, you’ll want to explore ways that you can do something about it. This evening, from 5:00 to 7:00, I recommend that you attend a LandWatch Monterey County event being held at a private home in Carmel Valley. Information on how to make a reservation for the event is below.

At the event this evening, Jason K. Burnett, of Burnett EcoEnergy, will be talking about how to establish a regional clean energy revolving fund in Monterey County, modeled after the “Berkeley First” Program. This program facilitates the installation of photovoltaic technology on local homes and businesses, without the need for property owners to finance all the costs upfront. It could play a vital role in reducing fossil fuel energy use.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

The “Catastrophist,” New Yorker, June 29, 2009 - http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/
2009/06/29/090629fa_fact_kolbert

To make a reservation contact Amy White at 831-422-9384, or contact her by email at awhite@mclw.org

The LandWatch website
www.landwatch.org

A recent news article from The Olympian, published in Olympia, Washington, drew my attention. It reported on a hearing held by the oceans subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee, chaired by United States Senator Maria Cantwell. Evidence presented at the hearing suggests that the increasing acidity of the oceans could be the cause for problems in the Washington State oyster industry.

This report on ocean acidification seems an appropriate follow up to my Land Use Report yesterday, in which I mentioned the recent New Yorker profile of climate scientist James Hansen. That article also mentions ocean acidification, which not everyone appreciates is one of the most drastic and worrisome aspects of what’s happening as we heat the planet. As we put more C02 into the atmosphere, we are inevitably putting it into our marine environment, too, and marine organisms are very sensitive to the increased acidity that results. Marine impacts, in fact, could be one of the most devastating outcomes of the human-caused climate changes that are heating up the planet at such an amazingly rapid rate.

Residents of the Central Coast care deeply care about protecting the marine environment. If we do, we need to so something about and land-based activities that are causing global warming. Changing our land use policies to stop the auto-dependent sprawl that is causing at least 25% of our greenhouse gas emissions is a much-needed first step.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

Olympian story on ocean acidification
http://www.theolympian.com/environment/
story/876809.html

The “Catastrophist,” New Yorker, June 29, 2009
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/06/
29/090629fa_fact_kolbert