As I reported last Wednesday, San Luis Obispo County is in the process of considering a significant change in its current General Plan. One important issue is how the County should balance the need to facilitate new renewable energy technologies with the need to preserve and protect important natural habitat.

On tomorrow’s agenda, the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors will come at this issue from a different angle. Three different solar energy installations are being proposed in San Luis Obispo County, and one of them is an application for a 177-Megawatt solar thermal power plant, which the Ausra Company proposes to construct adjacent to the Carizzo Plain National Monument. Because this is a solar thermal power plant, the California Energy Commission has sole jurisdiction over the proposal. This means, as a practical matter, that the County will not only not get to say “yea” or “nay” to the proposal; it will also not have any direct ability to impose conditions on the proposed power plant, if the State Energy Commission decides to approve it.

Given the financial and other impacts that the proposed solar thermal installation could have on San Luis Obispo County, the Board is thinking of intervening in the application pending before the Energy Commission. You can get more information below.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

July 28, 2009 Agenda
http://slocounty.granicus.com/AgendaViewer.php?
view_id=2&event_id=59

Agenda Item E-1 is consideration of a report on the County's option to petition to intervene on the Ausra/Carrizo Energy Solar Farm Project before the California Energy Commission

Monterey County residents who’d like to get involved with important land use, water, and transportation issues, have some excellent opportunities for education and engagement, coming up both today and tomorrow.

This morning, starting at 9:00 o’clock, more than 200 people from around the world will gather at the Asilomar Conference Grounds to tackle climate change. This is the Twelfth Biennial Conference on Transportation and Energy Policy, organized by the Energy and Alternative Fuels Committees of the United States Transportation Research Board.

This afternoon, starting at 5:30 p.m., the Marina City Council will be holding an adjourned regular meeting to consider, among other things, the Cypress Knolls Development Project. Marina residents are hereby alerted and advised!

Finally, tomorrow evening, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., there will be a meeting at the North County High School, located at 13990 Castroville Boulevard, in Castroville, which will focus on water supply projects affecting North County. There are lots of things happening affecting future water supplies for North Monterey County, and this is probably one of the County’s most critically important issues.

You can get more information on all of these meetings below.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

Information on the Asilomar conference
http://www.its.ucdavis.edu/events/outreachevents/
asilomar2009/index.php

Local contact: Jean Getchell, Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District
jgetchell@mbuapcd.org

Marina City Website
http://www.ci.marina.ca.us/

Agenda for July 28 City Council Meeting
http://www.ci.marina.ca.us/Archive.aspx?ADID=1451

Cypress Knolls Public Workshop Announcement
http://www.ci.marina.ca.us/CurrentEvents.aspx?EID=860

Meeting Announcement for North County Water Meeting
http://search.thecalifornian.com/sp?aff=
1002&eventId=21925&skin=100

North County Water Issues Ad-Hoc Advisory Committee
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/bcandc/ncwater.htm

The Monterey County Planning Commission is meeting today, and if you have an interest in land use decisions affecting Carmel Valley, this might be an especially good time to watch this important land use policy body in action. And, of course, you don’t have simply to “watch” either! Every person has an absolute right (in California, anyway) to speak to any item on the agenda of any local government decision-making body. The Planning Commission will definitely hear what you have to say, if you show up and ask to be heard. The meeting starts at 9:00 o’clock this morning.

Today, the Commission is considering whether or not to approve 16 new hotel units at Bernardus Lodge, which would be about a thirty percent increase in its current capacity. Increased capacity at the Carmel Presbyterian Church, by way of the construction of a Community Life Center, is also on the agenda.

Today’s meeting also includes discussion of the Monterey County Voluntary Oak Woodlands Stewardship Guidelines. Under these Guidelines, an Oak Woodlands Management Plan would allow landowners, organizations, and local government entities to apply for bond funds from the State Wildlife Conservation Board.

Finally, the Planning Commission will hold a workshop today, to consider several draft General Plan Update policies, including an agricultural winery corridor plan and related proposed mitigation measures.  Nothing is more important than the General Plan, so don’t miss your chance to get involved.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

Agenda, July 29, 2009 meeting of the Monterey County Planning Commission
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/planning/cca/pc/
2009/07-29-09/pc07-29-09a.htm

A community’s General Plan is its local “Constitution” for land use. Every individual land use decision made by a city or county must be consistent with the General Plan. If you care about the impacts that land use decisions can have on the local economy, and environment, and on our ability to realize our social equity goals, then you have two basic strategies to pursue. One strategy is to get involved in each and every land use permit decision, since such decisions either approve, or not, land use developments that will profoundly affect our future. Alternatively, you can make sure that the land use policies in the General Plan reflect community priorities, and that they are well thought through and clearly stated. Since all permit decisions have to be consistent with the General Plan policies, you should be able to “kill many birds with a single stone,” by focusing at the General Plan policy level, to use a rather unenvironmental metaphor.

Theory aside, there is a Special Meeting of the Marina Planning Commission tonight, starting at 6:30, which will be focused on the Housing Element of the City of Marina General Plan. The Housing Element is a mandatory part of every local General Plan, and our ability, within our local communities, to ensure housing opportunities for everyone, will depend on exactly what the Housing Element says.

Think about attending that meeting tonight. There is more information below.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

Land Use and the General Plan
http://www.landwatch.org/pages/publications.htm#generalplan

Marina City Website
http://www.ci.marina.ca.us/

Planning Commission Agenda
http://www.ci.marina.ca.us/Archive.aspx?ADID=1368

Meeting Notice, July 30, 2009 Planning Commission meeting
http://www.ci.marina.ca.us/CurrentEvents.aspx?EID=879

A copy of the proposed Housing Element is available through a link that is part of the Meeting Notice

When I taught environmental law, I emphasized that there are three different “kinds” of law, associated with the three different branches of our government. “Statutory” laws are adopted by legislative bodies at the federal, state, or local level. Then, there are “administrative” or “regulatory” laws, adopted by the executive branch. Finally, the courts also create “law,” by deciding what statutory and regulatory laws actually mean, when there is a dispute about that; or if there is a claim that a statutory or regulatory law is unconstitutional; or if there is an assertion that the statutory or regulatory enactments of a lower level of government do not properly follow the laws enacted by a higher level of government.

In the transcript of today’s Land Use Report, I have placed a link to a recent Court of Appeal decision that holds that many local laws establishing inclusionary housing requirements for rental units are not in fact legal, because they are inconsistent with a state law intended to benefit landlords. If you care about affordable housing, this decision is worth reading. It’s the Palmer/Sixth Street Properties case, coming out of Los Angeles.

As a former local official, I’m sorry to find that the courts have taken away an opportunity for local governments to provide more affordable housing opportunities. It’s time to ask our state legislators to correct this problem.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information

Court Opinions Website
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/

A PDF version of Palmer/Sixth Street Properties case can be found listed for July 22, 2009