On July 8th, this coming Thursday, I encourage you to attend a meeting of the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, to be held in Watsonville. There are a number of items on the agenda, but the topic addressed in Agenda Item #11 has particularly important policy implications. The foundation question is whether or not stronger regulations on agricultural runoff should be imposed. Farmers and those who need clean water supplies for personal use have a big stake in the ultimate decision. So do those concerned about the quality of the marine environment.

The staff report recommends a continuation of the current situation for another eighteen months, while stronger regulations are further considered. Your views on this question will be important to the Regional Board, and if you’d like to participate, you should plan on being at the Watsonville City Council Chambers, 275 Main Street, in Watsonville, beginning at about 9:00 o’clock in the morning. As usual, I’ve put links to more information into the written transcript of today’s Land Use Report.

How we use the land affects our economy, our environment, and social justice and equity issues as well. Few things are more fundamental to the continued economic and environmental health of our region than clean water. Treat yourself to some public involvement on this critical issue on Thursday.

More Information:

Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board Website
http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/rwqcb3/

Agenda, July 8, 2010 Meeting
http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/centralcoast/board_info/
agendas/2010/jul/JUL10agn.htm

Staff Report, Agenda Item #11
http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/centralcoast/board_info/
agendas/2010/jul/item_11/stfrpt_11.pdf

Dipti Bhatnagar, Environmental Justice Coalition For Water – Email: dipti@ejcw.org; Telephone: 510-504-2876

I get lots of emailed information, each day, on land use, and I encourage listeners to send me more, so I can consider featuring important items on the Land Use Report.

Last Wednesday, a bulletin with a provocative headline popped into my inbox: “California Households Could Save $6,400 per Year from Better Community Planning.” Well, that’s not bad! How would you like to save $6,400? What if everyone could? If better community planning can help us all increase our disposable incomes, you can see that this could be an excellent economic development strategy, getting more money flowing in our local economy, with a positive impact on jobs and economic growth.

The headline announced the release of a new analysis prepared by Calthorpe Associates, one of the nation’s leading planning and design firms. “Vision California: Charting Our Future,” analyzes the financial and environmental benefits of state, regional and local land use and transportation policies, and concludes that a “growing smart” future would have an enormous economic payoff, compared to the “business as usual” future. The “growing smart” approach is projected to reduce annual household costs for gas, auto maintenance and household utility bills by 45%, by the year 2050. A link to the analysis is below.

More Information:

Calthorpe Associates
http://www.calthorpe.com/about

“Vision California” Website
http://www.visioncalifornia.org/

“Vision California” Report
http://www.visioncalifornia.org/reports.php

The California Coastal Commission is meeting in Santa Rosa today, and the Commission will be considering lots of items from the Central Coast Region. If you’re interested in following along, you can do that from the privacy of your own home or office, by using your browser to connect up to a live “webcast” that the Commission provides, to make it possible for everyone in the state (and in fact the world) to see this premier land use regulatory body in action.

As I’ve said before, I personally consider the Coastal Commission to be the best example of how land use issues should be addressed. There is an in-depth professional analysis, in written staff materials that almost always get to the key legal and land use issues involved; there is an opportunity for genuine public participation (and the webcast capacity provided by the Commission is just one example); and there is almost always a very thoughtful and respectful dialogue and discussion among Commissioners, before a decision is made. I do encourage you to see it with your own eyes! Once you do, you might be prompted to ask your local elected representatives, in City Councils and on Boards of Supervisors in the Central Coast Region, to do a little better in emulating the Coastal Commission’s example.

Issues from the Central Coast region to be considered today include permit and planning items from Pismo Beach to the San Lorenzo Valley. Check below for more info!

More Information:

California Coastal Commission Website
http://www.coastal.ca.gov/

Agenda, July 2010 Meeting
http://www.coastal.ca.gov/mtgcurr.html

Watch The Webcast
http://www.cal-span.org/State_Webcast/CCC/stream_index.htm

Are you concerned about traffic on Carmel Valley Road? Do you have concerns about traffic on Highway 68? Do you have concerns about the erosion caused by agricultural operations on steep slopes? Are you concerned about how best to preserve the prime agricultural lands of Monterey County? What about affordable housing issues in Monterey County; are you concerned about those?

Monterey County residents have a huge stake in the County General Plan Update process, and the County may be getting close to some sort of final action. I say “may” advisedly. The Board of Supervisors has been working on a General Plan Update since 1999, in other words for more than ten years, and it’s now considering a fifth version of a so-called “General Plan Update.”

Next Wednesday, July 14th, the Monterey County Planning Commission will begin reviewing “flagged” items, previously highlighted in the Final Environmental Impact Report. These are “big” items, where there is real public policy debate. For over ten years, the Board of Supervisors has failed to make the tough choices on land use policy that their job requires. They’ve always decided to “do more work,” hoping that these real conflicts would go away. They haven’t. I encourage your participation in this important process. There is more information below.

More Information:

The July 14, 2010 Planning Commission meeting will be particularly important. You can get access to the agenda, and to the pre-published staff reports right here
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/planning/cca/pc10.htm

LandWatch Monterey County letter on key issues in GPU#5
http://www.landwatch.org/pages/issuesactions/
countyplan/052410LWcommentsFinalEIRtoPC.html

The Public Policy Institute of California, usually known as “PPIC,” has just published a report entitled, “California 2025: Planning for a Better Future.” You’ll remember that on Tuesday I highlighted an analysis issued by Calthorpe Associates, called “Vision California,” which promised a $6,400 per year savings for all Californians. The PPIC report doesn’t do that, but it is worth reading, nonetheless. I’ve put a link below.

The PPIC report has sections on Population, Transportation, and Water, which of course relate most directly to the land use policy issues I cover here on KUSP. The PPIC report also discusses some other topics of importance, like the State Budget, Education, and Climate Change. I like the fact that it is implicit in the PPIC report that land use issues are woven directly into the future of our economy, and that the governmental processes that we use to govern our state, specifically including our current commitment to the two-thirds vote requirement, are all connected up.

Both these reports suggest that we are going to have to make fundamental changes in how we live and do business, if we are going to meet the challenges of the future. I think they also make clear that we each need to make our own involvement in public policy decisions a much higher priority.

More Information

PPIC Website
http://www.ppic.org/main/home.asp

California 2025: Planning For a Better Future
http://www.ppic.org/main/publication.asp?i=895

Calthorpe Associates
http://www.calthorpe.com/about

“Vision California” Website
http://www.visioncalifornia.org/

“Vision California” Report
http://www.visioncalifornia.org/reports.php