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KUSP LandWatch
News
Week of July 26, 2010 to July 30, 2010
Week of July 26, 2010 to July 30, 2010
KUSP provided a brief Land Use Report on KUSP Radio from January 2003 to May 2016. Archives of past transcripts are available here.
Week of July 26, 2010 to July 30, 2010
- Monday, July 26, 2010
Marijuana and Alleyways
- Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Board Items In Monterey County
- Wednesday, July 28, 2010
A Solar Farm in San Benito County?
- Thursday, July 29, 2010
Big Plans For Seaside!
- Friday, July 30, 2010
Legal Planet
The following Land Use Reports have been presented on KUSP Radio by Gary A. Patton. The Wittwer & Parkin law firm is located in Santa Cruz, California, and practices environmental and governmental law. As part of its practice, the law firm files litigation and takes other action on behalf of its clients, which are typically private individuals, governmental agencies, environmental organizations, or community groups. Whenever the Land Use Report comments on an issue with which the Wittwer & Parkin law firm is involved on behalf of a client, Mr. Patton will make this relationship clear, as part of his commentary. Mr. Patton’s comments do not represent the views of Wittwer & Parkin, LLP, KUSP Radio, nor of any of its sponsors.
| Monday, July 26, 2010 Marijuana and Alleyways |
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Tomorrow, the Santa Cruz City Council will take up several items with land use policy implications. The afternoon session begins at 3:00 p.m., the evening session at 7:00. Item #19, on the afternoon agenda, is focused on the Pogonip Master Plan. The Council is thinking of adding a multi-use trail connection through Pogonip, with the idea that more use of Pogonip by horseback riders and bicyclists can help dispel the use of the property as a place to buy and sell heroin. Whether this is a good drug enforcement strategy or not remains to be seen. The land use policy that the item illustrates is the basic idea that specific projects (for instance a new trail) must be consistent with adopted plans. Item #21, also in the afternoon, is a public hearing about marijuana dispensaries. The proposal is to allow sales seven days per week. In non-drug related business, Item #29, on the evening agenda, proposes the abandonment or “vacation” of part of an alley between Park Way South and Mentel Avenue. Here, the City is exercising its rights as a property owner, rather than as a regulator. If approved, as anticipated, the alleyway vacation will facilitate left turn improvements on Soquel Avenue. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Tuesday, July 27, 2010 Board Items In Monterey County |
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The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors is off on vacation today, but the Monterey County Board of Supervisors is carrying out business. If you have a yen to watch a county government in action, you can fulfill that desire by getting yourself over to the Board of Supervisors’ Chambers in Salinas, by 9:00 o’clock this morning. As usual, I’ve put links to information about some of the interesting land use related items in the written transcript of today’s Land Use Report. One of the interesting items is Item #S-2. This is an appeal to the Board from the denial of a request for a lot line adjustment. Decisions about “subdivisions,” as I frequently note, are among the most important land use decisions made by local governments. A subdivision, once approved, legally establishes a “parcel” of land, or a “lot,” which can then be bought and sold, separately. Owning a legal parcel or lot, however, doesn’t automatically mean that you can develop that lot or parcel. Governmental regulations relating to setbacks, protection of riparian corridors, steep slopes, etc. may affect the ability of a landowner actually to “develop” a legal lot. Here, a legally created lot is not developable, because it can’t properly accommodate a septic system. Therefore, the owner wants to add land through a lot line adjustment, and so far, the County has said “no.” For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Wednesday, July 28, 2010 A Solar Farm in San Benito County? |
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Everyone likes solar energy, right? Well, that may be theoretically so (at least for most people), but the fact of the matter is that large scale solar developments now being proposed throughout California are more like huge “industrial” developments than warm and fuzzy little “green” projects that make all environmentalists smile. The Sierra Club, whose national headquarters is strongly supporting industrial grade solar development, sometimes finds that its local activists are not so happy with the impact of these proposals on endangered habitats and species. Our “deserts,” for those who know them well, are fascinating and fragile ecosystems that are sometimes under appreciated for their environmental importance. The same thing is true for what are often called “marginal” agricultural lands, located in remote areas. Places like these get lots of sun, but solar power developments extending over hundreds of acres can have truly adverse impacts. If Land Use Report listeners would like to get involved in a more or less “local” example of this major policy debate, check out the transcript of today’s Land Use Report. San Benito County is acting as the Lead Agency for a proposed solar farm development in the Panoche Valley, and the Environmental Impact Report comment period is still open. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Thursday, July 29, 2010 Big Plans For Seaside! |
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If I didn’t subscribe to the AMBAG “Clearinghouse Report,” I wouldn’t have known about some big plans for Seaside. AMBAG stands for “Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments,” and among its other activities, AMBAG publishes a “Clearinghouse” Report each month, providing a “heads up” on major projects under consideration by the cities and counties located within the AMBAG region. This means, specifically, within the counties of Santa Cruz, San Benito, and Monterey. The latest Clearinghouse Report lists the Panoche Valley Solar Farm project I mentioned yesterday. It also lists “Projects at Main Gate” in the City of Seaside. The environmental review period for this proposed Seaside development ended on July 15th, but there is still time to get involved in the project review process. The City of Seaside is partnering with Clark Realty Capital and General Growth Properties on a development that involves: (1) an open-air retail and entertainment based shopping center; and (2) a hotel/spa and conference center. This development is proposed on fifty-three acres of the former Fort Ord, right at the Main Gate offramp. If you think this kind of freeway-oriented development is just what you’d like to see on scenic Highway One, you’re in luck. If you think the contrary, you’d better get engaged now. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Friday, July 30, 2010 Legal Planet |
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Over the last year, I’ve started writing a “blog,” on a daily basis, and this has made me a lot more cognizant of how much is going on, out there in what some people call the “blogosphere.” Today, let me recommend a blog called “Legal Planet,” which is published out of the law schools at UC Berkeley and UCLA. You can get a link to “Legal Planet” by tracking down the written transcript to today’s Land Use Report. I’ve found that this particular blog keeps me very much up to date on the latest environmental and land use related legal news. Subscribing is easy, and puts an email in your inbox, so you don’t even have to go looking for the latest edition. The July 20th edition of “Legal Planet” highlighted a report called Plan For The Future, published by the two law schools and the Bank of America, which, incidentally, has a long engagement in the promotion of “smart growth” land use policy. As Plan For The Future notes, the transportation sector in California accounts for almost forty percent of the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, making it the single largest source. These emissions are directly related to the state’s auto-centric land use policies, and while the public increasingly demands sustainable development, local governments often lack the resources and the will to implement sustainable development through land use planning. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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Archives of past transcripts are available here
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