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KUSP LandWatch
News
Week of November 15, 2010 to November 19, 2010
Week of November 15, 2010 to November 19, 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 November 15, 2010 to November 19, 2010
- Monday, November 15, 2010
Tomorrow At The Board (Santa Cruz County)
- Tuesday, November 16, 2010
What Is The “Public” Interest?
- Wednesday, November 17, 2010
The Land Use Report Will Continue
- Thursday, November 18, 2010
Envisioning The Monterey Bay Area
- Friday, November 19, 2010
The Environmental Coordinator Does East Cliff
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, November 15, 2010 Tomorrow At The Board (Santa Cruz County) |
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The Board of Supervisors of Santa Cruz County will meet tomorrow. Residents of the unincorporated portions of Santa Cruz County might like to take a look at the Board’s Agenda. There’s a link in the transcript of today’s Land Use Report. Consent Agenda Item #29 would establish a new “Plan Line” for Thirtieth Avenue. If you are a property owner or resident on Thirtieth Avenue between Scriver Street and Portola Drive, you might want to review this item. Item #33 would change the County’s “Second Unit Ordinance,” allowing more property owners to build such units. Item #34 would make it easier for property owners to get exceptions from County zoning rules. Currently, if you don’t meet setback and height rules, you need to get a variance. The Planning Director wants to change that. If you think that there should be a public hearing, before your neighbor starts building something that might affect your own home, and that is inconsistent with the county’s zoning rules, you might want to check this agenda item out. The idea is to make it easier for property owners to get approvals without going through any public hearing process. The Planning Director claims that the proposed ordinance change is exempt from environmental review. Did I mention Zone 7 of the Santa Cruz County Flood Control and Water Conservation District? Lots of important actions affecting South County are consolidated as Item #32. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Tuesday, November 16, 2010 What Is The “Public” Interest? |
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Today, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors will be dealing with some rather profound questions of public policy. At issue is a decision on how best to define the “public” interest. Item #34 proposes changes to the County Code to allow the Planning Director to provide individual variances to County zoning rules. All residential and other zones will be affected by this code change, if the Board decides to approve it. So, if you are a resident of Live Oak, Soquel, Aptos, the San Lorenzo Valley, or any other unincorporated area, you should be aware of this proposed change. Consider letting your Supervisor know what you think. It used to be that you could easily send an email to the Board by clicking on a little “envelope” icon on the Board’s Agenda, but you don’t have that option today. There is a link to the Board’s Agenda in the transcript of today’s Land Use Report, and I’ve listed the Board’s telephone number, too. The Code changes proposed would make it easier for property owners and developers to build things that don’t strictly conform to County zoning rules. That could be a good thing. Certainly the change would eliminate what some would say are “bureaucratic obstacles.” That’s good if you want to build something. From the other side, the change does reduce the ability of the public in general to have their say about proposals to give individual exceptions to the rules that are supposed to apply to everyone. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Wednesday, November 17, 2010 The Land Use Report Will Continue |
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Probably not everybody likes to hear about land use issues so early in the morning (or maybe even ever), but I do know that a number of listeners were distressed by an earlier decision to discontinue the Land Use Report as of the end of this month. My thanks to those who let the station know that they thought that the Land Use Report provides an important service. I am pleased to say that the Land Use Report will be continuing, here on KUSP. The views I express on the Land Use Report are mine alone, and are certainly not the views of KUSP. If you think I’ve made a mistake, or haven’t covered a topic appropriately, I encourage you to let me know, which you can do from the KUSP website. I might well be able to remedy the mistake or other possible deficiency in what I may have said. I also want to say that KUSP is properly concerned (as I am) that listeners fully understand any connection that my employment with the environmental law firm of Wittwer & Parkin may have to the comments I make here on the Land Use Report. The station and I have agreed on some “transparency” rules, so listeners can evaluate my comments with a full understanding of my past and present employment. I invite you to review these disclosure statements on the KUSP website, and to listen for them as part of future Land Use Reports. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.More Information:
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| Thursday, November 18, 2010 Envisioning The Monterey Bay Area |
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We’ve done acronyms, so frequent listeners should have no problem in identifying AMBAG as the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments. Listeners who have really been paying attention will recognize SB 375 as a state law intended to motivate local governments to do better land use planning, to help address our global warming crisis. Today, I’d like to invite you to become more informed about the AMBAG “Blueprint” project, which helps lay the groundwork for the implementation of SB 375 in our Region. AMBAG has a website that gives information on its Blueprint project, and there is now an opportunity for public comment, which will expire on December 15th. To get involved, you should download a document entitled Envisioning The Monterey Bay Area: A Blueprint for Sustainable Growth and Smart Infrastructure. I’ve put links in the transcript of today’s Land Use Report. The key to “sustainable” growth, according to the Blueprint, is to minimize VMT. You may remember that acronym, too. It stands for “Vehicle Miles Travelled.” To roll back our greenhouse gas emissions, we need to stop the kind of auto-intensive, sprawling growth that has characterized California development for the past 75 years. 40% of our greenhouse gas emissions are tied to transportation. Check out the Blueprint, and send in your comments. The website makes it easy. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Friday, November 19, 2010 The Environmental Coordinator Does East Cliff |
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The Santa Cruz County Environmental Coordinator is charged with determining whether or not a proposed project has the potential to create significant impacts to the environment. If a project does have the potential to create significant environmental impacts, the Environmental Coordinator is then charged with suggesting ways that those environmental impacts can be eliminated, or mitigated to the point that they become “insignificant.” There is, in fact, a regular process for making these determinations, which are required by the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA. As part of the process, the public has the right to weigh in, and provide their views, on proposed determinations. On October 25th, the Environmental Coordinator held a meeting at which he presented a “Notice of Intent” to adopt a “Negative Declaration” for a proposed project to construct pedestrian pathway improvements on the north and west side of East Cliff Drive, along Schwan Lake, between 9th Avenue and 12th Avenue. The Negative Declaration was issued, and there is still time to comment, if you have any interest in doing that. Many residents and visitors know the Schwan Lake area well, and if you care about how that area might be modified in the future, now is the time to get involved. The comment period on the Negative Declaration ends on December 7th. For more information, check the transcript of today’s Land Use Report. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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Archives of past transcripts are available here
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