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KUSP LandWatch
News
Week of January 24, 2011 to January 28, 2011
Week of January 24, 2011 to January 28, 2011
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 January 24, 2011 to January 28, 2011
- Monday, January 24, 2011
The EcoFarm Conference
- Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Ethics And The Watsonville General Plan
- Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Redevelopment In Santa Cruz County
- Thursday, January 27, 2011
Heads Up On Pebble Beach Development
- Friday, January 28, 2011
Santa Cruz County LAFCO Meeting Next Week
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, January 24, 2011 The EcoFarm Conference |
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For over thirty years, the annual EcoFarm Conference has been the largest sustainable agriculture gathering in the western United States. It’s held right here on the Central Coast, at the Asilomar Conference Center. I invite you to track down the transcript of today’s Land Use Report, to get the details on over sixty workshops featuring prominent speakers on the latest advances in agricultural techniques, marketing strategies, and other important food system issues. I’ve been a speaker on various land use topics, in past years, and I think many KUSP listeners would be both educated and energized by attending. The Conference runs from this Wednesday, January 26th, through Saturday, January 29th. The Conference will have at least one panel on “food safety” issues. The federal government is developing food safety standards to be applied to all producers and handlers of fresh produce, and many growers and environmental groups are worried that these regulations will conflict with sustainable farming principles. The conference panel will review the status of national food safety regulation and explain how sustainable agriculture practices can be compatible with food safety guidelines. Again, there is more information at www.kusp.org. Click on the Land Use Report icon to find today’s transcript. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Tuesday, January 25, 2011 Ethics And The Watsonville General Plan |
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The City Council of the City of Watsonville is meeting this evening, starting at 6:30. Prior to that meeting, at 4:00 o’clock this afternoon, both the City Council and the City Planning Commission will be receiving ethics training. That ethics training session is being held as an open public meeting, and I think that the material covered would be interesting to many KUSP listeners. If you’d like more information, track down the transcript of today’s Land Use Report. The big item on this evening’s City Council agenda, at least from a land use policy perspective, is the Council’s consideration of the process that the City Council will use to develop a new City General Plan. I encourage Watsonville residents and other interested persons to get involved. In large part, the City’s need to update its General Plan comes from a successful lawsuit filed by Wittwer & Parkin, the law firm with which I am associated. Among other things, the Sixth District Appellate Court found that the former Watsonville City General Plan improperly dealt with issues related to growth proposed around the Watsonville Airport. The staff report for tonight’s meeting gives a good history of the City’s recent planning efforts, and actually includes a copy of the Court decision mandating a revision of the General Plan. Most importantly, the City Council is being given some options on how to move ahead. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Wednesday, January 26, 2011 Redevelopment In Santa Cruz County |
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I trust that listeners are following the statewide debate about redevelopment. Redevelopment is essentially a financial mechanism that allows local governments to take property taxes that would otherwise go to schools or other government agencies, and to direct that money, instead, to eliminating “blight” in specified redevelopment areas. Among other things, redevelopment is supposed to increase tax revenues in the designated redevelopment area, as the area improves and property values rise. The financial mechanisms involved, at least under current state law, also result in what amounts to a state government subsidy to redevelopment efforts. Because the state budget is so seriously out of balance, Governor Brown is recommending that new redevelopment projects be eliminated. Redevelopment has always been controversial, and some think that it is just a bad idea. All agree, however, that there is a state budget impact, and that is the focus of what Governor Brown is proposing. In Santa Cruz County, redevelopment issues were on the Board of Supervisors agenda yesterday, in the form of a recommendation by County Supervisor John Leopold that the Board ask its Redevelopment Agency Executive Director to identify any County actions that could help protect the County’s redevelopment efforts. I’ve place a link to Supervisor Leopold’s letter in the transcript of today’s Land Use Report. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Thursday, January 27, 2011 Heads Up On Pebble Beach Development |
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Pebble Beach is a world-class piece of private property. Just because property is privately owned, however, doesn’t mean that there isn’t a public interest in how that property will be developed and used. The public has the right to impose rules and regulations on the use of private property, as long as those rules and regulations don’t “take” the property for public use without paying for it. “Taking” a piece of private property by imposing regulations on its use means that the public regulations at issue will have to deprive the property owner of all of the economic value of the property. The public, in other words, has a right to impose rules that may reduce the profits or benefits that a private owner could achieve with his or her property, as long as the regulation doesn’t eliminate all such benefits and profits. Proposals to increase development at Pebble Beach provide a good example. Some years ago, the Pebble Beach Company proposed new developments that would increase the Company’s profits. Monterey County said, “ok,” but the California Coastal Commission, acting on behalf of the public interest in protecting the coast, turned down the development. That decision was both legal and Constitutional. Now, the Pebble Beach Company is advancing an updated, scaled-down version of their plan for more development in the Del Monte Forest, and that plan is moving towards environmental review. You can get more information in the transcript of today’s Land Use Report. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Friday, January 28, 2011 Santa Cruz County LAFCO Meeting Next Week |
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Public participation in land use policy decision-making can have a dramatic impact on our future. City governments and County governments play the leading role, but let’s not forget how important the decisions of water and transportation agencies can be, too. If you are at all willing to get involved in land use policy making, you have many opportunities to do so, right at the local level. If you want to enroll in the “graduate program” of public policy involvement, then paying attention to state and federal agencies is also appropriate. There is another important governmental agency, rooted in the local community, but more accurately seen as a state level policy body, that has a major role to play in land use decision making. That is LAFCO, the Local Agency Formation Commission. Next week, I hope you’ll consider getting personally familiar with LAFCO by attending the Santa Cruz County LAFCO meeting scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, February 2nd. The meeting will be held on the Fifth Floor of the Santa Cruz County Government Center. Next Wednesday, I expect to be at the LAFCO meeting myself, on behalf of the Community Water Coalition, which my law firm represents. Water policy issues are scheduled to be on the agenda, and so is the process for considering the extension of water service to UCSC, to facilitate University expansion into the UCSC “North Campus” area. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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Archives of past transcripts are available here
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