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KUSP LandWatch
News
Week of February 7, 2011 to February 11, 2011
Week of February 7, 2011 to February 11, 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 February 7, 2011 to February 11, 2011
- Monday, February 7, 2011
Redevelopment Here And Around The State
- Tuesday, February 8, 2011
The Monterey County Planning Commission
- Wednesday, February 9, 2011
The Boronda Community Plan
- Thursday, February 10, 2011
The Salinas Housing Element
- Friday, February 11, 2011
Desalination And The Alternatives
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, February 7, 2011 Redevelopment Here And Around The State |
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Tomorrow, the Board of Supervisors of Santa Cruz County is expected to set a public hearing, as a joint meeting with the Redevelopment Agency of Santa Cruz County, for Tuesday, February 15th (next Tuesday) at 7:00 o’clock in the evening. You may want to mark your calendar. By the way, the “joint meeting” aspect is a legal formality, or an inside joke, as you may choose to think about it. The Redevelopment Agency and the Board of Supervisors are the same five people. The meeting next Tuesday will be held at the Del Mar Elementary School, located at 1959 Merrill Street in Live Oak. The purpose of the meeting is to consider financing and moving ahead with a number of Redevelopment Agency projects: a proposed Sheriff-Coroner Facility; a Behavioral Health Unit Facility; the Chanticleer Avenue Park; the Soquel Community Center and Farm Park; Gemma House Second Unit improvements; youth and recreational facilities; and improvements to the Simpkins Family Swim Center. In essence, the Board/Redevelopment Agency is trying to play some “defense ball,” in view of the Governor’s suggestion that redevelopment agencies be eliminated. The transcript for today’s Land Use Report has a link to an analysis done by the Legislative Analyst’s Office that demonstrates that there may be some merit in what the Governor is proposing, looking at things from a statewide perspective. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Tuesday, February 8, 2011 The Monterey County Planning Commission |
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The Monterey County Planning Commission meets tomorrow, and will consider a proposed 78-bed assisted care living facility, quaintly called “Carmel Cottages” by the developer. The development would consist of a 3-building complex of over 43,000 square feet, with a 35-space parking lot, and 3,000 cubic yards of grading. Access would be provided across a neighboring lot to Carmel Rancho Boulevard. There would also be improvements to Val Verde Drive for emergency access to Carmel Valley Road. The proposed Use Permit would allow development on slopes exceeding 30%, and the project would require an allocation of 4.8 acre feet of water, in water-scarce Carmel Valley. This is a project that people in Carmel Valley will probably consider to be significant. It is one of many such projects. Carmel Valley is one of the “hotspots” for development in Monterey County. The two Planning Commissioners representing the Fifth Supervisorial District (the “Dave Potter District”) come from Big Sur and Cachagua, so there is no one on the Commission from Carmel Valley. Fourth District Supervisor Jane Parker recently tried to appoint a Carmel Valley resident to the Commission, but Supervisors Calcagno, Salinas, and Armenta all voted “no.” Carmel Valley residents who care about the projects proposed for Carmel Valley need to get personally involved. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Wednesday, February 9, 2011 The Boronda Community Plan |
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The Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments publishes what they call the Clearinghouse Review, which provides a kind of monthly “heads up” on significant projects. As I reviewed the January edition, I found a proposed project that may be of interest to Monterey County listeners. Within Monterey County, the “hotspots” for development include Carmel Valley, the Highway 68 Corridor, and North Monterey County. If you live in an area where there is a lot of development activity, one way to get “ahead of the curve” is to make sure that the planning policies that apply in your area really reflect community values. If the planning policies aren’t clear, or if they don’t reflect what the community actually wants, then a series of project level decisions can undermine community objectives and the local environment. If you care about the future of development in North Monterey County, consider getting involved in current efforts to develop a Boronda Community Plan. The Boronda planning area encompasses 400 acres of unincorporated land in North Monterey County, including the "North Boronda subarea;" the "Madison Lane subarea;" and the "South Boronda subarea." The proposed Plan would require the preparation of General Development Plans for development within the South Boronda subarea, to help ensure that infrastructure developments are completed in an orderly manner. What does that really mean? Get involved now, or you may be surprised later! For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Thursday, February 10, 2011 The Salinas Housing Element |
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The AMBAG Clearinghouse Review, mentioned yesterday, is an “early warning system” for significant land use decisions at both the planning and project levels. The most recent edition spotlights some very significant planning decisions that will be considered soon by the City of Salinas. The Salinas City Council is updating the Housing Element of the City General Plan, and since housing issues are so important for the future of every community, those who want to weigh in on the future of Salinas should think about getting involved now in the development of the updated Housing Element. The Housing Element is one of the seven General Plan Elements required by state law, and it must demonstrate that the City has made available adequate sites for housing to accommodate its Regional Housing Needs Allocation, or its “fair share” of future housing demand. In the case of Salinas, this “fair share” allocation is 4,076 units. Salinas assumes that moderate income and above-moderate income units will be provided by the private market. That cannot be assumed with respect to housing for lower-income households. State Housing Element law requires the City to demonstrate that it is addressing the housing needs of lower income persons, but the City is not required actually to produce such housing. You can find out more from the transcript of today’s Land Use Report. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Friday, February 11, 2011 Desalination And The Alternatives |
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Here is a “mark your calendars” item. Next week, on Wednesday, February 16th, Conner Everts will be making a presentation on “Desalination and the Alternatives.” Sponsored by the Santa Cruz Desal Alternatives group, the presentation will take place at the Unity Temple, located at 407 Broadway, near Ocean Street. Admission is free. Everts is the Executive Director of the Southern California Watershed Alliance, and has served on the State Task Force on Desalination. He has advised activists around the state on desalination and water policy issues, and has worked particularly closely with the Environmental Justice Coalition for Water, and the Southern California Steelhead Alliance. The City of Santa Cruz and the Soquel Creek Water District are proposing a major new desalination plant to address the current and future water needs of the urbanized portions of Central and North Santa Cruz County. This plan will be costly in terms of your water bill, and could have some very significant environmental impacts. The environmental review process, mandated by state law, has just recently begun, so there is lots of time to get directly and personally involved. Our land use future is tied to water and transportation. If you’d like to get engaged, personally, in the decision making processes that will determine the future of our local community, think about turning out next Wednesday evening to hear Conner Everts. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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Archives of past transcripts are available here
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