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KUSP LandWatch
News
Week of June 20, 2011 to June 24, 2011
Week of June 20, 2011 to June 24, 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 June 20, 2011 to June 24, 2011
- Monday, June 20, 2011
Approving A Park In Soquel
- Tuesday, June 21, 2011
The Future of 41st Avenue
- Wednesday, June 22, 2011
They Cancelled That Meeting!
- Thursday, June 23, 2011
Plans For Highway One
- Friday, June 24, 2011
Pinnacles National Monument
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, June 20, 2011 Approving A Park In Soquel |
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Agenda Item #35 on tomorrow’s agenda of the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors is a good news item. Acting as the Board of Directors of the Santa Cruz County Redevelopment Agency, the Board will consider the Soquel Creek Linear Park and Parking Improvements Conceptual Master Plan. The proposed project, which would cost over $2,000,000 actually to construct, helps implement the Soquel Village Plan, which was adopted way back in 1990, when I was still a member of the Board of Supervisors. This item teaches a number of lessons. Serious efforts to reconfigure and revitalize our local communities require both time and money (and community participation). The plan being considered tomorrow grew out of public participation efforts spearheaded by the County Redevelopment Agency, with assistance from the Parks, Open Space, and Cultural Services Department. I remember highlighting the public meetings here on the Land Use Report. If any of you participated in those meetings, tomorrow’s the day you can see the results of your engagement in this public process. Real money is going to flow, soon, to put together what the staff report calls the “interlocking puzzle pieces” of this revitalization effort. Congratulations to Supervisor Leopold, the County staff and Board, and to the members of the public whose participation has made this project possible. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Tuesday, June 21, 2011 The Future of 41st Avenue |
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As I noted yesterday, public participation makes a real difference in helping to drive planning concepts towards reality. Time and money are the other essential ingredients. Today, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors is considering a parks project in the “Heart of Soquel” that will help realize the planning objectives of the Soquel Village Plan, originally adopted in 1990. Tomorrow, the City of Capitola General Plan Advisory Committee will be holding a planning meeting that could profoundly affect the future of the 41st Avenue commercial district. I urge Capitola residents to get involved now. In fact, lots of Santa Cruz County residents have a stake in what happens on 41st Avenue, and the City isn’t going to turn anyone away. This might me a good meeting to attend even if you are not a Capitola resident. The meeting tomorrow, Wednesday, June 22nd, starts at 6:00 p.m. in the Capitola City Council Chambers, 420 Capitola Avenue. This meeting will be focused almost exclusively on the 41st Avenue/Capitola Mall Special Study area. A baseline analysis report will be reviewed as well an alternatives concepts package that includes a list of possible revisioning goals. Three development alternatives for the area will be presented. I have provided a link to the meeting packet in the transcript of today’s Land Use Report. It’s fascinating reading! For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Wednesday, June 22, 2011 They Cancelled That Meeting! |
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A very large desalination project is proposed in Monterey County, called the “Regional Water Project,” and I have definitely been trying to encourage Monterey County residents to get informed and get involved. The proposed project is controversial, and is enmeshed in complexities of many kinds, including, most recently, major conflict of interest allegations. Fiscal, environmental, and community development issues are all involved, not to mention issues of governance. In order to promote participation, I advertised a meeting last week. In a way, I hope that not too many KUSP listeners relied on my announcement, changed their evening plans, and went out to attend the meeting. If they did, my apologies, because the meeting was cancelled, on very short notice. Since the Land Use Report is prerecorded, I couldn’t change my advisory in time to eliminate what turned out to be an erroneous report. I did hear from the coordinator of the Desal Community Involvement Forum, who appreciated my advertising efforts, but was hoping to head them off. He believes that the Forum is a great face-to-face way to get reliable information about the project. Since no new date was set, you can either rely on the Land Use Report for a bulletin about the next opportunity to get involved, or you could sign up for the Forum’s mailing list yourself. I’ve put some contact information in the transcript of today’s Land Use Report. My apologies, again, if you got misdirected last week. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Thursday, June 23, 2011 Plans For Highway One |
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On Thursday, June 16th, the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission began discussing a proposal to eliminate AMBAG, the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments, and to take over AMBAG’s transportation planning role itself. The Transportation Agency of Monterey County (or TAMC) would have to agree, but it appears that both transportation agencies would be financially better off if AMBAG were scrapped. It’s not clear that regional planning would be better off, but what seems apparent is that the drying up of financial resources for government leads to efforts to consolidate, or cannibalize, if you may wish to characterize it that way. A couple of months ago, the Santa Cruz County Transportation Commission was seriously considering trying to take over the Transit District. The most important planning item on the June 16th agenda outlined continued plans to widen Highway One in Santa Cruz County. There is no funding actually to construct this project, but the Commission continues to spend significant sums in trying to advance it by way of planning and environmental review. Now, the Commission is facing a threat that the federal government might seek to recapture about $5 million in federal funds that have been spent since the widening proposal was initiated in 2003. The item will be back for more discussion in August. You can get a link to the June 16th staff report in today’s transcript. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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| Friday, June 24, 2011 Pinnacles National Monument |
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Whether it’s through midnight moonwalks or rock-climbing expeditions during one’s teenage years, lots of residents of the Monterey Bay Region know and love the Pinnacles National Monument. If you haven’t ever visited the Pinnacles, please use today’s edition of the Land Use Report as a stimulus to investigate this local treasure. I’ve put a link to the Pinnacles National Monument website in the written transcript of today’s Land Use Report. You won’t be sorry if you visit! The actual occasion for today’s report is to alert listeners to some planning activity now going on, involving a proposed bridge reconstruction within the National Monument. The environmental review being carried out is pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (or NEPA), since this is a federal project. No decisions by any California governmental agencies are involved, so no review under the California Environmental Quality Act (or CEQA) will be required. The proposed project is to reconstruct the historic bridge located on Sandy Creek adjacent to the Pinnacles Campground and to the Ben Bacon Ranch Historic District. The Historic District is at the core of Pinnacles Ranch, which is located on the east side of Pinnacles National Monument, west of Highway 25 and largely to the south of Highway 146, the Pinnacles Highway Entrance Road. If you love the Pinnacles, you may want to comment by the July 10th comment deadline! For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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Archives of past transcripts are available here
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