Happy New Year to KUSP listeners! Whatever the cause, there aren’t as many Board and Council meetings this week as might normally be the case. The Monterey City Council, however, provides an exception. The Council has a meeting tomorrow, starting at 4:00 o’clock, with an evening agenda that lists a major item of public interest.

Let’s focus now on tomorrow’s afternoon session. The Council has provided what I consider to be a public service by “modeling,” if you will, how each one of us might utilize the public participation process established by CEQA, the California Environmental Quality Act. As you nay remember, the Pebble Beach Company is proposing a major expansion and development project. Decision-making authority is vested in the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, and the Board has complied with CEQA, by publishing a Draft Environmental Impact Report, or EIR.

One of the main purposes of CEQA is to provide meaningful opportunities for non-decision makers to participate in the decision-making process. That includes both governmental agencies and you and me, as members of the public.

Item #7 on the Monterey City Council agenda tomorrow shows how this works. The City is urging a very specific road design (a roundabout) at the Highway One / Holman Highway 68, and the 17-Mile Drive intersection, by utilizing the CEQA comment process.

More Information:

• Gary Patton’s Blog: Two Worlds
• Monterey City Council Agenda, January 3, 2012Meeting
• Staff Report, City of Monterey Draft Comments on Pebble Beach EIR
• EIR Materials Related To Pebble Beach Company Project

As noted yesterday, most governmental agencies around the Monterey Bay aren’t meeting this week. The Santa Cruz County LAFCO is an exception. LAFCO is meeting tomorrow, starting at 9:30 in the morning. The last LAFCO meeting was a major event, focused on the future growth and expansion of the UCSC campus. I’ve been involved in that issue as an attorney representing the Community Water Coalition, and will continue to be engaged. Maybe the Commission will talk some more, tomorrow, about the UCSC application for 152 million gallons of City water, but certainly no major decision-making will take place. All the issues will be back for further consideration before LAFCO in March, and I will definitely keep you posted.

This morning, let me remind you that the Monterey City Council is meeting today, with the “big item” being an evening public hearing to consider an appeal from a Planning Commission decision. The Monterey City Planning Commission has approved a Use Permit for the demolition of an existing commercial building, and the construction of a new grocery store at 2020 Del Monte Avenue. The Fresh and Easy grocery store chain is the applicant. If you care about this item, you should be at the meeting tonight! The Council will make the final call. The hearing starts at 7:00 p.m., and you can get links to more information in the transcript of today’s Land Use Report.

More Information:

• Gary Patton’s Blog: Two Worlds
• January 3, 2012 City Council Agenda
• Monterey City Council Agenda, January 3, 2012Meeting
• Staff Report, Fresh and Easy Appeal

LandWatch Monterey County is a rather unusual organization. Most community and environmental groups are specific, and not general, in their ambitions. The Native Plant Society focuses on native plants. Friends, Artists and Neighbors of Elkhorn Slough focus on that incredibly important estuary. The Watsonville Wetlands Watch devotes its attention to wetlands around Watsonville, and the Highway 68 Coalition keeps its attention directed to land use issues related to Highway 68. While I think that the special focus of these and other groups is wonderful, I also think that the very broad and general land use policy focus maintained by LandWatch is vitally important. I do confess that I was the first LandWatch Executive Director, so be aware that I am biased!

If you are a Monterey County resident who has concluded that land use policy issues are of vital importance to our future, I hope you will sign up to receive LandWatch bulletins about upcoming land use policy issues. For 2012, LandWatch says that all of the following items will be important: the Ferrini Ranch subdivision; the Corral de Tierra Shopping Center; Rancho Canada; MST/Whispering Oaks; Monterey Downs in Fort Ord; and the Fort Ord Base Reuse Plan Update.

As ever, I’ll try to keep you posted as the year progresses!

More Information:

• Gary Patton’s Blog: Two Worlds
• You can sign up for LandWatch email bulletins at the LandWatch Website

The California Coastal Commission is perhaps the best planning agency in the nation. Both on a planning and project review basis, the Commission is carrying forward a specific, statutorily established agenda to protect and restore the resources of the California coast. While its decisions are sometimes controversial, the Commission has had great success in keeping its eye on the ball where key coastal policy issues are at stake.

This month, the Commission will meet in Santa Monica. You can get a link to the Commission’s agenda by tracking down the transcript of today’s Land Use Report. Click on the “Archives/Podcasts” link at the top of the KUSP home page.

If you do go online to review the Commission’s agenda, take a look at Agenda Item #5 from the Thursday, January 12th, agenda listings. This is a report on the “vertical access” opportunities that the Commission has established in San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo Counties. “Vertical access” means: “I can get to the beach.” I have a right and an actual opportunity to walk over the property located between the road and the beach, to get to the beach and to the ocean. There are lots of places in the world where members of the public can’t get access to the beach. In California, thanks to the Coastal Commission, we can!

More Information:

• Gary Patton’s Blog: Two Worlds
• Coastal Commission Website
• Coastal Commission Staff Report on Vertical Access
• California Coastal Act
• Key Coastal Act Policy on Beach Access

As frequent listeners know, I am not shy about making a pitch for your personal involvement in land use related issues. The best way to get involved, in my opinion, is to connect up with a group that is working on issues that you care about. Individual actions are important; don’t get me wrong. In the end, though, we are more than a collection of individuals. We are inevitably part of a community, and our decision-making processes operate at the “community level.” Getting “organized” with others who share your concerns is the very first rule of effective public participation.

Wednesday, I mentioned LandWatch Monterey County. Monterey County residents who care about land use policy issues should know about LandWatch. At the very least, sign up for LandWatch alerts.

Residents in both Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties who care about water quality issues should know about the Coastal Watershed Council. If you don’t know about the Coastal Watershed Council, you can get a link to their website by tracking down today’s transcript. The Coastal Watershed Council is a nonprofit organization that works throughout the Monterey Bay Region, with its main focus being the preservation and restoration of the watersheds and water quality in our area. By the way, if you want to preserve the marine environment, joining in efforts to deal with our watersheds is step #1. Check out the Coastal Watershed Council’s “Stewardship Portal,” to help get you started.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

• Gary Patton’s Blog: Two Worlds
• Coastal Watershed Council Website
• The CWC’s “Stewardship Portal”
• LandWatch Monterey County Website