Boards of Supervisors generally meet on Tuesdays. Both the Monterey County and the Santa Cruz County Boards of Supervisors will be meeting tomorrow. The Monterey County Board will be dealing with some very important water-related issues. The Santa Cruz County Board has lots of interesting items. For instance:

• There is a vacancy on the Board of Directors of the Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County. If you would like to be considered for appointment, you should contact your Supervisor.
  
  
• The Board is going to do a special plan for the Soquel Drive corridor, from 7th Avenue to Aptos Village. The contract to oversee this project, which gives some details, is Agenda Item #29.
  
  
• Senate Bill 654 would give local agencies a bit of breathing room to respond to the recent California Supreme Court decision on redevelopment. That’s discussed in Agenda Item #39.2.
  
  
• Agenda Item #41 is a public hearing item. The Board is going to consider extending its current moratorium on the installation of so-called “Smart Meters” in the unincorporated portion of Santa Cruz County. If you care about this issue, you should be at the Board meeting by 9:00 o’clock tomorrow, to make your voice heard.
  
  
• Finally, Agenda Item #42 is a status report on the development of a Climate Action Strategy for Santa Cruz County. You can speak on that item, too.

There are links to all these items in the transcript of today’s Land Use Report.

More Information:

• Gary Patton’s Blog: Two Worlds
• Agendas of the Monterey County Board of Supervisors
• Monterey County Herald Article on Water-Related Items
• January 24, 2012 Agenda of the Board of Supervisors
• Agenda Item #22 – Resource Conservation District Appointment
• Agenda Item #29 – Sustainable Communities and Transit Corridor Plan
• Agenda Item #39.2 – SB 654 on Redevelopment Agencies
• Agenda Item #41 – Smart Meter Moratorium
• Agenda Item #42 – Climate Action Strategy

This morning, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors will be receiving a status report on a Climate Action Strategy for Santa Cruz County. This evening, the Santa Cruz City Council will be tackling the same topic. The City is somewhat ahead of the County, however. What’s on the Council agenda is more than a mere “status report.” It’s a full-on workshop session on a Revised Draft Climate Action Plan for the City of Santa Cruz. You are specifically invited to attend and testify. The Council’s evening session begins at 7:00 p.m. at the Santa Cruz City Hall.

The City’s Draft Climate Action Plan outlines actions that the City will take to meet State requirements pertaining to climate change, to achieve the policies identified in the Draft General Plan 2030 update, and to accomplish the greenhouse gas reduction goals set by the City Council. One proposal is that the City Council establish a Municipal Energy Office and a Sustainable Transportation and Land Use Planning Team. I applaud the City’s recognition that land use policy changes are absolutely necessary if we are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A compiled list of all of the actions that are recommended in the Draft Climate Action Plan is included in the Plan as Appendix A. I hope that listeners will track down the draft document and get involved in helping to address the greatest environmental crisis of our times.

More Information:

• Gary Patton’s Blog: Two Worlds
• Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors’ Agenda – Climate Action Strategy
• City of Santa Cruz Website
• January 24, 2012 Agenda, Santa Cruz City Council
• Workshop Presentation on Revised DRAFT Climate Action Plan
• Transition Santa Cruz Website

The City Council of the City of Monterey is having a Special Meeting this afternoon and this evening. City residents might want to attend and participate.

The Council’s afternoon session will be held from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. The Council will be conducting a study session on a proposed Citywide Transportation and Parking Study. The results of this citywide study will ultimately be incorporated into the various advanced planning efforts now underway in the City. These include a Downtown Specific Plan, a North Fremont Specific Plan, a Lighthouse Avenue Specific Plan, and a Waterfront Master Plan. The Council will also use information from the study as it makes amendments to the Circulation Element of the City’s General Plan. The transportation study supports General Plan policies that require future transportation planning to be citywide, comprehensive and multi-modal (which means that the City will explicitly take car, bike, pedestrian, and transit modes into consideration as it takes future land use actions). This approach is particularly important as the City seeks to achieve its greenhouse gas reduction goals.

At 7:00 o’clock, the Council will consider joining a Monterey Peninsula Regional Water Authority, and will address how best to maintain its affordable housing efforts, now that the City’s Redevelopment Agency has been abolished by state law.

More Information:

• Gary Patton’s Blog: Two Worlds
• Agenda for the January 25, 2012 Special Meeting of the Monterey City Council
  • Citywide Transportation Study Session
  • Naming City as Successor Agency to Redevelopment Agency
  • Forming A Monterey Peninsula Regional Water Authority

The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission has decided to widen Highway One between Morrissey Boulevard and Soquel Drive. Those who regularly use this portion of Highway One will recognize the area as the location of a consistent “bottleneck.” Starting in the early afternoon most days, traffic seems to be flowing along fine, coming out of the newly-widened roadway past the “Fishhook.” Then, suddenly, it’s bumper to bumper.

The result of the widening project, just about ready to get underway, will be to move that bottleneck down Highway One about a mile. The area on Highway One between Soquel Drive and 41st Avenue will then become the place where the massive “bottleneck” occurs. Moving that bottleneck down the road by a mile will cost us about $22 million dollars, and will ultimately provide no overall transportation advantages, except for those persons who regularly use Highway One between Morrissey and Soquel as a way to get to the Dominican Hospital area. That happens to include me, but even so, I am not personally delighted with the expenditure of $22 million dollars for this purpose, particularly since the highway in this area will shortly become more, rather than less frustrating while construction is underway.

The transcript of today’s Land Use Report has a link to a news article discussing the upcoming construction-related congestion that we can all be expecting.

More Information:

• Gary Patton’s Blog: Two Worlds
• Santa Cruz Patch Article on Highway One Widening Project
• Analysis by Campaign For Sensible Transportation
• Ventana Article on Highway Widening Project

The Grower-Shipper Foundation is currently accepting applications for its AgKnowledge program, which the Foundation describes as an “executive agricultural leadership program.” There is a link to the application packet in the transcript of today’s Land Use Report. If you’d like to learn more about agriculture in Monterey County, please check out this program. The deadline for applications is February 2nd, so you need to act fairly promptly.

The mission of the AgKnowledge Program is to promote and educate about the health, social and cultural benefits of agriculture to the community and society as a whole. AgKnowledge is co-sponsored by Monterey County. The AgKnowledge program is based on a nine-month schedule of what amounts to an all-day meeting once per month. This year’s program will begin on Friday, March 30th. The program this year will end with a graduation celebration on Friday, November 9th.

During the nine month program, you will have a “day with a farmer,” and seminars that will take you through the diverse geography of Monterey County with farm tours and “hands on” experiences covering topics such as; diversity of crops, field and food safety, marketing, technology, politics, regulations, labor, immigration, cultural diversity, and a history of the industry and some of the families that make up Monterey County agriculture. It’s an impressive program. Check it out on the KUSP website.

More Information:

• Gary Patton’s Blog: Two Worlds
• Grower-Shipper Association Website
• Application for 2012 AgKnowledge Program
• For more information contact Darlene Din - darlene@growershipper.com