Tomorrow morning at 9:00 o’clock, the Chairperson of the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors will be calling the Board meeting to order. Check below to get links to some of the interesting and important land use related items that the Board will take up tomorrow.

Tomorrow, incidentally, is not that much different from any other Tuesday at the Santa Cruz County Governmental Center when the Board is meeting. Almost any time that a Board of Supervisors is in session, important land use policy and project items will be on the agenda. Since what happens to our economy, and environment, and concerns about social equity are all directly related to land use decisions, I would like to encourage listeners, once again, to get personally involved.

Tomorrow, here are some of the land use items that the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors will addressing (and this is only a “partial list”):

• Item # 57 is about a grant proposal to facilitate economic development in Aptos Village.
• Item #59 is a proposed land division in the Eureka Canyon Planning Area.
• Item #61 is a study session on the proposed Capital Improvement Program.
• Item #62 is an examination of the County’s role in the foreclosure crisis.

As I said, this is a partial list. If you are interested, follow up!

More Information:

• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• Item #57 – Aptos Village Economic Development
• Item #59 – Land Division Proposal In Eureka Canyon
• Item #61 – Study Session On Capital Improvement Program
• Item #62 – County Role In The Foreclosure Crisis

The Salinas City Council is meeting this afternoon, starting at 4:00 o’clock. The meeting will be held at the Salinas City Hall. You can get a link to the Council agenda below.

Boards of Supervisors have jurisdiction over land use related items in the “unincorporated” part of the county, which means those areas not inside an incorporated city. Within city boundaries, land use policy and project decisions are under the jurisdiction of the elected city council. Salinas, of course, is the biggest city in Monterey County, and the land use decisions made by the Salinas City Council have impacts not only within that city, but beyond. Thus, all Monterey County residents (even those residing on the Monterey Peninsula) should have a real interest in what the Salinas City Council decides to do about land use items.

Tomorrow, the Council is going to address all of the following issues (and again, this is only a “partial list” of the items coming before the Council for review):

• Consent Agenda Item #6 is about a proposed Strategic Growth Council Urban Greening Grant.
• Regular Agenda Item #1 is about assessments on properties located in Oldtown Salinas.
• Regular Agenda Item #2 is focused on the City’s Residential Permit Parking Program.

There is more information in today’s Land Use Report blog.

More Information:

• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• Salinas City Council Agenda, June 12, 2012 Meeting
• Consent Agenda Item #6 – Urban Greening Grant
• Regular Agenda Item #1 – Oldtown Salinas Assessments (Live Link Not Available)
• Regular Agenda Item #2 – Residential Permit Parking Program

You may have heard about LAFCO’s action last Wednesday. LAFCO stands for “Local Agency Formation Commission,” and the Santa Cruz County LAFCO held a hearing on Wednesday, last week, about whether or not the City of Santa Cruz should be allowed to extend water service outside the City’s water service area, to facilitate new growth on the UCSC Campus. The Santa Cruz Sentinel ran a long article about the hearing. There is a link in today’s blog. As you will recall, I represent the Community Water Coalition, which has been urging LAFCO to delay any extension of water service to the UCSC North Campus until the City’s water supply situation is more certain. LAFCO continued the item, so you can expect to be hearing more as LAFCO meets in August, September and October.

Meanwhile, I encourage you to learn about the relationship between water and land use, and there are two great opportunities tomorrow:

• The Coastal Watershed Council is hosting a “tour” of the facilities of the Soquel Creek Water District, beginning at 6:00 p.m. You need to RSVP.
• Engineers for Water Alternatives will hold a forum on “conjunctive use.” That forum will be held at the Ecology Action Building, located at 877 Cedar Street in Santa Cruz.

There is more information be;pw. I hope you’ll participate.

More Information:

• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• Sentinel Article On June 6, 2012 LAFCO Hearing
• Coastal Watershed Council Website
• Coastal Watershed Council “Water Tour” on June 14th
• Article On Engineers For Water Alternatives Forum

The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission is holding a Special Meeting today. The meeting will begin at 9:00 o’clock this morning at 275 Main Street, Fourth Floor, in the City of Watsonville. There is a full agenda, and a link to that agenda can be found in today’s Land Use Report blog. You can find that blog at below.

To my mind, the most interesting item is Agenda Item #20. The staff of the Transportation Commission is recommending that the Commission approve placing a ballot measure on the November 2012 ballot. If approved by the voters, this ballot measure would authorize the imposition of an annual $10 fee on registered automobiles, to be spent entirely within Santa Cruz County to “maintain local streets and roads, and to build safe and accessible pedestrian and safe routes to school projects for school children, seniors and people with disabilities.” The new fee, if approved, would generate about $2.2 million dollars per year.

Many KUSP listeners will probably have an interest in this item, both as to the new fee aspect, and as to the proposed expenditure plan. The Commission staff says that preliminary polling indicates that more than two-thirds of County voters might support this new vehicle registration fee. If you would like to get involved, it’s expected that the final decisions will be made in August.

More Information:

• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• Transportation Commission Website
• Agenda, June 14, 2012 Special Meeting
• Agenda Item #20 – Proposed Ballot Measure

Last Thursday, I reported that the Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority was considering locating a “plasma arc” garbage disposal facility in Gonzales, a community with a large farmworker population. I highlighted possible environmental justice concerns.

In describing the proposal, I called the proposed facility an “incinerator,” and a “garbage burning facility.” That drew a response from a marketing consultant for the Solid Waste Authority, who felt that this characterization was unfair and actually inaccurate. Perhaps it was, though unintentionally. I have now been given some links to information describing the potential benefits of what is a new technology for the disposal of solid wastes, and I’ve placed those links in today’s Land Use Report blog. I encourage listeners to follow up, and to read this information. Incidentally, I very much appreciate it when listeners, and others, alert me to possible mistakes and misstatements made in the Land Use Report. There are definitely two sides to the debate about the use of “plasma arc” technology as a waste disposal method.

Luckily, there will be an opportunity for all those interested in this subject to become more educated, and to raise concerns and questions – and to have those questions and concerns addressed in a substantive way. That’s what the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA requires, and I will try to alert you to the CEQA process, once it begins.

More Information:

• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• Earlier Land Use Report on the Proposed Plasma Arc Facility in Gonzales
• Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority Website
• Article: Turning Garbage Into Gas
• SVSWA “Conversion Technology” Information
• Plasco Energy Group Project Description Information
• Georgia Tech Research Institute Article
• Greenaction Paper Critiquing Plasma Arc Technology