Though it’s not done in any systematic way, I do think that this Land Use Report provides a kind of acronym identification service for KUSP listeners. Our legal and governmental worlds more and more involve the use of acronyms that pack great meaning into a three, or four, or five-character abbreviation. Frequent listeners know that “LAFCO” means “Local Agency Formation Commission,” and that “RTP” means “Regional Transportation Plan.” Today, I want to teach you a new one: “IRWMP.”

An IRWMP, which is spelled I-R-W-M-P, is an Integrated Regional Water Management Plan. If you track down today’s Land Use Report blog at kusp.org/landuse, you will find a link to the website maintained by the California Department of Water Resources, which discusses the IRWM Grant Program at length. Perhaps most pertinent for listeners in the Monterey Bay Region, I also provide a link to the Pajaro Watershed Information Center, which has lots of information on the draft IRWMP now being prepared for the Greater Monterey County area.

A public comment period on this draft plan is now open, and will continue open until August 17th. Public workshops are scheduled for July 10th, in Salinas, and July 11th in King City. Regional water management is really a high priority!

More Information:

• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• The Pajaro Watershed Information Center
• Department of Water Resources IRWM Website
• IRWM Planning in the Monterey Bay Region

Neither the Monterey County Board of Supervisors nor the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors is meeting today. The Santa Cruz County Board, which concluded its budget sessions last week, is now on its vacation break, with no further meetings anticipated during the entire month of July. There is a public agency meeting today, though, and particularly if you are a Monterey City resident, you may find this one of interest.

The regular meeting of the Monterey City Council will be held at the Monterey City Hall from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. this afternoon. A field trip, though, is scheduled to start at 2:30, at the intersection of Rancho Saucito and South Boundary Road at Ryan Ranch. You will have to find your way to the site on your own, but this is an official “meeting” of the City Council, and members of the public are most definitely invited.

The purpose of this “field trip meeting” is to inspect city-owned property located at the site of the meeting (and presumably also to discuss, onsite, the uses that might be made of this city-owned property).

When we think of our public agencies, we often think of them in their “regulatory” role. Elected city and county officials do have wide-ranging “police powers” that give them the right to regulate private property and private conduct. But cities and counties may also be property owners, and the Monterey City Council is inspecting one of its landholdings today!

More Information:

• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• Monterey City Council Agenda for July 3, 2012 Meeting
• Brief Agenda Report on City Council Field Trip

Happy Fourth of July to all KUSP listeners! I particularly like the fact that the Fourth of July is a “civic” holiday. That means that all of us can share this holiday equally. “Religious” holidays are fine, but they are aimed, more or less exclusively, at those of the specific religious faith being celebrated on that holiday. In terms of our civic life, though, we are “all in this together.” The separation of church and state that we have built into our Constitution is one of the smartest things we ever did, speaking as a student of politics and government!

The land use policy and project decisions that so directly affect our future are almost always “governmental” decisions. Giving up on government (and aren't we all tempted to do that) is to repudiate the revolutionary legacy by which the United States was brought into existence. Today is a good day to remind ourselves of that legacy, by quoting the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all [persons] are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, [and] that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted …
We bring government into existence in order to secure our rights. Reclaiming our government, not giving up on it, is the assignment for today.

More Information:

• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• The Declaration of Independence

The Flanders Mansion was built in the 1920’s. It was purchased by the City of Carmel-by-the- Sea in 1972, along with its surrounding acreage, which then became part of the City’s Mission Trail Preserve. The Mansion is a much-beloved structure; at least, it is beloved by many. The City itself, however, has been trying to sell the Flanders Mansion for some time. In 2005, the City prepared and certified an Environmental Impact Report, and then decided to sell the property. That decision was challenged in court, and the Superior Court found that the 2005 EIR was inadequate. The City then prepared and certified a Revised EIR, in 2009. That EIR was also challenged, and the EIR was again found inadequate, partly because it did not consider an alternative that would sell less of the land surrounding the Mansion. On appeal, the appellate court affirmed that the City’s EIR needed to consider a smaller parcel alternative.

Based on that Court decision, the City rescinded its certification of the 2009 EIR, and is now receiving comments on a “third edition.” If you would like to comment on the latest EIR, the comment period will be open until July 30th. In the meantime, the City will hold a public hearing on July 11th, at 4:00 p.m. There is more information below.

More Information:

• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• Flanders Foundation Website
• City of Carmel-by-the-Sea Website
• Information on the Flanders Mansion from Carmel.com

Watsonville is in the midst of preparing a new General Plan, the “Watsonville Vista 2030 General Plan Update.” The comment period on the Draft Environmental Impact Report is now open, and will be open until July 27th. I encourage KUSP listeners to get “down and dirty” with the city’s proposed General Plan Update, and to get involved with the environmental review process. The future of the entire Pajaro Valley is at stake, not just what happens within the city limits of the City of Watsonville.

It is particularly important that interested residents and others get involved now because a former Mayor, Daniel Dodge, is now attempting to build support for the public repudiation of Measure U, the voter backed measure that placed a relatively conservative urban limit line around the City’s current boundaries, thus ensuring the long-term preservation and protection of the commercially productive farmlands of the Pajaro Valley.

As I have frequently reminded listeners, a community’s General Plan is its “Constitution for Land Use.” When the City Council takes action on the proposed General Plan Update, it will be forging a plan for an expansionist city, or for a city that will continue to build in, not out. Ultimately, this is a political choice that the community must make. If you care, one way or the other, you should be personally engaged and involved.

More Information:

• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• City of Watsonville Website
• City Website on General Plan Update
• Draft City General Plan and Draft General Plan EIR