If you live in the City of Santa Cruz, I think you might be interested in two meetings being held this afternoon and evening.

At 4:00 o’clock this afternoon, the City’s Parks and Recreation Commission will meet in the City Council Chambers. Proposed revisions to the City’s Heritage Tree Ordinance will be a major topic. Those who treasure large, old trees (and who think they should be preserved) might want to be there. I would give the same advice to those who think that property owners should be able to cut down a tree on their property with minimum regulation, no matter how large it is. How to strike a balance is really the main focus of the City’s Ordinance. If you care, you should weigh in. If you either love or hate blue gum eucalyptus trees, you should also attend this meeting. Their fate in the City of Santa Cruz hangs in the balance this afternoon. The proposal is significantly to reduce the current level of protection they enjoy.

The City Water Commission is also meeting today, at 7:00 p.m. This meeting will also be held in the City Council Chambers. One topic of discussion is whether or not the City should use ratepayer money to pay for a public relations campaign to tell voters why the City’s proposed desalination project is needed. There are some other interesting items on the agenda, too. You can get more information, including a link to the full agenda packet, at kusp.org/landuse.

More Information:

• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• Information on the City Parks and Recreation Commission
• Information on the City Water Commission
• Water Commission Agenda Packet

In 1997, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors decided that it would be a good idea to build an “airplane museum” on prime farmland along Highway 101, close to the City of Greenfield. This proposal was essentially for a “theme park” type of tourist development, including an airstrip, a hotel, and some retail uses, located outside any developed area, but in a place that would obviously be very visible to anyone driving by on the highway.

In Santa Cruz County, such a development on prime farmland never would have been possible. That is because the voters of Santa Cruz County adopted some basic growth management principles in 1978, including the following principle relating to the preservation of agricultural land:

It shall be the policy of Santa Cruz County that prime agricultural lands and lands which are economically productive when used for agriculture shall be preserved for agricultural use.

The so-called “Yanks Air Museum” was never actually constructed, and I thought that it had died a quiet death. It turns out that this isn’t true, and that the “airplane museum” idea is still chugging ahead. Item #21, on today’s Board agenda, proposes an official approval of the conversion of Williamson Act agricultural land to facilitate the “air museum” project. If you care, you should let the Board know your thoughts.

More Information:

• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• Monterey County Board of Supervisors’ Agendas
• Text of Measure J
• The Story of Measure J

The Santa Cruz County Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO, will meet at 9:30 this morning. Today was the day that LAFCO was scheduled to address controversial applications by the City of Santa Cruz, and by the University of California at Santa Cruz, which ask LAFCO to approve an extension of City water service to the UCSC North Campus. The UCSC North Campus area is outside the area where the City currently provides water. Whenever a water agency wants to provide service outside its established water service area LAFCO has the responsibility of deciding whether or not this should be permitted. LAFCO policies say that water service should be extended only if LAFCO can find that there is an “adequate, reliable, and sustainable” water supply.

The law firm with which I am associated represents the Community Water Coalition, which takes the position that the City does not, at the current time, have an “adequate, reliable, and sustainable” water supply, and that allowing the University to take more City water, to facilitate the University’s plan to construct over 3,000,000 square feet of new buildings, in what is now a natural reserve area, would put current water users, and the natural environment, in jeopardy.

If you want to get involved, mark your calendar for the next LAFCO meeting, on December 5th. That’s when the Commission is now scheduled to address this issue.

More Information:

• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• LAFCO Website
• November 7, 2012 Agenda
• LAFCO Policies (Water Policies Highlighted)

I am often in the position of telling you about meetings on the very day that they are taking place. Better late than never, but I do recognize that giving listeners a bit more “lead time” might result in more listeners actually being able to attend the meetings I talk about.

Today, I want to announce a meeting that will take place on Thursday, November 15th. On that day, Engineers for Water Alternatives will hold a forum on the following topic:  “Can Water Market Incentives Unlock A Race To Conserve?” This is quite a timely question. The City of Santa Cruz and the Soquel Creek Water District are spending lots of money to design and evaluate a proposed desalination plant. “Conservation” might be a viable alternative. If there were a way to “unlock a race to conserve” that might be something that City water customers, and Soquel Creek water customers, would like to pursue.

The forum next week will feature James Workman, who helps water agencies create a water market among their own water customers. Ron Duncan, Conservation Manager at the Soquel Creek Water District, and Sue Holt, an Economics instructor at Cabrillo College, are also on the program.

Please mark your calendar. The forum will be held next Thursday at the Mid-County Senior Center, 829 Bay Avenue, in Capitola. It starts at 7:00 p.m., and admission is free.

More Information:

• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• Information on the November 15th Forum

As I mentioned on Tuesday, the voters of Santa Cruz County adopted some basic growth management principles in 1978, including the following principle relating to the preservation of agricultural land:

It shall be the policy of Santa Cruz County that prime agricultural lands and lands which are economically productive when used for agriculture shall be preserved for agricultural use.

If agricultural land is located in “the county,” in other words, outside of a city limit, efforts to turn that agricultural land into a big box store, or a subdivision, or anything else, will just not be allowed. The Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau, incidentally, which wasn’t completely keen on this policy back in 1978, now largely appreciates the idea that our official county policy says that the agricultural industry gets precedence in terms of land use. That is really what this policy means.

If agricultural lands move inside a city boundary, the County’s policy no longer has any effect. Watsonville Council Member Daniel Dodge is actively trying to get Watsonville voters to abandon the City’s current urban limit line (another way to protect agricultural land), in order to turn prime agricultural land along Highway One into a big box store. You can get a link to more information at kusp.org/landuse.

More Information:

• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• Text of Measure J
• The Story of Measure J
• Santa Cruz Sentinel Article on Farmland Annexation Proposal