The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors is meeting tomorrow. Tomorrow evening, the Board will be in Watsonville, meeting in the Watsonville City Council Chambers. Starting at 7:00 p.m., the Board will convene with others as the Board of Directors of Zone 7 of the Santa Cruz County Flood Control and Water Conservation District. This is the agency that, among other things, has responsibility for overseeing flood control efforts on the Pajaro River. Flood control may not be uppermost in everyone’s mind, in this time of drought, but floods on the Pajaro River are a deadly threat to residents of Watsonville and Pajaro, the unincorporated community on the other side of the Pajaro River, in Monterey County. I have put a link to the Zone 7 Agenda in today’s transcript. You can check it out below.

At 9:00 o’clock tomorrow morning, the Board will meet in Santa Cruz, at the Governmental Center on Ocean Street. Let me highlight just one item of importance. Agenda Item #56 is a proposal to make it easier to modify setbacks and related standards on lots located in rural parts of Santa Cruz County. The likely impact would be to make it easier for rural property owners to develop their rural properties. Good for the property owners, of course, but likely leading to increased development in rural areas, where services and infrastructure may be lacking. There are, in other words, both pros and cons to the proposal.

More Information

• Land Use Links
• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors Agenda – March 18, 2014
• Agenda Materials, Agenda Item #56 – Zoning Code Amendments
• Zone 7 Agenda – 7:00 p.m. Meeting In Watsonville

Today is Tuesday, so Boards of Supervisors are meeting all over the state of California. Yesterday, I told listeners about a couple of items that the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors will address. This morning, let me highlight an item from today’s agenda of the Monterey County Board of Supervisors.

The Monterey County Board meets in Salinas, and Agenda Item #19, which is specially scheduled at 10:30, will be a presentation on the economic impact of affordable housing subsidized and/or developed by the Housing Authority of the County of Monterey and the Monterey County Housing Authority Development Corporation, which is the Housing Authority’s non-profit affiliate.

No agenda material is online, at least not as of the time I am recording today’s edition of the Land Use Report, but I can speculate that the Board is going to hear about the positive economic impacts of affordable housing. Often, neighbors and nearby property owners are worried when affordable housing projects are proposed in their neighborhood. Typical worries include a loss of property value in the neighborhood, or some sort of potential adverse social impact. My own personal experience, from the time when I served on the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors, is that affordable housing developments, if well designed, help strengthen local neighborhoods and the community at large. If you have a chance to do so, why not try to listen in to the presentation this morning?

More Information:

• Land Use Links
• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• Monterey County Board of Supervisors Agendas

The Board of Directors of the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency, or PVWMA, meets tonight at 7:00 o’clock in the Watsonville City Council Chambers. If there were anything they could do about it, I am sure that Board members would be focusing on how to get more water to manage. Unfortunately, I don’t think the Board is going to be able to make it rain. Board members can cross their fingers just like the rest of us, but the Water Management Agency is just going to have to “manage” with the water they’ve got. Come to think of it, that is their job, and it is all the more important as we face a potentially extended period of drought.

Tonight there is a “big” item on the Board’s agenda. Agenda Item #9 is a public hearing to consider actions related to the certification of the agency’s Basin Management Plan Update EIR, and approval of the Basin Management Plan Update. Tonight is the last chance for public comment, and you are definitely invited.

The proposed Update envisions a series of projects intended to begin reversing the groundwater overdraft occurring throughout the Pajaro Valley, on both sides of the River, and thus in both Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties. Actually accomplishing the proposed projects will take money, and we are just now entering what the Update says is the “financing phase.”

It would be hard to overstate the importance of stopping groundwater overdraft in the Pajaro Basin. Check out that Update!

More Information:

• Land Use Links
• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• PVWMA Website
• Basin Management Plan Update
• Final EIR for Basin Management Plan Update
• PVWMA Board of Directors Agenda – Meeting of March 19, 2014

What are you doing on Sunday, March 23rd? If you are a resident of Carmel Valley think about attending the Annual Meeting of the Carmel Valley Association, or CVA. The meeting will be held from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the Library in Del Mesa Carmel. The CVA identifies the main topic of the meeting as “the burning issue of the day,” namely, “water.” An informative panel is going to explore water issues, with a particular focus, of course, on Carmel Valley. Here is what you’d be missing if you didn’t show up:

Karin Strasser Kauffman, a CVA board member and a former member of the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, will tell attendees why the Peninsula is better positioned now for the drought than it formerly was.

Lorin Letendre, President of the Carmel River Watershed Conservancy, will talk about restoration, habitat, and plans for the Carmel River Heritage Corridor.

Kristi Markey, Director of the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District, will talk about future water supply options.

The CVA is the oldest, largest, and perhaps most successful community organization in Monterey County. Now, this is a self-assessment, but there is some truth to the claim. The CVA mission is to defend the beauty, resources and rural character of Carmel Valley. The meeting on Sunday is free, and you are definitely invited! There is more information below.

More Information:

• Land Use Links
• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• Carmel Valley Association Meeting Announcement
• Del Mesa Carmel is located at 500 Del Mesa Carmel, at Carmel Valley Road

If you live in a manufactured or mobile home, you should consider attending the GSMOL Roadshow. This event is scheduled for tomorrow, Saturday, March 22nd, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the Live Oak Grange, 1900 17th Avenue in Santa Cruz.

GSMOL stands for “Golden State Manufactured-home Owners League.” It’s kind of like a “union” for mobilehome owners. The GSMOL Roadshow tomorrow is actually sponsored by the Santa Cruz County Manufactured/Mobile Homeowners Association, but GSMOL representatives will be making the key presentations.

Bruce Stanton, GSMOL Corporate Counsel, Henry Heater from the law firm of Endeman, Lincoln Turik & Heater, and David Loop, an attorney who is the GSMOL Vice-President for Resident Owned Parks, will talk about the legal rights that mobilehome owners have vis a vis the owners of the parks in which they reside. Special Guest Ishbel Dickens, Executive Director of the Manufactured Home Owners Association of America, will provide a national perspective.

Mobilehome park residents own their homes, but not the property on which they are placed. The “property owner” is a private individual or corporation, and residents can sometimes get the short end of the stick, legally speaking. This is a fascinating area of the law, and I encourage listeners to check out the GSMOL Roadshow tomorrow.

More Information:

• Land Use Links
• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• Roadshow Event Flyer
• Santa Cruz County Manufactured/Mobile Homeowners Association Website
• National Manufactured Home Owners Association Website