Frequent listeners may remember the acronym “NOPOC,” meaning “Neighbors Organized to Protect Our Community.” This grassroots group is hoping to stop, or modify, a proposed PG&E power line project. The proposed new power line would cut through Watsonville, Corralitos, Pleasant Valley, and Day Valley, and tubular steel poles up to 105-feet high would be used. NOPOC thinks there is likely to be a better way. If you are interested, NOPOC is meeting tonight at 6:30 at the Corralitos Cultural Center, 127 Hames Road in Corralitos. You are definitely invited.

The “Sustainable Santa Cruz County” transportation and planning program is holding a community meeting tonight, too. It’s at 7:00 p.m. at the Santa Cruz Gardens Elementary School, 8005 Winkle Avenue, Santa Cruz. There is also a meeting on Tuesday, June 10th, again at 7:00 p.m., at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 125 Canterbury Drive in Aptos.

Finally, you might want to listen in to the Board’s discussion of the County’s Capital Improvements Program. The Board meets tomorrow. The Capital Improvements Program is the County’s investment strategy for the public infrastructure that supports our local community.

There is more information on all of these meetings at kusp.org/landuse. Pick a meeting and get involved!

More Information

• Land Use Links
• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• The NOPOC Website
• The Sustainable Santa Cruz County Website
• Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors Agenda – June 10th
• Capital Improvements Program Staff Report

This afternoon, the Santa Cruz City Council will be deciding the fate of a redwood tree located at 912 Broadway. The staff report on this item doesn’t provide any picture of the tree, and doesn’t list its height, but I looked up the address on Google Maps, and it’s pretty clear that this tree is truly an impressive specimen. It definitely qualifies as a “heritage tree,” as that term is defined in Chapter 9.56 of the Santa Cruz Municipal Code. Any tree with a circumference of at least forty-four inches (meaning that the tree is approximately fourteen inches in diameter) is a “heritage tree,” worthy of special protections. Heritage tree or not, the property owner wants to cut it down, on the basis that the redwood tree is damaging the sidewalk, a paved parking area, and plumbing. The City’s arborist points out that you don’t need to kill the tree to cure these problems, but the property owner wants the death penalty, anyway. The City Council is going to decide.

I have to report that the tree’s chances aren’t very good, based on past precedent. Every year, on average, the City gives out 170 permits allowing property owners to cut down heritage trees. Very few applications are ever denied. On the other hand, the City’s arborist doesn’t usually come down on the side of the tree, either. This time, the tree might get saved. There is more information at kusp.org/landuse.

More Information:

• Land Use Links
• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• Santa Cruz City Council Agenda – June 10, 2014
• Tree Appeal, 912 Broadway
• Google Maps – 912 Broadway (Earth View)
• Heritage Tree Ordinance (Chapter 9.56)
• Save Our Big Trees Website

I often mention on this Land Use Report that the Monterey Bay Area is blessed with a huge inventory of active, community based nonprofit organizations that do great work on land use and environmental issues. Think about the Elkhorn Slough Foundation, or LandWatch Monterey County, or the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County, as examples. In fact, I have prepared a list of “Land Use Links,” which you can find in the transcript of each and every Land Use Report. Check those “Land Use Links” for even more names of nonprofit groups that do good work on land use issues.

One of the groups you will find listed is the Ventana Wilderness Alliance. The VWA has its offices in Santa Cruz, but its focus is to protect, preserve, and restore the wilderness qualities and biodiversity of the public lands within California's northern Santa Lucia Mountains and Big Sur coast. It’s a great group, and if you’d like to find out more about it, you can attend the VWA Annual “Gathering,” to be held on Saturday, June 14th at Toro Park in Salinas. 

This year’s program will feature remarks by Doug Scott, a renowned wilderness historian and author of The Enduring Wilderness. There will be guided hikes at the VWA “Gathering,” too. You are invited. I hope you’ll go!

You can get lots more information at kusp.org/landuse.

More Information:

• Land Use Links
• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• Ventana Wilderness Alliance Website
• Information on the VWA “Gathering” in Toro Park
• National Wilderness Stewardship Alliance
• The Enduring Wilderness
• Information on Doug Scott

The “unhidden agenda” of the Land Use Report is to stimulate your personal engagement in the land use issues that are of such importance to our Central Coast Region. Land use policy and project decisions (usually made by local government agencies) often have a determinative effect on the future of our natural environment and local economy.

In some ways, I am “behind the curve” in today’s Land Use Report, since the issue to which I’d like to draw your attention, the proposed City of Santa Cruz Wharf Master Plan, has just gone through a set of meetings, culminating in a “Community Briefing” held on May 19th. Your chance to get engaged, however, has not yet passed by. I can predict with some certainty that there will be other meetings, in the future, on the City’s proposed Wharf Master Plan.

My purpose today is to spotlight this issue, and to try to make sure that you will start finding out what is being planned. It’s my bet that there will be mixed reactions, since a very expensive project is being advanced, and some community members will have problems with the scale of what is being proposed. The current Wharf environment is a little bit “funky,” to use a technical term. Something a lot more “upscale” and “glittery” is being suggested.

I have put a link to a Community Briefing Slide Show in today’s transcript. I invite you to check it out at kusp.org/landuse.

More Information:

• Land Use Links
• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• City of Santa Cruz Website – Wharf Master Plan
• Slide Show – May 19, 2014 Community Briefing

Here is a last minute reminder of the Ventana Wilderness Alliance “Gathering,” to be held tomorrow (Saturday) at Toro Park in Salinas. The “Gathering” will be held from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and will feature guided hikes, and remarks from Doug Scott, a renowned wilderness historian and author of The Enduring Wilderness. This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act of 1964. What better time to get involved with a group working to protect and provide stewardship for our local wilderness lands?

If urban wetlands are more to your taste than wilderness, I have another suggestion for an outing tomorrow. One of the great nonprofit groups working in our region is the Watsonville Wetlands Watch. For years, the Watsonville Wetlands Watch has been planting native plants as part of its ongoing efforts to restore habitat adjacent to the sloughs. Tomorrow, the Wetlands Watch is hosting a tour of its native plant greenhouse and restoration sites. Restoration Specialist and native plant expert John Pritchard and Watsonville Wetlands Watch board member Kris Beall will lead the tour. It starts at 10:00 a.m.

If you want to participate, you need to make a reservation by noon today. You can find out more about the Wetlands Watch, and about how to make a reservation for the tour, by going to kusp.org/landuse, and tracking down the links in today’s transcript.

More Information:

• Land Use Links
• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• The Enduring Wilderness
• Information on Doug Scott
• Wilderness Act of 1964
• Watsonville Wetlands Watch Newsletter
• Information and Reservations:
  • Phone Kathy Fieberling - 831-345-1226 / Email Kathy Fieberling