Boards of Supervisors meet on Tuesdays. The Board meeting schedule is less reliable than the 24-hour rotation that defines our days (and nights), but when you contemplate a Tuesday, think about those five individuals who run your county government. The chances are they will be doing something, on Tuesday, that will affect your future. And a lot of those future-affecting items relate to land use.

This morning, I’d like to invite you to check out Agenda Item #58 on the agenda of the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, for the meeting that will take place tomorrow. I have a link at kusp.org/landuse that will take you to the website where the Board agendas can be located, and if you call the agenda for tomorrow’s meeting up on your screen, you’ll find links to a number of separate documents related to the proposed approval of the Final Map for the second phase of what has been called the “East Garrison Standard Subdivision.”

If you have questions about what sort of development should be taking place on the former Fort Ord, be advised that the Board of Supervisors has endorsed the creation of 373 new residential parcels in a remote corner of the former Army base. More water demand, traffic, etc. is what will happen. The plan got its initial approval in 2007. Projects like this do define our future. So, “heads up” on Tuesdays!

More Information

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

There is a meeting tonight at 7:30 p.m. that should be of interest to anyone who pays money to the City of Santa Cruz for water service. City residents qualify. So do residents of Pasatiempo, Live Oak, and even parts of the City of Capitola. Anyone who gets their water from the City of Santa Cruz will care about how much they are going to get charged for that water. This evening, the City Council is holding a joint meeting with the City’s Water Commission, and that’s the topic that will be addressed. Public meetings are open to the public, and this meeting (called a “study session”) should be of interest to many KUSP listeners. You can get a link to the agenda of the study session, and to the staff report and related materials, by looking up today’s posting on the Land Use Report blog at kusp.org/landuse.

One of the topics for tonight’s meeting will be the concept of “tiered water rates,” which means charging more per unit of water as the amount of water used goes up. Obviously, this approach to water pricing builds in a bias in favor of conservation. Interestingly, the whole concept of tiered water rates is under attack in San Juan Capistrano, where a court said it was illegal to use this system. That case is on appeal. A link to an article about the case is also in today’s blog posting.

I invite you to check it out.

More Information:

• Land Use Links
• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• Study Session Agenda – March 3, 2015 Agenda
• Water Rate Design – Staff Report
• Chart Showing Water Rates & Charges
• LA Times Article On Challenge To Tiered Water Rates

Each Saturday, I prerecord the Land Use Reports for the week to come. Last Saturday, just before I headed down to the studios, I read an article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel that gave me some news on an issue that I have talked about on several occasions.

Listeners may remember the proposal to “reorganize” the Lompico County Water District. The proposal has been pretty controversial, which is natural, because it would eliminate the Lompico County Water District as a governmental agency, and turn its operations over to the San Lorenzo Valley Water District. One big tropic of debate was whether or not the voters and landowners of the Lompico District should authorize a $3.2 million bond issue, to finance improvements and repairs that are conditions of the proposed reorganization. Last Saturday, the Sentinel reported that the bond proposal failed by one vote. A link to the Sentinel article can be found at kusp.org/landuse.

The importance of voting is highlighted by the election results. The importance of the Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO, is also evident. LAFCO supervised the entire reorganization proposal, including the election. The Santa Cruz County LAFCO meets this morning, and will be discussing its budget for the year ahead. That meeting starts at 9:30, and you are invited to attend and learn more about LAFCO!

More Information:

• Land Use Links
• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• Santa Cruz County LAFCO Website
• March 4, 2015 LAFCO Agenda
• Santa Cruz Sentinel article on Lompico Water Bond Vote
• Website on Reorganization Proposal
• LAFCO Staff Report On Proposed Reorganization

The acronym “ADU” stands for “Accessory Dwelling Unit.” In the City of Santa Cruz, land use and zoning regulations allow homeowners in a single-family residential district to construct a whole new residential unit on their existing city, subject to the City’s ADU regulations. The purpose of the ADU regulations is to promote small and more affordable housing opportunities in a city in which housing costs have continued to escalate.

Tonight, the Santa Cruz City Planning Commission is going to be considering possible amendments to the ADU regulations that were rather recently adopted by the Santa Cruz City Council. The staff report that is in the Commission’s agenda packet provides an informative discussion of the issues before the Commission, and if you are interested (and I hope many listeners are) you can find a link to that report in today’s blog posting, at kusp.org/landuse.

Three questions are going to be addressed. First, what height restrictions should be imposed on ADUs constructed near to a property line (the so-called “daylight plane” issue)? Second, what percentage of a residential backyard can be converted to an ADU use? Third, should ADUs be available to serve as vacation rentals?

The meeting tonight, at the Santa Cruz City Hall, begins at 7:00 o’clock. You are definitely invited!

More Information:

• Land Use Links
• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• City Planning Commission Website
• Planning Commission Agenda – March 5, 2015 Meeting
• Agenda Reports on ADU Item

Here is a “heads up” item for North Monterey County residents who might like to be involved in decisions that can affect open space, habitat, and water quality projects in and around Castroville. On March 10th, next Tuesday, the Central Coast Wetlands Group will be holding a public meeting at the offices of the Castroville Community Services District. The street address is 11499 Geil Street, in Castroville, and the meeting is scheduled from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Comida y bebidas gratis estarán disponible. Which means that free food and drinks will be provided. This will be a meeting for Spanish-speaking and English-speaking members of the community.

The Central Coast Wetlands Group, affiliated with the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, is a wetlands science research group serving the Central Coast of California. It works closely with regional and state partners to improve wetland science communication between researchers, resource managers, and policy makers. It not only does on the ground research, but also organizes and hosts meetings that bring groups of people together to collaborate on wetland-related efforts. There are lots of opportunities within the Castroville Community Services District to do just that. I encourage you to mark your calendar for the meeting next Tuesday. There is more information at kusp.org/landuse.

More Information:

• Land Use Links
• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• Castroville Community Services District Website
• Central Coast Wetlands Group