Boards of Supervisors meet on Tuesdays. The Santa Cruz County Board is on its normal "after the budget session" break, traditionally occurring each July, but the Monterey County Board of Supervisors is meeting tomorrow, beginning at 9:00 a.m. At 10:30 in the morning, the Board is going to consider some traffic-related items, including the possible establishment of a "No Parking" zone on Rio Road, and an increased speed limit for Inter-Garrison Road. If you are going to be affected by either of those proposed actions you might want to check out the agenda. There is a link at kusp.org/landuse.

At 1:30 p.m., the Board will receive a couple of presentations. First, the Board is going to hear about the Final Draft Report on the "Evaluation and Analysis of Monterey County's Solid Waste Management System," which I mentioned on the Land Use Report last Thursday. After that, the Board will consider a report on the latest census of homeless persons in Monterey County. There actually seems to have been a slight decrease in numbers since the survey was last done in 2013. Finally, the County Resources Management Agency wants the Board to approve standing contracts, with three different contractors, to provide on-call construction management services. Each contract would be for an amount up to five million dollars. That's an item suggested for the "Consent" agenda!

More Information

• Land Use Links
• Gary Patton's Two Worlds Blog
• Board of Supervisors Agenda Website
• Solid Waste Authority Agenda Packet, With Report

Tomorrow, the California State Parks Department is hosting a public meeting. You are invited. The meeting will take place from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Banquet Center of the Rancho Cañada Golf Club, located at 4860 Carmel Valley Road. The purpose of the meeting is for State Parks to let the public know about the general planning process for Carmel Area State Parks. These include Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, Point Lobos Ranch, Carmel River State Beach, and Hatton Canyon.

At the meeting, State Parks will be focusing discussion on future public uses and conservation plans at each one of these State Park units. While the planning process is already well underway, the meeting on Wednesday is an important opportunity for the public to learn about current plans and to share opinions that will help shape the future of these state parks. I got a "heads up" about the meeting from the Big Sur Land Trust, which is encouraging your active engagement!

In today's Land Use Report blog, at kusp.org/landuse, I have some links to more information, including a link to a PowerPoint presentation dated in April 2012. At that time, State Parks thought they'd be completely finished with the process by the Spring of 2014. Now, the estimate is for completion by the summer of 2016. There is still time, in other words, for your involvement to make a difference!

More Information:

• Land Use Links
• Gary Patton's Two Worlds Blog
• Big Sur Land Trust Website
• Carmel Area State Parks General Plan
• PowerPoint Slide Show on "Scoping" Alternatives

The Board of Directors of the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency is meeting this evening. I have a link to the Board's agenda at kusp.org/landuse. The meeting starts at 7:00 p.m., and the Board will probably be awarding contracts related to a pipeline project that is a vital part of its plan to slow down and ultimately stop groundwater overdraft in the Pajaro Basin. More important, perhaps, from a policy perspective, is going to be a discussion of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, and its implications for the PVWMA. The local agency was established by state law in 1984. Thirty years later, the state has realized that the kind of groundwater issues facing the Pajaro Valley are found throughout the state, and a statewide program has finally been enacted. How the PVWMA will relate to that more general law is going to be important to local residents and businesses.

If you are a resident of the City of Santa Cruz, or have a business there, the deliberations of the City's Water Supply Advisory Committee are going to be important to you. The so-called WSAC will meet on both Thursday and Friday this week. The group is coming close to a consensus, or at least a decision, and desalination doesn't seem to be popping to the top of the list. Get more information from the link I have placed in today's transcript!

More Information:

• Land Use Links
• Gary Patton's Two Worlds Blog
• PVWMA Agenda Webpage
• WSAC Meeting Page

The County of Monterey has provided the public with an opportunity to comment on a proposed "Negative Declaration" related to the Moro Cojo Subdivision. A "Negative Declaration" is an official statement by the County that it believes that there will be no significant adverse environmental impacts resulting from a discretionary action that the County proposes to take. The California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, requires the County to do an Environmental Impact Report, or EIR, if there "may" be adverse environmental impacts caused by a proposed County action. This "Negative Declaration" says the County doesn't think that there is any chance that there could be negative impacts associated with the County's proposal to eliminate 161 units of affordable housing in the Moro Cojo subdivision. Members of the public have until August 5th to submit comments.

I have mentioned the County's plans for Moro Cojo before, because what the County is proposing to do is to eliminate affordable housing guarantees for 161 single-family units at a time when the County faces an affordable housing crisis. When the subdivision was first proposed, in an area not really suitable for this kind of development, a lawsuit was filed, and the County settled the lawsuit by promising permanent affordability of the housing constructed. That promise seems to be evaporating.

More Information:

• Land Use Links
• Gary Patton's Two Worlds Blog
• 1995 Settlement of Lawsuit on Moro Cojo
• Housing Advisory Committee Consideration – April 8, 2015
• Housing Advisory Committee Consideration – May 27, 2015
• RMA Listing of Negative Declaration

The Monterey County Planning Commission (or the MC/PC, I guess you could call it) is meeting next week on July 29th. I have a link to the Commission's agenda website in the transcript of today's Land Use Report, so when the July 29th agenda packet is posted, you can get the detail on everything that the Commission will be discussing.

I have seen a couple of public notices, so I know that the upcoming meeting is going to be an interesting and important one. At 9:00 a.m. next Wednesday, the Commission is going to hold a public workshop on a Draft Housing Element Update, for the period from 2015 to 2023. The Housing Element is part of the County's General Plan, which is the County's "constitution for land use." State law requires periodic Housing Element updates; so, if you care about affordable housing (and I think you should), think about attending this workshop on the Housing Element.

Affordable housing, of course, isn't just an "individual" problem, though it is definitely that, too. It's a community problem, and directly affects our local business economy. That point is driven home by the other interesting and important item on the July 29th Planning Commission agenda. Tanimura & Antle, one of the County's biggest agricultural employers, wants to build housing for 100 agricultural employees in Spreckels.

Mark your calendars!

More Information:

• Land Use Links
• Gary Patton's Two Worlds Blog
• Planning Commission Website
• Planning Commission Agenda Webpage