Money for transportation is a hot topic on both sides of Monterey Bay!

Today’s Land Use Report blog, at kusp.org/landuse, provides a link to an article from the Monterey Herald newspaper, reporting on a “compromise” tax spending measure that has recently been blessed by Monterey County elected officials, sitting as the Transportation Agency for Monterey County, or TAMC. TAMC calls its proposed tax measure a “Transportation Investment Plan.” That spending proposal will go to the voters in November.

Meanwhile, the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission is also planning for a ballot measure. The SCCRTC, better known as the “Transportation Commission,” calls its proposed tax measure a “Transportation Improvement Plan.” The Santa Cruz County Transportation Commission is also shooting for a “compromise” mix of spending proposals. There are funds for a “Rail Trail,” and funds for local street improvements, and some funds for widening projects to address congestion on Highway One. So far, the Santa Cruz County proposal hasn’t reached a final “compromise” status. The Campaign for Sensible Transportation, in particular, doesn’t think that widening Highway One would be either a good “investment,” or any actual “improvement.” If you care, stay tuned!

More Information:

• Land Use Links
• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• TAMC Website
• The TAMC “Transportation Investment Plan”
• Herald Article on TAMC Plan
• SCCRTC Website
• SCCRTC Transportation Improvement Plan
• Campaign For Sensible Transportation Website

Today, I have a new acronym for you!

Those who talk about land use learn lots of acronyms. Today, let me introduce you to the “MGA.”

I was introduced to the MGA by an emailed press release, announcing: “The MGA Is Here!” MGA is the acronym that identifies the recently-created “Santa Cruz Mid-County Groundwater Agency.” On March 17th, the Soquel-Aptos Groundwater Management Committee voted to become the Groundwater Sustainability Agency for the Mid-County Basin Area with a new name: Santa Cruz Mid-County Groundwater Agency, or “MGA.”

The MGA will oversee the management of the groundwater basin in the mid-county portion of Santa Cruz County, and will take the lead in writing and implementing a Groundwater Sustainability Plan by 2020. 

Both Santa Cruz County and Monterey County have severe groundwater overdraft problems, and a 2014 state law now mandates that local government agencies address those problems. Plans developed by the MGA will play an important role in future land use decisions. I encourage you to get involved in the work of this new agency, particularly if you live or own property in mid-Santa Cruz County.

You can find links to more information at kusp.org/landuse.

More Information:

• Land Use Links
• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• Herald Article – Aquifer Woes Here To Stay
• The MGA Is Here!
• MGA Website

“We Are Aptos” has litigation on its mind!

I try to keep abreast of what’s happening in the land use arena around the entirety of the Monterey Bay Region. There is almost always something interesting in the works, or in the wings, and I try to pick a few of the most stimulating and important items to feature on these very brief land use reports, presented here on KUSP. My on the air comments do have to be brief, so I encourage listeners to check out the additional information available at kusp.org/landuse.

In today’s blog posting, I have a link to an official court document, a complaint filed in the Santa Cruz County Superior Court by a group called “We Are Aptos.” This group charges Santa Cruz County with approving a final subdivision map for the Aptos Village Project without doing necessary environmental analysis, and without making sure that the promises of the developer, made in connection with gaining project approval, will actually be delivered by the project as constructed.

If you care about the future of Aptos, I think you might like to check out this complaint. Here’s what We Are Aptos says about its reason for filing the lawsuit: “This lawsuit is not intended to stop the development of the Aptos Village Project, but is ... intended to ensure that all amenities and other Project components are implemented as promised.”

More Information:

• Land Use Links
• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• We Are Aptos Complaint
• Aptos Community News Article on We Are Aptos Lawsuit

Maybe you can afford to live in Pebble Beach after all!

The Monterey Bay Region faces an affordable housing crisis. Frankly, this not a crisis that affects our area alone. If you have been following the presidential campaigns, you will recognize that “income inequality” is a major political issue, and our local affordable housing crisis is simply one manifestation of the fact that very few people have most of the money. Since we have chosen to make “the market” the decision maker about who gets what (including who gets housing), the “Golden Rule of the Market” results in many working families not being able to buy, or even to rent, housing. Again, that’s true in many places, not just in the Monterey Bay Region.

And what is the “Golden Rule of the Market?” He or she who has the gold gets the goods! That’s the way the “market economy” works, and working families in Monterey County are competing against rich people from all over the world who are buying up housing in Pebble Beach, Big Sur, Carmel, Pacific Grove, Monterey, and even in Seaside and Marina.

Unless government restricts the price of housing, in some effective way, this is what “the market” will do. Check out the links in today’s blog posting at kusp.org/landuse. You’ll find out about some price-controlled housing (called “inclusionary housing”) that may soon be available in Pebble Beach.

More Information:

• Land Use Links
• Gary Patton’s Two Worlds Blog
• LandWatch Bulletin on Pebble Beach Inclusionary Housing