The KUSP Land Use Report #36: Planning Initiatives In The Pajaro Valley

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Gary Patton, Executive Director of LandWatch Monterey County, presents the following Land Use Report. The opinions expressed by Mr. Patton are not necessarily those of KUSP Radio, nor of any of our sponsors.

Action Pajaro Valley, a nonprofit group based in Watsonville, is spearheading a significant land use policy effort. That effort affects both Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties, and most particularly, the City of Watsonville.

For over two and a half years, Action Pajaro Valley has facilitated educational forums and collaborative planning efforts, aimed at developing a broadly based community consensus on how future growth should be directed. The results of this work include a proposed initiative measure, to be submitted to the voters of the City of Watsonville. If the initiative measure is qualified for the ballot, and if the voters of the City of Watsonville approve it, the legal effect will be to prohibit the City from undertaking future annexations of land—except in very defined areas.

This is pretty innovative stuff, in terms of land use planning, and it’s really a “homegrown” endeavor. The Action Pajaro Valley plan has now been approved by the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau, the Watsonville Wetlands Watch, and the Pajaro Valley Chamber of Commerce. These are not groups that have always agreed about growth-related issues. Just as important, elected officials from the City of Watsonville and the County of Santa Cruz have been deeply involved in drafting this plan. It may be that there is more than just a “truce” in the offing—but a genuine collaboration between political bodies that have often fought about land use.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

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