This weekday report is perhaps best known for its emphasis on indoor meetings. The land use policy decisions made in such meetings profoundly affect our future, economically, environmentally, and in terms of the kind of communities we’re building. There just isn’t any substitute for personal participation where democratic self-government is concerned. Since our land use future is largely decided by the decisions made by local government agencies, actually going to their meetings and participating in the land use policy process is the only way that we’ll be able to create communities that respond to our needs and aspirations. The other strategy, laissez-faire for land use, demonstrably does not produce vital, healthy, and appealing communities. If our future is decided by a lot of individual land use decisions added up, instead of by a community plan that meets community needs, high cost, sprawling and dysfunctional development will result.

All that said, and reconfirmed, today I’d like to suggest you get outdoors for a change. This Fall, the Big Sur Land Trust, one of the Central Coast’s premier land conservation groups, is hosting a series of spectacular outings. An outing to the Palo Corona Ranch will take place on Saturday October 3rd. There is an outing to the Point Lobos Ranch on October 9th. Find out how you can be part of these outings at www.kusp.org.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

Big Sur Land Trust
http://www.bigsurlandtrust.org/

BSLT Fall Outings Schedule
http://www.bigsurlandtrust.org/index1.html

News Story on Acquisition of Palo Corona Ranch
http://www.mprpd.org/pcranchgrant.html

Under state law, individual land use decisions must be consistent with a local General Plan. That means that the local General Plan is a kind of “Constitution” for land use, the most important land use policy statement by far. It’s critically important that our local General Plans truly reflect what the people of the community want. If they don’t, dysfunctional and destructive development patterns are virtually assured.

Tomorrow night, the Scotts Valley City Council will be discussing whether or not and how to update its current General Plan. The City General Plan was last updated ten years ago, and land use, circulation, housing, open space and conservation policies (to name a few) all need to be reviewed in terms of changed conditions. If you’re interested in helping to draft the document that will chart the future of Scotts Valley, this is a meeting you should probably attend. It’s at 6:00 o’clock. You can get more information by clicking on the Land Use Report link at www.kusp.org.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

City of Scotts Valley Website
http://www.scottsvalley.org/

Agenda and Staff Reports for October 6th City Council Meeting
http://www.scottsvalley.org/cca.PDF

Land Use and the General Plan Guidebook
http://www.landwatch.org/pages/publications.htm#generalplan

Deciding in haste, and repenting at leisure, is something that happens all too frequently in the land use arena. Residents of the City of Santa Cruz might well be advised to start focusing some attention on a very large and significant development now under discussion in the City. The proposal is to knock down the existing Coast Hotel, the former Dream Inn, replacing it with a much larger hotel and convention center complex that would extend across West Cliff Drive. Until last week, the City was proposing to have only one public hearing, a combined City Council – Planning Commission meeting scheduled on October 26th, just days before the City Council elections on November 2nd. I’m happy to report that this unprecedented procedure has apparently been scrapped.

The visual impacts and traffic impacts of the proposed project are undoubtedly significant. Turning Bay Street into something a little more like Mission Street is one of the possible outcomes. Impacts on the bluffs along West Cliff Drive are a potential problem identified by the Coastal Commission. The financial arrangements for the project are also of importance, since the proposed development would be partly funded by the City itself. Finally, this proposed project would have a major effect on the residential neighborhoods of the Lighthouse Point area, and the long term implications of that are really of citywide concern.

This proposed project should receive lots of public review. It’s a good time to get involved.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

Coast Hotel Project Draft EIR
http://www.ci.santa-cruz.ca.us/pl/coast_hotel/coastindex.html

If you’d like to be involved in an extraordinary community effort to develop a “Community General Plan” for Monterey County, please mark your calendars for a meeting next Thursday evening, in Salinas. You can get more information by clicking on the Land Use Report link at www.kusp.org.

The Salinas meeting is one of five “Community GPU” Forums being sponsored by eighteen local community groups, including the Carmel Valley Association, LandWatch Monterey County, and the League of Women Voters of the Monterey Peninsula. When the Monterey County Board of Supervisors discarded the results of its own five year, $5 million dollar General Plan process, and told the County staff to “start over,” local community groups decided that it was time to do something themselves. A professional planner and facilitator have helped participating community members develop General Plan policies that are consistent with the Twelve Guiding Objectives that were adopted by the Monterey County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors after hundreds of local meetings sponsored by the County.

Next Thursday, conservation, open space, agricultural, and public safety issues will be the focus of discussion. I missed the last Forum, in Carmel Valley, but over 200 persons attended, and the process is getting rave reviews. This would be a good “indoor meeting” to attend next week, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, in Salinas.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

Community GPU Website
http://www.8of10monterey.com/pages/community.html

Schedule of Community GPU Forums
http://www.8of10monterey.com/pages/community/schedule.html

Tomorrow, Arts Habitat, a Monterey County nonprofit, is holding an event at the East Garrison Vision Center (the former Chapel), located in the East Garrison area of the former Fort Ord. Interested members of the public are most definitely invited, and you can be sure that this is a meeting that will get you “outside.” There will be hayrides, music, and a barbeque, as well as a presentation and some serious discussion about future land uses in the East Garrison area. Tours begin at 11:00 a.m., and a presentation on the Arts Habitat development proposal is scheduled at 2:00 p.m. If you would like to attend, please RSVP to Arts Habitat. For information, click on the Land Use Report link at the KUSP website, www.kusp.org.

In Monterey County, many major development projects are simultaneously being planned and considered. The so-called “East Garrison” project, of which the Arts Habitat proposal is only a very small piece, proposes the development of one of the most remote areas of the former Fort Ord, an area under the jurisdiction of the County Board of Supervisors. Environmental review of this major development proposal is currently underway, and this is a great time to get involved. Attending the Arts Habitat event will give you a sense of the area. For more details, you can review the Draft EIR, a copy of which is available on the web. Comments are due by November 1st.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

County Documents on East Garrison Project
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/pbi/major/eastgarrison/eg_main.htm

RSVP to Arts Habitat by phone (831-626-6959) or by email ( ).

Monterey County Weekly Story on Arts Habitat Project
http://www.coastweekly.com/articles/9384