The "Brown Act" is an important state law that protects the right of members of the public to know what their local elected officials are doing. It’s often called California’s "open meeting law," and it helps the public maintain control over the governmental agencies whose decisions can have such an impact on their lives. To brush up on your rights, click on the Land Use Report link at www.kusp.org. A very helpful summary index to the Brown Act is part of the transcript of today’s report.

Under the Brown Act, all meetings of public agencies are supposed to be "open." There are a few (and very few) exceptions written into the Act. Today, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors is holding a special meeting, and they propose to close the entire meeting to the public, claiming that their meeting is related to existing litigation. There is a Brown Act exception for consultations between elected officials and their lawyers, but the exception is very narrow. In this case, the special meeting is supposed to be about litigation over the proposed Rancho San Juan and "Butterfly Village" development in North Monterey County. That litigation was settled some time ago, and it’s hard to believe that anything is really happening on the "litigation" front. What is happening is the consideration of various applications related to the biggest development project ever proposed in Monterey County. That kind of discussion is not supposed to go on behind closed doors.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

Summary Index to the Brown Act
http://www.vanguardnews.com/brownact.htm

Text of all California Codes
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html

Agenda for Special Meeting Called for October 18, 2004
http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/cttb/newpage.htm

The future of the City of Santa Cruz will be profoundly affected by the growth and development that occurs at the UCSC campus. If UCSC were a "corporate" campus, residents of the City would be able to have a very large say over that future development. The University of California, however, is largely exempt from local community control, with respect to the land use decisions that the University makes. There are some very good reasons for that, going to the heart of our desire to protect and advance academic freedom. The University’s exemption from local land use regulation, in fact, is written into the California Constitution.

Even though the University is exempt from the normal land use and planning process that governs other landowners, it does have to follow its own procedures, and must also comply with the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act and the Coastal Act. The decisions made by the University all take place after an extensive planning process; it’s just not a planning process in which the public has the last word.

Tomorrow evening, the University is holding the only off campus public meeting it intends to provide, in connection with the adoption of its "Long Range Development" plan for the UCSC campus. As I say, this Long Range Development Plan will absolutely affect every person living in the City of Santa Cruz, so you might want to attend. The meeting will be held in the Sierra Room of the "University Inn," at 611 Ocean Street, at 6:00 p.m. tonight.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

Long Range Development Plan Website - http://www.ucsc.edu/planning_2020/

Announcement of October 20th Workshop - http://press.ucsc.edu/text.asp?pid=573

A Town Hall meeting is scheduled for tomorrow night at the Chamber of Commerce Building in Moss Landing. What’s the topic? The topic is the proposed construction of a "Coastal Water Project," meaning a large desalination plant to be located in Moss Landing, and a pipeline to the Monterey Peninsula.

The meeting tomorrow will be hosted by the California American Water Company, along with the Monterey County Water Resources Agency. An engineering description of the proposal will be one of the main features of the Town Hall meeting. This proposed project began as an effort to eliminate a violation of the state’s water laws. Cal-Am is currently withdrawing, each year, approximately 10,000 acre feet of water from the Carmel River in violation of an Order of the State Water Resources Control Board. The proposed desalination plant would provide an alternative source of water for the Monterey Peninsula, so that violation could be rectified. Monterey County has suggested that the project be expanded, to provide a new source of water in North County. It’s unclear exactly how that new supply would be allocated. Would it be used to reduce existing groundwater overdraft, or would it be deployed to fuel new growth in North Monterey County and the Salinas Valley?

To get your questions answered, think about attending that meeting tomorrow night. The address is 8071 Moss Landing Road, and the meeting will run from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

"Dueling Desals" Article
http://www.coastweekly.com/issues/
Issue.06-17-2004/news/Article.news1

California-American Water Company Website - http://www.calamwater.com/awpr/caaw/start/index.html

Monterey County Water Resources Agency Website - http://www.mcwra.co.monterey.ca.us/

Monterey Peninsula Water Management District Website - http://www.mpwmd.dst.ca.us/

Last Thursday, about a hundred participants attended the third "Community General Plan Update" Forum, held in Salinas. This figure does not include about forty or fifty demonstrators who participated briefly. Next Thursday, October 28th, the fourth in the series of these "Community GPU" Forums will be held from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Vista Verde Middle School in Greenfield.

You’ll probably remember that the "Community GPU" effort is being sponsored by eighteen local community organizations, including the League of Women Voters of the Monterey Peninsula, Líderes Comunitarios de Salinas, and Citizens for Responsible Growth, also based in Salinas. The "Community GPU" effort stems from a decision made last May by the Monterey County Board of Supervisors. At the request of a long line of landowner and developer attorneys, the Board voted 3-2 to jettison its five-year, $5 million dollar General Plan Update process, and to "start over" with a new process, based on a series of private meetings with selected "stakeholders." (This particularly includes the developer attorneys). In reaction to this decision, the community groups decided to draft their own "next version" of the General Plan Update, but to do so in public, and with full public participation.

There is still time to get involved in this community-based process, and if you can’t make the meetings, you can read the drafts of the "Community GPU" on the web, and send in your comments by email.

For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.

More Information:

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

Every once in a while I try to advertise a meeting or activity that might be particularly appropriate for those involved in land development. Of course, the real "unhidden agenda" of this Land Use Report is to stimulate public participation in land use policy matters generally, and I want to make clear that members of the general public are most definitely invited to the meeting I’m about to announce.

Interestingly, the meeting is certainly affordable to most members of the public, except for one hitch. Here’s the problem: it’s in San Diego. If your business is land development, there may be a better chance that you’ll be able to pay the airfare down there. The full price of admission, though, is only $35.00.

Here are the details: Next Friday, October 29th, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., the California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission will be presenting a Symposium on Mixed-Use Housing Development. As I said, the meeting will be in San Diego, at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina. State Treasurer Phil Angelides gets some credit for setting this up. Participants will have an opportunity to tour some impressive mixed-use developments, and will learn how to revitalize local communities with development projects that include housing, retail, and workspace uses. I really do think that this looks like a good opportunity to find out more about an important land use topic.

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:

California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission Website
http://www.treasurer.ca.gov/cdiac/cdiac.htm

More information from Robert Stroud – 916-653-6046. Email – rstroud@treasurer.ca.gov

To register for the Symposium call 916-653-3269