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The City of Salinas recently
initiated a General Plan Update. LandWatch will be
integrally involved with the update process as it
progresses. The following letter was sent to the
City Council regarding the specifics of the Work
Program that was released on July 27,
1999.
August 17,
1999
The Honorable Anna Caballero,
Mayor
City of Salinas
Salinas City Hall
200 Lincoln Avenue
Salinas, CA 93901
RE: Salinas General Plan
Update
Dear Mayor Caballero and Council
Members:
LandWatch Monterey County would
like to commend the City of Salinas for initiating
the General Plan Update process now getting
underway.
Salinas has a unique opportunity
to strengthen its assets through the redevelopment
and revitalization of its existing
core&emdash;creating numerous neighborhood nodes
that support a Livable Communities model for the
city. This model has been encouraged in numerous
urban and suburban cities through the adoption of
planning policies that emphasize infill
development, compact neighborhoods, jobs and
housing balance, and specific design standards.
These policies can create an urban community that
is designed to use natural resources efficiently,
encourage personal interaction, and support access
to services. We hope that the Livable Communities
model will be the cornerstone principle of the
updated Salinas General Plan.
LandWatch has close to 75
members in the Salinas area who will want to
participate in the General Plan Update process. We
will be happy to notify them of neighborhood
meetings being conducted, and we will look forward
to working closely with your staff and consultants,
as work proceeds.
We have reviewed the July 27,
1999 administrative report to the Council,
outlining the general plan update process work
program. We have the following specific comments,
which we hope you will consider, and also forward
to your staff:
- As the administrative report
presented to you notes, the timing of the
release of data from the year 2000 Census has
created a significant difficulty. Without solid
housing and demographic data, it will be
difficult, if not impossible, properly to
identify land use constraints and opportunities.
A legally enforceable General Plan is required
by law to be internally consistent, which means
that the Housing Element data and policies must
be integrally linked with the Land Use Element
and other elements. Trying to work on all the
elements except the Housing Element is not
really a workable way to proceed. As you know,
Monterey County and the City of Soledad are also
initiating General Plan updates at this time,
and we encourage Salinas to explore the
possibility of sharing expenses for alternative
private demographic sources for the Salinas
Valley. Obtaining data in this way could make it
possible to do a timely and legally sufficient
update.
- With respect to cooperation
with other jurisdictions, LandWatch has a
general comment. We recommend that Salinas place
a strong emphasis on inter-agency cooperation.
We think there should be a formal link between
Salinas, the County, and the other cities in the
county as Salinas proceeds with its General Plan
Update process. This kind of cooperation is
necessary, we believe, to maximize available
resources, and to define policies that can solve
the complex regional problems that affect not
only Salinas, but other jurisdictions as well.
Issues such as housing demand, transportation,
water supply, water quality, and the potential
for the conversion and loss of agricultural
lands can only be addressed through a
cooperative strategy.
- LandWatch also urges Salinas
to work closely with the Association of Monterey
Bay Area Governments (AMBAG), as it proceeds
through the General Plan Update process. It is
our understanding that AMBAG is conducting a
study on "jobs and housing balance" that will
assess the impacts that Santa Clara County is
having on Monterey County. The City may be able
to maximize its resources by working in concert
with AMBAG to define regional demands.
- The base data and public
participation process are critical to develop
the community's confidence in General Plan that
will ultimately be adopted. The preliminary work
program is unclear as to how and what base data
are being collected. At a minimum, the subjects
listed for the report should be those necessary
to establish baseline data for the mandatory
seven general plan elements. For instance, the
City's information systems department has the
ability to assess existing conditions of vacant
land, residential density, and public safety.
These indicators are not identified in the work
program. In addition, it appears that the work
program may intend to delay the noise,
biological resources, and cultural resources
analysis until the EIR. We think that this could
lead to planning after the fact. The objective
in obtaining this information first is to avoid
environmental impacts as part of the planning
process, not just to analyze them as part of the
EIR.
- The issues of base data and
public participation are especially a concern
since the administrative report presented to the
Council says that the city staff have already
completed "skeleton" drafts of the open space,
conservation, health and safety, and noise
elements. We hope that preliminary policies are
not being drafted prior to release of the
existing conditions report, or the opportunity
for public participation, since we think that
would undermine the chances that there will be
strong public support for the final product.
- Once solid base data are
developed, the community can make informed
decisions in the "visioning" process. The
importance of the "visioning" process should not
be overlooked. For instance, although technical
data may show that current trends indicate a
rise in housing demand resulting from Santa
Clara County growth, the community "visioning"
process may make clear that local residents do
not want Salinas to become a bedroom community
for the Silicon Valley. Nothing requires Salinas
to accommodate the housing demands of the
Silicon Valley, and we hope that the City
Council will consider ways that a more
independent and self-sufficient future for
Salinas could be achieved.
Thank you for considering our
comments. Again, we will look forward to working
closely with you and the City staff as the General
Plan Update process proceeds. Please feel free to
contact us if there is any help or assistance that
we can provide.
Yours truly,
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Gary A.
Patton,
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Donna
Kaufman,
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Executive
Director
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Assistant
Director
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