General Plan 4 is a Great Disappointment

By Jyl Lutes

Current GPU 4 is too vague, fails to define where and what kind of growth is allowed, and is a continuation of poor planning

We need a General Plan that will set clear standards for what kind of growth most benefits the community, protects the delicate ecosystems of North County, preserves agriculture, limits overdraft of the aquifers, mitigates traffic impacts, and provides for affordable housing.

Clear distinctions between (1) urban development, (2) rural or countryside resource development, and (3) farmland operations, are essential in the General Plan in order to avoid the hodgepodge of piecemeal development that has characterized North County development under past and current Board leadership. A new direction is required!

A new County General Plan needs to direct investment into existing urban areas that are more vibrant, healthy, sustainable, pedestrian-friendly, compact communities providing for greater socio-economic integration. City-centered, infill development is a far more efficient and economic investment in community services than urban sprawl, for it offers more opportunities for affordable housing by design with less reliance on the automobile.

Rural areas need to remain rural, unthreatened by auto-oriented sprawl that burdens taxpayers with infrastructure costs and overstretched police, fire and medical services. Watershed planning for the rural areas needs to take into account development impacts on water balance and environmentally fragile natural resources by limiting rural development to more compact "village" communities rather than gated suburban sprawl relying on auto-oriented, big box commercial with acres of asphalt parking space runoff. The Elkhorn Slough, Salinas and Pajaro River watersheds that empty into the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, are barometers of the health of this surrounding rural human/natural environment, to be protected from polluted stormwater run-off.

Prime farmland soils, formed in geological time, need to be preserved by being protected from incompatible, "leap frog development", in order to sustain economically viable agricultural operations. Indirect conversion of agricultural land by neighboring urban pressures is as insiduous as the direct conversion of agricultural soil to pavement, for preservation ordinances do not deter agribusiness once they feel that it is lucrative to sell. And urban pressures to sell can only be curbed with effective urban growth containment policies in the county's general plan. We cannot be persuaded by the big agribusiness argument that they need greater "flexibility" from urban growth containment policies when it is those very policies that protect agricultural operations as attested in such states as Oregon, recognized as the flagship for farmland preservation.

The Elkhorn Slough "speaks" to us through scientists now involved in the current Elkhorn Slough Tidal Wetland Project. The mosaic of estuarine communities now hemorrhaging from the loss of marshland in the Slough is a wake-up call for us. It speaks to the inadequacy of past, piecemeal legislation with conflicting government agencies vying for territory (Fish and Game, Army Corps of Engineers, etc.),and crys for a more holistic approach to reclaim the marshland. It speaks to our piecemeal development in this North County watershed, now at the tipping point from a rural community to suburban sprawl, that contributes to a hemmorrhaging watershed.

Like the upstream storm runoff into the Slough, the county's uphill road network, left in the hands of private developers to access sprawl development, dumps "traffic congestion management" into the hands of the Transportation Agency of Monterey County (TAMC) and Caltrans to figure out how to manage the County's collector streets, major arterials and State highways below. GPU 4 further sponsers this piecemeal sprawl by downgrading the allowed level of service ("LOS")required by developers from a LOS C to an LOS D. This further exacerbates the State highways like Highway 156 to a LOS E and F during peak commuter traffic hours.

We need to reverse the Elkhorn Slough message, the traffic congestion message, and redirect our investments toward building "smart": (1)reinvest in existing infrastructure with well-designed, compact, mixed-use development embodied in "New Urbanist Principles" that actually harkens to the way communities used to be built;(2)requiring the retention of stormwater run-off on-site to recharge our aquifers; (3) using recycled water for agricultural operations as distinct from residential potable water; and (4) providing more alternative modes of transportation as we enter our peaking oil supply with its concurrent rising cost.

Directing growth toward more compact, walkable neigbhborhoods with more job/housing balances, more "livable streets" that provide easier pedestrian access to stores, schools, theater, and more eyes on the street to deter crime--exciting places to be--is still possible while we are drafting a new General Plan! This was the direction GPU 1, 2, and 3 was taking us until it was hijacked by entrenched special interests.

This kind of planning requires putting an end to the current dysfunctional county and city relationship, mired in backdoor dealing, distrust and lawsuits, and replacing it with a more regional, holistic, cooperative, open planning process. Placing city, countryside, farmlands, and the Bay in balance by defining uses in these areas with greater certainty will expand our human enjoyment of the exquisite place we are fortunate to share. GPU 1, 2 and 3 began this planning process with the great hope that we could do just this. We must not let this great beginning be hijacked by GPU4 special interest groups, but continue to be inclusive of the larger community. "Think globally, act locally."