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Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Santa Cruz County Sheriff
This morning, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors will consider a new “Public Safety Facility” on the corner of Chanticleer Avenue and Soquel Avenue. Buildings currently on the site would be reconfigured to provide new office space for the Santa Cruz County Sheriff, including administrative workspace, evidence and property storage, a forensic medical facility, a crime lab, and a multi-purpose meeting room. This is an important item.
The agenda item I found most fascinating, however, is a report back to the Board on Aptos land use planning and development. On August 7th, the Board told the Planning Director to provide the Board with <quote> “options for the Board to consider that will enable the County to ensure that additional development [in the Aptos area] is coordinated and well planned.” <unquote>
Today’s response says that the Board shouldn’t worry about that kind of “proactive” approach to planning, and that a “status quo” approach is just fine. Here’s the Planning Director’s response:
…Under the ‘status quo’ approach the County will continue carrying out the scope of work for the Transit Corridors Plan for Sustainable Communities, and property owners/developers will submit development applications at times determined appropriate by them.
This is what I call “planning by project,” where the initiative is all with the developers, not with the public. That isn’t what the Board asked for on August 7th. I’ll be interested to see what the Board’s reaction is this morning.
More Information:
Board of Supervisors’ Agenda, October 30, 2012
Former Santa Cruz County Supervisor Gary Patton talks about land use, and land use decisions, with an emphasis on public participation and how the land use process works.