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Home March 2007 |
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Greenbelt Newswire
In this edition Action Alert: Protect Santa Clara County Farmland Alert: Sonoma Farmland Threatened Event: Get the Facts on the Concord Naval Weapons Station Event: Member Outing in Sonoma - April 21 Volunteers of the Month: Suzanne Beahrs and Bryan Eck This month’s Volunteers of the Month are a high-tech greenbelt mapping team! Suzanne and Bryan’s strong mapping skills have been enormously useful at Greenbelt Alliance. Their quick thinking and good humor has come in handy too, as they helped to create and launch a brand-new mapping process and run sometimes-chaotic meetings around the region. They’re now working on checking the data, putting it together, and seeing what it tells us about the Bay Area greenbelt.
Action Alert: Protect Santa Clara County Farmland Many of the orchards and farmlands that gave Santa Clara the title of Valley of Heart’s Delight have been lost to development. Until now, there was no mitigation for this loss. But now, the county could require that for every acre of farmland lost to development, another acre within the county must be permanently protected. Santa Clara County’s Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO), which oversees land annexation requests by cities, has drafted an agricultural mitigation policy, and is in the process of finalizing it. Now is the time for Santa Clara County residents to get involved:
Act today! Your voice will make a difference.
Alert: Sonoma Farmland Threatened The City of Sonoma’s urban growth boundary (UGB) is under attack by land developer Henry Grause and a large out-of-town developer, Cirrus Corporation. Under the guise of providing a hospital for the town, Cirrus and Grause have joined forces in an attempt to expand the UGB. They want to open up farmland well outside the city to development for a “medical spa.” This kind of hopscotch development outside the city’s existing boundary would heighten the development threat to Sonoma’s farmland. The proposed 22-acre site is on the corner of 8th Street East and Napa Road. Because it is not adjacent to the UGB, expanding the boundary would mean opening up 50 more acres of farmland (between the UGB and the site) to development. This would also set a larger precedent for UGB-busting attempts around the county and the region. Cirrus has now circulated a petition to residents for a vote on UGB expansion. Cirrus is attempting to take advantage of the community’s need for a hospital while attempting an end-run around the community’s own process for deciding where the hospital should go. Write a letter to the editor to say this UGB-busting attempt is a bad idea!
The Marin Planning Commission has begun hearings on the Countywide Plan, the blueprint that will guide development in the unincorporated areas of the County for the next 20 years. This is the time to speak up to shape the future of Marin County. The Draft Countywide Plan and Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR), which analyzes the environmental impacts of the draft plan, are both available at www.future-marin.org. The calendar for meetings and any schedule revisions can also be found there. Greenbelt Alliance is working to ensure that the plan includes strong provisions for creating affordable homes and protecting natural ecosystems and farmlands. For more information, contact Daisy Pistey-Lyhne by email or at (707) 575-3661. This is the current schedule of meetings on the plan. All meetings are at the Planning Commission Chamber, Room 328, at the Civic Center in San Rafael.
Event: Get the Facts on the Concord Naval Weapons Station What’s next for the Concord Naval Weapons Station? Now that the Navy has decided not to hand over the land to a developer, and will instead continue through the public planning process, this is a good time to find out. The City of Concord is holding a “Get the Facts” open house about the next steps for the Concord Naval Weapons Station:
Learn how the City plans to deal with cleaning up the base, as well as transportation, utilities, parks and open space and more. Find out about the future of this massive 5,100-acre area, and what your opportunities are to speak up to shape that future. Find out more about the open house here.
Event: Member Outing in Sonoma - April 21 Are you a Greenbelt Alliance member in Sonoma or Marin County? Join us for an outing in Glen Ellen that’s just for you! When: Saturday, April 21, 9:30 am – 5:00 pm Not a Greenbelt Alliance member yet? Join today!
Sat Mar 17: Go Greenbelt! Practice Ride, West Marin June 3 - 9: Go Greenbelt! 18th Annual Bay Area Bike Tour — sign up today! Save the Date:
Sun Sept 9
Become a Member or Renew Your Membership Support Greenbelt Alliance's work to protect the Bay Area's open space and make its cities
better places to live. Join or renew now, or join the Greenbelt Guardian monthly donor club.
Thank you for reading! To subscribe to the Greenbelt Alliance Newswire email list, enter your name and email address at www.greenbelt.org. To unsubscribe, simply send an unsubscribe request to unsubscribe@greenbelt.org. |
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