Greenbelt Alliance In the News
November 9, 2006
ELECTION 2006: GROWTH LIMITS BACKED -- TO A POINT
Subheading
Glen Martin
Final results from a series of regional growth-control measures show
that Bay Area residents support the idea of reining in development --
as long as it doesn't cost too much money or intrude significantly on
private property rights.
Measures to protect open space or improve parks passed in Contra
Costa, Sonoma and Napa counties. But similar measures failed narrowly
in Santa Clara, San Mateo, Solano and Alameda counties.
Some of the measures fell short of the two-thirds majority required.
That was the case with Measure A in San Mateo County, which won 54
percent of the vote. The initiative would have generated money to
improve and maintain parks by raising the county sales tax from 8.25
cents to 8.35 cents.
Mary McMillan, a deputy manager for San Mateo County, said the
majority vote for the measure is a sign that county residents are
serious advocates for their parks and that the issue probably will be
raised again in future elections.
Santa Clara County's Measure A -- one of the most controversial
regional growth-control initiatives of the election -- lost with 51
percent of voters opposing it.
Adam Montgomery, the government affairs coordinator for the Silicon
Valley Association of Realtors, said early surveys of likely voters
indicated a clear victory for supporters of the measure, which would
have clamped development restrictions on much of the county's
agricultural land.
"But when we started to get our side of the story out, opinion slowly
changed," Montgomery said. Voters ultimately came to see the
measurement as punitive to farmers and ranchers, he said.
Similar claims by farming interests apparently led to the defeat of
Measure J in Solano County, which would have maintained growth
boundaries until 2036.
"There were some conflicting messages, some inaccurate information
that went out, and that may have affected the outcomes in Santa Clara
and Solano counties," said Elizabeth Stampe, a spokeswoman for
Greenbelt Alliance, a Bay Area group that promotes open-space preservation.
At least one of the local measures on Tuesday's ballots may have gone
down because environmentalists were themselves split on the issue.
Measure R, a North Bay initiative that would have established a
commuter railway through Sonoma and Marin counties, scored 65 percent
of the vote -- just short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass.
The Sierra Club and other environmental groups supported the measure
as a commute alternative to Highway 101. But the Marin Audubon
Society and the Marin Conservation League opposed it, saying the
railway could encourage excess growth and would not transport enough
people to justify its $400 million price tag.
Still, environmentalists seemed generally pleased with the results on
the Bay Area's growth measures.
Stampe lauded the passage of Measure I in Napa County, which
established a park and open-space district, and Measure L in Contra
Costa County, which requires the county's cities to establish growth
limits or forego some sales tax revenue.
She also said voters are demonstrating considerable sophistication in
supporting measures that encourage appropriate and sustainable growth.
"Morgan Hill passed a measure Tuesday that will encourage residential
construction in the downtown area," she said. "That city has a
beautiful downtown, but it sees very little commerce because few
people live there. This measure will essentially take future housing
construction planned for the outskirts and direct it to the city center."
In Sonoma County, voters demonstrated unusual unity by voting 75
percent in support of Measure F, an initiative that will extend a
quarter-cent sales tax to preserve open space, the coastline, streams
and trails.
"We feel this is a conservation mandate," said Andrea Mackenzie,
general manager of the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and
Open Space District. "It shows our voters do not want the future of
their beautiful county to be left to chance."
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