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Home Resource Center In the News Home Greenbelt Alliance in the News |
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Greenbelt Alliance In the NewsOctober 6, 2006 Measure A: Changing South Bay Landscape? Subheading Karina RuskMeasure A is aimed at some 400,000 acres of land in Santa Clara County -- privately owned farms, ranches and hillsides. The initiative would strengthen regulations limiting development. Environmentalists say Measure A would preserve a landscape of open space. Melissa Hippard, Sierra Club, Loma Prieta Chapter: "This measure is a really important tool for focusing growth, and we are going to have a lot of growth over the next couple of decades, inside existing urban limit lines where there is already the infrastructure." Opponents say significant growth restrictions are already in place, and say Measure A tramples on the rights of individual property owners. For example, the measure would limit ranchers to one primary residence for every 160 acres they own. Bill Gill, farmer/land owner: "It's placing more restrictions. It's the layers of restrictions that worry me." Voters are about to see a public relations blitz from both campaigns. Measure A is supported by the Sierra Club, Greenbelt Alliance and Silicon Valley Leadership Group. Measure A opponents held a rally last month and include the California Association of Realtors, the Santa Clara County Farm Bureau and the Home Builders Association of Northern California. Together those three groups have contributed nearly $100,000 to defeat Measure A. Brian Schmidt, Committee for Green Foothills: "They think they can make a lot of money off turning Santa Clara County into another Orange County or Los Angeles. We expect to be heavily outspent." Bart Hechtman, Measure A Opponent: "Our hills will never be covered with homes, because the regulations already exist through the work of the board of supervisors to make sure our hills stay green." Every registered voter in Santa Clara County will have an opportunity to vote on Measure A. It needs a simple majority to pass. ### |
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