Speak up for County planning staff
Posted August 7, 2003 / Updated November 4, 2003

• Background
• Planning Department cuts are short-sighted
• What's happening    NEWS FLASH
• What you can do


Like many, Santa Clara County is working to cut expenses from its budget. Unfortunately, the County Planning Department is bearing an undue proportion of these cuts, and Committee for Green Foothills is concerned that short-term savings will mean long-term costs for our environment. Please ask the Santa Clara County Supervisors to keep staff positions dedicated to long-range planning for the County.

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Planning Department cuts are short-sighted
Over the last 18 months, long-range planning staff in the County Planning Office have been slashed from six people to just 1.5 staff. While we recognize the need for sacrifice in the face of the County's current budget crisis, a 75% reduction is grossly disproportionate and will cause unnecessary harm in the future, long after the budget crisis has passed.

Committee for Green Foothills, together with the Loma Prieta Chapter of the Sierra Club, Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society and Greenbelt Alliance, have formally asked the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors to make no further cuts to the County's already-slashed planning staff. We have also asked the Supervisors to develop a plan to fill the department's open positions (now subject to a hiring freeze), most notably the position about to be vacated by a retiring planner.

The Planning Office must be more than a permit processing center. It must take steps to preserve hillsides, to stop additional loss of agriculture from our County, and assist in the implementation of urban growth boundaries and well-planned development.

To learn more about this issue, read the letter coauthored by Committee for Green Foothills, Greenbelt Alliance, Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society, and the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter, asking the Supervisors to protect funding for the Planning Office.

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The Supervisors discussed this at their meeting on Tuesday, August 5, but did not make a decision. They did accept the staff report presented at this meeting, which recommended that the Supervisors make no cuts to the department unless the budget is further cut, which is likely. The staff report did not go so far as to specifically request that the position about to be vacated by a retiring planner be filled.

Supervisor Kniss expressly pointed to the Planning Department as an area that had already been heavily cut, which is a good sign. The Supervisors tentatively plan to make some budget cut decisions at their August 19 meeting, and finalize the cuts in September.

There's still time to speak up. Please let the Supervisors know that you support funding for a strong Planning Office.

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What you can do

1. Write, call, email, or fax the Supervisors.
Please ask the Supervisors to ensure funding for long-term planning staff. Urge the County to make no more cuts to staff, and to fill the position left open by retirement.

Liz Kniss  •  Ph (408)-299-5050 Fax (408) 280-0418
liz.kniss@bos.co.santa-clara.ca.us

Blanca Alvarado  •  Ph (408) 299-5020 Fax (408) 295-8642
blanca.alvarado@bos.co.santa-clara.ca.us

James T. Beall, Jr.  •  Ph (408) 299-5040 Fax (408) 299-2038
jim.beall@bos.co.santa-clara.ca.us

Pete McHugh  •  Ph (408) 299-5030 Fax (408) 298-6637
primo.mchugh@bos.co.scl.ca.us

Donald F. Gage  •  Ph (408) 299-5010 Fax (408) 295-6993
don.gage@bos.co.santa-clara.ca.us

Please send a copy of your letter, fax, or email to
Planning Director Ann Draper
Ph (408) 299-5786 Fax (408) 288-9198
Ann.Draper@pln.co.santa-clara.ca.us

We work with the Planning Department office every day, and we need to show them that we're protecting their ability to do their jobs.

All of the Supervisors, as well as Director Draper, receive mail at
70 West Hedding St., 10th Floor, San Jose, CA 95110.

2. Learn more.

Read our letter to the Supervisors on this issue.

3. Support Committee for Green Foothills.
Become a CGF member or make a donation.

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