First news roundup of 2010

Happy 2010, everybody! Looking forward to a new year with more chances to save and permanently protect our local farmlands and natural open spaces.

Below are a few news items that happened recently:

1. Stanford trail litigation at the California Supreme Court: our litigation against Stanford and Santa Clara County has been tied up on a technical issue - whether we met the right deadline to file suit. The Stanford Daily covers the issue here:

The trails fulfill part of a deal made between Santa Clara County and Stanford in 2000. Stanford started construction of the first trail, located south of Page Mill Road, but when the University tried to move the second trail across Alpine Road into San Mateo County, local environmentalists raised concerns about the effect on land near a local creek.

“There is not enough road on that side, so that means they’ll have to intrude into the riparian area of San Francisquito Creek,” said Brian Schmidt J.D. ‘99, a legislative advocate for the Committee for Green Foothills, a watchdog group that has been looking over Stanford’s shoulder since 1962.

A good article, although Stanford incorrectly asserts that they can widen the Alpine Road sidewalk if they win the lawsuit. In fact, the proposal is so destructive that San Mateo County has rejected it on their own.

2. The owner of 5,000 acre Sargent Ranch south of Gilroy has filed for bankruptcy. As the article describes, this owner has tried all kinds of methods to cash in and destroy the pristine land. Maybe this will open the door to permanent protection, instead.

3. Park proposal for Saratoga Creek: this could be interesting if the pricing works out:

The new children's garden would be developed on 1.3 acres of private property adjacent to the Peck property off Saratoga Avenue. The home currently located on the 1.3 acres would be turned into office space and an educational facility.

-Brian

Read more!

"the citizen-based Committee for Green Foothills and the Sierra Club fought development of open space, project by project, to preserve the land."

Great to have quotes like that one above even in articles that aren't about us, but rather about long-time journalist Marion Softky:

The scale of open space from the valley to the coast is unmatched in a large metropolitan area, she says.

The "Freeway Revolt" stopped the extension of Willow Road to the coast; the proposed outer Bayshore Freeway was never built; and a plan was scuttled to "level" the top of San Bruno Mountain to provide fill for proposed development in and around San Francisco Bay.

Incorporation of Woodside in 1955, followed by Portola Valley in 1964, further contributed to preserving the rural atmosphere, undeveloped hillsides and forests. Voters wanted to take control of their future rather than let the county continue to make their land-use decisions.

While these incorporations tended to slow growth in the two towns, the citizen-based Committee for Green Foothills and the Sierra Club fought development of open space, project by project, to preserve the land.

Ms. Softky says environmentalists such as Olive Mayer, Claire Dedrick and Lennie Roberts followed the motto: "Victories are temporary; defeats are permanent. To save open space, you have to buy land fee simple."

Read more!

NEWS RELEASE: Environmentalists call for fewer new monster mansions on hillsides following the Santa Cruz Mountains fire

(CGF sent out the following news release yesterday. -Brian)


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 26, 2008


PRESS CONTACTS:
Brian Schmidt, Legislative Advocate
phone (650) 968-7243,

Environmentalists call for fewer new monster mansions on hillsides following the Santa Cruz Mountains fire


Committee for Green Foothills called today for the Santa Clara County to reconsider environmental reforms that would reduce the number of new hillside "monster mansions" in the wake of the ongoing, 4,000 acre Summit Fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains. "Taxpayer money and firefighters' lives should not be risked for more and more inappropriate, 'monster mansions' on the hillsides," said CGF Advocate Brian Schmidt. "Two years ago, the Committee for Green Foothills and other environmental groups sponsored the Measure A environmental initiative in Santa Clara County in 2006 that would have reduced new development in hillside areas, specifically including the area in the County that is now on fire. Our initiative failed by less than one-half of one percent, due to a half-million dollars spent by outside Realtors' groups from Southern California and from their national headquarters in Chicago. We now call on Santa Clara County to undertake new measures to limit inappropriate new development."

Committee for Green Foothills argues that more development in the hills increases the chance of someone doing something that starts a fire, while also making firefighting more dangerous and expensive as firefighters seek to rescue people and protect property. Schmidt said, "We're not trying to take away existing homes or even ending all new construction in the hills, but we need to stop adding to sprawl by putting more and more buildings in these fire-prone areas, especially large mansions that are difficult to protect and harder to rescue people from."

Last year, Santa Clara County Supervisors supported a motion by Supervisor Ken Yeager to draft a new ordinance toughening enforcement of fire regulations. "While the County has made a good first step, a lot more must be done," Schmidt said. "The County now lets land developers to deviate from the standard minimum parcel size in areas designated as 'Hillsides' and put up to eight times more development through a 'cluster subdivision'
process. This cluster subdivision option should be eliminated in areas with significantly elevated fire risk."

Other possibilities include enactment of certain portions of the Measure A initiative during upcoming revisions for the County's General Plan.
Residential building size limits to avoid "monster mansions" have also been supported by environmentalists, and giant structures favored by developers create more fire risks and are more difficult to defend.

# # #
About the Committee for Green Foothills
Committee for Green Foothills is a regional grassroots organization working to establish and maintain land-use policies that protect the environment throughout San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. Committee for Green Foothills, established in 1962, is a Bay Area leader in the continuing effort to protect open space and the natural environment of our Peninsula.
For more information about the Committee for Green Foothills or about our work on this issue, visit www.GreenFoothills.org.

Read more!

CGF in the news - San Mateo County open space decision

(As time permits, we'll put a link here on the blog to articles when CGF's discussed in the news media. -Brian)

Victory for open-space proponents

REDWOOD CITY — Owners of some unincorporated parcels in San Mateo County
who are considering subdivision may have to think about its opposite: open
space.

The San Mateo County Planning Commission unanimously agreed Wednesday to
recommend an amendment to zoning rules requiring owners subdividing large lots —
when those lots are zoned as "resource management district" for low-density uses
— to relinquish a certain portion for open space in perpetuity.

The Board of Supervisors will have final say on the amendment, which will
come before them at a future meeting.

...

Environmental groups support the amendment to the regulations, which
haven't been updated since they were developed in 1973.
"The conservation
easement does not change the allowable uses on the property, does not change the
allowable density," said Lennie Roberts, legislative advocate for Committee for
Green Foothills. "The conservation easement will ensure that once a property is
subdivided and its entitlements are used, a future owner can not come back and
take a bite of that apple."

Read more!