Comments on Water District concerns about riparian protection

(We submitted the comments below on attempts to fight poor implementation of riparian protection policies in Santa Clara County.  -Brian)  October 25, 2010 Santa Clara Valley Water District Board of Directors             Re:  Agenda Item 12, BMR-10-0064 regarding exceptions to riparian ordinances Dear Chair Santos and District Board Members; The Committee for Green Foothills agrees with the Staff recommendation that the two options that Staff identified for performance evaluations of riparian protections would likely be unproductive for the cost involved.  However, it may be productive to broaden the BMR to consider more generally whether land use agencies have provided the...

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CGF Letter requestion adequate time to comment on massive proposal on the Coast

(CGF Legislative Advocate Lennie Roberts sent the letter below requesting adequate time to comment on the newly-released document for the Big Wave project on the Coast.  -Brian) October 10, 2010 David Bomberger, Chair and Members of the Planning Commission 455 County Center, 2nd Floor Redwood City, CA 94063 Re:  Request for Extension of Time to 60 days for Public Review for Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR), Big Wave Project Dear Chair Bomberger and Members of the Planning Commission On behalf of Committee for Green Foothills (CGF), I am requesting a 60-day public review period in order to give the public...

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Comments on Water District Ends Policy Workshop

(Yesterday I attended the Water District Board workshop on changing its overall guidance policies. In addition to attending, I spoke at the meeting and submitted the letter below.  It might help to read the Board materials for October 20, 2010 and Agenda Item 4 to understand the letter I submitted. We did get some action on one item, but the others will have to wait another day. -Brian) October 20, 2010 Santa Clara Valley Water District Board of Directors             Re:  Agenda Item 4, Ends Policy Workshop and Recommendations of the Environmental Advisory Committee Dear Chair Santos and Board Members; I submit...

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Letter to San Jose on Brookside Estate project

(We wrote the following letter to San Jose City Council saying that we weren’t going to litigate over the flawed Brookside Estate project, but that we would follow up on better riparian protection policies and on followup approvals for that project.  -Brian) October 12, 2010 San Jose City Council             Re:  Brookside Estate project on Guadalupe Mines Road Dear Mayor Reed and City Council Members; The Committee for Green Foothills believes that the Brookside Estate rezoning project on Guadalupe Mines Road suffers from both legal flaws and policy flaws.  The legal flaws stem from the beginning of the project when...

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Letter to Palo Alto City Council on house size limits in Foothills

(We wrote the letter below urging the City to adopt maximum house size limits to control monster mansions in the foothills.  Unfortunately the City declined to do so after some landowners called for time for “present restrictions to work.”  We’ll have to give it a little time, and then try again.  -Brian) September 29, 2010 Palo Alto City Council Dear Mayor Burt and City Council Members; The Committee for Green Foothills regrets that the Palo Alto Planning Commission, in our opinion, failed to follow City Council direction to provide real options on house size limits.  Instead the Commission returned to...

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Good news – Santa Clara County Supervisors reject Planning Commission advice to weaken water conservation standards

Yesterday I attended the County Board of Supervisors meeting, where they were considering a new landscaping water conservation ordinance.  The Planning Commission had recommended several steps to weaken the ordinance proposed by County Planning staff, which was strange because the staff version basically followed the state model ordinance, and state law says the alternatives must be at least as effective in water conservation. Committee for Green Foothills spoke against the proposed changes, and I’m relieved to announce that the Supervisors voted unanimously for the staff version.  There was a proposed change that would eliminate maintenance requirements, which would be a...

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Letter to Santa Clara County on Parkland Acquisition Plan

(Committee for Green Foothills submitted the letter below to Santa Clara County Supervisors on improving the Parkland Acquisition Plan.  -Brian) September 27, 2010 Santa Clara CountyBoard of Supervisors             Re:  Item 20, Study Session on the County Parks Acquisition Plan – comment for the Study Session and response to the Draft Summary of Public Workshops Dear President Yeager and Board of Supervisors: CGF submits the following comments on the County Parks Acquisition Plan as well as some disagreement with the Draft Summary of Public Workshops (“Summary”) for the Parks Acquisition Plan.  As an initial matter, we thank CountyStaff for all...

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New Advocate, Julie Hutcheson, joins Committee for Green Foothills

(We’re extremely happy to have Julie join our team and expand our efforts to help preserve the natural resources, working farmlands, and native habitats of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties.  -Brian) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE     NEWS RELEASE  Environmental group hires new Legislative Advocate Activist will join Brian Schmidt and Lennie Roberts as County watchdogs PALO ALTO, CA –Environmental nonprofit Committee for Green Foothills announced today that the organization has hired local activist Julie Hutcheson to serve as the organization’s third County Legislative Advocate.  Hutcheson will join longtime Legislative Advocates Brian Schmidt and Lennie Roberts, who will also continue to...

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Guest Post by CGF Intern Anthony Aerts

(CGF Intern Anthony Aerts gave us this final write-up about his time with us this summer.  Thanks for all the help, Anthony!  -Brian)                                                                                                            8/31/10 My Time at CGF Today was the final day of my summer internship with CGF. It’s hard to believe that ten weeks can go...

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CGF Comments on the draft Stanford HCP and EIS

(We submitted the comments below on the draft Stanford HCP.  -Brian)  August 30, 2010 Sheila Larsen Gary Stern Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service             Re:  Comments on the Draft EIS and HCP/ITP for StanfordUniversity Dear Sheila and Gary: Committee for Green Foothills (CGF) submits the following comments on the Draft EIS (DEIS) and HCP/ITP (HCP) for StanfordUniversity: I. Relationship to Searsville Dam and operations The EIS, on pages 3-24 and 3-25, discusses an alternative that covers modifications to Searsville Dam and Reservoir for Flood Control, and concludes that this alternative was rejected from further consideration because...

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