Subject: Solano Farmlands at risk - Supervisors and the Solano County General Plan
Date: 2008-03-15
Solano County is on the edge of the 20th century or the 21st. It will be up to you. Do you want the county to develop unincorporated floodplains, farmlands, watersheds and open space? Or do you want to see development confined to the existing cities? How do you feel about more traffic? How would you like Collinsville developed? Or what about realigning highway 13 to handle more traffic and open up farmlands and rolling hills. These are important decisions being made now. We Benicians have embraced sustainable development and reducing greenhouse gases. Since transportation is nearly 50% of ALL the greenhouse gases in California, we need to build mixed use and compact development that has access to different ways of getting around. We need better mobility (that includes walking to stores, gym, school). We can't do that if the county adds to sprawl and traffic.
I was "fired" from the County General Plan Citizen Advisory Committee (see letter below) by John Silva because I advocate for better land use planning, protecting farmlands, watersheds, floodplains, and open space. If an elected official says they are for all these things, then what is the voting record? The letter below should help answer some of these questions.----------------
Letter to the editor
Vallejo Times-Herald
Saturday, March 15, 2008
General Plan points
After reading recent letters regarding the Solano County General Plan Update process, we felt that a few other points should be made about what occurred with the process during 2007.
First, let's not forget that the original Citizen's Advisory Committee (CAC), a well-balanced committee consisting of four people appointed by each supervisor, was disbanded shortly after Supervisor Spering took office in 2007. The supervisors claimed that the committee wasn't getting enough done. However, the original committee - like the second committee - followed agendas designed by consultants, with some input from an agenda subcommittee. Additionally, the original CAC was developing a vision plan and attending a number of field trips to various county locations in order to be better informed when making decisions. The criticism that the original CAC was not doing enough was a smoke screen by those who wanted an excuse to remake the committee.
The board, Chaired by Supervisor Reagan, directed Supervisors Spering and Silva, as an "ad hoc subcommittee" to review the structure of the CAC. Supervisors Spering and Silva met in closed session, without public input or public viewing and hand-picked the vast majority of the new members for the second CAC. Each supervisor was allowed only one appointment in addition to those selected by the subcommittee. This was a move to change the original, well balanced committee and replace it with a more development oriented group.
The timeline is another point of contention. The committee was forced to make important decisions, often with insufficient data, just to meet the timeline. In fact, the timeline was clearly more important than careful study of the issues. Only Supervisor Kondylis has shown the wisdom to question this overly hasty process.
As members of both the original and second CAC committees, we wanted the public to hear more of the story. A new Solano County General Plan is a critically important blueprint for how and where Solano will develop over the next 20 to 30 years. The new plan is quite different than the original plan and it deserves a thorough public airing and discussion. We urge that the county, in addition to the circulation of the General Plan's Draft Environmental Impact Report for review and comments, to thoroughly and publicly present the draft General Plan to solicit input from throughout the county and consider the concerns and comments expressed.
Nicole Byrd
Original and second CAC member, Fairfield
Patricia Gatz
Original and second CAC member, Vallejo
Eva Laevastu
Original and second CAC member, Green Valley
Mayor Elizabeth Patterson
Original CAC member, Benicia
Marti Brown
Original CAC member, Vallejo
Jeanne McCormack
Original CAC member, Rio Vista
Ian Anderson
Second CAC member, Birds Landing |
