The Loma Prietan
September/October 2004
Sustainable Land Use (SLU) Committee Tackles First Challenges
by Irvin Dawid, SLU Committee Chair
Sprawl is one of the Sierra Club's top priorities.
In the Bay Area, 500,000 acres of
open space and farmland are at risk of being
developed over the next 25 years. Avoiding
the loss of agricultural lands, critical
wildlife habitat, and other valuable open
space requires cities, counties, and regional
agencies and districts to promote smart
growth, infill development, and the efficient
use of lands within our urban growth
boundaries.
To address these issues within our region,
the Loma Prieta Chapter has established the
Sustainable Land Use (SLU) Committee.
This committee was formed last winter and
has made great progress. To get this committee
up and running, we have developed
a process for evaluating issues. Our strategic
plan calls for a monitor to lead the study
of a project within SLU. A monitor is a Club
member willing to follow a particular issue
or development proposal, present it to the
committee, identify all important parties
and concerns, and if necessary, prepare a
resolution for potential Club action based
on committee input.
While we continue our strategic planning
to improve efficiency, we have also begun
to fulfill our purpose—evaluating specific
land use issues within the Chapter's threecounty
area. These issues included:
• A preliminary review of Measure H in
the City of San Mateo, a renewal of height
and density restrictions originally adopted
in 1991, resulted in the committee's decision
to not pursue this issue.
• Potential ballot items in Cupertino and
Redwood City have received the
committee's scrutiny with assistance from
Tim Frank, a member of the Sierra Club's
national Challenge to Sprawl Campaign,
and have been, or are in the process of being,
forwarded to the Conservation Committee
with recommended action.
• We are also following development of
the Bay Area Research and Extension Center
(BAREC) 17-acre property in the city
of Santa Clara.
• A review of San Jose's plans to develop
the 6,800 acres comprising Coyote Valley.
• Endorsement of state legislation (AB
269/Mullin) that will expedite transit-oriented
development, including desperately
needed affordable housing, along the
Caltrain corridor throughout San Mateo
County.
Many more development issues are out
there and relevant to the future of this region,
but the committee's ability to review
these issues are limited to our member's efforts.
With more members, more issues will
be reviewed. The committee welcomes any
Sierra Club member who would like to join
us. Land use expertise is not required.
Rather, committee members should have an
interest in these issues as they affect the city,
county, and region; the desire to learn and
apply Sierra Club principles to the issue, and
most importantly, the willingness to work
cooperatively and respectfully with other
committee members.
Committee actions will be based on Sierra
Club California's Urban Growth Management
Policy Guidelines. These guiding
principles were composed with the intention
of being applied to a variety of local
circumstances. As the preamble states,
"They are intended to help activists at the
local, regional, and state levels achieve the
most environmentally sound possible decisions."
We need your help to work on these key
issues which will impact our future quality
of life and the fate of open space around
the edges of the Bay Area. Here's how to get
involved:
1. Learn more about Sierra Club's interest
in sprawl by going to the Club website:
www.sierraclub.org, and under "Select an
issue", select Stop Sprawl. A vast array of
information, reports, and fascinating data
on all aspects of sprawl are available.
2. If you have e-mail access, join the
committee's listserve known as "Loma Prieta
Chapter Sustainable Land Use Discussion".
The purpose of this list is to facilitate communication
among the Loma Prieta
Chapter's Sustainable Land Use (SLU) committee,
and Sierra Club members interested
in land use issues.
The "LOMAP-LANDUSE-FORUM"
list is a list sponsored by the Loma Prieta
Chapter Executive Committee. Sierra Club
members may subscribe to this list by filling
out the on-line form at
www.sierraclub.org/memberlists. To do
so, be sure to have your membership number
available. It is located on the mailing
label of this newsletter.
3. Review the principles that guide the
committee's actions. They are found on the
Sierra Club California website:
www.sierraclubcalifornia.org. Click on
"Policies", then "Growth Management
Summary", or go directly to
www.sierraclubcalifornia.org/policies/growth.shtml.
4. Attend a Sustainable Land Use Committee
meeting, usually held the second
Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m., at the
Chapter Office at 3921 E. Bayshore, Palo
Alto. Check the Chapter website homepage
lomaprieta.sierraclub.org under
"Upcoming Events".
5. Consider being a Monitor of a particular
issue that interests you. Start by joining
the listserve, reviewing the above guidelines
to see how they would be applied, and attending
a Sustainable Land Use Committee
meeting.
Interested in land use issues on the Peninsula, South Bay, San Benito
County? Join the Loma Prieta Chapter Sustainable Landuse Discussion.
The purpose of this new, interactive listserve is to facilitate communication
amongst members of the Loma Prieta Chapter Sustainable Landuse
Committee, and also with Chapter members interested in land use issues.
Please remember that we are not a transportation committee, although
transportation is obviously very much related to land use.
The LOMAP-LANDUSE-FORUM list is a list sponsored by the Loma
Prieta Chapter Executive Committee.
Sierra Club members may subscribe to this list by filling out the form on
www.sierraclub.org/memberlists
or www.sierraclub.org/memberlists?listname=LOMAP-LANDUSE-FORUM.
You will need to have your membership number, so keep this newletter
handy as your membership number is printed on the address label.