HomeMy WebLinkAboutRCC AGENDA 1997/05/12AGENDA
Resource Conservation Commission
Chula Vista, California
6:30 p.m.
Monday, May 12, 1997
Conference Room 1
Public Services Building
276 Fourth Avenue
CALL MEETING TO ORDER
ROLL CALL/MOTIONS TO EXCUSE
APPROVAL OF MINUTES - Mazch 24, 1997
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
~~ ~~~.
Opportunity for members of the public to speak to Commission on any subject matter
within the Commission's jurisdiction but not an item on today's agenda.
1. Discussion of Open Space Maintenance District
STAFF COMMENTS
1. Eastlake directional signs
2. Grading neaz Archway Inn
3. $10,000 Grant to City of Chula Vista/UCSD
CHAIRMAN'S COMMENTS
COMMISSIONER'S COMMENTS
ADJOURNMENT AT p.m. to the Regular Meeting of June 9, 1997 at 6:30 p.m.
in the Council Conference Room , 276 Fourth Ave., Chula
Vista, CA
COMI'IdANCE WITH AMERICAN6 WITH DISABII177FB ACT (ADA)
The City of Chuk Vista, m eomplyiug with the Amerieam with DiubOitin Ad (ADAI, requed
IntGvidods who require eperinl ucommodationa to sane, Blend andlor paNdpale in a City reeding,
activity or service requnl such accommodation al lent forty-dghl Noun io advance for uroetiuga and Mc
days for scheduled service and aclivitin. Please nntad Nanry Ripley al (619) 691-5101 for apeeifle
information or Tdecommunintions Devicnfor the leaf l771D1 (619-S1ti561'!). California Rday Service
k oleo available for the hndog impaired.
Where `planning' is not an ugly word
PORTLAND, Ore.
rive down West Union Road in sub-
urban Hillsboro, about 10 miles
from downtown Portland, and you
are witness to a remarkable achievement.
From one side of the pavement stretch
pleasant homes and apartment complexes
that you might see in a hundred other sub-.
orbs. On the other side: acres and acres of
rolling, undeveloped farmland and forest.
One side of West Union Road is not like
the other because the street runs along
the Portland area's Urban Growth Bound-
ary, aline on amap that sets limits on de-
velopment. Within the boundary is an ur-
ban "reserve;' where all sorts of building
can happen -and with a robust local
economy, a lot is. The land outside the
boundary stays rural.
In an era when the words "government
planning" are written off as either an oxy-
moron or aterrible danger, the Portland
experience comes as a shock. Even more
shocking: the planning system - in place
since 1973 - is popular. It wins support
from environmentalists and from busi-
nesspeople. Protecting land from urban
sprawl has become something of a civic
religion here and one of the city's selling
points.
The boundary has come to embody
more than its original objective. When Re-
publican Gov. Tom McCall pushed the
system in 1973 - it covers the whole
state -his major concern was for Ore-
gon's natural environment. Farmers wor-
ried that a way of life would be plowed un-
derfor tract housing.
But Ethan Seltzer, director of the Insti-
tute of Portland Metropolitan Studies,
says the planning system has not only pro-
tectedfarms. Ithas changed the way cit-
iesdevelop. Concentrating growth cre-
atesincentives for a different urban
environment. For example, it has spurred
new interest in more tightly packed row
houses, the venerable urban form now hot
among architects and designers.
E.J.
nomic boom. Many companies, especially
those in high-tech, know the environment
Portland has created is attractive to the
employees they need to lure.
The boundary has expanded slightly to
accommodate growth. But it will survive
because of the depth of public support for ',
it. Robert Landauer, former editorial page
editor of The Oregonian, says citizens see
the planning as growing out of a paiticipa- • .
tory process and not from ukases issued ,
by professional planners. "It's built, treat-
ed, fashioned and textured by the people
who have to live with the results."
Seltzer says Oregon's political culture
is less sour on the possibilities of public ac-,
lion and political engagement than aze
other parts of the country. "There's still '
an expectation that problems can be
solved and we can change things,"
For Liberty, one of the most important
achievements of Portland's approach is an , .
elected metropolitan government with au- ,
thority to make decisions on matters af-
fectingthe whole region. "Our govern-
mental structures are leftovers from the
19th century as we're about to enter the
21st. They are irrelevant to our lives and
our landscapes:' That, in part, explains
public disaffection from government.
"Even Rube Goldberg wouldn't have cut
metropolitan areas into so many dysfunc-
tional parts."
No, Oregon is not utopia. People worry
both about keeping growth going and also
about growth's effects: There's atax re- ,
volt on, fueled by rising property values,
and also a big fight over how to fmance
pubhc education.
But most national discussions of our dis- ,
contents pay little. attention to the impact
of sprawl on the way people hve, on the
time and money spent commuting, on the
cost of building new water systems, roads
and schools to accommodate new develop- ,
merit. Portland is worrying about these
questions for the rest of us. All of its sol~-
tions cari t be exported, but the city might
consider bottling its vision.
Dionne Jr.
THE WASN~NCTDN POST
Portland has also invested heavily in a
light r9i1 system (in the downtown area, a
train ride is free) that is expanding to
growing azeas within the urban boundary.
Housing has sprung up near the line even
before it's completed. "The market is re-
sponding to the public investment in light
rail," says Seltzer.
Seltzei s comment is revealing. Plan-
ning is often seen as the enemy of free
markets. But planning is not an effort to
stifle investment. It tries to channel the.
All of Portland's
solutions can't be
exported, but the
city might consider
bottling its vision.
way investment happens so that the sum
total of thousands of individual decisions
still leaves a metropolitan area that those
individuals want to live in.
Robert Liberty is the executive director
of 1,000 Friends of Oregon, a group that
supports planning. He says that those who
criticize Portland's system as "social engi-
neering"miss the fact that traditional zon-
ing, which segregates people by class, and
the construction of highways are "social
engineering with a vengeance:'
Planning hasn't stopped Portland's eco-