Clarity Blog

What are the three biggest stories each week in the world of California land development?  You’ll find them right here, or follow LP&A all week long on Twitter at @LPALand for up-to-the-minute news and analysis.  You can also sign up to receive the Weekly 3 via email here. This week:

1. What’s That About Noses and Faces and Spite?

There’s AB32, SB375 and a whole host of other regulations designed to coerce developers onto the green bandwagon. Some moves in that direction are wholly embraced by the building community, primarily because they’re market-driven solutions that provide tangible benefits.  Like smart energy and water meters that help homeowners better manage their consumption and reduce utility bills.  So why is the evergreen County of Santa Cruz moving to ban the technology? It’s afraid the wireless signal the boxes transmit – similar to cell phones – poses health risks.  Builders beware.

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Here are this week’s top three water stories, as compiled by the media-addicted water wonks at Laer Pearce & Associates.  You’ll find the Big Three here every Thursday, or you can follow LPAWater on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news and analysis or subscribe to our e-blasts to receive the Weekly 3 directly.

1. There’s Nothing Retiring About This

Public Records Act requests are hitting water districts like Delta smelt hitting the diversion gates at Tracy.  Ever since the LA Times used Robert “the Rat” Rizzo to break the public employ compensation story, reporters are asking how much administrators and board members receive in salaries, benefits and retirement.  The big story this week is that the big story is coming soon, and we’ve been helping districts prep for upcoming interviews.  Here is a bit of the chum that has the sharks swirling:

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It’s not every day we get a call from an organization like the California State Military Reserve (CSMR) asking for branding advice, the reserves aren’t our typical client, but as the man on the other end of the phone so eloquently put it, “Branding is branding.” I got him in contact with Laer for a heart-to-heart, which you can read all about in the summer edition of the CSMR newsletter, Warrior Words.

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What are the three biggest stories each week in the world of California land development?  You’ll find them right here, or follow LP&A all week long on Twitter at @LPALand for up-to-the-minute news and analysis.  You can also sign up to receive the Weekly 3 via email here. This week:

1. Don’t Worry, I’m a Doctor

Surprise, surprise.  Residents of a north San Diego community got more than they bargained for when they decided to manage future growth in their neighborhood.  A 1998 ballot-box zoning measure constricted the proposed Pacific Highlands Ranch to 1,900 units until a controversial new freeway interchange gets built.  Go figure, that interchange has been held up by red tape, and now the Ranch’s residents flood surrounding parks and shops because the facilities in their neighborhood aren’t planned until later, ballot-box-stalled phases.  Efforts to unwind the 1998 measure are currently underway.

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What were the three biggest California water stories of the past seven days?  Well, the news-heads and policy wonks here at Laer Pearce & Associates have compiled them for you here.  You’ll find the Big Three here every Thursday, or you can follow LPAWater on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news and analysis. You can also sign up to receive the Weekly 3 via email here.

1.  Something rotten in the water?

Public attention is sharply focused on governmental mismanagement thanks to Robert Rizzo and the Bell city council, so when the FBI and DA raided the City of Oxnard’s offices this week and hauled out hard drives and files, you could almost hear the next shoe falling. Ken Ortega, the former Public Works Director who ran Oxnard’s Groundwater Recovery Enhancement and Treatment program, is the probable target.

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What are the three biggest stories each week in the world of California land development?  You’ll find them right here, or follow LP&A all week long on Twitter at @LPALand for up-to-the-minute news and analysis.  You can also subscribe to our e-blast to receive our Weekly Three directly. This week:

1. It depends what your definition of “is” is

Either a plant or animal species is threatened with extinction or it’s not.  Seems pretty black and white … or green.  So why is the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service trying to list some populations of the Preble’s Meadow jumping mouse and other species as threatened, even though the species itself is abundant?  The Service’s motives are up for debate, but the consequences are as clear a new double-paned Energy Star window:  lots of land could soon fall unnecessarily under tough federal permitting requirements, and that’s no bueno for homebuilders and the successful habitat conservation planning efforts they’ve spearheaded.

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The media-scouring folks here at Laer Pearce & Associates have compiled the three biggest California water stories of the week – well, the one really, really big story and a couple of interesting also-rans.  You’ll find the Big Three here every Thursday, or you can follow LPAWater on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news and analysis. You can also sign up for our e-blasts here.

1. The 2012 Water Bond

All the forces that came together to cajole, arm-twist and horse-trade the historic Nov. 2009 water package through a reluctant legislature apparently were nowhere to be found when it came to contributing the dollars needed to run a successful campaign – if a successful campaign for an $11 billion bond could be had at any price during the state’s current fiscal melt-down.  So now it’s the 2012 water bond, which means two more years to build support … and two more years to tear it down.  We hope the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta won’t collapse while we’re bickering.

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It was the strangest sort of victory.

Last night’s last-hour squeaker of a vote to delay Proposition 18, the $11 billion California water bond, could be seen as an admission of defeat … well, future defeat anyway.  Had there been confidence campaign funds would roll in and the California electorate would vote “yes” in droves, Sacramento would have been busy with other things yesterday.  Important stuff no doubt, like regulating pet insurance.

But the vote was also a victory, because those who prefer the status quo – an odd mix of environmentalists, Delta residents and fiscal conservatives – were geared up to keep the bond on the November ballot, because they sensed they might be able to stop the state’s biggest step forward on water resource management in decades … if they could force the vote in year when Californians are (finally!) getting concerned about the state’s finances.

So, 2012 now will be the year of the water bond.  In California politics, 2012 is about as far in the future as white-wigged Whigs are in the past.  Who knows what mischief will transpire between now and then?  Well, we have a few ideas:

• Chances are very good that at least one citizen initiative countering the bond will be on the ballot.  It will likely be a greener alternative, but it could also be a more gung-ho one, calling for the fast-tracked construction of more storage and a new  canal. It just depends on who raises enough money to send out the signature-gathering armies.
• Forces will be tearing at the water bond itself.  Expect bills by the boatload in the next legislative sessions, each pushing one constituency’s position forward and another’s back.  So far, the rather miraculous coalition supporting the bond has held together, but can it last two more years?
• Expect wet winters … or dry ones. Who knows? Either way, weather will influence the electorate.
• And oh yeah, expect there to be a presidential race on the 2012 ballot, with all the attention and emotion it will bring.

We are supporters of the bond.  We think “meaty” describes it much better than “porky,” particularly if it’s compared to previous water bonds. We think the state’s water infrastructure has deteriorated to the point where big steps are needed.  We understand that in California, you’re not going to be able to get anything through the legislature that solves everything and does it without some sweeteners thrown in and some necessities thrown out.

In short, we’re willing to settle for the miraculous, even if it’s not the perfect.

Restore the Delta, a rabidly anti-bond group that puts the Delta “sense of place” above the state’s economic vitality, just said, “The problems with the bond will only grow more glaring in time.”

That’s what they fervently hope. Supporters of the bond need to counter this by showing – clearly, conclusively and forcefully – that it’s the problems with the state’s water infrastructure, not the problems with the bond, that are growing more glaring, and at an alarming rate of speed.

The recent State Water Resources Control Board staff report calling for an end-of-life-as-we-know-it level of cuts in water exports from the Delta, bad as it is, is a step in that direction.  Here’s hoping the water bond campaign has the resources, courage and capability to build a solid messaging lead in the next two years, and that the best bond wins.

August 9, 2010

What are the three biggest stories each week in the world of California land development?  You’ll find them right here each Monday, or follow LP&A all week long on Twitter at @LPALand for up-to-the-minute news and analysis.  This week:

1. Will the Drought Contingency Plan squeeze future land uses?

The California Department of Water Resources didn’t go so far as to blame your picket-fenced bit of the ‘burbs for causing the state’s ongoing water crisis, but it is looking at limiting future land uses as part of the solution.  According to its newly released Drought Contingency Plan, “development intensity has a direct relationship to water supply,” and since the state’s thirst for water outstrips available resources, that means builders best prepare for more regulation and limits on what they can do with their property.

>> Read the Full Report

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Every day, we scour the media, blogs and social media to track news and trends in water. You’ll find the three biggest stories of the week here every Friday, or you can follow LPAWater on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news and analysis.

#1 – It’s all dinosaur pee anyway

The public has long supported irrigating with recycled wastewater, but we’re thrilled to see growing acceptance of the re-use of wastewater for potable purposes.  Call it what you will, but “potable reuse” or “toilet-to-tap” has long been a political third rail in San Diego. That’s changed, as the first story below tells how that city is moving toward becoming the first in California to use treated wastewater to augment its reservoirs.  The second discusses a big expansion of the Santa Clarita Valley’s wastewater-to-irrigation infrastructure.

Read the San Diego News Room story here

Read the Santa Clarita Signal story here

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