[env-trinity] Trinity Journal-Board rejects incomplete planning grant application

[Tom Stokely]

Board rejects incomplete planning grant application

http://www.trinityjournal.com/news/2012-02-15/News/Board_rejects_incomplete_planning_grant_applicatio.html 
BY SALLY MORRIS THE TRINITY JOURNAL
Though Trinity County continues searching for the funds needed to update its general plan, the Board of Supervisors last week voted 4-1 to reject a proposed $1 million Sustainable Communities Planning Grant application under California’s Proposition 84 that the Planning Department was preparing to submit.

A group of audience members urged caution, fearing the grant may be tied to a United Nations’ global environmental strategy known as Agenda 21 that they claimed seeks to abolish private property and human rights through local planning law.

But that’s not why supervisors voted it down — that was because they did not have a completed application in front of them spelling out what the county’s future obligations would be. The state’s deadline to submit the paperwork was this week.

The county was unsuccessful in a previous application for planning grant funds awarded under the Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood Control, River and Coastal Protection Bond Act of 2006 (Proposition 84).

Since December, the Planning Department has been working on a revised application designed to be more competitive, focusing on Trinity County’s specific need to develop policies addressing marijuana cultivation impacts including water diversions, pollution from pesticides and fertilizers, indiscriminate killing of wildlife, habitat degradation and negative impacts on recreational activities.

Planning Director Rick Tippett said the grant would require the county to commit to promoting state land use policies intended to protect and enhance the county’s natural resources in an effort to — as feasible — reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

He said the state would not dictate how the county’s plan is updated, but only that certain issues are addressed in what would be an open process filled with opportunities for local, public input.

Much of the county’s existing general plan is 20 or 30 years out of date and Tippett said “we need a contemporary framework for today’s realities. We are in constant battle over what isn’t said in our general plan. We have a lot of common practices in place, but nowhere in writing.”

He said that if the county were successful in its application for $1 million, it would likely be expected to contribute 25 to 30 percent of the cost itself through matching funds or in-kind staff services. He projected a three-year timeframe to complete a general plan update that would focus immediately on completing an updated housing element, followed by updated safety and land use elements.

Sup. Judy Morris said it’s a general plan “that gives each county local control over what they want to see. It’s not the state telling us.”

County Counsel Derek Cole agreed, saying it is the ultimate “home rule document to guide what our growth will look like. The decision body is the Board of Supervisors — not some national or international body that will make the decision.”

Audience members were not convinced and urged the board to avoid taking funds from anything that refers to “sustainable communities” claiming that is one of several catch phrases for Agenda 21, a global policy on sustainable development issued at the UN Earth Summit in 1992.

Earlier in the day, several members of the Trinity County Tea Party Patriots group spoke against Agenda 21 during the board’s public comment period and they stayed for the general plan discussion.

Some agreed with the importance of updating the general plan, but argued the county doesn’t have $300,000 to contribute in matching funds to secure the proposed grant. It was suggested there are people in the community who would volunteer to help get it done if it would benefit the county through economic development and growth, jobs and increased property values.

Herk Shriner of Weaverville urged the board to look for one-time funds through the sale of property to help fund the effort, but to steer clear of anything labeled “sustainable development” that he said is code for Agenda 21.

“They want to remove dams and create a wildlife corridor out of Trinity County in the most insidious design by any group I’ve ever seen. It will reduce the rural population by 80 percent,” he said, adding “I know it sounds drastic, but cities and counties all over are passing resolutions banning any and all planning implementation that relies on the receipt of loans or grants from organizations supplied by the United Nations.”

Diane Richards of Hayfork said, “We don’t want anyone telling us what to do with our land. Timber harvest is considered unsustainable in Agenda 21 and they want to reduce the population, restrict the water and group us all into small little clusters. We are a resource county and if you let our county fall to this type of planning, somebody intends to change all our zoning laws here to be like the rest of the state.”

Sup. Wendy Otto said she would not support the grant application due to the lack of a completed version for the board’s review. Board Chairman Roger Jaegel objected to the board being handed a resolution of support that it doesn’t have the option of changing, noting many of the documents the county would have to abide by were not provided for the board to review.

“We’ve been down this road, trying for 16 years to get the general plan updated, but this process was flawed,” Otto said. “This discussion should have come to us before the application was due next week.”

Sup. Judy Pflueger said she’s concerned that some of the requirements contained in the grant language “mean one thing in Malibu and something else up here. We should have been able to read it ourselves.”

Tippett said that with grants, “you don’t take the money until you take the money and the turnaround time is usually short. It takes two or three weeks just to figure out what they need and then there is little time to get it together.”

County Counsel Derek Cole, County Administrative Officer David Edmonds and Sup. Judy Morris all voiced concern about getting the general plan update done so there are guiding development policies in place when the economy recovers.

“If our general plan is found deficient, we could have a judgment that stops all development from going forward,” Cole said. “I have done that research and we could be facing some really significant consequences. If the board denies this application, I hope it does so knowing of other funding opportunities.”

Sup. Debra Chapman voted to let the application go forward saying it isn’t well understood how many potential funding opportunities the county is missing because of its outdated general plan, but Morris said she had to “regrettably” join the others in voting down the grant application because of the process.


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