King City Rustler

Please don't take away our land rights

King City Rustler
Posted on May 30, 2007

BY LUCY MASON JENSEN

When I moved to America - the land of the free - I was so impressed by the ability of energetic people to do, make, become anything they so desired. Coming from the "old country," lots of life things had got botched up by queen and country along the way - or, at least that was my opinion. The feudal system of ownership still pops up her ugly head every once in a while over there and says "mine, mine and also mine." By example; most people do not own the land their homes sit on in London, England - they lease the land for a period of time. You buy a piece of property on "leasehold" for say, 100 years. Then you will have to renegotiate the lease or the crown will take it away from you or, by that time, your heirs. Such a concept seems pretty darn alien to me now, I can tell you, even though I worked in property then as I do now, and dealt with flats for sale on leasehold all the time. This land of the free promotes land ownership and land rights. This is a good thing. Just the phrase, "eminent domain," gets all of us over here jumping up and down.  One of the most incredible things I have done since I moved over to this country is to buy property. I had never done so before and it has given me a feeling of inexplicable comfort and pride in my life. Landowners expect to have to abide by rules and regulations to keep everything nice for the general public and the
generations to come. We are not so arrogant as to believe that we can just bully our way along and build whatever we please without conforming to codes and zoning regulations. We get that. I'm into preservation too; most of us are. My husband says I am a total "tree-hugger" (his words). We get recycling, we get water conservation and we get responsible growth and development for our beautiful countryside.

What we do not and cannot get is the possibility of Monterey County being closed down for business for the next 25 years. When I say that - I mean it. What we do not and should not get is our property rights taken away. Looking at the "LandWatch" initiative - carefully crafted as the "Community" General Plan Initiative/Measure A - I see a scary future for all of us. Their campaign is a slick one, created by career politicians, which has served first and foremost to confuse the masses. Their plan is so restrictive as to disallow change, except by a countywide vote, for the next 25 years. Can anyone really conceive of the changes that will happen in our world over the next 25
years? Look back at the last 25 years and see how far we have come. A county plan needs to have some room to change to be a realistic, workable one.

Let me paint a few pictures, as I understand it:
The "Community" general plan initiative applies only to the Salinas Valley - our valley where we live and work. All the coastal zones are exempt. The citizens
"over there" in the coastal zones are allowed to vote for this plan, whether we like it or not. Mr. Big Sur with his delightful $10,000,000 spread, that he can
pass down to his happy children, can tell the folks of Soledad that they will need to take the issue of their small wine-tasting room or mini subdivide to the
voters of Monterey County - to the tune of about a half a million dollars, before they can even start applying for the regular permits from the county.

What does Mr. Big Sur care about the little people of Soledad and the development of their wine industry? He can apply to subdivide his acres - no worries - without having to ask the voters of Soledad whether that would be a cool thing or not. That is the kind of unjust imbalance that is rampant in the Measure A "Community" General Plan Initiative.

Somehow, the "Community" General Plan Initiative/Measure A was subjected to none of the public hearings for review that would be reasonable
and acceptable in present day politics. Measure C was subject to years of review and examination. Somehow, in addition, the Measure A plan was not required to undergo the normal environmental review process either. My understanding is that the plan was created by an out of town group well versed in the necessary rhetoric to get the "tree-huggers" voting entirely in their direction without, perhaps, understanding the full implications of what they were voting for, and putting the language in such a complicated way that
even the most astute college grad among us would go "huh?" Something wrong there too. If you travel over to the Peninsula, you will see rather too many "Vote yes on Measure A" signs. I wonder how many people understand what they are really voting for.

I'm a tree-hugger too, at heart. I think I mentioned that. I do believe in land preservation, ocean preservation - keeping everything just lovely for us
in the now and the generations to come. None of us want to blend into San Jose over the next 25 years and there are notably very strict procedures in place to prevent us becoming so. Ask anyone who's tried to subdivide a parcel, or open a business! They will tell you that Monterey County is about the toughest place anywhere to get anything going in that regard. However, even tree huggers have to concede that people need places to live and work. Homes need to be built in a responsible way. Businesses should be allowed to
open and expand, when they have followed the proper procedures. Moderate growth supporters understand that we have to go through the approval process before we are allowed to just go ahead and build on the land we
own and the properties we farm.

Our wine industry should be allowed to thrive and grow more than it has in recent years. A keynote speaker from the wine industry advised us that the majority of Monterey County's award winning grapes get shipped up to Napa or Sonoma for processing. Even tree huggers would have to concede that that is crazy. We have a huge opportunity to provide jobs here and open up our
gorgeous area to the wine-buying public, enhance our tourist industry and bring jobs to our area - instead of pushing them up to the other wine country or down to Paso, which has a wonderfully thriving wine industry, by the way.

What do you think the "LandWatch" Initiative/Measure A would do to our wine industry? If you would have to send your small winery project to a vote by the entire Monterey County electorate, which would cost you a small farm to do, there is no hope that our beloved industry would evolve further than the 21 tasting rooms we currently boast. (May as well put a cork in it!) The welcomed "Winery Corridor" plan for Metz, River and Jolon Roads under GPU4 would also go the way of local control and private property rights.

I am firmly behind the GPU4. The General Plan Update 4, (GPU4/Measure C), allows for responsible growth in our communities. The plan has been subject to public review, public feedback and public hearings over the course of many years. This might also be called due process. The GPU4 plan has been subject to environmental impact reviews and local input. It has passed the test. It has already been adopted by our Board of Supervisors; the same officials that we
elected by countywide vote.

Look at the list of endorsements! I know of no sane business person, rancher, farmer or vintner in our South County region who supports anything but the
General Plan Update - GPU4/Measure C. If we want to be able to work our land the way we have earned the right to do and leave ownership to our children who will continue to want to live and work in this valley, we
need to vote responsibly for responsible growth, not close our doors for the next 25 years.

In recent commercials, Realtors have been slammed for being pro Measure C and anti Measure A for their own selfish gain. I take enormous issue with that.
Realtors are hard-working, community-oriented professionals who work hard to protect property and constitutional rights. I am standing up as a local
Realtor who gives back to my community each and every day, to say that the slander is undeserved and insulting - poor politics at its very worst.
Please share with your family, friends and neighbors the importance of voting on this issue on June 5, and voting carefully. Some of our friends on the Peninsula will be voting for things which will not directly affect them and we should all be very afraid and ready to turn out the lights of Monterey County, should the "LandWatch General Initiative/Measure A plan be allowed to go through.

At the polls on June 5, vote No on A, no on B and a resounding "YES" for the third option - Measure C - adoption of the General Plan Update/GPU4. Thanks for reading.

Lucy Jensen is a local Realtor and sometime tree hugger. She really doesn't want to see the lights go out in Monterey County. Do you? Lumajen1@aol.com
www.lucyjensen.com