King City Rustler

'No on A' movement comes to Greenfield: Simon Salinas among those speaking against Initiative

King City Rustler
Posted on May 2, 2007

BY DORIS FLOCKHART

Farmers, ranchers and concerned citizens attended a meeting last Thursday evening at Greenfield Memorial Hall. The discussion focused on the General Plan, the Community Plan Initiative, and what critics say are the disadvantageous consequences South County communities will face if the initiative, backed by LandWatch, passes.

District 3 Supervisor Simon Salinas was one the guest speakers for the meeting, and expressed his views regarding the ballot items that Monterey County voters will see in June.

"This is probably one of the most critical and important votes the people and the ballot communities are going to make, because this is going to tie us down for 20-plus years in terms of what we can do or cannot do in this community," Salinas said.

" It (the Community Plan Initiative) takes everything that I think is important for your communities. It takes it away from your local officials, (and) it takes it away from your representatives," he added. "Fifty-eight percent of the document just goes too far," Salinas added.

Another guest speaker, Attorney Aaron Johnson, described the Community Plan Initiative as a flawed, unjust document that will take away property rights and completely inhibit growth. Johnson also mentioned that some of the Peninsula communities are exempt from the initiative, but are able to vote anyway.

"It's a power struggle," Johnson said. "Should this pass, people of the (Monterey) Peninsula will be able to tell us how they feel we (South County) should grow. They are basically governing us themselves. We can't tell them what to do, but they can tell us what to do," Johnson added.
According to Johnson, the Community Plan Initiative not only affects unincorporated areas in terms of restricted growth, but cities as well. "If cities want to grow and make some land to build commercial and business, you would have to put it to a (countywide) vote," Johnson explained.

Under the stipulations of the Community Plan Initiative, anything south of Chualar, or not located in Castroville, Boranda, Watsonville or Fort Ord cannot subdivide, Johnson said.

In addition to allowing for affordable housing developments in only a handful of Monterey County areas, there are several other limitations under the Community Plan Initiative, according to Salinas and Johnson.

Furthermore, the initiative document contains at least nine legal flaws, based on a legal analysis performed by a group of attorneys. Johnson said the flaws can only be corrected through a countywide vote, should the initiative pass, and the election process will be costly to local taxpayers.

Salinas and Johnson both encouraged meeting attendees to spread the word about the potential negative impacts of the upcoming election, and stay informed. There were also many local people on hand that have read and became familiarized with the document that were available to ask questions.