Modesto Bee, The (CA)
GETTING A GRIP ON GROWTH
A LOOK AT PAST AND PRESENT EFFORTS TO MANAGE GROWTH IN STANISLAUS COUNTY
Published September 22, 2006

Section: A
Edition(s): ALL
Page: A6
By: 1977 GOAL (Growth: Orderly, Affordable, Livable)

A grass-roots organization formed by Peggy Mensinger to fight Modesto's expansion onto prime farmland. She was elected mayor two years later and the group continued fighting sprawl for two decades.

Status: Founded 1977, no longer active 1979 MEASURES A AND M GOAL's Measure A became one of the state's first controlled-growth initiatives when Modesto voters approved it in 1979. In 1997, voters closed a loophole by passing Measure M. Both require advisory votes of the people when City Hall wants to extend sewer trunks beyond city limits, and provisions remain in force today. Status: Approved 1979, updated 1997 What they're saying: "In Modesto and Stanislaus County, Measure A is the most effective thing that's been done. That's based on assessment and a belief that you don't get infill and redevelopment that's effective unless you constrain the edges in some way. Modesto has done a good job at keeping its borders healthy. It's a great frustration for builders and landowners, but in terms of the greater community, it's relatively effective." - Whiteside "It has caused a tremendous impact on the number of units we've been able to build. When supply changes, prices accelerate unreasonably. People who want to buy a home haven't been able to do it. Most people react emotionally to development. And any council member who votes against consensus would probably be playing with political suicide." - Zoslocki "It's been very effective. People say to me, 'They're building all over the place, it's out of control.' What do you mean, out of control? We have almost the same sphere of influence that Modesto adopted in 1972. Speed forward to '06 and we still have 5,000 acres of buildable land. Who won and who lost in the developer versus environmentalist game? The sky is not falling. We have to be aware of our successes, not just our failures. It's so frustrating, dealing all the time with the extreme right and the extreme left and neither makes any sense. When you cut off the extremes, you've got a pretty darned reasonable quality of life." - Jackman

1980s VILLAGES PLANNING MODEL Modesto leaders drew on paper 10 villages around the city's edge. Each self sufficient community would have up to 30,000 people and its own stores, parks, schools and services with lots of open space and small-town charm. But City Council members slashed development fees to encourage building in the mid-1990s and failed to raise them later. They realized Village I was hemorraghing money in 1998, but kept secret the extent until 2002 and did not adopt a recovery plan until 2003. The initial dream - escaping bland, cookie-cutter sameness - evaporated, and parts of some previous village areas became traditional subdivisions without master plans. Status: Begun late 1980s, fell apart a decade later What they're saying: "Every one of several attempts to extend sewer services had failed at the ballot. Our (buildable) land inventory was diminishing. Environmentalists were tired of fighting it every year. The builders were mad. It was a general mess. So our theory was we would do a specific plan for a larger area and direct them away from prime soils. But the City Council didn't have the same ownership after I left. There was a recession and people started looking at the short term instead of keeping an eye on the long-term vision, and they started nibbling away at what made the villages unique. They reduced fees and there was not enough to pay for infrastructure." - Whiteside "We thought it was a fairly diverse plan, but the economy took a dive and everyone yelled at us for having an impractical plan. To remedy it, we started chasing the market and dropping fees and we also reduced our standards. You don't chase the market; you set standards and you hold = them." - Fisher

1996 COUNTYWIDE VISIONING Former Bee Publisher Orage Quarles III, Stanislaus County leaders and city officials brainstormed for years on principles intended to guide growth. They included establishing urban limits and green belts. But many proponents left office or took jobs elsewhere and after a few years, the effort died. Status: Begun 1996, no longer active What they're saying: "Our efforts led to what's now happening (with countywide growth management). I'm committed to a regional approach to all problems related to growth and development. To have 10 agencies address these things independently didn't make sense to me. The important thing was that this kind of thinking began to take root. We had turnover in elected office and (interest in visioning) waxed and waned and politics got involved, but they continue to pick around the edges." - Van Groningen "It was well-intentioned but never had any legs. People never believed it was going to have an impact or change the way things were happening. It went on a very shallow level in the community and there was not much public ownership of it. There was not much policy-maker ownership either." - Whiteside "The cities said, 'You want us to be burdened with residential (growth) while you (the county) collect sales tax on commercial?' That's why it was never ratified. It's been resurrected a little by Jeff Grover (in the countywide growth management plan). Even now you'll hear Bill O'Brien saying clearly, 'We're adamantly opposed to residential growth in the county' and sure, it sounds good. But it's financial. It has nothing to do with sprawl. It has to do with money." - Fisher

1990s FARMLAND EASEMENTS Conservation easements are sold to landowners in exchange for promises to keep farming forever. Stanislaus County's first was approved this year but protects rangeland, not prime farmland. Such easements, held by nonprofit trusts, cover more than 8,400 rural acres in Merced County. Status: Started late 1990s, ongoing What they're saying: "I think it's a great concept, but are people going to take advantage of it? I don't know. It seems a logical way to help keep (land) in farming. But do I tie up my property in perpetuity? How do I know what my grand kids are going to want to do 40 years from now?" - Zipser "I see them as restrictive and unresponsive to the public. We've got a property rights heritage here. People want a little more flexibility." - Fisher "Farmland conservation is the rallying cry that justified all these other things. I think trusts are effective, but they're limited by a lack of resources." - Whiteside

2000 FOOD INITIATIVE (Future Options on Development) Denny Jackman and supporters failed to collect enough signatures to qualify this rule, also known as the Farmland Stabilization initiative, for the ballot. It would have required officials to draw urban limits beyond which no city in Stanislaus County could grow without an advisory vote of the people. Jackman was elected to the Modesto City Council in 2001 but lost a re-election bid four years later to a developer-supported candidate preaching responsible growth. Status: Failed 2000 What they're saying: "FOOD was an attempt to do an initiative based on a volunteer effort. Unfortunately, people are incredibly busy and you can't do everything you think you can." - Jackman "The mantra is you have to have a constituency. You can't just put a good idea on the ground and expect people to embrace it." - Whiteside "It was too restrictive. I think the public process is better served by something that isn't so iron clad." - Fisher

2003 DIRECT GROWTH INITIATIVE With 67 percent approval, Modesto voters passed Measure H, urging county leaders to direct all growth into cities as opposed to unincorporated areas. But it leaves out the county's eight other cities and is purely advisory, and county leaders have ignored it. Status: Adopted November 2003

2005 CENTRAL VALLEY FARMLANDS SECURITY ACT Retired big-city planners Rudy Platzek and Bruce Jones put their brainpower into proposed legislation that would give some power over land-use decisions to regional bureaucrats. The idea failed to garner support of farm organizations and state lawmakers. Status: Begun early 2005, no progress yet What they're saying: "They had meetings with the California Farm Bureau. (Politicians) said if you don't have the farmers on board, don't even start with this. So they backed off and are looking to develop more partnerships. There are a lot of grass-roots efforts to build coalitions. People want to insure that bulldozers are not going to build over important farmland. A number of people would support a Coastal Commission-like agency in the Central Valley." - Jackman "We (at the farm bureau) don't think it's viable. We believe local control is the best way to go. We know what we need as a community." -- Zipser "I've seen versions of that for maybe 15 years. A regional regulatory agency is a real hard sell politically these days. People don't want people regulating them from a regional level." - Whiteside

2005 CALIFORNIA PARTNERSHIP FOR THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY Gov. Schwarzenegger ordered eight of his Cabinet members to meet with local governments, business people and regular folks to generate ideas on boosting the valley's economic future. Components include growth. The governor is scheduled to receive specific action proposals in November. Status: Begun June 2005, ongoing What they're saying: "Continuing with the status quo is not healthy for the valley. But these (partnership plans) are only as good as the public's willingness to buy into them and take ownership of them. If the public says, `This is what we want' and sticks with it, the likelihood is it will become reality over time." - Whiteside "Kudos to the governor for bringing attention to the plight of the San Joaquin Valley. Why hasn't this incredible economic engine (agriculture) gotten attention earlier?" - Jackman "They need to be very clear on what they want to do locally so when we go to negotiate a regional approach, we know what we're getting out of it. I'm not hearing that from anyone." - Fisher

2005 COUNTYWIDE GROWTH MANAGEMENT PLAN Mayors of Stanislaus County's nine cities and county supervisors this week could not decide whether to merge their dream for a broad growth plan with a similar effort by the Stanislaus County Council of Governments. The mayors and supervisors are talking about promoting urban limits. Status: Begun 2005, ongoing What they're saying:"We haven't seen any defined description of what it's going to be. Hopefully, everyone realizes the need of providing good, quality housing in their community." - Zoslocki "How do you give that any credibility? It's just talk. Getting 10 legal entities to all limit themselves or put one above another is incredibly difficult." - Jackman"I'm kind of upset because (the farm bureau) didn't get invited to that." -- Zipser

2006 COUNTY AG ELEMENT A recent run on ranchettes would be curbed by proposed changes in the agricultural element to Stanislaus County's general plan. Owners of large rural tracts have asked to create homesites on more than 14,000 acres across the county. Town hall meetings are being held this month. Status: Ongoing 2006 SOS INITIATIVE Jackman, Modesto Councilman Garrad Marsh and professional petitioners gathered 16,000 signatures, hoping to qualify the Stamp Out Sprawl initiative for the November ballot. It would prevent new houses anywhere outside of the county's nine cities. County supervisors oppose the change and delayed a popular vote by nearly two years. Status: Countywide vote scheduled for June 2008 What they're saying: "Other versions of the same program have not worked partly because there is not enough public awareness of what the problems are and why this is a good solution. I think, in a lot of cases, the people engaged in these issues talk to people who agree with them and they assume everyone knows and understands what the issues are. It's a well-meaning effort and reflects the values of a lot of people in the community, but it remains to be seen whether people understand it enough to make an intelligent choice." - Whiteside "When you own property, you should be able to do what you want to with it." - Zoslocki "This gets to the heart of what our board members fear: Growth in the ballot box. We just don't approve of that. We vote for our representatives and hope they pick common-sense planning commissioners and if they don't, we get them out of there." - Zipser

* * *
Carol Whiteside
Position: Great Valley Center founder and president
Background: Modesto City Schools Board, 1979-83; Modesto City Council,
1983-87; Modesto mayor, 1987-91; Gov. Wilson's director of
intergovernmental affairs, 1993-97; now working on Gov. Swarzenegger's
California Partnership with the San Joaquin Valley
Denny Jackman
Position: Retired; Central Valley Farmland Trust treasurer
Background: Longtime controlled-growth activist; former president of GOAL;
Modesto City Council, 2001-2005; wrote the FOOD Initiative, the Direct
Growth Initiative and the SOS Initiative
Bill Zoslocki
Position: Bill Zoslocki Construction Co. president; Building Industry
Association of Central California president since early 2004
Background: His father and uncles started building Modesto homes in the
1940s
Tom Van Groningen
Position: Modesto Irrigation District director since 1993
Background: Yosemite Community College
District chancellor, 1976-1992; education consultant; Countywide Visioning
project facilitator, 1997-2003
Wayne Zipser
Position: Stanislaus County Farm Bureau executive manager since April 2003
Background: Farm bureau board president 1998-2000; third-generation Ceres
nut farmer
Tim Fisher
Position: Retired architect; lost June bid for Stanislaus County
supervisor
Background: Modesto City Council, 1995-2003; Modesto Planning Commission,
1989-1993

Caption: Carol Whiteside
Denny Jackson
Bill Zosiocki
Tom Van Groningen
Wayne Zipser
Tim Fisher

Copyright © 2006- Modesto Bee, The (CA)