Advocates call for Santa Cruz planning to line up with climate action goals

Jan 25 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - J.M. Brown Santa Cruz Sentinel, Calif.

The City Council took a deeper look Tuesday at Santa Cruz's plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent during the next eight years, one that decreases car trips while increasing public transportation ridership, bicycle use and solar systems.

The council won't vote on the Climate Action Plan until March or April, but held a study session Tuesday to review how the plan has changed since a first draft was published last year. The plan, which lays out goals and objectives through 2020, aims to offset development called for in the city's general plan through 2030.

Ross Clark, the city's climate action coordinator, said the plan is much improved for public comments since the draft came out, including a more realistic recommendation to reduce auto trips 10 percent, rather than 30 percent. Citizens also urged integrating the rail trail, a project to add bicycling and pedestrian use along the cross-county rail line, into housing planning.

Still, advocates called Tuesday for the city to better align its capital spending projects, traffic impact fees and water supply planning with its environmental goals. They urged steps other than yearly progress reports for greater public participation in the plan's implementation.

Opponents of a seawater desalination plant proposed for the Westside urged a water neutrality policy citywide, adding that the project's high energy use contradicts the city's efforts.

Micah Posner, director of the bicycling advocacy group People Power, said the council could "waste money widening roads and intersections, while decreasing car trips by 10 percent."

But Councilwoman Lynn Robinson took issue with objections to improvements planned at the intersection of Highways 1 and 9.

"Every bus in the county goes through that intersection," she said, adding that vehicle users have to be accommodated to because not everyone is able to walk or take a bike to work.

Before Tuesday's meeting, Posner and several dozen others met in the City Hall courtyard for an event featuring Clark and county Treasurer Fred Keeley called "Underwater Tour of Santa Cruz 2112: Without a Climate Action Plan." The two-hour theatrical tour of downtown aimed to raise awareness of what the city could look like in 100 years without steps to slow climate change.

Some attendees wore Scuba gear and sea creature costumes to make the point that Santa Cruz could be underwater. Students from Santa Cruz High's Advance Placement Environment class earned extra credit to attend the event, with some students wearing sea anemone costumes.

Carmela Roberts, a senior, said the next generation will need to carry on the mantle of environmental work.

"It's important that we start out young knowing this," she said. "It's really important that we tell people about the possibilities before (the problem) peaks and we're underwater."