I’ve been thinking a lot about how best to express my strong belief in the value of preserving working lands and open space here in San Benito County and, ultimately, to express my conviction that Measure A is right for San Benito County.
I have been working in agriculture here in California for the past 48 years as a farmer, ag educator and ag consultant. My wife and I have been managing our own small farm here in San Benito County for the past 14 years.
I have come to deeply appreciate what we have here. We are blessed with an amazing climate, highly productive agricultural soils and adequate groundwater supplies. All one needs to do is read through the annual San Benito County crop report to get an idea of the range of crops that can be produced here. Long-term thinking confirms that we absolutely need to protect and preserve our working lands.
The California Air Resources Board website, under the heading “Natural and Working Lands” does an excellent job of describing the benefits of working lands as follows:
“California’s natural and working lands are home to the most diverse sources of food, fiber and renewable energy in the country. They underpin the state’s water supply and support clean air, wildlife habitat and local and regional economies. They are also the frontiers of climate change. They are often the first to experience the impacts of climate change, and they must be part of the solution to addressing climate change and its impacts. In short, in order to achieve our long-term climate goals, natural and working lands must play a key role.”
It is clear that development pressure in our county is at an all-time high. The proposed Strada Verde Project stands as an excellent example of both sprawl development and the types of misinformation proponents are capable of. That proposed project, if allowed to proceed, will reduce our county’s potential agricultural productivity by roughly 2,000 acres. It is this project that got my attention a few years back and highlighted the need for residents to stand up for working lands in our county.
The conservationist Laurance Rockefeller once said, “How we treat our land, how we build upon it, how we act towards our air and water, in the long run, will tell what kind of people we really are.”
In 2020, concerned residents in this county voted against Measure N to stop the Strada Verde project. The measure was rejected by 60% of the voters. Following the defeat of Measure N, the board of supervisors allowed the developer to submit another request ignoring the will of the voters. It is for this reason that Measure A is so important.
Measure A simply requires a vote of the public if agricultural, rural or range land is rezoned to residential, commercial or industrial use. Similar measures have been successfully passed in Sonoma, Napa, Ventura and Stanislaus counties.
Please consider a Yes vote on Measure A.
Jim Leap
Hollister
Jim, since you brought up that Strada Verde was defeated in 2020, so was Measure A, in the form of Measure Q, in 2022. Yet here we are again.
Questions I’ve asked that have yet to be answered by the Measure A folks include these;
How do you expect to meet the required 5,005 units at least to the permit stage by 2031 necessary to avoid fines from the state? San Benito county built less than 1/3 that number in the prior eight years, and yet there are many in your support group telling us that we overbuilt.
How will it work if someone wants to develop THEIR land, will there need to be a special election? Will that seller have to wait until the next scheduled election cycle? Who will pay for that vote, as voting is costly? And does someone in San Juan Bautista have a say in what someone in Panoche does with their land? If so, why?
It is my understanding that Strada Verde has an agreement with Tri Cal to move the dangerous chemicals to another site away from the highway. Right now, more than 25,000 cars PER DAY are (according to your research) in danger of being exposed to any potential leak at Tri Cal, as they drive within a few hundreds yards of the chemical storage. Wouldn’t moving the chemicals to a site far away from the local traffic be BETTER than leaving it where it is? Thank God there hasn’t been any issues, but to claim that it’s not safe to build Strada Verde because the chemicals are there seems like the snake eating its own tail. It’s dangerous to have people in the vicinity of the chemicals, yet you’re okay with 25,000 cars driving by these chemicals every single day.
And finally, I see in your post that you’re a small farm owner, you have a better understanding of what it takes to turn rangeland into productive farmland. Water, amended soil, and a lot of hard work. What would stop those wishing to sell their PRIVATE property to a developer and moving their operation to a parcel south of Tres Pinos, where there is an ABUNDANCE of rangeland waiting to be worked and turned in to farmland? And in the meantime, they’ve pocketed a healthy profit that allows them to build an even better operation.
Anyone that’s driven south of Tres Pinos knows that this county is pretty much void of agricultural production in that area. We are a county of 69,000 residents, with a land mass larger than Santa Clara county. How is it that you could ever expect us to think that we’d become overcrowded, or that we’d pave over all of the agricultural land? Even in Santa Clara county, they still have thousands of acres of agriculture, just drive Santa Teresa south of Bernal, it’s everywhere.
No, I’m afraid that this is just another attempt by the same group that brought you Measure Q to stop all building in San Benito county, and cost the public tens of thousands of our taxpayer dollars for fines.
Well said, Jim. The great Mark Twain once said “There are 3 kinds of lies: Lies, damned lies and then there’s statistics” I would suggest we add a 4th: The “NO” on measure A campaign!