Tomorrow, the Board of Supervisors can do what it should have
done last month
– send the San Benito County Growth Control Ordinance to its
rightful place, the ballot box.
Tomorrow, the Board of Supervisors can do what it should have done last month – send the San Benito County Growth Control Ordinance to its rightful place, the ballot box.
Tuesday, supervisors will have two options dictated by state law: either repeal the growth control initiative they approved April 1 or send the ordinance to voters during the March 2 primary election, all because of a successful referendum campaign.
Proponents say the ordinance will strengthen agricultural policies of the county’s General Plan and help preserve open space and conservation measures of the land’s resources. Opponents say the ordinance violates their property rights and ruins farmers’ and ranchers’ ability to do what they want with their land.
All along, the decision on the growth measure should have been in the hands of county voters.
But last month, the Board, acting on only the signatures of a small percentage of the county’s registered voters, approved the initiative instead of sending it to a vote of the entire county.
Some supervisors suggested that opponents start a referendum drive if they didn’t like the decision. So they did.
Elected officials are in office to make tough decisions, which the Board did on April 1. But they are also in office to make decisions based on the wishes of their constituents, who voted them into office.
Supervisors learn where their constituents stand on important issues – such as this one that will shape county’s landscape into the future – by canvassing their respective districts, talking to the voters they represent, informing them and, most importantly, listening to them. In this case, this wasn’t done.
Last month, the Board acted on the opinion of a few. Now, at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, the Board can do what it should have done from the start – it can act in manner in which it is elected to do. The supervisors can make a decision that represents the 29,000 registered voters in San Benito County.
They can put the fate of the county growth control ordinance in the hands of its rightful owners, the voters.
