Lois Henry: Smart growth talk is cheap
| Saturday, Jun 20 2009 10:53 AM
Last Updated Saturday, Jun 20 2009 10:53 AM
As usual, when it comes to sprawl, the Board of Supervisors is talking out of both sides of its mouth.
It happened again last week when supervisors denied one mega, leapfrog project making all the appropriate "smart growthiness" noise about stretching services too far, traffic impacts, yadda, yadda, yadda.
Then they turned around in the very same meeting and approved a different mega, leapfrog development and tabled yet another, which will likely be approved in August.
Good work, Sybil.
This all comes right on the heels of a what should be considered an ominous visit by a representative of the state Attorney General's office earlier this month.
The deputy AG came to Kern to discuss how we're planning to meet tough new state mandates on sustainable growth and greenhouse gas reductions.
Given the AG's recent spate of successful lawsuits over other cities' general plan updates that haven't met those standards and our tradition of sprawl-to-the-wall, you'd think supervisors would sit up and take notice.
But no.
Instead, they happily approved the Bakersfield Land Investment project on 238 acres -- 1,110 houses, no commercial, no industrial -- waaaaaay out west at Greeley Road just north of Rosedale Highway.
I say they did it happily because as part of the approval, they required the developer to reduce the project's greenhouse gas emissions by 29 percent.
Planners told me the greenhouse gas reduction requirement is unprecedented in Kern County and most other cities and counties.
Oh, psh! I can't even muster a golf clap for such a backward baby step, nor for the other requirements of narrow streets and more open space.
This is sprawl, pure and simple.
It will tax our already overtaxed law enforcement and fire services, increase traffic and likely get us in dutch with the AG's office.
As for the greenhouse gas requirement, may I just say "DUH!"
If they had denied the project there wouldn't be a need to reduce emissions because there wouldn't be any in the first place.
I know a lot of you are rolling your eyes about the greenhouse gas issue.
Regardless of whether you buy that humans are causing or hastening global warming, the laws on greenhouse gases are being vigorously enforced and we can ill afford our tax dollars being squandered in defense of dumb planning decisions.
I spoke with the deputy AG, Harrison Pollak, about his visit here and he said it was just a meet and greet.
"There was no threat at all," he said.
Uh, yeah and when a Mafia wise guy comes over for coffee, there's no message there at all.
Pollak said the AG's office just wanted to know more about planning efforts in the Central Valley so they made a stop here, in Fresno and Madera.
He was very encouraged that Kern County planners will be using a $250,000 grant to create a climate action plan as part of the city/county general plan update. The city, on the other hand, doesn't believe it has to account for greenhouse gas emissions in environmental documents.
"We would strongly disagree with that position," Pollak told me.
Uh oh.
"One of the other concerns we have is that it looks like projects are being approved that aren't consistent with the general plan update so far as it's been done."
He's referring to growth boundaries roughly mapped out by planners that show a currently developable area called the "urban core," which is more than 200 square miles by the way, then an outer ring that's not supposed to be developed until after 2035 and a further ring where development should start after 2050.
Guess where the Bakersfield Land Investment project is? Smack in the 2035 ring.
It's all the more galling when you consider that we already have more than 50,000 yet-to-be built, approved housing lots on the books (and, no, I'm not including the ones in developments that have gone belly up).
"I guess our question would be, why not wait?" Pollak asked.
Good question.
Too bad the only answer I have is double talking politicians.
Opinions expressed in this column are those of Lois Henry, not The Bakersfield Californian. Her column appears Wednesdays and Sundays. Comment at people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/noholdsbarred, call her at 395-7373 or e-mail lhenry@bakersfield.com
