Scott Wiener bills | Discoveryink

By Keith Mizuguchi : kqed – excerpt

For the past 11 months, Jennifer Sullivan has been anxiously trying to sound an alarm. The Esmeralda Land Company has proposed building a resort hotel, hundreds of homes, an event center, a preschool and a public park on a 266-acre property that once housed a wood treatment plant.

Tucked in the Sonoma County town of Cloverdale, the 8-acre plant was known to use harmful chemicals and discharged them into the soil and groundwater, she said. Sullivan worries that disturbing the site with new development could resurface those chemicals and expose current residents to new harms. “This is the community that I live in,” Sullivan said. “The decision to approve this development is serious — it’s got serious consequences for our water, for public health.”

On Wednesday, the Cloverdale City Council will consider whether to approve the project — one of the largest developments in the city’s recent history — along with its extensive community benefits package and already-completed environmental reviews, essentially clearing the path for its eventual construction. As it does, however, council members are weighing the homes, jobs and tax revenue such a project might generate against a new wave of concerns from residents over environmental harms.

Esmeralda CEO Devon Zuegel said she generally understands those concerns but argues the project has already undergone extensive environmental reviews. “This site has been studied for over two decades continuously,” Zuegel said. “And if 20 years is not a long enough review, I just don’t understand, is 100 years enough — 25 years? What is the point where it becomes enough?”

Still, Sullivan isn’t satisfied. And she’s preparing to take the fight to voters. If the city council approves the Esmeralda development as is, Sullivan wants a referendum and said she’ll start collecting signatures to place such a measure on a ballot… (more)

Anybody see a reason to vote NO on Prop 45 to make these projects more transparent? And a reason why half the cities in California are ready to fight the Wiener bills that overplayed the state’s hand by removing local control?
Efforts by Our Neighborhood Voices to reverse the trend are paying off.

By Olivia Harden : sfgate – excerpt

Residents of a small coastal town in Humboldt County are protesting plans that a state conservation agency says are necessary to save a piece of the North Coast.

On Wednesday, the California Coastal Commission unanimously approved a coastal development permit for Humboldt County to repair Centerville Road outside of Ferndale. The road, which sits next to Centerville Beach, is being eroded by the ocean, and the county plans to reconstruct a 900-foot segment of the road by raising and building a new parking lot.

But the decision came with a condition: The commission would issue the permit only if vehicle access to the beach is discontinued. That requirement has rankled local residents and government officials, including Humboldt County Planning Commissioner Iver Skavdal, who represents District 1, where the beach is located. Skavdal came to the meeting to express his frustration during public comment.

“The Coastal Commission has attached a totally unrelated condition shutting down beach vehicular access to the project,” Skavdal said at the meeting. “There has been no community discussion as to why this is necessary …

This just appears to be a backroom deal stuck into the project, holding the project, the residents and the county hostage simply because you can.”… (more)

Please be aware of the state-wide problems people are facing thanks to Scott Wiener and Gavin Newsom’s power grabs in Sacramento that are being are used to control local governments everywhere. This is one of many examples of problem that Humbolt County residents are dealing with.