[Sosfbay-discuss] Palo Alto Weekly on the Open Space Initiative

[Gerry Gras]

FYI,

Gerry


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Palo Alto Weekly

March 1, 2006


Environmentalists aim to put land conservation on ballot

Councilman Drekmeier heads campaign to limit
development in county's rural areas


by Lauren McSherry


Around Palo Alto Peter Drekmeier is known as a City Councilman with a
strong environmental agenda. Now, he's taking on an ambitious
countywide project to protect unincorporated lands from development.


"There's a lot of pressure to sprawl out and develop those areas,
especially with housing," he said. "This is a way to draw the line."


Drekmeier is spearheading a campaign for a ballot measure that would
steer development away from the county's rural pockets, particularly
hillsides, ranches and farms.


The restrictions proposed under the Santa Clara County Land
Conservation Initiative would limit subdivisions and increase minimum
parcel sizes in unincorporated areas. The initiative also contains
more stringent protections for scenic views, watersheds and wildlife
corridors, he said.


Drekmeier was quick to point out the initiative, which he has been
working on for the past year, in no way encourages or restricts
development in cities. Nonetheless, it appears to be a response to
development trends in the area.


"Santa Clara County has undergone very rapid urbanization over the
last several decades," he said. "If we are going to grow, we should
grow up, rather than out."


The initiative encompasses 400,000 acres from Palo Alto south to
Gilroy and east to the hills surrounding Mt. Hamilton. That area is
equivalent to half the state of Rhode Island. It's also four times the
amount of land preserved by the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space
District and the Peninsula Open Space Trust, combined.


In early February local environmentalists launched the campaign to put
the initiative on the November ballot by starting to collect the
36,000 signatures needed by the beginning of May. If successful, the
measure will go on the November ballot and need majority approval from
voters to go into effect.


Campaigners are also hoping to raise $1 million, which will be used
for an intensive countywide education drive. In addition Drekmeier is
preparing for media campaigns from opponents.


"We expect opposition from developers, land speculators and some
ranchers who aren't focused on ranching but want to eventually sell
their land," he said.


His optimism is buoyed by preliminary polls, which show 70 percent of
voters would support the initiative.


Santa Clara County is currently the "gap" between San Mateo County —
which passed similar legislation, called Measure A, in 1986 — and
Alameda County, which followed with Measure D in 2000, Drekmeier said.


Environmentalists in Alameda County faced a significant opposition
movement that spent $3.5 million dollars to their $1.7 million,
Drekmeier said.


"These initiatives are expensive, but given that the environmentalists
were outspent two-to-one, they were victorious," he said. He predicts
opposition will ramp up its efforts after Labor Day in the months
leading up to the November election.


Although Drekmeier has been working on the initiative for a year,
local environmental groups — including the local chapter of the Sierra
Club and the Committee for Green Foothills — have spent about three
years drafting the legislation. Drekmeier was brought in through the
group People for Land and Nature to lead the campaign.


He does not expect the level of opposition faced in Alameda County
because the last few years have been spent gathering input on the
initiative and finding compromises. For example, restrictions on
medium-scale agriculture have been eliminated from the initiative,
with attention focused mainly on large-scale agriculture.


"It won't do everything we originally envisioned, but we do feel it is
a huge step forward," he said.


Former state Sen. Byron Sher, who pioneered California legislation on
environmental issues from clean water to landfills, added his support
to the ballot initiative last month. The late Lois Crozier Hogle, a
pioneer of the local environmental movement who died last December,
was another supporter of the initiative, Drekmeier said.


Santa Clara County Supervisor Liz Kniss and all the individual members
Palo Alto City Council have also endorsed it.


Land-use issues in the East Bay prompted work on the initiative.
Highly visible housing developments have been slowly creeping up the
foothills in east San Jose, and Congressman Richard Pombo recently
proposed building a highway linking the Central Valley to Silicon
Valley by way of Mt. Hamilton. If Pombo's proposal is approved, it
will open up more land to development, Drekmeier said.


"There's going to be a lot of pressure from the east side and the west
side to develop the area," he said.


Working on big-picture issues is nothing new for the Palo Alto
councilman. He was a key organizer behind the international
celebration of Earth Day in 1990 and has worked on statewide park and
water bonds. In 1999 he formed the Stanford Open Space Alliance and
succeeded in reaching a landmark agreement with the university
preventing development in the foothills for 25 years.


Drekmeier concedes that of all the environmental campaigns he has led,
"this is one of the more ambitious projects." He also wants it known
that he working on the initiative not as a council member, but as an
environmentalist.


Most of the land targeted in initiative may not in the immediate area
near Palo Alto, but the initiative does have local implications,
Drekmeier said.


"Even from Palo Alto, we look up and see the Mt. Hamilton range. We
look up and see the flank of the Santa Cruz mountains. It's really the
backdrop of our community," he said.


Staff Writer Lauren McSherry can be reached at
lmcsherry at paweekly.com.