To: The Concerned Public 

Thursday, August 26, 2004
 
 

We write on behalf of six Monterey Peninsula public interest groups, who support strong Democracy and Environmental Protections for the County General Plan Update.

Those six groups are Carmel Valley Women's Network, Pacific Grove Neighbors, Save Our Peninsula Committee, VISION - Vision Inspiring Sanctity and Integrity of Nature, Responsible Consumers of our Monterey Peninsula, and HOPE - Helping Our Peninsula's Environment.

The provisions include:

• Creating Strong Public Participation Rights;

• Giving Control of the General Plan Back To The Public;

• Reducing Pollution and Preventing new Air, Land and Water Pollution;

• Protecting Our Magnificent Monterey Pine Forest and Oak Woodlands;

• Allowing subdivisions, golf courses, dams, logging and roadway increases only when approved by the voters;

• Actual Enforcement of Land Abuses such as Illegal Bulldozing;

• In order to have Sustainable Communities we Shall Determine a Carrying Capacity for our County and each of its watersheds.

With our best wishes,

David Dilworth, Executive Director

HOPE may support a General Plan which:

1. In order to establish Sustainable Communities we shall determine a numeric Carrying Capacity limit for ultimate human population, where that amount of people and their impacts in each watershed clearly does not imperil the existence of any native animal or plant populations. We may not agree on what the carrying capacity limit is, but we must establish one using the best available science; 

2. Provides full, and fully, enforceable protection for all of our priceless, imperiled remaining native Monterey pine forest and its ecosystem; 

3. Prevents and reduces all man-made environmental impacts including pollution by chemicals (including pesticides) of air, land and water, and by noise and light (radiation) to levels unarguably below potential harm and significance; 

4. Allows subdivisions, golf courses, dams, logging and roadway increases only when approved by a public vote;

5. Provides a Public Participation Element, which provides the same amount of participation for the public as it provides for developers, extractors and government with a fair and thorough process to provide facts and reasoning for decisionmakers and the public, and provides for fair and reasonable decisions in the public interest based upon facts and reason; 

6. Provides for full genuine citizen enforcement of all General Plan violations; 

7. Fully complies with, by exceeding, all state and federal environmental protection laws specifically including California's Environmental Quality Act, California's Endangered Species Act, our Federal Endangered Species Act, our Federal Clean Water Act, and our Coastal Act; 

8. Must be ratified by the voters. This removes the burden from the public to objecting to a bad General Plan and places it on the Supervisors to make a General Plan the public will support. 

HOPE can only support a General Plan which fully includes these provisions.